Somehow along the way, he heard about a Tech School in Dallas, TX that got you a job as you studied. Since farming did not work, he felt that might be the answer. It meant a lot of changes but in 1965, we struck out for Dallas - Bill in a big moving van and me driving the family car. We had to stop at motels and plug in the freezer in the van. As an aside, my driver’s license was packed in the dresser in the front of the van! I think my face was red all the way to Dallas.

David and Bill had been down earlier to register for class, get lined up for a job and find a house. Now, as an older person, I wonder how we did it. We were in an older section of town which, no doubt, today has high-rise buildings.

Away from family, Dallas was our first really happy years. I took a correspondence course to up-date my teacher’s certificate. Then I did a fair amount of substitute teaching to help the budget. We found a church with a day-care for Jeff and Nancy - really not too desirable. We attended a big friendly church, Highland Baptist. David and Jeanie seemed to enjoy walking to school together.

The children and I walked around the corner to the grocery store, passing a night club owned by someone connected with President Kennedy’s death. This owner was the one who shot Kennedy’s assassin, Oswald. The people in Dallas were very apologetic of what had happened in their city.

In a few months, we were able to buy a nice little house on June Drive in South Dallas, thanks to a loan from Bill’s dad. Bill’s parents had come down to visit and figured we needed a better place - that shows that they were good people. The children could walk to school in a pleasant neighborhood. By now Jeff was in the first grade and when he came home from school, he drug old pipes and odds and ends that he thought were valuable. I taught VBS and we were very busy.

A neighbor, Dorothy Hood, had a sweet little girl, Laura, so Dorothy kept Nancy whenever I sub-taught. That first year in Dallas, we enrolled Jeff in a Methodist Kindergarten and he rode a special little red bus to school.

In the summer, the big park down the street had all kinds of games and activities for children. Most afternoons, the children and I would walk down to the park.

We moved to this location because the tech. had found Bill a job at Plastic Manufacturing near by. He was able to walk or ride his bike to work. We ended up with plates, etc. and gave our parents some that the factory had made.

Jeanie had a friend, Sheila Little, down the street and often went to their church -Pentecostal Holiness - on Sunday nights. Jeanie and Sheila would come to our house and ask if it was OK for Sheila to eat with us. Sheila would say it was OK with her mother. After I said OK Sheila would call her mother and say it was OK with Jeanie’s mother - a typical little girl trick.

Jeff and David played and sang made-up songs in the garage.

Bill had a distant cousin, Lucille Smith, who lived out in the middle of the desert. The first time we went to see her, I thought the desert was so ugly but the second time the entire desert cactus were covered with lavender blooms! Beautiful! The place she lived was fenced in with a yard of nice trees and flowers - a beautiful home. She was older but fun and young spirited. I guess her husband was a rancher.

David, Nancy, Jeanie & Jeff
  Christmas day
  Dallas, Texas