I have one brother, Ron, (13 years older); one sister,
Sandra Gail, (10 years older). We had amazing parents and an idyllic
childhood. We grew up on a farm between Osceola, Arkansas and Victoria,
Arkansas. I was my brother's flower girl when I was 6 years old. He has
been married to Robbie Gail Parnell (Coots) ever since then. They have
two amazing children, Michelle and Skip. They live in Searcy,
Arkansas. My sister was my little
'mama', since she was 10 when I came along. When she went off to college
when I was 8 years old, I was heart-broken. We lived in a big white two
story farm house and up the steep stairs was spooky without my sissy. She
has been married to Tommy since graduating college in 1972 and they have two
amazing children, Ashley and Chad. We married cousins and now she and I
live on "Pruett Road" in Conway, Arkansas and have the same last name
again. :) My dad passed away in 1993, only 68 years old and about
one year after retiring. He was plagued with ulcers and in the spring of ’93
– had almost half of his stomach removed.
While the surgeons were in there, they nicked his pancreas and that set
up a horrid infection. He died in the
fall from pancreatitis. He was a hardworking
and wonderful dad with a bubbly personality and never met a stranger. I
was definitely a daddy’s girl. My mom
worked in the Men's Department of Belk Department Stores for many years.
She is now 86 years old and moved to Searcy over a year and a half ago – mostly
to be closer to us kids. She is still adjusting to the move and if I had to do
it all over again I think I would have rallied for her to wait a couple more
years. I could have retired early and
moved in with her this past year - if only I could have a do-over. You
see, she has had a sweetheart (Sonny) for about 8 years and he lives in Manila,
Arkansas. While she lived in Osceola, they
visited often and went to church together every Sunday. She misses him terribly and basically her
heart has been broken ever since the move.
She likes being closer to us kids but she dwells on missing him
mostly. They still visit when they have
a chance but she doesn’t drive anymore and he doesn’t need to drive that far
very often (it’s about a 2 hour drive).
Honestly, I think the move has set her back significantly. Living in Osceola is all she ever knew. What were we thinking? Sometimes you are so far entrenched in the
forest that you can’t see the trees. But
all we can do now is try to make the best of things. I think it is neat that Sonny and my dad were
farming buddies and friends from back in the day. Sonny is a wonderful Christian man and has
been so good to my momma. As he often
says, they “saved” each other from being so lonely and have had a wonderful
companionship. Bless their hearts – I wish
I knew how to make them spend their last years as happy as they could be and
together. Mom has been very fortunate, in
terms of physical health, having only been in the hospital to have children
many moons ago. Again, she just
struggles with memory loss these days. Please
say a prayer for her if you are so inclined. I would appreciate that. I have spent every week-end in Searcy with
momma for the past year and a half – except for 4 week-ends. Rick takes care of his mother who lives in a
little cabin on our property and is a home bound patient. So, sometimes we just have to get away. On those 4 occasions – we retreated to our
respite place to simply have a change of scenery and to rest as best we
can. Momma is a wonderful mother who I
cherish very much. I was definitely blessed with an amazing nuclear family.
I married Rick 28 years ago and we have a precious daughter,
Courtney Lindsay - who will soon be 26 years old. She now has her BSE and
is a teacher in the Vilonia School District – where she went to school. We are so proud of the woman she has become
and love her unconditionally. She is a
joy and is the sunshine of my entire life.
