Letters from the past, about the past

Letter from Aunt Winnie Reed, Nov. 3, 1993 Received this after I called her and asked her for information about her family. Fleta Aday
Thelma I think Thelma being the oldest always felt she had to watch after and tell us all what to do. Thelma was always Mom's favorite. I can't remember anything about her before she was a teenager. I can't remember her ever being happy till she went to Green Forest to stay with Uncle Jess (Papa's bro.) While gong to high school. One year then to Sof O for three years. I think her red hair and freckles were a handicap. Red hair and freckles came from the Maples side, so Mom thought they were OK. Her red hair had a lot of body and was very pretty.
Thelma graduated from high school at School of the Ozarks which was sixty miles north of Green Forest (a boarding school). While at S of O she worked in the school hospital and got a scholarship to go to college majoring in nursing. From college she got a job teaching nursing in St. Louis City Hospital. She got married to Tom Gwaltney while working in St. Louis. They never had a good marriage but produced 6 children.
Truman was a quite, easy going kid. For some reason Pop favored Willis over Truman and believed Truman got as many whippings as the six of us totaled, but I can't remember Truman ever criticizing Mom or Pop or any of the rest of us. It seems he had and showed more love for all of us than anyone in the family.
Truman didn't finish high school (S of O). He came back home and managed to buy a saddle and managed to buy a saddle horse. His social life was curbed by how far he could ride that horse (Ole Red). He married Francis Rudd. They had 5 children.
Willis When I think of "Cotton" I think "Happy." His hair as a little boy was very light blond. I don't Know who nicknamed him "Cotton." Pop didn't like to allow nicknames used. I think Cotton was in on the mischief (most of it) but Truman got the whippings for it. I think all of us wondered how Cotton got by with so much. He treated everything "lightly." He was a complete opposite to Pop. I think he had more Maples blood than Powell. He also went to S of O but I think it was his second year there he ran off, and visited some relatives in Oklahoma, then came home, bought a saddle horse, did his social living by horse back. He met and married Hazel Gaddy. They had 7? children.
This may belong to my page. I remember my junior year at School of the Ozarks, We all would go home for a couple of weeks. I felt like I'd die if I didn't have new white shoes to take back to school. Of course, there was not money for new shoes. Cotton came up with $2.00. I think Truman helped with the $2.00. I still don't know how he managed to come up with 2 whole dollars. But I got my shoes before I checked in the dorm. This was my Junior year.
Fleta (Alleen) and I shared a lot of the farm chores. It seems we were always assigned a team job. She was 2 1/2 years older than I, so of course she was always boss. I think I always bullied over Floyd and Betty tho.
I remember one time I had a big "boil" on my right fore arm. We always carried pond water from the chickens to drink. We carried a wash tub most of the time. While the boil on the arm was the worst, we carried water for the chickens. Flet made me carry with my right arm. She and I have laughed many times over this.
Flet and I were opposite. She was always a fast mover. Her motto was "Flit and get it over with." She also went to S of O and graduated. Some one of the fatality got her a job as house keeper in Flint, Michigan for a family. She spent less than a year there. Came back to Qzarks and met up with a class mate, Harold and married. Had one child.
Winnie I forgot to mention I was slow at everything, Beautiful, smart and a lot more I went through high school at S of O then beauty school in St. Louis. Thelma paid for my beauty school. Married Sgt. George L. Reed, the air force, from West Virginia, had two boys. I had my own beauty shop for three or four years.
I think I got as many demerits as all the other four brothers and sisters that went to School of the Ozarks for breaking their tight rules. All the things that got me into trouble, I considered to be a joke. I really got on Fleta's nerves.
Floyd: When Floyd graduated from grade school, I think he spent a year or so taking care of the farm. He was about to be drafted so he joined and served ?? years.
When Floyd was in grade school he was a very quite kid. Never seemed to want or need many fiends, and if anyone crossed his path he could really throw a mean punch.
He married Lovetta ?? She had 2 girls before Floyd met her.
Betty Lou: Just a few months after Betty was born, Pop sold our house hold goods and farm equipment and moved all of us to Oklahoma (city?) but just a couple years there Pop moved us all back to the farm and started over. Betty went through high school at Green Forest. Then went to a teacher training College (I don't Know the name where she went). It was close to Green Forest. Winnie paid for her short schooling to be a teacher.
She taught grammar school a few years and met Charge Knight. They married and went to northern California to live. Had 2 boys.
Betty was a very sweet sister to all of us all through her life. I don't think any of us ever crossed Betty, for if we had she would never have gotten over it. She wanted peace and love from her family at all times.
Winnie Reed, Nov. 1993