Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States of America. The day of the week was Thursday and Easter was coming in just three days. Five days before, Mt. Vesuvius had erupted and devastated Naples, Italy. In only six days to come, the great San Francisco earthquake would hit California.
In Etta Bend, Indian Territory, the Levi and Mary Edna Latty household welcomed a new member of the family. She joined big sister Alice, age six.
They named the new baby, with a wealth of black hair and gray eyes, Susie. The house in which she was born sat on a prosperous 300-acre farm near the Illinois River. It was heated by a fireplace and Mary Edna cooked meals on a wood-burning cook stove in the kitchen.
As she grew, the little girl loved flowers, books, music, her family and the Lord. Her grandparents, Ben and Tep Willis lived just down the road on another Illinois River farm. Up the road on the other side were Uncle George and Aunt Etta Forrest. It was a family community.
She was a special person, fun-loving, talented and kind. She had firm ideas on what was right and what was wrong. Everything good that I ever became, I owe to her. She was the best friend I’ll ever have and if she were here today, I’d bake her a lemon meringue pie, her favorite.
Not a day goes by that I don’t miss her. Happy birthday, Mom!
Beautiful, Blanche.
Thank you, Susan.