BLANDINSVILLE I was good friends with a girl named Beverly Thompson and would meet her at her house every morning before school. We'd watch Captain Kangaroo waiting for time to leave for school. One time when I was at her house she got to acting mean towards me and pulled my hair. To make a long story short I beat the crap out of her! Ha!Ha! Needless to say she took quite a beating from me and her mom was pretty upset about it. All I can remember after that is we moved just in the lick of time! Ha!Ha! My dad backed me up 100%. He & mom both NEVER doubted my word when I told them something. I think I was in the 5th grade at that time. I didn't care for Blandinsville school at all. The teacher's weren't very nice to me. I remember the kid's were all scared of the principal there too. The only good thing that came from living in Blandinsville was my meeting a real sweet handicapped girl named Vicky Ogren that I became good friends with. Bobby & I were at the park in Blandinsville one day playing with other kid's. He got into a big fight with a girl [Linda Hardesty] much older and bigger then what he was so I jumped in the middle of it and Bobby & I both got our butts whipped! Ha!Ha! I was very tender headed and Linda pulled my hair real bad. I went home crying and told dad what had happened and in the car we went right back up to that park. He pulled next to the park and saw some kid's standing there and goes, Which one of you kid's pulled Punky's hair? Linda H. goes, I did! Dad goes, you might me a kid...but if you ever touch my daughter again I'll kick your ass, and I DON'T care if I do go to jail! Ha!Ha! Dad didn't take it lightly when anyone hurt us kid's. He got after us when we deserved it and paddled us etc. But, NOBODY messed with his kid's and got away with it! Aunt Norma never got over losing dad. She would stay in bed all day long when his birthday rolled around. She NEVER even got a driver's license because of his getting killed in that wreck. She used to tell her kid's to get along because she'd give ANYTHING to have just one more day with her brother "BOB". I was being babysat by Iris Morrell one day when we lived in Burnside and she had a girlfriend over that day and for no reason at all she was showing off for her and pulled my hair. I wasn't going to hang around there and be treated like that so I got on my bike and off to Carthage I went taking the back roads all the way to Aunt Norma's & Uncle Don's house when they lived out by the old college. When my dad got there he took off his belt and I got my butt warmed for that one. He told me that I could have been hit by a car and to NEVER do that again. Believe me I learned a very valuable lesson that day! Ha!Ha! He NEVER left marks on me or Bobby when he spanked us. But, we knew it wasn't a love tap and that our dad meant business when we were bad! Ha!Ha! Dad used to get me a bag of corn curls and a bottle of orange crush pop and have me set in the car while he was having a beer with friends. He was never in the tavern for very long though. Rosemary told me just the other day that our dad didn't believe in taking kid's into a tavern. When dad ran the gas station in Niota IL. he would give me & Bobby candy from his stock and pop from the pop machine. I remember he pulled out a big wad of money all folded in half and goes, "LOOK HERE PUNKY", and laughed. He worked on cars and pumped gas etc. He seemed to really enjoy working there alot. Bobby & I were living with Grandma & Grandpa at that time and dad & Rosemary had a room there that they slept in. I really thought it was neat going there and knowing that my dad owned all that candy & pop and that I could have all of it that I wanted anytime I went there! Ha!Ha! The place is still standing but it's needing to be torn down. Everytime that I go past there it brings back good memories of dad. I remember how bad I wanted a horse when I was a little girl. I begged dad to get me one and he always said "I'LL SEE". There were lots of neat horse's as you went around the corner by the Carthage cemetery and I always loved to drive past there and look for the horse's. I told dad that I would take good care of it if I got one. That I'd tie it to the clothes line etc. Ha!Ha! That could be why I never did get a horse! Ha!Ha! I remember when dad & Rosemary first got married that Rosemary would sit right next to dad in the car. I remember them holding hands some too. They did ALOT of fighting, but I think dad did care about her in his own way. I know Rosemary took his death very hard. I can't imagine her being pregnant with Sharon and having dad get killed and giving birth to their new daughter the very day after his funeral. Shirley was such a pretty little baby girl. Dad thought the sun set in his "MEANIE MARIE". He would have thought the world of his new baby daughter Sharon Lyn too, but un-fortunately he didn't get the chance to meet her. There has ALWAYS been a void in Shirley's heart because of not remembering our dad. She was way too young to remember "HER DADDY", but you can be sure that he's NEVER forgotten her or any of us kid's for that matter. I keep telling Shirley the stories and we love to sit by the hours and talk about all of our loved ones that are crossed over. We believe we'll see them all again someday! He might not have met Sharon here on earth, but he watches her from heaven and he knows her very well and definitely loves her very much just as he loves Bobby & Bob Loter. Dad had a big heart for kid's! Bobby reminds me alot of dad in so many way's, although he looks just like our mom with those big brown eyes. Bobby's a real sweet natured guy as long as your on his good side, but just like dad you wouldn't want to get on his bad side unless you know what's good for you! Ha!Ha! They sure found out NOT to mess with Bobby there in Carthage when he was a teenager. From what I've been told by different family members he used to clean house pretty good taking 2-3 out at a time! Ha!Ha! Bobby's mellowed out alot in his old age but I sure wouldn't want him mad at me! Ha!Ha! Bobby had to learn at a young age to defend himself because the kid's in Burnside were so mean to us kid's and would pick fights with us. Rex Doyle told me one time that he was out at the peacock and that Bobby was there. He said that some guy's started some crap with Bobby and that the 4 of them stepped out back of the peacock to settle it. Rex said he thought for sure Bobby was going to get his butt kicked because of there being so many to fight. Rex said next thing he knew here came Bobby back inside and had laid all 3 of those guy's out and threw them in a garbage can without a scratch on him! Ha!Ha! Rex also told me that NOBODY messed with Bobby's family either. That family was everything to him! That was many years ago that this happened. but I remember Grandma laughing and telling about it too! Ha!Ha! Granny thought her "Bobby" could do no wrong! Ha!Ha! She told me at the nursing home that we were like 2 of her own kid's and not her grandkid's. She worshipped both of us in a big way! She was beyond special. Aunt Rose was pregnant with her daughter Brenda when dad was killed and she didn't attend the visitation or funeral because she was too upset and the doctor was afraid she could lose her baby. I remember Grandma telling me that Jake came to where she was sitting with an elderly lady and the second she saw him at the door she knew something awful was wrong because he NEVER came to her work like that. Jake told her about the awful wreck and that "BOB" had been killed. Needless to say Grandma never did get over losing her son. She told me that everytime she would get a sympathy card in the mail that it would upset her even though she knew people meant well. She used to say she hoped she never lived long enough to lose anymore of her kid's and thank goodness she passed away before losing both Aunt Norma & Aunt Rose! Grandpa used to talk to me about dad getting killed in the wreck when I lived with him and Grandma for a few short months until Jay was born. He said that he felt like the floor came right up and hit him in the face when he was told that he'd lost dad. As Grandpa got older he blocked dad's death out and asked Grandma if Bobby was Aunt Rose's son. She told him "NO", he's Bob & Louise's son. She asked him if he remembered them and he said "NO", don't believe I do. It was so painful to lose dad that he didn't want to remember it because it just hurt too much! Dad was asked one time if mom got along with his mother and dad's comment was "TOO DAMNED GOOD"! Ha!Ha! Grandma probably took my mom's side on things and dad didn't like it! Ha!Ha! Dad liked to race Jake from the Burnside corner to where we lived in Burnside at Grandma's house. Jake would beat him home and he said here would come Bob and he'd say "IF MY CAR HADN'T CUT OUT ON ME I WOULD HAVE BEAT YOU"! Ha!Ha! Jake said my dad always said that when he lost one of his races! Ha!Ha! Dad absolutely loved his old cars. I remember he had bought an old clunker for $50.00 and wanted to take us for a ride in it to show it off because he was so proud of it. I remember if I smacked the interior the dust would fly almost choking me! Ha!Ha! I cherish that AWESOME picture of dad & mom where he's leaning up against his car with her up in his arms. That picture tells us just how much he dearly loved mine & Bobby's mother...Lousie! I know one time dad & mom took me & Bobby to a tavern to see Jim Beghtol sing and play his guitar. Bobby & I were sitting there watching them dance and dad accidentally walked mom into some guy that was behind her. I remember the guy got kind of mouthy telling mom to be more careful and dad was ready to step outside with that man. Bobby & I both fell asleep on our way back home that night because it was pretty late. I had been chewing gum and it got stuck in my hair and had to be cut out the next day. I guess they didn't know about the peanut butter method back then for removing chewing gum from hair! Ha!Ha! Dad had a real bad habit of putting his cigarette butts in bottle's etc. instead of using ashtray's. I was eating some left over popcorn in a big bowl and stuck a cigarette butt in my mouth that he had put in there. It was so gross! Dad used to put his cigarette's out in Grandma's window cill in her bedroom too. I wouldn't go anywhere near it. Dad & mom both smoked non filter camel cigarette's. I've never forgotten when we were at our mom's funeral. Bobby sat between me & dad. I looked at Bobby and he was crying and so was dad so I began crying too! Bobby took our mom's death so hard that he wouldn't go to dad's funeral so just Bonnie & I went. I didn't go near the casket because I just couldn't handle seeing dad dead. I could see a glimpse of him laying there and that was enough for me. It looked to me like his hair was a real light brown and dad's hair was normally real dark like ours. Bonnie later told me that he looked like himself. We had gone to spend 2 weeks with our Aunt Bonnie for summer vacation. My 12th birthday was August 27th and dad & Rosemary were supposed to come pick us up that day. When they didn't show up we started to wonder what was going on. The next day we were playing a board game "SORRY" when we got the call that dad & Jim had been in a bad wreck and that our dad had been killed. It was our worse nightmare since we had just gotten used to the fact that our mom wasn't ever coming back and then we lost dad too. Dad was killed the 28th only 1 day after my 12th birthday! Bobby & I went through ALOT after losing our parents. Things were said and done to us that I wouldn't wish on anyone! We both lived with our Grandma & Grandpa Phillips until we got married and had our own family's. I stayed with them until Jay was born and then John & I moved back to Burlington Ia. Bobby's always lived in Carthage ever since. When my parents were alive we used to go to Keokuk to visit our Grandpa Land [mom's dad]. Aunt Carole had an old blue bicycle in his shed and Grandpa would get it out and let me ride it while I was there to give me something to do. Dad taught me how to ride it. He sat on the back of the bike and I peddled down the street a ways and remember looking back and there was dad way back there and then I got scared and crashed. Grandpa ended up giving me the bike and dad put it in the trunk of the car and had me climb up into the back window and watch to make sure it didn't fall out when we crossed the Keokuk bridge! Ha!Ha! Bobby would take turns sleeping in the back window or the back seat if we were out real late and got sleepy on the way home. One time dad, mom, me & Bobby were at Grandpa Land's spending the day and we took our little puppy with us to play with that we had just gotten. We were all outside there having a good time watching the puppy run around in circle's all happy and all of a sudden the dog ran into one of Grandpa's cement blocks that had 3 circle's in the block and it broke it's neck and died. We were upset and dad picked it up and laid it in the trunk covering it up. I have always been a huge dog lover so it really hurt to lose our puppy that day! Dad got along real well with Grandpa Land and I remember Grandpa used to give me & Bobby change when he'd see us. He was a very nice man from what little I can remember about him. He thought alot of me & Bobby. Lucille Luttrell told me one time that when our dad was running the gas station in Niota IL. that it was really foggy one night and Grandpa P. was drunk and being mean to us and that it got back to dad what was going on and she said that he drove all the way from Niota to Carthage to check on us and that it was too dangerous for him to have even been on the road that night. She said you couldn't see your hand in front of your face that it was that bad out. She told me that it went to show how much dad loved me & Bobby and cared how we were being treated by Grandpa. Dad & mom both put Grandpa in his place more then once for not being nice to us kid's. Not long before dad was killed I can remember him telling me that it wouldn't be long before I'd be asking him to borrow the car key's. He said it with a big grin. Dad pretty much always had a smile on his face and something nice to say to everyone he met. He was a happy go lucky kind of guy for the most part. Quite the jokester just like his mother [our grandma]! Ha!Ha! Dad thought alot of mom's family. He enjoyed going to Grandma Land's [Mellinger] when the holiday's would roll around and they'd put on a big feed bag. Dad NEVER missed out on a good meal! Ha!Ha! I can remember him always teasing my mom's sister's. They were always happy to be together and laughing. I loved going to the relatives for the holiday's. It was alot of fun! Grandma Mellinger told me that my very first sentence was "we're going to my mammo's house! Ha!Ha! Mom told Grandma that I was riding in the back seat and we were going down a big hill when I blurted that out! Ha!Ha! It tickled the heck out of Grandma Mellinger. Mom loved to put her puzzle's together and dad would tell her he was ready to go and she'd always tell him to let her put just one more piece of her puzzle together! Ha!Ha! One time when we were at Grandma's when she lived with Babe Hoskins, Bobby and a couple other male cousin's were outside playing with no shirts on and a bunch of bee's got loose and stung the heck out of the boy's backs. I remember the bee's were just thick in the air! I NEVER blamed Uncle Jim for our dad getting killed in the wreck because I knew that it was a horrible accident. That Jim would have gladly given his own life to have saved dad's. He blamed himself for the wreck when it wasn't his fault that the sun blinded him as he went to pass another car hitting the young kid head on. I heard that Jim had said he wished it had been him that got killed and not our dad. I'm sure that everytime he saw one of us kid's that it was a painful reminder of dad getting killed. Dad sure woulnd't have blamed Jim for what happened! It was just one of those awful things that happens to people. Jim had many operations on his leg and walked with a limp after the wreck. He wasn't able to work a normal job anymore and drew disability. He did drive cars to auctions for Pete Muegge though. Jim died about 24 years ago from a massive heart attack while he was still in bed and died instantly. I believe that Jim took his guilt to his grave with him blaming himself for dad's death. He & dad weren't just brother-in-laws, they were good friends! I remember only too well the night that we lost our mom. Grandma had taken me & Bobby to the hospital to see our mom and we waited in the waiting room for awhile and then we left and went back home because they told us to come back tomorrow because she was asleep. Bobby in the mean time went snooping around and found her room. They were just pulling the covers up over her when he peeked in the door. When we got home dad told us that she had died. He left and went somewhere and we were crying and Grandpa was drunk and yelling at us to shut up etc. Grandma put him in his place and told him to be quiet that we had just lost our mother! I remember dad hearing dad say something about buying the spot next to mom for when he died. Grandma said that dad wanted her to tell us that mom had died but she told him it was his place to tell us and not hers...so he did tell us. I remember seeing dad and 3 of mom's sister's walking somewhere after leaving her room. Later I found out that they were going to sign her death certificate. I'll never forget when dad asked my permission before he married Rosemary. I told him it was ok with me. When we saw Rosmeary for the first time she gave us a quarter and was very nice to me & Bobby. I was down right silly over my dad! He was truly "MY HERO" when I was a little girl. I looked up to him and loved being around him every chance I got. I dearly adored both of my parents. They were my world! We didn't get to dance very long, but Oh what a dance we did have! I have so many wonderful memories of them to last me a life time. I will continue to share my memories of mom & dad with Bobby, and I'll share my memories of dad with Bob Loter, Shirley & Sharon. I'm so grateful that I still remember as much as what I do considering I wasn't all that old myself when they died. Dad was very hot blooded! He always had to have the car window down and he always had a fan going even in the winter time. He liked to froze me to death when we'd be going down the road with him and we were in the back seat with the cold air coming in on us. Bobby & his son Timothey are the same way!