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Archiver > ARIZARD > 2008-07 > 1215034801


From: "Betty McCollum" <>
Subject: Re: [ARIZARD] off subject (Junebug)
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 16:53:53 -0500
References: <997121.49990.qm@web83817.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>


Peggy:
I enjoyed your story very much.
Betty Mc
----- Original Message -----
From: "PEGGY TRUESDELL" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: [ARIZARD] off subject (Junebug)


> Hi, Lady! Thanks for writing me. Cataract surgery is very low risk
> nowadays. I've kept up with your messages and am glad you've done so
> well, in spite of those drops.
>
> My mother gave birth to me when she was 40 and my father was 43 (I was
> the last one, for sure!) I slept with Mama and Daddy until I was six, and
> believe it was for birth control. <smile> Back to cataracts. My
> father's became a problem soon after I was born. For years, he could only
> see forms, not features, so probably didn't know how cute I was! He had
> cataract surgery when I was about eight -- on the first eye. The other
> had to "ripen" and was done short time later.
>
> His doctor was Charles G. STUARD from Mississippi. He was a hero to our
> family and he attended my father's funeral in 1977. Many other family
> members (aunts, uncles, etc.) went to him over the years.
>
> His surgery was done at Saint John's hospital at 21st & Utica in Tulsa.
> My mother saw that I visited him (hospitalized few days) as she wanted me
> to have experience of what hospital was like. So like her, she was always
> teaching. It was an experience, as I had never seen Catholic nuns, who
> were all over the hospital. And oh, the statues displayed in the
> hallways. They were so life-like. AND, they're still there, because I've
> seen them many times. My three children were born there in the 60s and I
> saw them then. And have seen them on visits to people hospitalized.
> There is one that no matter which way you approach it, the eyes are fixed
> on you.
>
>
> They replaced lens in Daddy's eyes with thick glasses, and peripheral
> vision was lost. This resulted in a tractor accident a few years later.
> He was plowing, came to end of row, and when he made his turn, wheel at
> edge of creek bank and tractor fell down bank into the creek. This was at
> back of our property and was lower. You could go past our barn a ways and
> see all over the back. Besides that, you could hear the tractor noise,
> running back and forth although a good half mile away.
>
> It was in March and not too much water in creek. He managed to pull
> himself over to the bank, and began to call for help. The three dogs with
> him were excited and every time he yelled, they barked. He got them to
> come near him, and quieted them. The lady from across the road, Veda
> KNOCHE, was visiting my mother. She was leaving and my mother followed
> her outside. She heard a noise and said, "Something must be in my
> chickens." So she went toward chicken houses, with Veda following her.
> When she saw chickens were okay, but still heard "something" she realized
> she didn't hear the tractor. She went to investigate, with Veda still
> following. Then, she didn't see or hear the tractor, but heard him more
> clearly calling for help. She told Veda to call for help, so she called
> an ambulance. My mother found him. His pelvis was broken and lung
> punctured. The ambulance took him to Broken Arrow hospital on Main
> Street, where he remained for some time.
>
> The dogs missed him so much. When he finally was brought home by
> ambulance and in a hospital bed in the house, they would be so excited
> when they heard his voice through the window. We never had dogs in the
> house, but we brought them in to see him when he came home.
>
> Our school bus was about half mile away from our house when we met the
> ambulance taking him to hospital. Veda met me when I got off bus to tell
> me, as my mother had gone with him in ambulance to hospital. I was
> thirteen, and this was about only time in my life when I didn't talk --
> because I was numbed and could hardly speak for several weeks. I would
> leave school and walk almost a mile from junior high to see him, until
> time for bus to be at elementary school on Main Street, where I caught it
> to go home.
>
> So this is only part of the story of how cataracts impacted our family's
> life. One of my father's brothers came to help me and my mother. One of
> my cousin's husbands came to help. We didn't plant crops that year, a
> severe loss for us. We had livestock to care for, cows to milk. It was a
> difficult time.
>
> Through the years, I would see Dr. STUARD for examinations. He told me
> that being exposed to sun hastened development of cataracts -- and to
> always wear sunglasses when outside -- which I've always done. When my
> daughter was about seven, they sent a note from school saying she was
> having difficulty seeing the blackboard. I took her to Dr. STUARD and
> remained in waiting room while he examined her, so maybe had only a glance
> of me. Even though I was married and he wouldn't have known name, he
> obviously recognized me. His first words, "This doesn't run in your
> family." She was nearsighted. He could say that because he had seen so
> many of my family members.
>
> We were produce farmers, had acres planted of everything -- tomatoes,
> berries, popcorn, sweet potatoes, all varieties of peas, beans, cucumbers,
> watermelons, cantaloupes, sweet peppers, hot peppers. Just everything.
> My dad had a produce stand at Admiral & Memorial in Tulsa -- and we hauled
> produce every day to Trenton Market in Tulsa, where most of it was sold on
> consignment. We had dewberries and blackberries, long rows of them. My
> father could grow most anything, but we had good sandy loam soil. When I
> came to Texas, and tried to shovel around the front of my apartment, I
> began to sing, "Take me back to Tulsa." You can hardly dig here because
> of outcropping. All of us worked very hard. I have said we made our
> money sometimes a quarter at a time.
>
> Hopefully, I can write about how we lived. No one -- anywhere -- lives
> like that now. Our life was so different, no car insurance, no health
> insurance -- lot less responsibility in some ways. My parents didn't buy
> on credit. I asked my mother about the Depression, what affect did it
> have on our family. She said they hardly noticed it. They acquired more
> land during the Depression. However, Daddy always remarked that the
> Depression ended the year I was born -- 1937!
>
> Have a great day, June. My beloved sister was a June. Billie June who
> died on Valentine's Day in 1993, two days before our mother. She was
> twelve when I was born and was my surrogate mother. We were always close.
> We saw people in the same way, she would say after some our long visits.
>
> Peggy
>
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