The person I interviewed was Marie W, my grandma. She was born on October 17, 1921 in Sidney, Texas. Sidney, Texas is located in Brown county about 25 miles northeast of Brownwood, Texas. There were four brothers and five sisters, including my grandma, that lived. There were two siblings that died in infancy from unknown causes, but probably from the condition known as "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" today. .
My grandma's mother and father owned a farm with one thousand nine hundred acres. They had many kinds of animals on their farm, including cows, horses, chickens, hogs, and donkeys, as well as "outside only" cats and dogs. They very rarely had to go to the store because they grew or raised any food they needed. My great grandmother had a huge garden with vegetables and fruit in it and flowers were planted among the vegetable rows. She would can the vegetables and fruit to eat during the winter. They had one car and one truck for transportation, along with a tractor, plow and mule for the farming. My grandma remembered during harvest season that some Mexican families would come and live in three small houses on the land. The Mexicans would help her father harvest the fields. She said until she was old enough to go to school she would help her mother pick up eggs. When she got older she had to help do other chores around the farm, like milk the cows and feed all the animals. The only thing she remembered going to the store for was coffee, sugar, and material to make clothes. .
My grandma walked two miles to school. Her mother and two aunts made clothes for all the children. The girls wore dresses and the boys wore slacks. They had two sets of clothes, a school or church set and a play set. They also had a pair of shoes for school or church and another pair for play. She remembered that if they did not change from their school to play clothes right as soon as they got home from school or they would get in big trouble.
