Before I move on from the subject of my second family, I need to clarify our relationship.
The times I spent with my half brothers and sisters were good times. They all accepted me more as a friend than as a brother when we were children, but as we grew, and sought out one another, there emerged true affection, which I will always value.
Ruby had a total of eleven children, one stillborn, one(Virginia) died at five years of age of pneumonia, and one (Cathy) died also at the age of five,of leukemia. The living children are; David, Elaine Keith, Kenny, Maxine,Nancy,Wayne,andJoy.
My mother had five children, one girl lived seven hours, and a little boy died when he was five, of appendicitis. My two sisters and I made a total of sixteen children produced by my father.
I’m not sure how many times I visited their home in the country, maybe a week or two in summer when school was out, while I still lived in the nearby town, but mostly it was a visit to walk in the woods, and later to fish in the lake at the top of the hill.
My father for years had shown me the depression which he would some day convert to a lake, by rerouting the creek, and building a dam. After nearly twenty years the lake became a reality, which eventually would be one of the best stocked catfish lakes in the area. Cathy’s middle name was Lavange, and in her honor, the lake was named, Lavange Lake.It occupies about four acres of the original thirty-five which is the extent of the property.