Louisiana and Arkansas:

1880's - 1920's

How Great Grandma Margie Ran Away... Twice.

​Nearly 50 years after Lincoln's proclamation of the end of slavery in 1862, Lydia's Great Grandmother Margie ran away from her White "owners" in Louisiana to find freedom. Twice.

Leave the Crops in the Field and Get to Smackover!

19 year old Howard received an acre of land from his parents when he married. This was the farming family tradition back in Louisiana in the early 1900's. The only problem was that Howard hated farming. ​

Waking Up With Laughter

Howard had a deep slow laugh that began somewhere in his stomach, rolled up through his throat and mouth, and hovered in his twinkling eyes.  Every morning, he delighted in waking up his two little girls, Lydia and Odessa, by playfully pinching their noses. Laughter and teasing were a constant part of family life during the girls' childhood in the 1920's rural South. 

Ghosts and Angels (Part 1).

Lydia Senior shares some of the family's magical stories of a ghost (in early 1900s Louisiana) and an angel or two (in 1950s MidWest).  

Hang A Sheet Out if You Have Some News to Share​.

Stay tuned for the full story! The audio is coming soon.

Frog Legs and Smothered Squirrel

When Lydia was a young girl in Arkansas, she was convinced that her mother had the best Southern cooking around. Her father Howard helped out by gigging frogs, trapping squirrels, and bringing them home to Lucille to cook. 

​Stay tuned for the full story! The audio is coming soon.

A Prayer, a Coachwhip and a Wildcat.

In the 1920's, young Lydia's Grandma Maggie urged her to go find God by praying in the field on their farm in rural Louisiana. Lydia refused. She was afraid of the snakes and mountain lions.

You Better Go Get Your Man Off That Porch If You Want To Keep Him!​

At the age of 13, Lucille knew for sure and for certain that tall, slender and handsome Howard was the man for her. Howard, however, was 17 years old and had eyes for another girl.

​Stay tuned for the full story! The audio is coming soon.

Sister Mother

Lucille was a beautiful girl who wore her hair in a long braid that ran all the way down her back. She married when she was 14 years old and had her first child, Lydia, a year later. The proximity of their ages, and the playfulness of their relationship, often led those who didn't know them to assume that Lucille and Lydia were sisters.

​Stay tuned for the full story! The audio is coming soon.

The Tent.

Too poor to afford any other type of housing, two young married couples and their infant children lived for months in a tent in the oil boom town of Smackover Arkansas while looking for work. Still teenagers, the couples filled the tent with jokes, pranks and laughter. 

Creek Stories

As a girl growing up in Smackover Arkansas in the early 1920's, Lydia loved to visit her Grandmother Margie, who still lived in Ringgold Louisiana with Lydia's grandfather and their extended family.