~~Aunt Martha~~

Aunt Martha at Alyssa's 1st birthday.

from left to right...Aunt Martha, Aunt Juanell, Uncle Frank, and seated thats my Daddy!



My Dad's older sister Martha passed away yesterday. I wanted to post a blog in memory of her.

I just wanted to write down something funny that I remember about her!

While I was growing up, my family and my Aunt Martha's family would go camping together. We all would go camping at a place called Sweetwater Creek. We would have so much fun getting dirty, playing in the creek, telling ghost stories, roasting marshmallows over the campfire, and listening to the hound "dawgs" howl and bark at every little scent they got a whiff of. It was common practice that when the sun went down the men and boys would go huntin' and the women and girls would stay in camp and wait or cook or mend or whatever it was that the "women folk" were supposed to do. Those of you who know my mom know that whole "women folk" crap got tossed right out the window as soon as the men would start talking about women's proper place in the family. Well, she and my Aunt Martha decided that we should all go with the men. So we (my mom, my Aunt Martha, me, my sister, and my cousins Beth and Jackie) piled in the back of my dad's Dodge pickup with our sleeping backs, pillows, and stuff. Now you have to know that the Sweetwater Creek area has red dirt and clay. So everything is covered in red dust. We are all packed in the back of this Dodge pickup, driving through 4 wheel drive roads following the sounds of the hound "dawgs" as quickly and as quietly as we can. My dad, Uncle Jack, and my cousin Sonny are in the front seat with the rear sliding window open, along with both windows rolled down so they can hear the "dawgs." We can hear the howling and barking of the hounds in the distance. We race toward them because as the "dawgs" howl and bark my uncle says "They're on a trail, Jim! I can hear Sissy (one of his dogs) bawlin'!" My mom and aunt start laughing. My sister, Beth, Jackie, and I look at each other cause we have no idea what is going on! We race down a dusty dirt road. All of us in the back are choking and gasping for air from the dust and exhaust fumes and bouncing around and trying to hold on with everything we've got! Then they slow down. The lights cut out. Then the truck comes to an abrupt stop. My dad turns around and tells us "SHHHHHH!!!" We catch our breath then, silence! We hear the hounds in the not so far distance. My mom goes, "Hey Martha, I think Nell's on a trail!" Aunt Martha says, "Nope! I think that's Lady!" Then my mom says, "Wait! Shhhhh! I think that one.....that one thar, I think thats Sissy! Thar runnin' a coon trail! Hurry Jim lets go!!!" We are all laughing now louder than we can hear the dogs! Pretty soon we hear a rustle in the manzanita bushes in front of the truck! Mom says, "Awwww it's a deer!" Aunt Martha says, "No Debby it's a Bear!" Dad, Uncle Jack and Sonny are not thinking this is very funny at all! Dad and Uncle Jack both holler "Stop it! Be quiet! Whatever is in that bush is BIG!!! LISTEN!" We all get real quiet. We hear stomping and rustling and stick breaking. Big sticks breaking! Dad grabs his hand gun! Uncle Jack grabs his shotgun! They whisper, "If it is a bear, don't run! Just stay in the back of the truck! Let us handle it!" They turn on the headlights! As we all gasp, and hear "MOOOOO!" It was a cow that had gotten loose from a neighboring cattle ranch and she had a calf with her! All of us girls in the back of the truck start laughing as loud as we can! We are crying we are laughing so hard! Dad, Uncle Jack, and Sonny all yell, "Y'all are never goin' huntin' with us again!"


This story would get told over and over again at most of our family functions! We all had so much fun together!

You will truly be missed Aunt Martha Rose!!!!