On this date in 1940, my grandmother, Nettie Pearl Stites, married her first husband, Roy Lee Fogle.

Some families hide their secrets or would rather not think about the past. Mama and Roy were married for about 7 years. They never had any children and divorced in 1947.

My grandmother related this story, which I need to find the manuscript of the story in her own words: Roy was abusive. I am not sure if it was continual or a one time thing, but Mama was hit on the side of the head. She later developed blackouts, which was later diagnosed as Petite Mal Epilepsy. She had surgery in November of 1963. She told the story that she awoke to the news of President Kennedy’s assassination.

Mama was a very outspoken woman. I miss her bluntness. She never hid anything about her marriage to Roy. In fact, she has many pictures of her with him, his brother J. C., and my grandfather Hiram.

I treasure every story and picture I see, and every memory. They explain a lot of who my grandparents were and what led them to be the people they were when I came into the world.

Roy died of cancer in 1975. He had remarried and had a son, I believe, with his wife, Frankie.

My grandmother passed away on October 23, 2007, at the age of 83 in Visalia, California.