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This story involves my older sister, Margaret. One day she and a friend were going out to pick cherries from some lady's yard from the wealthy part of town. I wondered why they let a little sister tag along - we must have been around 13 and 16 years of age - but soon learned why. I was the one to knock on the back door and ask if I could have some of her cherries (the other two were hidden back in the fruit-laden trees, with two empty pails). The serious and stern Lady told me that I could pick a "hand full". I thanked her and went out back, and the three of us gleefully filled two pails with cherries. Somehow Rich Lady came out and spotted me of course and demanded to know, "What ARE you doing? I told you that you could pick a hand full". I stood there, caught red handed - literally - and with wide and innocent eyes and blurted out "HAND full? I thought you said PAN full" She did let me come in to her Rich Kitchen, and divided the cherries with me so "your mother can bake a pie". I was just so grateful that I didn't end up in the Cherry Police Paddy Wagon. While all this was going on, Margaret and her friend had left, giggling all the way home that Gracie was the one to get caught. Mother didn't bake a cherry pie...I ate all the cherries before I got home, which was a real treat. I used to wonder if Rich Lady ever looked at all those rotting cherries on her trees and wished the little rag-a-muffin would come back. Nah, probably not. By the way - for those of you who did not know Margaret - she was not a vindictive person. In fact, she was very kind-hearted. This particular day she was just being a typical teenager. 1929?

Rod Rushes in to Work

I recall the time Shirley, Jouree, and I took Rod Tayar to work at The Daily Oklahoman. Shirley had parked across the busy street and when Rod got out, he dashed across six lanes of traffic, hopped up on the curb, and disappeared into the building. To this day I can hear Jouree , his wife of 20 years, saying, "It makes me so mad - he just doesn't realize he isn't as YOUNG as he used to be". The man was somewhere in his early forties! Jouree would never know that Rod , despite his pack-a-day habit, continued such athletic feats into his 80's! ( 1952) Another memory I have of The Daily Oklahoman/East Side era: I recall seeing Jouree pack Rod's lunch, and with baby Rachael cradled on one arm and Rod's lunch in the other, walking from their home all the way to his work just to share a meal with him. She certainly did think a lot if him to actually go to so much trouble for a brief time together at lunch! 1939

Grace Tayar and John Blakemore Baby-sit

One time Rod and Jouree had the need for a baby sitter. Their good judgment had completely escaped them when they asked Jouree's brother, John Blakemore, and me to fulfill this obligation. Sure enough, for reasons unknown, John and I decided to have a "friendly" fencing duel over the crib where Rachael was sleeping…..using GLASS tumblers. Well, the obvious happened, I had never seen so much shattered glass. I can't tell you the panic we felt as we cleaned her crib up as well as we could. When Rod and Jouree returned, we told them what had happened, expecting to receive a scolding to end all scoldings, but this didn't happen . I don't know about John, but I think I would have felt better if they HAD yelled at us! 1941

Ralph's Express Delivery

In the early years of Ralph & Shirley's grocery store, they made home deliveries. One day Ralph was delivering to a home where two little boys were playing catch. When they saw Ralph, one of them said, "wait until that old man passes by". Well, Ralph grabbed the groceries from the car, ran up the outside steps to the home, up the inside steps of the two-story duplex, delivered the groceries, ran down the gazillion steps and made it back to the car. Now Ralph was in his early 50's, hadn't exercised in years (if ever), heavy smoker , completely out of shape. As he sat there huffing and puffing trying to get his breath back, he said, "I guess I showed THEM who's 'an old man'!!" 1960

The Chocolate Pie

So time has come to set things straight regarding the incident of the chocolate pie. I had been invited to dinner at Bette and Ed's home, and she had baked a chocolate meringue pie. She had put the pie on top of the fridge to cool while she finished preparing the dinner. She later asked me to hand her something from the cabinet above the fridge so, of course when I opened the door, I knocked the pie off of the fridge. Now, when SOME people drop something like spaghetti, they do it with style, grace and panache. Like just letting it slip quietly off of the plate. I COULD have just let the pie drop on the floor at my feet, but that seemed so mundane. Instead, I knocked that sucker so hard it sailed halfway across the kitchen, and made a perfect three-point, upside-down landing right in the middle of the floor. I don't recall either of us saying anything at all. We both just grabbed a spoon, sat on the floor and ate it like that was the usual routine after sighting an air-borne chocolate pie. I think this must have been the reason I was name "Grace"! Let me say that if anyone else should relate this incident that it might be told a little differently; but, I'm here to tell you that's MY story, and I'm sticking to it!! 1965?

Community Laundry

It is not so surprising that Rod did not have a suit for his date, you see there is a little more to the story, some of which involved me. At the tender age of 10 or so, it was my job to do the family ironing each week. This involved something like 13 starched shirts, etc. Mother had to lower the ironing board considerably so I could reach it, and I was small for my age, at that! Anyway, I would iron all the white shirts that the "boys" wore and helped with the washing, also. Each week I would set aside and save for Ralph the "best" white shirt and the "best" underwear and socks . This was because Ralph would "tip" me..... usually a nickel, but sometimes as much as a DIME!! I always felt guilty, and sorry for the other boys , but not enough to keep me from "selling out"! Shirley and I laughed about this many times through the years. 1926?

Fresh Off the Boat

When my mother (Lilly Lyons) and grandmother arrived in New York, they cleared immigration at Ellis Island and then went on to Grand Central Station to catch the train to Chicago on the next leg of their journey. Grandmother watched as the Red Cap Porter loaded their luggage on one of the station's baggage carts. In panic, she told mother that "that man is stealing our luggage!!!". She absolutely didn't know what to think of this strange new land...until someone explained what was going on! 1902