Cemetery1

The second half of Luella's funeral took place in the Hydro Masonic Cemetery. We purposely got there early so I could get some pictures of the gravestones of some relatives. As I roamed over the area for an hour, I had so many memories flooding my mind of people that I knew or knew of as a child. First I came upon the grave of Grandpa and Grandma Ditmore and the memories I had of them. A few feet away was a stone that had my name on it. I was named after Frankie Ditmore. He died at 8 and my aunt Pearl named me after her little brother. I have never liked the name but sometimes we all probably wish we had a better name. I see that Mr. Flansberg and his wife are over there. He was our rural mail carrier for years. He ran over Buster many times. Buster would wait for him almost daily out at the mail box, looking for an opportunity to bite the tires on Mr. Flansburg's car. He would get run over, hurt bad enough to crawl under the porch for several days until he was well again. Then there was May, the first wife of Uncle Carl and the mother of my cousins LoraBelle, Henry, Shady and Melba. She died when I was two and I never remembered her. And my dear Uncle Carl's stone was next to her's. He was my favorite uncle and my fathers's favorite brother. I miss him so much. A short distance away was the stone of Aunt Ethel. She was May's replacement. A very dear aunt that I loved so much. I went to Oklahoma once and brought her and mama home with me. They had a great time. And there was Fred Pennington near by. Fred, you are suppose to be with the Penningtons, not the Ditmores....well Uncle Fred married daddy's sister Myrtle, so Fred is a Ditmore in-law. Poor Fred, he was a nice man. He was one of two bootleggers in Weatherford. The sheriff would always tip him off before a raid so they could dispose of the whiskey. One time aunt Myrtle was washing clothes and had to pour several jars of whiskey in the wash water to get rid of it in a hurry. Well one time the Feds came to town and bypassed the Sheriff and raided Fred. He was sent to prison for a year, and he either died in prison or shortly thereafter, I don't know which. Fred was mama's brother. He was a gentle man trying to hack out a living selling whiskey in a very dry state. CONT'D...