This is a picture of Grandma Dillard at her 75th Birthday Party! Her sister June is on the left, and Irma Jo is on the right. The theme for the party was "The Great Depression" since that's the era in which she was born.-
Grandma Margie Aline Dillard was born April 22, 1926 in Zafra Oklahoma. She was the second of five children born to her parents, Jesse Dewey Smith (Grandpa Dewey), and Myrtle Owens (Nanny). Her older sibling was a brother, LeRoy, and she had 3 younger sisters, Bernice, June, and Irma Jo. Jesse worked a variety of jobs to support his growing family. He hauled lumber with a 4-mule team, loaded railroad ties onto railroad cars, farmed, and picked cotton. Although the family never went hungry, most of the time they didn’t even have a dime in the house. Myrtle traded eggs for sugar and coffee, and always, just as the flour and necessary food was running out, Jesse would get a load of something to haul for someone. They felt God was taking care of them.
In the late 1930’s Jesse got a job as a foreman at an alfalfa mill. He made $18.75 a week for 84 hours of work. On this salary the family was able to buy a house and some new furniture. As the kids got old enough to work, they too, got jobs. Margie took care of a rich family’s little boy (grandson Henry Schaffer, owner of Schaffer Oil Company), and also worked in a dime store at Christmas time. Because of her generous nature, she even bought fabric for dresses once, for her two younger sisters.
In 1943 she married C.B. Moore. They have two daughters, Sharon and Darla. In 1952 they divorced. While she was a “single mama”, she worked hard and was good at making do with what she had. One winter, she knitted socks for the girls to wear with their summer sandals. That was cheaper than buying new shoes. Fortunately, it didn’t snow in California!
In 1954 she married Grandpa Sam Dillard and they’ve been happily married for over 50 years. He took Sharon and Darla in as “his own”, which indeed, the are. Margie and Sam earned their GED certificates in 1975, and through the years have taken many adult education classes to improve their job skills and increase their knowledge in their areas of interest. She worked for a group of doctors in Barstow, California, before retiring to Missouri.
Something’s you many/ may not know about her are…
- She’s very generous, almost to a fault
- She has a sweet toothe
- She has a “soft heart”, and has never been able to bear seeing someone else doing without. Once, when a family at church lost everything in a fire, she spent hours on the phone, asking for donations to help them.
- She likes to sew and is a wonderful cook
- She loves to shop and has a fun personality
- She’s definitely a “people person’, which is one reason she loved working at the resort
- She likes Mexican and Chinese food
- And most of all, she loves being with, and hearing from family
No comments:
Post a Comment