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From Texas to Pennsylvania and Back Again
My parents, Lowell and Orianna Coney, were married in 1922. They lived
on a farm near Ladonia, Texas, until after my birth in October 1925.
Mom's legs were paralyzed for three days after my birth, but she
gradually regained their use. Three years later, when they were
expecting their second child, they moved to Dallas, where Dad found a
job with the Breneman Window Shade Factory. Two years later Breneman
transferred Dad and several other workers to their plant in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
When we moved there, we rented an upstairs
apartment at the top of a very high hill. We would walk to the dead end
of the street just two houses from us, and from there we could stand by
a wooden rail fence to enjoy the marvelous view of the land below us.
The side of the hill was almost straight up and down, no gentle slope. A
small grocery store was at the base of the hill. Stairs and railings
snaked down the hill to aid any person who wanted to use them. There
were even a few platforms in the stairs where one could stop to rest.
This was a short-cut to get to the bottom. Otherwise, a narrow road in
the opposite direction from the fence followed a circuitous route around
the hill. This route took considerably more time than simply taking the
stairs. However, Mother was not afraid of heights, and at times she took
us down those stairs. Usually it was when she needed some grocery item
to prepare our evening meal. Climbing back up was quite an adventure for
us.
Another couple lived in one of the apartments. Mother took
care of their baby boy while his mother worked. When the baby became so
fond of Mother that he would cry to stay with her rather than go home
with his own mother, she found another baby-sitter. That nearly broke
Mother's heart. She had really grown attached to that little boy. When
he would see Mother in the hallway, he would try to leave the one he was
with and go to Mother. Dad decided we needed to move to get Mother away
from that unhappy situation.
We moved to a furnished house quite
a distance away. It was about one block from the school where I began my
formal schooling. I loved school. It was so exciting to learn about
other things. Mother and Dad had taught us to read, write, and do
arithmetic, but going to school was something I enjoyed. My teacher was
apparently glad to have such an eager pupil and gave me extra work to
do. At the end of that first year she told my parents that I had already
completed the second-grade curriculum and suggested that I should be
promoted to the third grade. When they agreed, I was.
During this
year, Mother had become pregnant. She was so happy to be having another
child. This child would fill the void left by the little boy from the
apartment house. Unfortunately, she had a miscarriage and almost died.
Winter that year was worse than any of our previous winters in
Pittsburgh had been, causing my sister Gwen to have several respiratory
illnesses. She became awfully thin and frail.
Poor Dad was very
worried about his family. When our doctor told Dad that he should
consider moving away from the cold weather if he wanted to keep his wife
and younger daughter alive, Dad acted on his advice. The following day
he talked to his manager at Breneman and asked for a transfer back to
Dallas. The manager refused to transfer him, informing him that he was
needed right where he was. Dad replied that his family meant more to him
than the job. He quit right then and there.
Mom and Dad packed up
our belongings that day, loaded up our car, and paid all their bills.
They left the small amount of furniture they had, packed our linens and
clothes between the car seats and in the back seat of the car. This made
a bed for us to sleep on during the trip. The dishes, pots and pans,
etc., were placed in the trunk of the car. Everything else was packed
into the cedar chest that Aunt Ray had given me for my fourth birthday.
Dad hung it by its back legs onto the back bumper of the car, and we
headed for Ladonia, Texas. Mom and Dad took turns driving. On the
three-day trip, they only stopped to get gas or eat.
Our only
disaster was in Bells, Texas, just two hours from Granny and Grandpa
Coney's. We went under a railroad trestle, hit a big bump in the road,
and the cedar chest bounced off the bumper. One of its legs broke off.
Dad just turned the cedar chest around, put the other two legs over the
bumper, and continued our journey. Finally, we were home!
Lowell McCormack
Gainesville, Texas
Published:
November 14,
2005
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