Stories of my mom, Neita Jean Simmons, from her sister Joan.
"Your mom was very bubbly and
talkative as a child and I was very shy. I always envied her ability to talk
to just anyone. We spent many happy
hours playing with dolls and playing in our sandbox together. We also had
lots of fusses and fights. When our mom had enough she would put one of us
in one room and the other in another room, but we would make faces at each
other around the corner."
"I don't think I told you the story about your mom getting run over. We were quite young because I can barely remember this. Your mom was probably 2-4 years old. Our parents didn't have a car then so once a week we would go into town in the hack (a small wagon) drawn by two horses, to get groceries for the week. Mom and daddy sat on a seat in the front and Lucille, Neita Jean and I sat in the back. One Saturday we were on the way home and were going up the hill South of Osceola when your mom stood up. The hack must have jerked because she fell out. The back wheels of the hack ran over her legs. My dad jerked the horses to a stop so fast that they backed up and ran over her legs again. The hack was so light it didn't hurt her very much but scared all of us. Lucille says she got into trouble for not watching your mom but I don't remember that part. We were all just happy that she was okay."
"Your mom was sick with typhoid for a long time. I don't remember how long but know that she was very, very sick with an extremely high fever but survived. She missed the first 1/4 of the school year but was able to keep up by doing school work at home. That way she didn't miss a school year."
"She also had an infected ringworm on the top of her head. The doctor in Osceola couldn't get it cleared up so sent her to KC for treatment. They finally got it to heal but left a big scar on the top of her head. Her hair after that was thin on top and she was quite self-conscious about that."
"I don't remember who but someone gave your mom the nickname " Tater-I-Bean." We shortened it to Tater and called her that for years. I still will occasionally have people ask me about Tater."
"Another story: One day while we were visiting our Grandmother Smith in Osceola your mom was in the bathroom rinsing her mouth out with water. She was heard saying "That should do it." When she was asked what she was doing she said trying to take her teeth out. She had seen my grandmother take her false teeth out by putting water in her mouth and thought she could do the same thing."
"One day she and I were playing in the peach orchard by our house. We saw a peach hanging up high and wanted to pick it and eat it. I told her I would push her up in the tree so that she could pick it. Well, her foot slipped and a piece of the tree went in her leg under the kneecap, up behind her kneecap and out above it. Our parents were not home at the time and she couldn't bend her knee so Tommy carried her to the house. She had to lay there for hours until our parents came home to take her to the doctor. He couldn't just cut the piece of wood out as he said it would cut too many ligaments and muscles so he had to work it out little by little. It took a long time and I know was very painful. I always felt a little guilty as I was helping her climb the tree."
"When your mom was little she had
quite a stubborn streak. She would defy our dad (who was very strict) when
the rest of us were afraid to. I think
she got away with more, being the baby, then the rest of us did. I remember
one day at the dinner table she got up before she was finished eating and he
told her to sit down. He told her several time to sit down but she wouldn't
do it and I was sure she would get a spanking. I don't remember whether she
did or not but she probably did."
"Thanks for sharing with me the hard time you and you family have had dealing with your mom's death. I have had a really hard time dealing with it and know it was much harder for you all. At least I know now that she and her family have not been forgotten. She wanted to live to see her family grown up so badly. After she had gotten worse she told me she had a dream of Patti in her wedding dress. She thought that was a message from God that she would live to see Patti married. It just didn't happen that way."