my parents

My parents were a generation marked by the Great Depression and as a result I was taught not to waste anything.  My dad, Ben Dale Cox, was born at home in Star, Texas and my mom, Ina Florence Rickel, was also born at home but on the family farm, but not in the house currently on the property.  I've been told that the Coxes were very poor, my grandfather Cox had heart problems and spent most days in bed.  My grandmother Cox had a garden behind their house and raised most of what they ate supplemented by the chickens roaming around the back yard.  My dad told me once that it was a real treat when a neighbor would stop by delivering a bit of beef or pork just slaughtered. Neighbors looked out for each other in those days.   My mom on the other hand does not remember having hard times because they had an acre garden, raised cows, pigs, chicken, turkeys, goats and sheep.  They would set up road-side stands selling surplus vegetables to neighbors passing through their property.  At that time the road we know as the road to the creek was a public road crossing the creek, going into the pastures and connecting to another road on the other side of the "mountain."  Mother did say she had only 2-3 dresses, one for church and 2 to switch out for school.  Clothes were made out of flour sacks so when purchasing flour it was always wise to select sacks of matching patterns.  

My mom and dad knew of each other but, not living in the same community or attending the same school, did not socialize.  After high school my dad joined the army hoping to become a pilot (at that time there was no air force)  but he did not pass the eye exam so went into the military police.  He played the trumpet for the army for a while.  Mom went to college for two years, almost unheard of in those days, then went to work for General Dynamics riveting air plane wings just like the posters of Rossie the Riveter, at Carlswell in Fort Worth.  That is where she ran into Dad and they started going out, first as friends, then dating.  

Being an Air Force family, we moved around some but not as much as most service families.  I was born in Gulfport, Mississippi in 1946.  We lived in Kansas, but often went to live on the farm when Dad went overseas.  One time we were scheduled to go to Japan, had our shots and all, but things changed and families were not allowed to go after all.  My grandad, Will Rickel, had a rent house in Star, complete with an outhouse so we lived there.  Other times when Dad went to Korea and Thialand we lived with grandad on the farm.  The family did live in England for 3 1/2 years. Mom worked on base to have something to do.    My schooling was average I guess.  Families weren't overly involved in what their children were learning in school.  I had no activities outside of school for them to attend.  Gary and I were mostly "free range" on the farm and even when we moved to San Angelo.  Mom and Dad both worked so Gary and I took care of ourselves.   I ate a lot of tuna sandwiches because I knew  how to make them.   No telling what Gary ate!  Both my mom and dad worked most of our lives because service pay was low.  We never went without the necessities though and didn't waste what we did have.      Can't say I would change a thing even if I could.