I can close my eyes right now and let my mind take me back to those days. One year dad took mother, Frank and me to visit grandma and grandpa. Aunt Mary and Uncle Rox were there at that particular time. When we arrived about sundown, grandpa dashed out of the house to greet us. He hugged mother and helped us with our luggage.

Then we all gathered in the kitchen to help grandmother put all of the delicious food that she and Aunt Mary had prepared for the occasion on the table in the dining room. After the meal,the grown-ups all had coffee and Frank and I had hot chocolate. I remember grandpa drinking his coffee out of a mug that had a special little rim on it designed to keep his mustache out of the liquid. After dinner that evening grandpa sang "Way down South in the land 0' Cotton". The words in his song were not those of the classic "Dixie", but the tune was the same. Some of the words in his song were: "holly, holly hoe and a hinktum tack--vinegar shoes and paper stockings etc. ". I remember how funny I thought it was! And grandpa danced with mother and Aunt Mary that night. .. I thought that was really NEAT, as they say nowadays.

Thinking back on this period of my childhood-- the 1920's and early 30's-- I am reminded of some events that took place in 1931. I was seven and my brother Frank was three years old that summer. My uncle Harold brought his bride, my Aunt Margaret, who we called "Mona", with him on vacation to New Mexico. Grandmother Will and Aunt Mary, organizers that they were, decided upon a family reunion. Yes sir-ee the whole clan would be requested to gather at the Las Cruces farm when Aunt Mona and Uncle Harold were there. It was early in June, as I recall. We did just that... the whole family got together there. Dad and mother took Frank and me. Uncle Everet brought Aunt Louise and a brother of hers, whose name alludes me now. Aunt Mary was there and, of course grandmother and grandfather Will. Mary Louise was just a baby, only about a year old then. The H. C. Wills were received as celebrities!

Every single day during their two week stay with us exciting things took place: a trip to Juarez, Mexico, hikes in Soledad Canyon out in the Organ mountains east of Las Cruces, picnics at old Fort Seldon near Dona Ana and at White Sands, and many other things now long forgotten. I remember that Aunt Mary, Aunt Louise and mother took Aunt Mona out to the College; then to the Museum at Old Mesilla where they saw such things as the furniture once owned by Maxmillian and Carlotta and a lot of Billy the Kid memorabilia. They also visited Uncle Lee and Aunt Lou Reeves, my grandmother Will's brother and his wife. Uncle Harold took Aunt Mona to visit many of his boyhood friends and a number of places of historical interest up and down the Rio Grande Valley. I was most fortunate to have been taken on a lot of those excursions.

Dad and mother returned home before Uncle Harold and Aunt Mona did. With the understanding that those two would take me and drop me off in Portales at my home on their return trip to Pennsylvania, I was allowed to remain behind. In doing that, I got a chance to do a lot of things with my aunt and uncle that would not have been possible otherwise. While we were together they took me to El Paso and bought me a Stamp Album and a lot of foreign

stamps getting me started on a life-long stamp collecting hobby. Years after all of this occurred Aunt Mona reminded me of some of the things we did together that summer. She said that I had been an expert tour-guide. I can still remember how she laughed when she told the story of how one day they took me along with them on a visit to a working ranch over on the Eastern side of the Organ mountains ... as we rode over the rut filled road, through some scrub Juniper and Mesquite, we saw a herd of cattle grazing and I shouted out to her: "Oh boy, if you like pork chops, you sure could get some good ones off those white face cows!!"