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Nettie was born near the community of Marlin, in Falls County, Texas. She chose to be known as Janette for business purposes, perhaps says her daughter, because she thought Nettie sounded too country. She worked as a seamstress and had a home-operated sewing business at various times. To immediate family, she was always "Nettie."

Nettie loved having her grandkids come to visit, but everyone -- adults included -- knew that everything came to a halt when it was time to watch Days of Our Lives and other favorite soap operas.

She worked as a seamstress for years and never lost her ability to sew for herself and other family members. Some of us still have clothing she made for us more than 60 years ago. Lyford Hale's keepsakes include a cowboy shirt Nettie made for him when he was a child. Nettie learned to make western clothes when working as a seamstress for a business in Los Angeles whose clients included movie studios and movie stars.

She told LH that she and her family were in the Oklahoma Territory Land Run, but did not specify which one. Census records seem to indicate the Applebys came to Oklahoma Territory just after the land run. We're not sure what is correct, but Nettie's Texas birth in September of 1889, the 1889 Oklahoma Land Run and moving to Oklahoma all came very close together. Nettie said they lived in a home dug into the Oklahoma prairie, and it was in that dugout that her mother became ill and died.

Neither Grandparent was much of a talker. We heard almost no family history from them, nor did we hear any precautionary tales about life and how to live it.

One of the reasons they didn't talk much, I'm guessing, is that both grew up in difficult times. Nettie, especially, had it hard because her mother died when she was 2 years old. This put tremendous pressure on an already stretched James Appleby, who had to lean on his parents to care for the children.

While I'm sure Grandma loved her father, I know that she harbored resentment for the way she and her two sisters were treated by their stepmother, Bettie Wilmuth Appleby. Read Bettie's history and you'll see that she had problems of her own that clearly didn't help the mingled group to come together as a family.