Popsie, my "step-grandfather" married my grandmother who was 22 years his senior. Remembering family history, he was born to a Native American couple in the Oklahoma/Arkansas area. When they passed away from scarlet fever, Johnnie and his siblings were first housed at the Good Samaratian Home in Monroe, Louisiana. They were then sent to the Louisiana Methodist Children's Home in Ruston, Louisiana. There, Popsie learned his trade of butchering and went to work at a local grocery store. He met my grandmother, apparently he was a catch during the depression because he could at least bring meat home. Popsie took care of my dad and his brother and sisters like they were his own. Mattie Lou passed away while on vacation with Popsie in 1960. Popie worked for both A & P and Piggly Wiggly in Ruston and loved it when we would show up to see him at work. Eventually his failing eyesight forced him into retirement after an accident at work nearly cost him his hand. He remained extremely close to my dad till the end of his life, as did his second wife, Lillie Mae. Any random Sunday afternoon, they would pull up at our house for a treat of my dad's grilled burgers. They loved my sister and I as if we were their grandkids and we considered them ours as well. I have great memories of their little house in Ruston, neat as a pin, with an abundant vegetable garden in the backyard and sunflowers the size of dinner plates growing along the fence. Popsie outlived two wives, but quickly found love and companionship with Miss Vera towards the end of his. They would go to the dances in downtown Ruston and enjoyed each others company. Popsie went into renal failure and the doctors had him doing self-dialysis. He passed away in his chair while watching his favorite show "Wheel of Fortune."

The photograph of Popsie and me was taken when I was two and the trip there is one of my earliest memories.