Growing Up In Williamsport, Ohio

​My Sisters And Brother

My Sister Kat
Kathleen was eleven years older than I was. She was beautiful inside and out. For all of the important moments in our lives, she was there for us. She took Betty and me uptown to buy ice cream and acted as a quasi-mother.  An artist and designer on paper and she could embroider when she was five and left proof of it. When she got older, she could sew anything and was an excellent cook. Her soda biscuits were the best that I ever tasted. She married in 1947 when I would have been nine years old, so I have more memories of her married life than when I was younger. She had a great sense of humor and an infectious laugh. I have never met anyone who said a bad word about her. More to come. 
 
I Had a Brother Named Bob
We were a family of four girls and a brother named Bob. When that is your family dynamic, your brother is almost worshipped. My mother always said that he was too pretty to be a boy. He was six foot four inches tall, blonde, blue eyed and fair. He probably took after my mother’s family. They had always been called “Big Swedes”. He was so good looking that he had a suitcase full of photos that girls had given him. On top of that he was humble and even a little shy. He never sought his own and valued people who were downtrodden. He ate everything in sight including raw onions that were left over from supper. Then he would head uptown with Betty and me yelling from the back porch for him to bring back “bub” (bubble gum). He did. He sent letters and cards to Betty and me when he was in the Army. Who does that? Have I worshipped him enough? No! More to come.
 
My Sister Jean
Jean was in a spot. She was four years younger than Bob and five years older than me. She was essentially the middle child. She was too old to play with Betty and me and too young to be with Bob and Kat though in later years, she and Bob became close and did things together. In recent years, Jean and I became closer than we had ever been. I came to believe that she was the most intelligent of us all. She remembered dates, historical facts and was well read. One time I asked her if I could bring her an Alan Eckart or Zane Grey book and she said “no, Bob and I read those years ago”. She was artistic and could draw, sew and crochet anything. More to come on her too.
 
My Younger Sister Betty
Betty was two years younger than I was. When we were kids, you didn’t see one of us without the other. You can assume when I write that wherever I was, Betty was there too. Even today, I have called people that I am with “Betty” and then turn around and realize that I have mispoken and the person is not Betty. I was always tall and skinny (that I is what we used to say). Now we say thin, willowy or some such. Betty was little and sweet. She even had little teeth and she cried in her cat’s fur when she was upset. Today, she can crochet, embroider and cook anything.

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2019
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck