It was in the early 1950's and there was a terrible drought in S. Texas. Sammy was the baby of the family, and his mother had to go to work 45 miles away in San Antonio, in order for them to survive the drought.
A Lonely Little Boy misses his mother
My baby brother Sammy was eight years old in 1956 when Mother was working at the State Hospital in San Antonio. They were still living on the farm out near Kasper School. It was the first job she ever had, besides working at home, where she got paid. She was an aide and she loved her job. But it was hard on her and hard on the kids still at home.
She had to work the 12 to 7 AM shift. She left the farm around eight o’clock at night, drove to Floresville, where she car-pooled with two other women. She worked all night, then drove back to Floresville, and then from Floresville out to the arm. She got home about 9:00 AM. Then she had to sleep, and take care of her family at home. It was very hard on her. She and Daddy decided she would stay with Margaret, my sister who was married and living in San Antonio in Highland Hills. It was much better for her, as Margaret lived close to the State Hospital, and she could sleep days at Margaret’s. She came back to the farm on her one-day a week off.
But the situation was hard on Sammy, who was 8 years old then. He felt lonely, lost and abandoned. He missed his mother. After all he was the baby of eight children. That was a hard year for him anyway. He was riding the school bus into Poth to go to second grade that year. Mrs. Matthews was a hard teacher. She was tough. He didn’t think he could make it through. He remembers it as being the worst time of his growing up years. Daddy was gone all the time working. Donny was playing football in Poth and busy helping on the farm and besides he had his friends. Gerry was a senior that year in Poth, riding the bus into town also, and she was in charge at home. It was a hard year for Gerry too. She had the responsibility after school of taking care of her little brother and cooking supper for her “men folk” at night, and doing all the laundry and house cleaning. She didn’t get to participate in most of the school functions like football games and dances.
That year it didn’t rain. It was the drought of the 1950’s. It was dry and desolate out on the farm. The grass had all died, and even the cows had to be fed prickly pear. Daddy used a pear burner to burn off all the thorns so the cattle could eat. Mother missed so much. She was the person who everyone depended on in the family. She was always there. But that year she wasn’t. Sammy looked forward to the one day a week she came home from San Antonio but when she left to go back to San Antonio, he cried and cried. He felt abandoned.
This situation continued on until the next summer. Then Mother got the three-to-eleven shift at night! She moved back home and could drive in to work in the afternoons. She came home late at night. She would get home around 1:00 AM. But at least she was there during the day, especially was it good on weekends. Sammy could see his mother.
Finally, the drought got so bad, Daddy made the decision to sell the farm. It was the hardest decision he ever made. Loving farming like he did, he felt like such a failure. But it was the weather. The weather had defeated my father. He was tired of scraping and trying to make ends meet. Tired of everything depending on the weather. So they sold the farm and moved to San Antonio in 1957.
Sammy had mixed emotions. He had a wonderful teacher that fall, Mrs. Sunday. He says loved her to death. And he had made new friends. He had finally adjusted. But they had to move.
It didn’t take him long to make new friends in his new school in South San Antonio. And Mother was near her work at the State Hospital. Daddy got a good job as a night watchman at Campbell Steel Co. By then my sister Gerry had graduated, and my brother Donny was going to Poth High School. He stayed that year with the McDonald family working for his room and board on their dairy, to finish out the year and play football.
So, 1956 was a lonely year for a little eight-year old boy, who felt abandoned and lonely. He knows it was one of those things that could not be helped. But that is now. Then it was hard to understand. It was hard for my Mother to leave her little boy and her two teen-aged children, but what were they going to do? They needed the money. If my mother hadn’t had that job they would not made it. Somehow they made it through that year. That year Mother knew she just could not go back to the farm to stay forever. And she didn’t. The last of the Zook children were leaving the Kasper community. They left in 1957 and never went back.
That wasn't just tough on Sammy, it was tough on everyone in your family. What most people don't know or care about who live in the city is that drought has been devastating throughout our history and probably the reason so many left farming like your family and those farms were bought by corporate enterprises.
Growing up on a farm is such a wonderful way to live, it's a real shame that most kids don't get to do that these days. I remember back in the 50s we lived in the city, but my father, a trucker, went to work for another trucking company in another town and had to stay there during the week to work and only came home on weekends. That only lasted about a year, and then we moved to that town. I don't recall his being away as much of a problem because mom was always there for us, but I do recall moving to that smaller town was not appreciated.
The true story of Cheryl Pierson Cuccio who made headlines in 1986 and her husband Rob Cuccio. Cheryl was abused sexually and physically and Rob died for 43 minutes on Cheryl's 43rd birthday.
This is not a drill. The attack on Pearl. They were the ghost planes of the night, deadly, illusive, sharp-clawed Black Cats. The Memoirs of ARM H.P. Lawrence, a Pearl Harbor survivor, Black Cat, and decorated war veteran.
Through interviews with Lauren's doctors, along with those of other physicians, researchers, and clinicians who specialize in lung cancer, readers will have a better understanding of the disease.
With the same passion and honesty Lauren exhibite
A Lonely Little Boy misses his mother
