Morristown Adults: Kathy, Jennie Waters (Kathy's Grandmother), Terry, Frankie, Bobby Children: Loyd, Carol, Bonnie, Maudie, Chequettia, Dennis

1944 The star represented her son in W.W.II. Loyd was sent to France.

1946 Frankie and Bob Vielbaum

1962 Front: Jennie Waters, Frankie, Jeanie A picnic on the Little San Domingo near Wickenburg, AZ.

Loyd, Frankie, Kathy Sunnyslope, AZ

Frank was born on her grandparents ranch on Bonito Creek. The creek  was near a town called Angus, NM. Frank and her family  lived in the cabin for the first 12 years of her life. She had fond memories of cattle, buggy and stagecoach rides. She rode with her grandparents in a buggy  to Dos Cabezas, AZ to visit her uncles, Willie and Albert Crockett. Her grandparents left their ranch in about 1914 and moved to Duncan, AZ.  J.I. took his family in a different direction. They traveled in a covered wagon. Frankie had lots of interesting stories about their life in a covered wagon.
Frankie married her first husband Cleye Sweet when she was seventeen years old.  Just before Terry was born, she left him and moved in with her grandparents on her mother's side, the Prines. When her baby was two years old, she moved to Prescott, AZ to be with her parents. J.I. and his sons were on a road job near Granite Dells. There she met Frank Hastings and asked him to come to dinner with her family. After they were married, she changed her name to Frankie. They were married twenty one years and had seven children.

My mother should have written a book on our family, she had lived with both her grandparents, the Crocketts and the Prines. They had told her such interesting stories about the Civil War, slaves, Indian Wars, covered wagons, out-laws and how their parents helped to tame the West." written by Belle in her book, Moving On.

Remembering Grandma by Carol Hastings Threewit

Her saying about little children. "Little flowers need dirt to grow."
For those who thought they were high and mighty. "They are shitting in tall cotton."
For those who thought they were better off than others. "They don't own a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of."

My brother and my sisters spent many summers at Grandma's place. Her old house was tin, cardboard and old pieces of wood nailed together from old wooden boxes used to carry groceries, etc. I remember one part of the old house said Apache Beer. Funny how when we were young we didn't see her poverty, we loved her house. It was fun looking through the cracks in the old rickety, uneven floor boards, treasures were down there. We spent hours with flash lights searching for the good loot.

A summer bath was another story. Grandma had cold water piped into the kitchen sink only. So, when one wanted a bath in the summer, we used an outside hose and placed a two hole sprinkler on it. Next we would place the hose over one of the large branches of the old tamarisk tree that grew near her kitchen window. Grandma had old boards to stand on while one was taking a shower so our feet would not get muddy. One of the old branches held soap and rags. It was quite different from what we grew up with, so of course it was fun to clean up. My biggest trouble with it was taking a shower at night. I was a big chicken and grandma didn't help. She read detectives and murder magazines all the time. Everyday she would tell about another horrible murder. Her stories just added fuel to the flame for me. Maudie was the big brave one, so I would plead and beg her to come out with me. One night, as grandma was telling us murder stories, I was begging Maudie to come outside with me, surely there was a murderer outside the door. Finally, determined to be brave, off I started, as I was opening the screen door, a man stood there. I stopped and began screaming, Maudie ran up behind me, she began screaming, Grandma grabbed her loaded shotgun, and began giving the guy the third degree. Poor guy, he had just came home from the service, saw our light and wondered if we knew where his parents lived. What a serenaded we gave him.

In winter months, we would heat water and haul it over to the old building where she had an old tub. We would take turns using the same bath water. The room was very cold, it certainly was not as fun as a summer shower.

Grandma did not have a couch in her living room, she had an old cot she would sit on to read and visit,  a small dresser, and a wooden chair. She used the old chair for a place to hold her coffee cup and her ash tray. The old dresser had a lamp used for reading and the old cot was were she would sit and ask you to sit also while visiting. Grandma kept her hair brush in the old dresser, she used to let her long dark thick hair down and brush it, when the tangles were out, she would twist it, roll it back up into a bun on the back of her neck and put hair pins in to keep the bun in place. She loved to keep her letters from friends and family in the old dresser, she would pull them out and ask you to read each one of them. Ha ha, it started several family feuds, but kept family entertainment going. On the old walls behind her was her treasures. The old walls gave us another form of entertainment. Grandma would write down important facts and dates on her walls, it was fun reading those short bits of information. She collected plates, she had a great collection of plates. In one of the other corners was an old wood stove, she always kept a pot of water in a pail on it. It kept humidity in the air during the winter months and hot water was there for the taking. In the center of the room was a wonderful old round table, it stood on one large center leg. She had an array of homemade wood chairs around it.

Two bedroom doors were connected to the living room walls. There was a small bedroom behind the cot, it was very dark and seldom used. Grandma's bedroom was long and narrow. It had a bed on both ends. Grandma slept in the bed furthest away, us kids always shared the bed near the door. In the winter, huge levi quilts weighted us down, but kept us warm. In the summer, the screened in windows kept us cool. I remember Grandma's pee pot was placed at the end of her bed on the floor. A  funny story I remember about grandma's bed was the time Aunt Bobby and I stopped to spend the night. Grandma was in California visiting Terry. Bobby and I were very hungry for some spinach, so Bobby said, "Mom hides canned food under her bed." We went in and pulled the box out. Inside the box laying on top of the can was a note. The note said, "You girls keep your damn hands off my food." We thought that was so funny.

Grandma's place had electricity, but no frills. She didn't have a cooler. Funny thing about being a kid, we didn't notice how hot the Arizona heat was while there. She had plants all around her place, vines hung over her porches creating a very cool shade. Most of her windows were wood and opened in the summer to let breeze blow through the screens. I don't remember being miserable, so it must have been cool enough. I remember grandma having an electric fan on her old wooden chair that was next to her cot. In the winters, grandma warmed her house with the wood stove. Dad and others would go out and bring wood to her place, another fun chapter of our life. (that is where we learned to drive)

Grandma loved her plants. Her yard was full of beautiful cactus and flowers. That was part of the ritual  of visiting, walking around hearing the stories of how she acquired each plant. They were beautiful.

Grandma's hearing was very bad. She kept a dog so that she would know when someone came around. The dog I remember the best was Uncle Frank's dog Napoleon. Grandma loved that dog, I think we all loved that dog. Grandma thought everyone should have a dog, but my dad didn't really like them. So here comes Grandma one day with us a little weenie dog, we named him Shorty and had him for years. He is buried in Dad's yard in New River.

Adventures of the young. Going to Mack and Enie's grocery store was was another daily thrill. Although it is about a town block away, the post office and the store seemed to be at least a mile in my childhood memory. Grandma didn't have much money, so when the grandkids came to stay, parents always brought a box of food along to feed the kids. Dad would leave grandma money for us to have treats. The biggest treat of each day was to walk the "mile" to the post office and get grandma her mail. She would give us each a $.12 for a coke. The outside of the store had a parking lot that was paved with beer and pop bottle tops. We would search through them, more treasures to add to our growing collection.

The store was half store, half bar.  Kids could go into the bar in those days, we would sit on one of the old round plastic stools, order our pop and stare at all the old pictures. There were several Black Bart pictures, the A1 picture of a cowboys dream and Custer's Last Stand. The bar was very mysterious and we would sit in awe as we ordered our pop. My favorites at that time were Bangs; cream soda, root beer and R.C. cola. There was a deposit on the bottle and we would get our money back the next day as we returned our bottle. The store had very little on the shelves, a few bottles of milk, cigarettes and candy. Back in those days, people didn't have to worry about their kids, we were safe even with the highway running along in front of the store.

While staying with Grandma, she didn't expect to much work out of us. There was usually the floor to sweep and dishes to wash once a day. But I remember wash day being a big ordeal. It was work. First we had to start a fire, heat big tubs of water, enough for the ringer wash tub and two tubs for rincing. That part was work but an adventure went along with it, the ringer. We had heard stories of people losing their arms and fingers in those machines. But a few times, sheets or pants would ball up and the ringer would pop up. It had a special handle to turn and tighten it back down. I didn't stick my finger into it, so I didn't find out what would happen if one stuck a hand in it.  I loved using the ringer. I think it was a challenging job.

Maudie on wash day.

1964 Grandma & David Bottle feeding Maudie's calves.

1963 age: 85 Wittmann, AZ James ISO Crockett J.I. Back: Mickey, Bobby, Melody, Loyd, Kathy, Carol, J.I. Crockett, Pam, Frankie Front: Van, Mildred, Pat

 J.I. & Dollie Crockett
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