Dad worked in the White Valley Coal Mine. He was called a Driver, and he took his mule, Maude into the mine with the empty wagons for the miners and took them out when they were loaded. Maude was a very favorite animal in Dad's life. Mom always made sure that when she packed Dad's lunch, there was an apple in the pail for Maude. She never forgot to put three extra cookies in his lunch so that when he came home he had something for the three of us. We really looked forward to this special treat.
Another memory is the time Mom and Dad spent with us in the evening. While we did our homework, Dad sat around the table with his own tablet doing some simple math and Mom did her patching and crocheting at that time. Many nights Mom would make us hot cocoa for a special treat.
I remember on many Sunday mornings when Mom went down to start the fire in the stove to heat the kitchen. The three of us would jump in bed with Dad. He would play his mouth organ and sometimes we would sing. When Mom had breakfast ready we would dress and come down to a nice warm kitchen. The rest of the week Mom kept busy---every Monday besides washing all our clothes by hand she baked eight loaves of bread and a sardine pizza. Boy did we look forward to that delicious bread and pizza. On the weekend we looked forward to Mom's delicious cake that she made. She was a good wife, mother, cook and made sure we were disciplined. A great disciplinarian.
Dad was a smoker . He enjoyed rolling his own cigarettes (Cuddy Pipe Tobacco). He was a good father and provider. He was a serious man. Mom had a sense of humor and most of all I remember their smiles.
by Mary Lavrich