(1959 family photo; children, from oldest to youngest (from right to left): Eva, Harvey, Claude, Ray, Betty, Margarett, and Joseph; Mother: Lucy, and Father: Joseph)

Listen folks, this is all true.
It’s about the beginning of something new.
The adventure is common as some stories go.
But here the two main characters are Lucy and Joe.
The yarn they started was long overdue
And it’s hard to believe what these two would do.
Although they grew up together neither one knew,
They’d be together before life was through.
Joe was a dude, dark and thin, but not tall,
A handsome fellow and that’s not all.
Lucy was petite with light brown hair,
To say she was beautiful would be fair.
Joe popped the question when Lucy was twenty-one
And these two would be married before a year was done.
Their first child was a daughter
And the last was a son.
There were five in the middle
By the time they were done.
Three girls and four boys was the roll call.
T’was a beautiful family and that’s not all.
They started out with love on their side;
And for twenty-nine years they did abide.
Knoxville, Tennessee is where it all started.
But Tennessee and this family were soon to be parted.
With their seven children and no job to be found,
Joe began searching in towns all around.
South Carolina is where he began.
But Kokomo, Indiana is where the search would end.
Lucy left for Kokomo in 1943
With six kids, baby Joe on her knee.
They didn’t have much money but they were alive.
And by the love they had they were sure to survive.
This family was blessed to have beans, and some meat
Along with hard times they were sure to beat.
For Joe factory work was not on his side.
Lucy said he took ill in 1945.
They moved to Paoli in 1946,
Thinking the country would provide a fix.
But for the boys the country was a bore.
Simply the move didn’t help the score.
One by one they would return to the City.
The family soon followed with their dog and a kitty.
Kokomo was the place they thought fine
And they were all together in 1949.

Margarett Inez Bates

(1949 family photo; back row: Father: Joseph Estel, Harvey, Eva Mae, Mother: Lucy; second row: Joseph, Margarett, Betty; front row: Ray and Claude. We were living at 1116 S. Emery St., Darrough Chapel, Kokomo, IN)