Larry D. Fisher here.  My brother Don recently gave me an old steno notepad he found containing  a few entries from my Mother about life in the mid-seventies.

Late Summer of 1975

(By Leta Fisher, wife of Connie and mother of Bob, Joe, Connie Neil, Don, Larry, and Charles.  She and Dad were living at the old home place, Euchee Creek, west of Sand Springs, Oklahoma, when she wrote this.  She was 69 years old.  I have simply typed what she wrote with a few corrections for clarity.  The few places I have added items, I placed them in brackets.)

This is Aug. 16.  The month is half gone.  Its jet speed leaves us breathless and spent.

Two weekends Larry and the two youngest children [Larry Mike and Ann, ages 14 and 7, respectively.]  spent the weekend with us. 

The first weekend, I went to Texas [to visit her sister Inez and brother-in-law Clarence in Bonham] even tho' Larry and his two were here.  This weekend, we have the whole family and Leta [Brother Connie's daughter and Mom's namesake granddaughter who now lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Leta would have been 15 at this time, I think.]

Last night (Friday) we all just stayed around the house until 9:00 p.m. then we went to Braum's for ice cream [You who have never had Braum's ice cream don't know what you are missing!]

This afternoon, Ann went with her grandpa to see Great-grandma [Francis Fisher] and  then to Bob's [Her oldest son and my brother] store [an agricultural supply store in Tulsa.]

Carol [my wife] and I went shopping.  Lisa [my oldest daughter, age 15 at the time], Leta, and Larry Mike went bowling.  Larry Dean [me] and Carol went with Charlie tonight.  They were going bowling, then out to dinner and then on to the show.

Connie [my dad] and I took the four children to Estill park [a city park in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.] Lisa and Leta packed us a picnic lunch to take while I rested a minute and ate a piece of watermelon. 

Arriving at the park, the children played on the beach and explored the river's edge while Connie and I just sat in the shade drinking coffee and talking.  About 7:30 we ate our picnic supper.  Charlie Burgess [a neighbor] came along in his Honda.  He ate a sandwich with us.  After we were through eating, the children played on the swings and slide.  [Sounds like some teenagers reliving their childhood.]

About 9:00 it started getting dark so we hurriedly packed our things and then headed for the Dairy Queen for ice cream.  [Dear reader, are you starting to get the idea that my Mother loved ice cream?]  We were home by 10:00. Annie and I baked a chocolate cake and I also put some ham in the over to bake.

It is about 11:00 and Annie is in bed and Connie is reading stories to her.  The other three are downstairs playing some kind of game:  fussing part of the time and laughing the other half.  It has really been a very simple day and evening, but at the same time, it has been so enjoyable.

If it were not for this second family of ours, Connie and I would spend so much time by ourselves.

Our older children have married children coming home to see them so they are busy.  Since Larry's children are still small, it makes it nice to have them here so much.  Of course, Charlie comes home when Larry does.  We like that.  [My parents would live long enough to see Annie's son Jake.]

I count my blessing daily and thank God for them.  [End of this entry.]

Late Summer, 1976

[A year has past and Leta--Mom--is 70.  Mom and my Aunt Kathlyn, dad's younger sister, are taking a little trip of about 150 miles one way, I think, plus some other driving.  Again, the items in brackets were added by me.]

Kathlyn and I are making plans to go to Silver Dollar City on Wed. morning. 

Tues, p.m. Aug 2, 1976

I have my bags packed to go Silver Dollar city [a small theme park near Branson, Missouri].  I am not taking many clothes, but I have scissors, pliers, flash light, coffee pot, snacking food, medicine of various sorts, just about everything but the kitchen sink.  I am cooking a roast for Connie in the crock pot.

It is 12:15 and I am still not sleepy [Mom was a definite night owl.  She did not require a lot of sleep.]  Must bathe and go to bed anyway.  Must be rested to start out on my trip.  More tomorrow night.  Hope I don't get lost.

Wed., Aug 4 [Either she lost a day, or one of her entries in incorrect.  She previously wrote Tues. was the 2^nd.  You are welcome to get use your computer to solve the mystery of the missing day.]

The day dawned bright and clear after a nice cool night.  I left home about 9:00 a.m. heading for Silver Dollar City.  Got about three blocks from home and the foot feed on the car broke loose.  I was in front of Mrs. Lund's house [a neighbor] so called Connie at his mother's.  He knew what had happened.  The day before he had raised the pedal and forgot to put the pin back in that would hold it in place.  It took him about five minutes to fix it.

When I arrived at Kathlyn's house, she was lying on divan and said she didn't want to go if we were going to start out having car trouble.  Connie assured her that we were not likely to have any more trouble so we left Sand Springs about 9:30.

We had a nice time and a nice ride.  After we left the Will Rogers Turnpike [from Tulsa to Missouri state line], we wanted to take hwy 66 but all we could see was I-44. We finally saw a sign that said 71 miles to Springfield [Missouri].  We never saw another Springfield sign or 66 highway sign again until we were 24 miles from Springfield.

We stopped at a DX station after we had been driving about 3 hours, got gas, and inquired the way to Springfield.  He assured us we were headed right.

We took a farm-to-market road numbered MM just before we got to Springfield.  It was a good road.  Followed it to M and followed that to 65.  We were on our way to Branson.  Our time was good.  We still had not eaten but thought we would just go on to our motel which Tommy Fisher [a cousin, son of Chester] had assured us we would reach before we came to Branson.  All was going fine, but we were really climbing some mountains!  Each one higher than the preceding one.

We reached a road leading off to Branson but still no HiHo motel.  Kept following hwy 65.  Felt we must have misunderstood Tommy.  More long, winding high mountains.  Nowhere to turn around. Car beginning to have trouble pulling mountains.  We cut off air conditioning to lighten the load.

I began to get tired.  I had now been driving six hours without a good rest stop or any food.  No place to turn around.  We finally were at the Arkansas line when I found an abandoned filing station where I turned around.  We had gone nine miles out of the way and it seemed like 90.  The roads were narrow, winding and the mountains high. We went back and went off the hwy into Branson.

Stopped at a restaurant and had a deluxe cheeseburger with fries and a cold drink.  Inquired  about motel and found it was on hwy 76, but not but about 4 miles out of Branson.  We had no trouble finding it.  Checked into motel about 4:30 p.m.  I made a pot of coffee.  We snacked on chips and cookies then took a short nap.

Kathlyn called and made reservations for us to go to a concert to hear the Foggy River Boys. Pearl Hendrix [spelling is unclear] had recommended this to me.  It was about 2 miles back towards Branson. Easy to reach.  We enjoyed every minute of it. We had popcorn and Pepsi [Isn't that the state snack of Missouri?]

Arriving back at our motel about 10:45 , we got ready for bed, then made us a cup of tomato soup and drank it.  That was real tasty and satisfying.  It is 12:20 and I am getting sleepy.  More tomorrow.

Thursday afternoon 4;50 p.m.

After a good night's rest, we left motel about 9:00 a.m.  heading for the Shepherd of the Hills [a tourist site based on a book and movie from the 30s of the same title].  We had breakfast at Aunt Molly's Cupboard at the farm [at Shepherd of the Hills].  I had sausage, hot biscuit, gravy, hash browns, and coffee.  All for $2.09.  Not bad at all and the food was good. [Mom loved breakfast.]

We then toured the little shops while waiting for our guide to take the tour of all the places mentioned in the book.  We spent the morning at the "Farm" as the Shepherd of the Hills attraction is called.  It was [a] most enjoyable morning.

About 12:00 noon we left and headed for Silver Dollar City.  It was about four more miles around one mountainside after another.  The roads are good but narrow and winding and, as one of our guides said, our valleys are deep.  This is no place to hurry.

We had no trouble finding the place.  Spent three hours wandering around the area.  Ate a hot dog and rank a Pepsi.  Toured the shops.  Marveled at the pulpit in the little church.  It was made from a 600# stump of maple tree.  It has been polished until it shines like glass.  It is almost shoulder height to me.  The view of the mountains behind the pulpit is breathtaking. 

The scripture, "I will lift mine eyes unto the mountains from whence cometh my strength and my salvation."

Sitting silently on one of the straight-backed, wooden benches carved from native trees, you feel a deep sense of reverence and awe, even with all the crowds milling around outside.

The little mourners bench, which is another tree stump cut and polished smooth, is a reminder of times when our parents paused for worship after their hard weeks' work. 

We watched a lady making lye soap in her big, black pots with fires burning briskly under them.  We each bought a piece of lye soap.  Next we took a float trip down the river.  Kat and I were in a johnboat with 8 boys and girls.  They were the nicest kids!  We really enjoyed our float trip.

After that, we visited more shops.  Saw a woman spinning yarn, a man making brooms, watched a gunfight, bought ice cream [there she goes again with the ice cream.] and decided to take a ride on a train.  Waiting at the depot, we were surprised by Susie Williams and her husband and two little boys.  She said she had just remarked, "That looks like Aunt Kathlyn and Aunt Leta," but she didn't think it was, but it was.  They had just arrived.  [I have no idea who Susie Williams is.]

We didn't miss a thing except the cave tour which I didn't want to take.

Came back to motel about 4:30.  Put on house coat, turned on t.v., and piled up in bed for a rest period.  This is living!  Tonight we are going to the Corn Crib Theatre [That's how she spelled it.] just about a block down the Hwy. from us.  More later.

We went out for supper.  Then we went to Corn Crib Theatre.  It was a 1920s type vaudeville and melodrama.  It was real corny.  After an hour, we were tired of it.  A storm started coming up, so we left early and beat the rain in about 10 minutes.

After getting ready for bed, we played two games of Yatsee, then drank a cup of hot instant tomato soup and went to bed.

Friday morning

We got up about 7:30 and dressed.  Walked across the Hwy and had a leisurely breakfast; hot biscuits, gravy, 1 slice bacon, 1 sausage patty, scrambled eggs, and fried apples, butter, & coffee [That rich diet did her in at age 91 and 6 months.  So much for "healthy" eating, folks.]

Went back to motel, finished packing, and checked out about 8:45 a.m.

I serviced the car at Branson and we were on our way.  It was cool.  I did not turn on the air conditioner until we got out of the mountains at Springfield. We followed 65 Hwy to the edge of Springfield and hit I-44 and turned west. 

We stopped once to eat and twice for gasoline.  Had no trouble at all.  Knew the way.  Got to Kat's house about 2:30.  That was very good time.

[And there, sadly, the stories end.  Maybe someday Don will find another steno pad and I'll be able to share more of Mom's writing. She loved to keep journals and enjoyed having them read.  Thank you for reading all the way to the end.]