Helen Virginia Ferrell

Aunt Helen - We also spent a lot of time with Aunt Helen and Uncle Guy Mantooth. Daddy was good friends with Guy and they enjoyed hunting together (mixed with a little whiskey)! Kay and I remember many times our parents took us to the Mantooth farm. We all ate together at a big round table lighted by a lantern. And we were bathed in a wash tub with water heated on the stove in the kitchen. We loved the farm animals and chickens, and they always had a new litter of kittens for us to play with. They had no electricity or running water but we thought this was great fun. We spent every Christmas and Thanksgiving with Grandpa and Mack and Helen and Guy. They would come to our house on Christmas Eve for a turkey dinner and gift exchange. Christmas Day was spent at the Mantooth farm with another turkey dinner. Thanksgiving was always at the Mantooth's. They had a cozy wood stove going and during the afternoons Grandpa always took Kay and me on a walk. He taught us how to skip rocks in the river and hunt for Indian arrow heads and beads. We greatly looked forward to these walks and pestered him continually about what time we would go. His reply would always be, "directly". He used that word a lot!

Helen Ferrell Mantooth at age 80 in 1989 at her home. Married to Guy Mantooth.