Mom’s Memories P. 1 aka “I Hated That Haircut!”
Mom’s memories, page 1 begins with the beginning.
Since the second anniversary of my mom’s death is in two days, I thought I would write a little about her. I decided that I’d write about my mom’s earliest memory. My mom had a really good memory for most all of her life. She remembered what it felt like to be a little kid, so she could sympathize with them easily. Maybe that’s because her earliest memory wasn’t a pleasant one.
According to the little booklet she wrote in during her later years when her memories were starting to be inaccessible, her first memory concerned a haircut she hated. There are a few photos of her during this time, and every time she would see one of those pictures, she would inevitably say, “Oh, how I hated that haircut!”
Obviously it was not a style becoming to little 3-year-old Betty Lou Bucklin from Hathaway, Louisiana. She did not like having hair like a little boy. After all, this was the time when little Shirley Temple was making movies showing off her full head of curly hair. It was bad enough that her hair was pencil straight – not one curl to be found. How could she curl her hair when it was too short to go on a roller?
Betty Lou Bucklin with first cousin Stanley Keys and their grandmother Addie Hine Bucklin
And the photos of her with that haircut showed her disapproval. She was either frowning or looking away from the camera. In this photo she doesn’t look too thrilled. At least she is a little distracted by her new little cousin Stanley Keys.
This photo used to confuse me when I was a kid. My mom’s father was Fred Bucklin. Fred’s mother was Addie Hine Bucklin. My mom’s mother was Myrtle Phenice Bucklin. Myrtle’s mother was Daisy Keys. So how is it that Mom’s first cousin is a Keys and he’s a grandchild of Addie Bucklin? I thought that maybe Mama was confused since you can’t see the face of the grandmother standing there.
But come to find out, she was not confused. I was. Stanley Keys was the son of Frank Keys. Frank was Myrtle’s first cousin. But Frank married Edna Bucklin. Edna was Fred’s sister. So that would make Stanley my mom’s first cousin through the Bucklin line, but he was also her second cousin through the Keys line. I wonder if that confused my mom back then?
Probably not. All that was going through little Betty Lou’s mind was this: Who’s bright idea was it to give me this stupid “little boy’s” haircut?
Mama was good about writing on the backs of her photos. This one gives all of the pertinent information.