Richard was a tiny tike when Ma Kennedy died. They were close buddies, and he really missed her. He would call her mama.
I think he didn’t feel well all the time. Sometimes he would go off by himself for a while.
He was a farmer from the start. He loved to wear overalls. When he was young, Daddy was still plowing with mules. His three young sisters were fair game for him. Back then the girls always had tie sashes on their dresses that we attached to the side seams of dress. Those sashes made wonderful plow reins. I was always reattaching those sashes.
Richard kept up where the first watermelon blooms were. He kept a faithful watch over the patch and reported to us—we could hardly wait for those melons. Daddy called him “the boss” in a loving way—he let Richard help keep up with whose turn it was to say the family prayer.
When he had his tonsils out, he had a longer time healing. He was in the hospital with Bright’s disease, a serious kidney condition which made him really sick and made bright spots on his skin.
He made A’s and B’s in school—he didn’t think it was worth the stress of working for all A’s.
He’d rather read a library book. He didn’t think it was worth the effort to change out of his school clothes. He was the true hearted farmer in the family. He was a tractor fan. When he was sick and in bed living on pain shots, the community took up a collection for him. That gave him many hours of planning to spend the money on purchasing farm animals.
Diann would sit with him and keep him company when he was so sick. We missed him so much through the years. Surely he’s looking down from above and smiling on the farm.