Our Mother was born in the hospital in Brownwood, Texas on September 13, 1929. She joined her beloved older brother, Milton Thomas Yarbrough and her parents, Martha Maurine Long Yarbrough and Marvin Thomas Yarbrough on a farm in McAdoo, Texas. In 1932, much to her delight, younger brother Royce Wayne Yarbrough was born.
Due to tough times of that era and changing circumstances, the young family moved to the family farm in Woodruff County, Arkansas in 1933. In 1934, Maurine was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She was encouraged to go to a sanitarium some distance away. Marvin wrote to the sanitarium and was waiting for a return letter saying she could be admitted. The letter did not come in time. She was 26 years oldand Marvin was 30 when she died. Their Grandmother, Virginia Avey Long, came to help with the three children for a while, but could not stay at that time. Their Aunt Annie and Uncle Walter Stephenson in Texas offered to have the children come to their farm to stay.
The Stephenson’s were a talented group and there was always a lot of music and laughter going on. Milton went back to Arkansas with Marvin after some time and Mom and younger brother Royce were left at the Stephenson’s. Mom said she was very homesick and missed her father and Milton terribly. Eventually, Marvin went to Texas and brought Mom and Royce back to Arkansas. Mom was so very happy to be back with her family.
Things were hard for the family. It was a very tough era for most people. Mom told us many stories about the farm and the people who lived and worked there. At that time there were sharecroppers on the farm, including black families that were very close to the children. We heard many tales of Jim, Booker T, and Al. Mom and her brothers later in life talked about recognizing that they loved these people as family.
Mom loved babies and dolls, but was a good sport and playmate for her brothers. For a while she had no woman in the house to help her keep clean and neat or remind her to do her homework and the other things mothers teach their daughters. Mom did spend a lot of time with Aunt Gayne Prellar in Augusta, Arkansas. Aunt Gayne was a half-sister to Virginia, Mom’s Grandmother. Gayne Prellar was a business owner and the first female photographer in the south. More importantly, she was kind and loving to Mom when she needed it most.
In 1937, Virginia came to visit from Columbus, Ohio. She took Mom with her to Little Rock for several months, coming back to the farm near Christmas. In 1938, Great Grandmother Virginia moved to the farm to help Marvin with the home and children. She brought a lot of order and rules to the home that the children weren’t used to. Though they all grew to love her, at first they just wanted her to go away.
When Mom’s father and his siblings decided to sell the family farm, Mom agreed to go back to Texas to stay with the Stephenson’s. She didn’t like it and was very homesick. When everything had been sold in Arkansas, Mom’s father and brothers Milton and Royce came to Spur, Texas and the family was reunited. Grandmother Virginia stayed with the family as well. Marvin bought an unfinished gas station with his share of the proceeds from selling the Arkansas farm. Things did not work out well there and there was little money for the family.
Eventually, Milton and Marvin traveled to California, leaving Royce and Mom with their Grandmother. World War II was gearing up and things were very tight. Marvin sent what money he could to help care for the family in Texas. Mom told us stories of the three of them spending a quarter each, going to the movies and getting hamburgers every once in a while.
When Mom was 13, she, Royce and Grandmother Virginia came to Brawley, California. Marvin had rented a small place for them near his own home. Mom told us she was surprised and unhappy to find out that Marvin had remarried and was living with his wife Mona and their young son, Stanley. Mom said she didn’t want to like them, but the minute she saw sweet little Stanley, she was hooked. Marvin and Mona went on to have Carolyn, twins Eddie and Marilyn, Stevie and Sam. Mom loved each and every one of her siblings dearly.
Grandmother and Mom moved to San Diego. During World War II that was a good place for women to find defense jobs and Grandmother found one of those jobs. Mom had moved so many times and was very behind in school. She was used to the little schools in the small towns of Texas and when she saw the much larger school in San Diego, she was petrified. She convinced her Grandmother to let her start the new school when the school year started instead of in the middle of the year. She never did go back.
When Mom was 14, she was walking to the small grocery store across the Pacific Coast Highway, when a young soldier noticed her. She was very beautiful and must have looked older than 14. The soldier was directing a convoy through the area. He told his friend that he would marry that girl. Mom fibbed about her age and indicated she was older. The young soldier, John Edward Flucard, Jr., somehow convinced Mom’s Grandmother to let them go out, and about 6 weeks later, on June 19, 1944, to marry. Her onestipulation was that they not get pregnant until he returned from the war.
Dad returned from the war and about 9 months and 1 day later, on October 4, 1946, Connie LaNelle was born in Artois, California. They had moved to Northern California so Dad could work in construction. On February 13, 1949, Marion Gaye was born in Willows, California and on October 17, 1950, Terry Lynn was born at Enloe Hospital in Chico, California. For several years it was Mom, Dad and “the girls” making up the family unit.
When Terry was bout 3, we moved to Missouri. First we lived on a farm in the Ozark Mountains, very rustic. Mom did many of the farm chores, including milking the cows when Dad had to find construction work to help make ends meet. Eventually we left the farm and lived in Springfield, then Paris and then Springfield again. While living in Springfield the second time, for the first time Mom found a job at a big hospital. She was a nurses’ aide. She had not worked outside the home much, but found she loved working at the hospital.
On January 20, 1958, after we returned to California, Guy Edward Oren was born. We were all ecstatic to have a little boy. Although she had never finished her formal education, Mom was accepted to into the Licensed Vocational Nursing program LVN. She was expecting when she took her state boards and on November 10, 1960, Joni Rae was born. We became the girls and the kids and entered the 1960s as a seven person family. Mom worked at various places and loved nursing. She was kind, and compassionate with her patients and co-workers. She retired from nursing at the age of 56.
Over the years she and Dad welcomed their Grandchildren to the family. Her Grandchildren are Shawn, Shelley, Kim, Chris, Tamara, Jahan, David, Heather, Jennifer, Guy II, Sara, Isabel and John. She welcomed step-Grandchildren Denver, Denalee, Nadine and Nathan, as well as Grandson of the heart, Eric. Now there are Great Grandchildren and Great-Great Grandchildren, all of whom love her dearly. She also loved and is loved by her sons-in law Denny Eaton and Joe Simanjuntak.
Mom lost Dad 12 years ago near their 62nd wedding anniversary. After he died she lived alone in her little dollhouse. She often mowed the lawns herself, always did her own housework, took care of anyone who needed her help. She continued to attend the Chico Seventh Day Adventist Church and loved the people in the congregation and each of the Pastors. She had many wonderful neighbors she called friends and loved dearly.
Over the last couple of months Mom was on Hospice. We made the fortunate choice to select Enloe Hospice. We learned that we knew two of her nurses, Yasue and Catherine from when they were nurses’ aides. She loved them both. She also loved Dianna, the other nurse who was on her team and Ashley, the aide who came to do her baths. Joni and I love them all, too, for the wonderful care they provided, that includes Jeff, who Mom didn’t really know but who helped so much the night before her death.
She was so wrong when she said no one would remember her. She touched many lives through the years. She is loved and missed by so many. Her memorial service will be Sunday, November 12, 2017, 3 PM at the Chico Seventh Day Adventist Church on Hooker Oak. In lieu of flowers, Mom would have loved it if people would consider a donation to the water for the Congo program through Mary Jo Lauderdale at the church; or other similar program. You can contact the church through their website www.chicoadventist.org.
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