Such Is Life In the Far, Far West

William, far left; Letha (black jacket) & Marvin, right.

Marvin was the youngest of his siblings, Letha was the oldest and William was in the middle. With about 12 years difference in their ages, Marvin often said that sometimes Letha was more like a mother to him than a sister as he was growing up. When he was in the third or fourth grade, at Helix Elementary, Letha was his teacher and she sadly told him at the end of the year that she needed to hold him back so that she wouldn’t be accused of favoritism. He was never sure if that explanation was true or just an invention to make him feel better. Bill, who lived with his wife and three children in Pendleton, died of a heart attack in his forties, but Letha and her husband, Bud, eventually came to live in the same town in which Marvin and Jennetta had settled and their connection remained strong for the rest of their lives.