In the essay about the Sheppard family, I mentioned the Jewell was one of the thirteen siblings. She and her husband moved into the community close to Mr. Albert Reynolds and her sister Ruby, and also close to her parents and younger siblings. She raised six sons. Thomas, Clifford, John Milton, Earl, Forrest and Lamar. I’ve often wondered if the names Earl and Forrest were borrowed from my Daddy and Uncle Earl. There was also a girl who died very young.
I never knew Thomas while I was growing up. He was a good bit older than me. Clifford married my cousin Joyce, Uncle R.V.’s daughter, and they had 6 children. The marriage ultimately ended in divorce, but while I was growing up, Clifford was very active with us. We loved to set out hooks for catfish in Calebee Creek. He was also an avid hunter, and we hunted together as long as he lived. John Milton was also a few years older. I think he may have been a senior in high school when Betty and I started to school. But after a stint in the Army, he married one of Wade’s classmates, and as adults, we had good association with them, through church and otherwise.
But when I talk about “the Ledbetter Boys,” I am mostly referring the Earl, Forrest and Lamar. Earl was about 5 years older than me, Forrest 3, and Lamar 2. We were closely associated in church and school activities, later on, and I first came to know them while living in the Little House. While living in the Little House, my closest contacts were members of the Segrest family—Daddy’s siblings and their off-spring. But Church, and then school expanded the circle, even while we were still living at the Little house. I was still at the Little House for the first and second grades. The Ledbetter boys, like us, rode the school bus.
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