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squabbles, he just let them work it out themselves, and they pulled some good tricks on each
other. Once Sarah got angry with Walter because he refused to take her somewhere in the
buggy. She went into his room with a cupful of the thickest, stickiest turpentine and poured

it into the seat of his one and only pair of Sunday pants. No dry cleaners then, so I’m guess­
ing that Walter just had to go buy himself new clothes.
At night all the kids took off their shoes, threw them over into the comer of the front

room, washed their feet, and went upstairs to bed. The next morning, the last child to put on
his shoes found that he had broken shoelaces. The next day, he’d be the first one up, and
someone else would end up with the broken laces.
I’m sure Grandpa knew about all his children’s shenanigans, but he just let them

handle their own affairs. The kids just took what they did to each other and laughed it off. It
was always a four-ring circus at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
Grandpa Dicks and Grandpa Tyre both died the same year at the same age of 73. I’ve

always thought how remarkable it was that Grandpa Dicks didn’t have a cavity in a single
tooth. He had all his teeth at his death. The undertaker remarked how unusual that was. But
even more remarkable was the fact that Grandpa Dicks had never been to a dentist and had

never owned a toothbrush. Yes, that’s right—he never, in his 73 years, brushed his teeth!

Ma must have been a special grandchild to Great-Grandma Kennedy (Frances

Kennedy) because she helped Ma with her elopement. Ma sneaked out a few of her clothes
and hid them in Great-Grandma Kennedy’s house. Many years later, Pa told me that Ma
wrote him a letter with detailed plans for their elopement. Great-Grandma Kennedy deliv­

ered this letter to him for Ma.
Everything went perfectly according to her plans until they went to the judge for their
license. Somehow Grandpa Tyre had found out that Ma and Pa were on their way to Lake

City to get married. Grandpa Tyre asked a friend go by horseback to outrun the eloping
couple. He was to go to the courthouse to tell the judge not to sell them a marriage license.
The horseback rider managed to beat John and Pearl to town because their horse gave

out when they arrived in Lake City. Pa rented a horse and surrey from Mr. Adicks’s livery
stable and put his own horse in the stable to rest. They then drove in high class to White

Springs. They bought their license and got married on October 2,1907, in a drugstore about
one block from the old springhouse.

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