In The Beginning

My life began on Wednesday March 21, 1951.  Well, actually, it began when I was conceived around nine months earlier.  I was born in the Collin County Hospital of McKinney Texas.  My parents Richard and Wanda “Davis” Cloer gave me the name Karen Sue.  My Grandparents were Lee and Sadie Davis, and Luther and Bertha Cloer. 

My Dad’s real mother passed away when he was three years old after giving birth to another son who only lived couple of days.  She died with Toxemia Poisoning, which years later had a big impact on me.

My Mom and Dad were very proud that I was born before Easter which would give them a chance to show me off over the holidays.  However, I was born with Spinabifida, which in those days Doctors knew little about.  Because I had a whole in my back Dr Charlie Wysong would not allow them to take me home from the hospital.  He said that I didn’t need to be handled by many people.  He also told them over the years of my early life that I was not to ever get a lick on my back, because it could kill me instantly.  He also said that most kids in that day that were born with this disease hardly ever lived passed 2 years old.  He was and wanted my parents to be very protective.  If it had been left up to him I would have never had much of an active life.  Well guess what?  I did make it passed two years old, and apparently I have lived a full life, although I have had many ups and down due to this disease.  I will come back to this later in my book.

I want to talk a bit about my grandparents.  I don’t remember much about my Grandpa Cloer, because I was very young when he passed away.  What I do remember about him is that he had a wooden leg, and he was very sick.  I can remember going over to his house, and going to the back bedroom to see him as he lay sick in his bed.  One thing that I remember him talking about was that he could feel ants stinging his leg.  Remember the wooden leg I spoke of?  That was the leg he was referring to.  He had a smoke stand that Grandma bought him for his birthday one year.  It stood about three feet high, made of steel, pewter and marble.  It had lights built into the stand itself.  It had a holder for cigarettes, one for matches, one as an ashtray, and it had a built in lighter.  Now the lighter itself, looked like a microphone, or at least that’s what I used it for.  I would always sneak off into the living room, and I would grab that lighter and sing as loudly as I could, until I got caught.  Today, that smoke stand now belongs to me, and it holds so many memories of when I was young.

My Grandma Cloer was a good lady, and I liked going to visit her years after Grandpa was gone.  Her Mother, my Great Grandma Martin lived with her for many years of my life.   One memory I recall is eating Thanksgiving diner with her.  I don’t mean to sound mean, but she made the worst chicken and dressing.  She didn’t cook her dressing, and did not de-bone her chicken.  Our Mother was gracious enough not to make us eat it.  Even after I had grown up and married, I never had the heart to tell her how awful it was.  However, there were some things we liked eating there; not everything was bad.

Now my Grandpa Davis lived up until I was six almost seven.  I can recall many fun times with him and Grandma.  I can actually remember sitting in Grandpa’s lap looking into this big white radio, while listening to “The Lone Ranger”, “As the World Turns”, “Love of Life” and “The Guiding Light”.  Looking back, I am amazed at that memory, because that was a part of history that I can relate to my children and Grandchildren today.  I loved spending the night with Grandpa and Grandma Davis, and when my twin sisters were born, my brother and I got to stay a week with them.  At that time we lived in Fort Worth, and they lived in McKinney, so we thought we were really special staying that far away from Mom and Dad.    I loved my Grandma Davis’ homemade biscuits and gravy.  She made the best beans and cornbread ever.  I loved how she would get a hymn book and just sit down and sing with me.  She was such a wonderful lady and role model.  I know where my Mother gets her goodness and compassion from.  Later on I will tell about special times with Grandma, and what an influence she had on my life growing up as a child, and even today I feel her presence.