1951 That was the best summer. Betty and I slept late, ate all of the watermelon we wanted, ate chocolate pudding and gained weight. Betty and I both loved (and still do) chocolate pudding and never got enough of it when we were at home and had to share with our brothers and sisters, so that summer we would each make our own pan of it and sit out on the steps of the front porch and eat the whole thing.

Morris and Billy got early morning paper routes after Betty and I stopped working as we missed our income. So many mornings either Billy's or our car would break down (we both had old cars) and Betty and I would get up early and deliver the papers. We had a couple of people on our route that Betty knew and we would stop and use their restroom and get a drink of water. We stayed up late and got up late. Our favorite food was hot Krispy Cream donuts (go get them about 11:00 o'clock at night) and milk shakes. No wonder I gained 35 pounds for Brenda. But as I only weighed 97 lbs. when we got married the weight really didn't hurt me. I lost almost all of it after Brenda was born.

Janice was born July 31 so Morris and I found an apartment as they needed the bedroom for the baby. Our first apartment was part of a duplex off NW 13th Street on 7th Ave. right behind the Paint Store. (1311 NW 7th Ave) Mom and Dad gave us a few pieces of furniture and we bought a couch from Sears (on credit). Brenda Gay was born November 10. That day was the U of F Homecoming parade and I went to see the doctor (Dr. Winston Summerlin), he told me to go home and take castor oil and wait. Oh, it was awfully but Morris helped me to get it down and about midnight we went to the hospital (Alachua General) and she was born at 4:18 a.m. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days.

Their duplex at 1311 NW 7th Street in 2018

It was a very cold winter. It was so hard to keep the apartment warn and we were using bottled gas and it was costing so much we had to find another place. Luck was with us and we rented the little 2 bedroom house right next door to Betty and Billy.