My cousins

Archer Jr was 20 years older than I. He was also the oldest son of Uncle Archer, in the post below. An M.D., he and his wife, Ruth, also an M.D. sacrificed lucrative practices to donate much of their time to medical missionary work, even after their retirement. With them are their three children, Becky (oldest), Barbara, and Sandy. Because of our age differences, location differences, etc. I didn't meet Archer Jr. and Ruth until 1986 when my father was dying, but they had visited my parents nearly every year after their retirement. They both wanted their children to grow up knowing my parents.

Archer was old enough to remember mother coming from college for brief visits, since, with both parents dead, there was no home for her to return to. He described her as 'the belle of the ball' and adored her. When she was dying and I was only able to be with her short periods of time each day, due to my own health problems, Archer and Ruth came down and stayed in shifts with her around the clock the last 10 days of her life in the hospital, then Hospice. That's love. That's dedication.

EDIT: Archer Jr. died two years ago of a heart attack. Ruth died in September 2007 of a cerebral hemmorage.

My maternal grandfather and uncle when young

Samual Augustus Dillard, Sr, was killed when my mother was 18, but I've heard so many stories about him that I feel as if I knew him. I wish I had. Standing beside him is my Uncle Archer, whom I worshipped as a child. A kind man, he took the time to listen to children and show his love. He died at age 60 of a heart attack. Both of his sons, Archer, Jr. and Dick had become doctors by then and had families of their own.

I heard this following story a few years ago from my cousin, Ann Dillard, whose father, Baylus had been driving when the drunk driver drove them off the road, killing their father. She said that her father always felt guilty, even though the accident was by no means his fault. He never took his family anywhere in a car, as a result. They lived in Belleville, across the river from St. Louis, and they took the bus or train wherever they went.

Some music from a link from a fellow blogger...this site discontinued

Sorry about that.