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While following the lawnmower around the back yard, my thoughts were on Oscar and Marion and all their adventures back in the day.
The remind of characters out of a Larry McMurtry novel kids growing up, falling in love, falling outa love, marrying, divorcing, but still loving and sleeping around in small town America.

The real hero is Marion - any hottie who can keep two men all her life has to had something special going on for her - and I mean really, really special. Or as just occurred to me, could Mr.Marion have been light in the loafers and wanted a wife to protect his lofty standing in the community? We'll never know.

Did any of these people go to church regularly, and if so, what brand did they use?
I wonder what Great Grandma thought about all the carrying on happening around her? Evidently she at least tolerated Marion to let her sleep under her roof.
Could the kids have been Oscar's?

Thanks again for a story that made lawnmowing a pleasure - lost in thought about some tremendously unique people you introduced to me. ;-)

You have given me much to ponder...I never did think about Mr. Marion, being 'light in the loafers', but that certainly is a possibility...in their time, regular small town folk, did not come out of the closet, so I do expect we will never know....

It surely is possible that at least one of Marions children was biologically Oscars, but again, we will never know...perhaps some of the older ones in the family might know, but most of them have already died, and the few that are left arent talking...but it may be, that Marion and her children were so readily accepted, because perhaps they did at least speculate, that some of those kids belonged to Oscar...

Many of Oscars siblings were regular church goers, very active in the little community church...dont really know which denomination, other than knowing none of them were Catholic...other siblings were not regular church goers...yet they all treated Marion the same...

And as far as Greatgrammie...well, I expect she had seen much in her very long life...she outlived two husbands, bore 12 children into adulthood, lost many of her pregnancies as either miscarriages, or babies dying shortly after birth...and she outlived 3 of her adult children...

Greatgrammie worked very hard, raising her kids, tending her veggie gardens, raising her own chickens for food, doing whatever it took in those days to just make it, and have some semblance of happiness...she was a dear little woman, who was loved by her kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids, and she even live long enough to have great great grandchildren...

She was featured in a local paper, with a picture of her, and her daughter, granddaughter, greatgranddaughter, and greatgreatgranddaughter...five generations all alive and in the same picture...

So I guess, Greatgrammie, had experienced and lived with, many many different life events, and knowing her as I did, I expect that she only wished happiness for her family...and if Marion provided Oscar with some share of happiness, then I guess greatgrammie was ok with that...

I remember once, when I was probably around 12, Cousin Johnny, stopped in to visit greatgrammie...they were about 2nd or 3rd cousins, and both pretty old...Cousin Johnny was kind of a self imposed hermit, living on the outskirts of town, in a small shack...When he stopped in to see greatgrammie, they wanted to be alone...us kids of course, were nosey, and hid out in the kitchen, listening...

It was all so surreal...they sat there, talking and laughing, talking about things that probably happened 60yrs ago...we just could not imagine that these two very old people were ever young...but they sure talked for a goodly while, and then Cousin Johnny left...that was the only time I ever saw him, tho I had heard about him...

Years later, his shack burned down, and he was 'burned to a crisp', as my grandmother recalled..they always told greatgrammie that he died of smoke inhalation, as they did not want her to know that they fire dept. actually think he accidentally set himself on fire, while using an old oil lamp(He had no electricity)

What a family...I know, it all sounds made up...but its all so weird, my mind could not imagine this kind of stuff...