With the death of our father, our grandmother revealed a dark secret, changing our lives forever. Would we allow this secret to tear us a part, or from mother for her negligent part in hiding the truth from us? What will become of my children? Is a story of one man's struggle to maintain his present-day family while hiding the existence of another family in his past and with his illness prolonging. Two men representatives of Red Cross came to admit father in the hospital. Father made a request to say goodbye and speak to ...
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With the death of our father, our grandmother revealed a dark secret, changing our lives forever. Would we allow this secret to tear us a part, or from mother for her negligent part in hiding the truth from us? What will become of my children? Is a story of one man's struggle to maintain his present-day family while hiding the existence of another family in his past and with his illness prolonging. Two men representatives of Red Cross came to admit father in the hospital. Father made a request to say goodbye and speak to his girls. He begins with, "be good girls, don't do anything wrong, for I won't see you again, remember I love you," with tears emerging down his cheeks. We three girls found ourselves in denial about father dying. Not one of us could comprehend father's words or tears as we hugged him goodbye with tears rolling down our face like rain. We all cried out "oh daddy, oh daddy do not cry, we will be good girls and we love you too." Father's words still haunt us today. We three girls had to confront father's death alone, without mother's help or protection from her side of the family either. Many years later, mother point's her finger at us, accusing father of hugging, "you, you and you bye," in an unmannerly way. Years later, we moved in with a relative of father's, Bryant Potts, whom makes a big impression in our lives, by protecting us and shielding us from mother's family, similar to father, before his death too. Another big change in our lives would be our cousin, Wes, coming to live with us. Wes was abandoned at birth by both of his parents. His fourteen year old struggles to survive from house to house, especially with grandmother and mother for love and support, and us girls were his knot heads, and someone to play pranks on. Although, we were cousins, we thought of each other as sibling and loved each other likewise. As adults, we started Genealogy research in and out of enormous libraries and cities, searching for the existing family. With mother and our husbands complaining, and every lead a dead end, dishearten but, our determination made progress by discovering both our great-grandmothers were Stones on father's side, but the greatest discovery of all was discovering that the city of Cochran, Georgia was once called Dykesboro. Dykesboro was before the railroad, named after our 3rd cousin Burrell Brant Dykes and the celebrities who we were related too.
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