William Dailey who migrated from North Caroliana and met and married Nellie Pearl Mars in her home town of Lobeville. My father Jack Harry Dailey was born on April 1, 1921. Yes, he was an April fools baby. He had a younger brother named Leon. I was named after him even though I was a girl. Daddy had promised him if I was a boy ( back then they could not tell before you were born what sex you were ) that he would name me after him. Have you heard of a boy named Sue? I am the girl named Leon. I was marked at birth to become a tomboy . . .
 |
| Daddy & Uncle Leon |
My grandfather died when my dad was only five years old from consumption ( you know pneumonia ). My dad had a hard but good life. He helped even as a child with his younger brother. He also worked in a CC camp in the 1936 at fifteen. CC camps was a government run work program that helped people during the hard times of the 30's. He did many odd jobs up to going into the Navy. Lobeville was a very small town and he had aunts and uncles and lots of cousins and so on to help if needed, almost all the town was his kin !
My grandfather died when my dad was only five years old from consumption ( you know pneumonia ). My dad had a hard but good life. He helped even as a child with his younger brother. He also worked in a CC camp in the 1936 at fifteen. CC camps was a government run work program that helped people during the hard times of the 30's. He did many odd jobs up to going into the Navy. Lobeville was a very small town and he had aunts and uncles and lots of cousins and so on to help if needed, almost all the town was his kin !
On July 10, 1942 at the age twenty-one my dad joined the Navy. He was deployed to the Pacific on his way to an island called Midway which was one of the major campains at that time. The ship ported in Hawaii and an order came down that if there was anyone who could type to put them on the next plain back to San Fransisco. Just happened that daddy could type and so he was flown back to California. They needed a payroll clerk so he got a promotion and was given the job and never say a day of action. How lucky could he have been to geta desk job in WWII. Thats a good thing cause he might have been killed and I would have not been born . . .
Now we move forward to my mothers story. She was born Joyce ILeane Schumann and was adopted at seven days old. Mr. Leo and Ida Perrie Smock adopted her on June 1, 1927 and her name was changed to Lois June Smock. Grandpa and grandma also adopted a boy and named him Alger he was a five years younger than momma. Momma always told me that she hated Alger all her life. Momma also told me many times ( when she would drink ) that grandma would treat her like a show piece. She had everything that most kids would just dream of. Nice fine clothes and poneys and sleds toys and such. She was the envy of all the kids which presented a problem. She, momma, seemed to resent that they gave her everything, except the love a small child needs to develope into the person that gives instead of takes . . .
My grandparents were not affectionate but my grandpa is the only person that loved me just the way I was. When we would go to see them in Michigan he would let me ride with him to get whey ( a by-product of milk ) for the cows and pigs He would tell the other farmers that was getting whey too, that I was his new hired hand and put me up on the tanker and showed me how to feel the heat on the sides of the tank and I was to yell at him and tell him that it was close to being full. Boy I loved my grandpa. Me and grandma didn't see eye to eye. She thought that a girl should do girl things like cook and bake and I was a tom-boy and didn't want any part of the cooking or baking. Lee Ann and her got along fine, Lee Ann fit what grandma thought that a girl should be like . . .
 |
| My Hansome Daddy In His Navy Uniform |
Now we move forward to my mothers story. She was born Joyce ILeane Schumann and was adopted at seven days old. Mr. Leo and Ida Perrie Smock adopted her on June 1, 1927 and her name was changed to Lois June Smock. Grandpa and grandma also adopted a boy and named him Alger he was a five years younger than momma. Momma always told me that she hated Alger all her life. Momma also told me many times ( when she would drink ) that grandma would treat her like a show piece. She had everything that most kids would just dream of. Nice fine clothes and poneys and sleds toys and such. She was the envy of all the kids which presented a problem. She, momma, seemed to resent that they gave her everything, except the love a small child needs to develope into the person that gives instead of takes . . .
 |
| Momma Age Two |
If the phrase "money can’t buy love," is true, it was in my mommas case. My grandpa was a small man in statue but had a big heart and he was hard working and made the dairy farm he worked pay off when times were the hardest. My grandma was very stoic and prim and proper lady. She helped do all the milking in her younger days, and she was not afraid to do hard work. They also had a working farm. He planted crops and had hired hands to harvest the crops. My grandma would work the field and also cook the meals for all the hired hands. She worked hard all her life . . .
 |
| Grandpa Leo Standing & Momma Age 8 Months |
Daddy got out of the Navy on October 29, 1945. He served another three years in the reserve and was discharged from reserve in 1948. He and uncle Leon became pipeliners. Pipeliners are people that install water, sewers, gas, drain lines in the small towns. There was not any type of equipment that daddy could not operate. They move around a lot moving from town to town. Momma and daddy met in Clare Michigan on or about August of 1951 while daddy was putting a water line. Momma had been married and divorced from Paul Williams by the time she met daddy. She had one child by that marriage Lee Ann Williams Smock. She had a very long name for a little girl. She was born 6/7/1947. Momma divorced Lee Ann's daddy, grandma and grandpa then adopted her. That's how she got the Smock name . . .
Grandma and Grandpa both showed momma all the love that anyone could have wanted but from what momma said they were just too strict. Momma use to talk about her childhood how Grandma would dress her up like Shirley temples with the curls like she had. So when I got six or seven momma use to pin curl my hair and I was tender headed. I knew what she meant when she told about the hair do. I am not sure why mother resented Grandma so much and not grandpa. When momma got married she married out of spite. Her real love was a man named Dean Mentner. He broke up with momma and wed another girl so momma said to herself I'll show him and went out a few times with Paul Williams and then conned him into marring her just to spite Dean. That came from her own mouth so I guess it is true. She nevered lied, yea right. Momma was known to tell a few white lies in her day . . .
Next chapter is why I think my parents married . . .