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Our lens focuses for this issue on Larry's paternal grandmother, Mama Pearl (1888-1975), and grandfather, Papa Frank (1885-1970), on the occasion of their wedding, about 1910. It is believed the ceremony took place in Beebe, AR. Pearl was about 22 years old when they were married, and Frank, 25. Their first-born, Leon, was born in April, 1912 (died in 1995), and was Larry's and his siblings' father. Pearl had completed high school and one term of college to get her certificate to begin teaching all grades in a one-room schoolhouse, which she started doing by the time she was 18. She met Frank not long afterward. He was teaching then as well, but we understand it was at the college level. Although married in AR, a short while later they were in Straightcreek, KY. Frank was a teacher there until Leon was six months old. Shortly thereafter, Frank felt he was called to be a preacher in the Nazarene (Protestant Christian) faith and began this new career while also continuing to teach. After their stay in KY, Frank and Pearl lived in CO and TX for a few years early in their marriage. Frank would help begin several churches and their congregations before retiring after 40 years as a Nazarene preacher. Leon would meet Julia, Larry's mother, when helping his dad rebuild a church in Waco about 1938.
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