As a Girl in Kansas

Velma called a little hamlet on the plains home: Plevna, Kansas. They lived in a small and simple house. White clapboard for a small struggling family transitioning from a failing agricultural life to the new town-based world of the 20th century. Her father found new work as a janitor in the local school and the family enjoyed being able to be with Father during the school day. One cold winter days Velma, her older sister Elva and their younger brother George Valjean would slip down to the warm boiler room where their father would have hotdogs cooking for their lunch. At home, during the summers or in the evenings, the girls would put on 'plays' and Elva would entertain with her singing and everyone would laugh. The curtain separating the bedroom would the parlor was suddenly transformed by vivid imaginations and patient parental love to a grand stage. Velma once laughed on recounting this and wryly admitted her mother had the patience of a saint to sit through all through "theatricals."