Paul and Doris in Shreveport

Paul Cravens and Doris Cox were married Feb. 21, 1942. When I asked Mom how he had proposed, she said: "He didn't exactly ask me to marry him. He said, " Do you want to do what we were talking about?" And she said yes. They were married in Cape Giradeau, Missouri because they wouldn't have to wait the required 3 days by Illinois law.

Martha Lutica Barnhouse Cox

I really like the photo of Mom Cox as a young woman. She looks carefree and plucky. My memories of visiting her house include: eating boiled chicken and pumpkin pie, admiring her print of a dozen puppies (I think all of us grandkids admired that print) and glass wind chimes. I hang wind chimes in memory of her. I am working up to one in every tree (and I have a lot of trees).

Paul "Tuffy" Cravens

I was so enjoying my daughters visit that I forgot to post to commemorate my Dad's birthday. This is the way I will always remember him. Tuffy Cravens worked for the Pure Oil and later Union 76 oil company for 40 years. He would leave the house about 6:30 with hislunchtime bacon and egg sandwich aroma lingering in the kitchen. On hot summer days, he would lay down on the cool linoleum floor of the kitchen for a quick nap after lunch. He would get home around 4:30. My Mom and I would walk to meet him when I was really small. When we lived in West Liberty, we would wait on the swing until his battered work truck pulled in.

If anyone knows of some of the other workers from the West Liberty Pure OIl camp, I would like to hear from them. I remember Emmet Walker, Elmer Neely, Bob Seymour and OOp.

527th Squadron, 379th Bomb group WW2

My Dad, Paul E. Cravens sitting in the "Landa". If anyone has stories regarding the 527th at Kimbolton, I would like to hear them. Especially if there is anything about my Dad.

Eureka!

These are photos of Young Brooken Cravens and Jane Rhodes Cravens supplied from the White County Genealogical Society in Carmi, Illinois. I had never seen the images before and I'm so pleased to see my great-great grandfather and wife.