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MEMORIES OF MY OLDEST BROTHER, ONAS

by Verna Mull  
5/10/2009 / Short Stories

Onas was the first baby in our family. My mother was reading a book prior to his birth, and chose his name from there (which he much disliked) His whole name was Onas Cudley Scandrett.
Onas was married when I was very young. I'm not sure of the year, but it was before we moved to Iowa, and I was 5 years old then. I can recall stories told about him, but I didn't know him well for many years after our move to Iowa. He was l7 years old, and very embarrassed that my parents were having a baby at the age of 42 years old. He wouldn't even look at me, let alone, hold me. (even though he wanted to name me Annabelle Leigh) Perhaps not getting his choice of name made him more resentful.

One day, my mother was bathing me, and Gaylord began to scream out in the yard. (Gaylord was about 5 years old at that time) Mama grabbed me out of the water, handed me to Onas) while he was reading the paper) and ran out to see what was the matter with Gaylord. When she came back, I had not only dripped all over his paper, but I had wet on it also! I was grinning and flapping my arms, and Onas was smiling broadly and talking to me. From then on, he seemed to accept me as part of the family.

Gaylord, on the other hand, wanted a black baby, so he thought our parents had deliberately had a white baby, when they knew that he wanted a black one. My sister, Myrna was 15 years old, and I became her live doll.

One of the other stories I recall was about some of the antics that Onas performed while he attended Wessington Springs Jr. College.

There was a girl that he liked who lived in the town, and not in the dorm. In the fall, he went by what he thought was the house where she lived. A coat was airing on the line, and he stole the coat. Well, come to find out, it was not her coat, and the people that owned it, came to the College to retrieve it. I'm not sure of the consequences, but he learned a good lesson from that!

Then, there was the time that he and a friend decided to wire the school presidents chair. At an opportune time, they turned on the electricity, and the president quickly rose. Well, they got their kicks out of that, and I don't know whether the faculty figured out the culprits or not.

Onas became infatuated with a little red-head, and they began to date. (Many years later, Onas confessed that he always dreamed of having a red-headed little girl, but this was not meant to be) They had 2 boys instead)

Mary was taking teachers training, and then, got a job teaching school. In those days, teachers were not allowed to marry during a teaching year, but they decided to get married anyway, and they eloped. They were married for some time before anyone ever knew about it. When the school year was over, they came to our home and announced that they were married, and showed my parents the marriage license. That was NOT well received by our parents. We also discovered that Onas had changed the spelling of his last name, and my father was very angry about that. Onas had added an e to the end of our name.

In the following years, Mary encouraged Onas to further his education at Seattle Pacific College, and they moved to Washington. Mary taught school to keep the home fires burning. Onas worked some for Boeing Aircraft factory, and kept going to school. Onas was studying Psychology, and did very well, receiving good grades, and I was told that he made Who's Who in America. I do not remember each step they took, but Onas became a Dr. of Psychology. My father did not accept his desire for education, and often be raided him for not being a farmer. Onas truly hated farming.

An elderly Christian who has learned to depend upon the Lord. He is sufficient to meet our needs in any circumstance of life. I only want to honor Him

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