A LITTLE FAMILY HISTORY


Who I Am?
I was born to Loeda Jean Carter Douglas and Dover Lee Douglas.They dubbed me Sherry Lynn Douglas.I was born in Blytheville, Arkansas at Walls hospital on March 7,1957.I have one sister by my mother,her name is Pamela Kay Douglas and I love her with all my heart.My mother passed away in 1960.My Dads' parents raised us most of the time after that.In 1961 or 62 my dad married a woman named Peggy Tucker who gave him a daughter named Rhonda.I think they divorced the year before I started school.The last time I remember seeing Rhonda I was a second grader.I would like to find her someday.I also have an older brother Terry Wayne by Betty Hardesty my dads first wife.He was adopted by her second husband and have not seen him since he was 12 or 14 years old.I would like to find him too one day.My dad married again in march of 1980 and I have one sister from that marriage.Her name is Patsy Sue Douglas and she was born September 24, 1980.I love her dearly....My sisters both have kids...
It has been said that I was a very head strong child.I can remember being a handful for my grandmother.My grandad was a hard man,but a good one.I got into trouble alot....
I share my growing years from the time I was born to age 14 between 2 beautiful states Arkansas and Florida. Boy talk about a change in lifestyles! I lived in Florida with my dad some of my teen years.My dad was with a woman who had 5 children.Suffice it to say it was not a happy time in my life... I ran away from home and lived with my gradmom till I married.
I got married at 16 years of age.I do not recommend it to kids now a days cause it is too easy for them to get a divorce instead of fight to make it work.Heck no one thought we would get this far either, but if there is one thing I have learned you have to put something in a relationship to get something out of one.You can't throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble,you have to fight to keep what you have!!My dad always says do as I say not as I do! This must be one of the times I listened to him huh!



Being married!
I have been married 28 years this May.Not bad for something that wasn't suppose to last... We have 2 children.Looking back to those first years I see myself as a child trying to be a wife.I knew I loved Ken with my whole heart but being a wife was not all it was built up to be.....
Sherry Lynn Douglas and Kenneth L. Oden were married in Blytheville, Arkansas on may 19,1973 at Beacon Baptist Church.
We were told we would never last.Great words to start a marriage on huh...It all had to do with age.( mostly mine)My grandmom had faith in us tho and believed in us with all her heart.
Two months after we were married the Dr. told us we were going to have a baby!Wow!!Now everybody is saying I am a kid having a kid.
My husband left for Thailand to do a 1 year tour of duty in December 1973.I went to live with his parents.My daughter was born on March the 5th 1974,in Horton ,Kansas two days before my 17th birthday.I dubbed her Vicky Lynnette Oden.Her dad picked out her first name before he left. It took three weeks to let him know he had a little girl..When he returned home 9 months later it was to a wife and daughter.(ready made family so to speak)Talk about pressure and responsability.(Shish)If that wasn't bad enough add the fact that we had been apart almost a year....It was like starting a new relationship.Doubts were everywhere...It took us a long time to heal from that separation we didn't want or ask for....
Maybe God thought we needed time to heal too cause even though we were not tryin to prevent having another baby we couldn't.Sometimes you have to look at things in life the right way...It took a long time to get the trust and real heartfelt love back into this marriage....With the help of alot of prayer and alot of forgiving on both parts we have gotten back what we almost completely lost and so very much more........He is truly my heart and my life will never be the same if he leaves it....We have had a love- hate -love forever now marriage.I feel that God has been a big part of what remained real in our lives.....He loves us so much,and all he asks us to do is believe in him and trust his judgement....well this is one lady who does that everyday!!!



Growing up with my daughter
Sometimes I think she could have killed me.. for a long time I stayed one step ahead of her.I guess it was because I still remembered all the things I got into trouble for.She wasn't sure why I was different than other moms but she knew I was somehow different. She finally chalked it up to my having her young!
There were times tho when she even had me stumped.She is an individual person unique in her own way.Just when I thought I could anticipate her next move she could surprise me,like the time I sent her to her room and told her she was grounded to it for the rest of the day! She came out when it got dark and I ask her what she was doing out of her room. She looked at me with a totally straight face and said,"Mom you grounded me for the day...you didn't say anything about after dark!!"
She had me on a technicality.....She was after all exactly right. You know it must have taken her a while to come up with that one. She was about 10 years old.She never caught me like that again.She tried a few times but to no avail...
At 15 years of age she got her first job.She had a job from then on...when I ask her why she wasn't dating anyone she looked at me and said mom I don't want the complexities of a relationship right now.Its hard enough just trying to keep my grades up and keep my job...We told her if her grades went downhill we would have her hours cut back.We also told her to leave time for other things in her life...She said she liked her life the way it was and ask us to back off...Now she is self reliant.... She can't stand not bein able to pay her bills or relying on other people to do so.....
She got married last September and seems to be wonderfully happy.I love my new son-in-law and as long as he is good to her and visa-versa I don't see any real problems down the road but.....you never know what life has in store...They want kids someday....



My Son J. R.
Our first son came into our lives seven years later in 1981.Believe me it was not planned that way.We wanted them closer together.God in his wisdom had other plans.He was born on febuary 28,1981 in Emporia,Ks.
my husband and I dubbed him Kenneth Lynn Oden Jr.He was a whoppin 9lbs 3oz...
He has been a handful from the start.He is stubborn,willful and onery.He is also loving, can be helpful when it dosen't change his plans,and is his sisters protector if he thinks he needs to be...basically he is a good kid that all our neighbors love....The kind of child who can get in trouble even when he didn't do anything wrong.
He is hyperactive and has attention defficit disorder.He gets bored very easily.He likes nintendo and computer games that will keep him thinking on his feet.
He always trys to be smarter than his parents and all his life has thought we were idiots most of the time because we are old...I remember trying to help him with homework when he was oh hmmm...about 12 years old,He was working on an english assignment and I was having a bit of trouble with it and him...I was trying to help him find the answer and thought we had found it.This child looked at me and said"Mom I am smarter than you and thats not it..."Well lets just say he will never be able to live that one down.It still rears its head every now and then!
He has never been in any major trouble in his life yet so I am not complaining. Why should I, he is what has kept me young so I could keep up with his shananigans....
He quit school and got his GED because he said classes were too boring.....he wouldn't do the homework assignments no matter how much trouble he would get into....His math teacher got so mad at him because altho he didn't do his homework he would pass all her tests.
He is a smart child who thinks he has the world by the tail...who knows maybe he has.....
His major problem is a large chip on his shoulder. If he ever lets it go he will be a better person for it.He just won't let it go yet...His dad and I sure will be glad when he does....
All in all he is a good person and hopefully will be a good man.
There are alot of people besides his family who love him and want nothing but the best for him...
He has always been called j.r. and that was because I didn't want him to be called junior.well when he was about 13 he decided he wanted us to start callin him by kenny....now I really did try to comply but come on I had been callin this child j.r.since day one....
He would spend so much time bein mad cause I couldn't remember to call him Kenny......I really did try and now most of the time I do call him by kenny .Its just well .....every now and then I revert back......to when he liked the nickname we gave him.....



Our little Angel
They say Beauty is the eye of the beholder.Well if that is so then my little Angel had such a beautiful soul that God took him back to heaven........and we miss him...
When we were told I was pregnant again when jr was 8 months old we were scared and worried.We wondered how we would be able to afford another child at that time.I prayed to God everything would work out.For us abortion was never an option.He was ours and we wanted him.There were alot of things that happened over the course of this pregnancy....It was a miracle Dougy survived at all.We knew he was a fighter....he wanted to survive...
They did sonagrams and other test to finally convince me he was okay...but he wasn't!He was going to be a c-section delivery and had to be taken early.When he was born they told us his lungs might be wet...it wasn't his lungs...They then told us it could be his heart.
They took him to Wesley Medical Center in Witchita Ks.80 miles from me... My husband and his mom went with him.They ran tests and said that there was nothing they could do for him.They could put him on life support indefinately but it was only going to prolong the inevidable.My husband and I had to make this decision.We were facing the hardest decision any parent might have to make...
We did the only thing we could do .We turned it over to God.We ask God not to let this little Angel suffer....We let Gods will take over.We prayed so hard. He fought so hard.........
They took away all the tubes and let us hold him to tell him how much we loved him.As I sat with him rocking and talking to him he opened his beautiful eyes and smiled at me....then he just slipped into Gods waiting arms.....We named him Douglas Lee Oden after all his Grandads.He was born in Emporia Ks.He is buried in Holton Ks,
We only had our little Angel for 42 hours but it seemed like a lifetime to me...he would be 19 years old....God gave us a precious Gift for just a few hours ...When he gave us Our little Angel from heaven.....If there is one thing I learned from this...it would be not to waste one precious moment of life.There may not be a tomorrow to do things in...



The husband section
My husband was born in Holton Kansas on November 26,1951.his parents are Dale Lee Oden and Bessie P. Edwards Oden.They dubbed him Kenneth Lynn Oden.He has 2 brothers Ron and Hugh and a sister Carol.They were raised in the country on a farm most of their lives.He served 8 years in the USAF. Ken is a hardworkin man who has always cared for his family....He is a strict father and loves his children very much...He is a good provider and always has been.. he carrys my love with him always....He has been my strength and protector....He gives me his all (when hes' not watchin wrestling)most of the time he works hard all day comes home eats some dinner and watches a little tv(if he isn't doin yard work or workin on the truck) before that big old recliner of his lulls him to sleep.He is a very big part of my world.....He gave me 2 beautiful children and he stuck around to help raise them....Our little Angel's death almost did him in ...he took care of me and his mom and dad took care of him.We survived it but we will always carry scars from it....

I am hoping to find my brother or sister through the internet please if you have anyinformation on these people e-mail me at silverangel44us@yahoo.com

da-goose

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