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My mother, LaPaula Plymell, and her
brothers in 1946 after they had returned home from World War II. From left: Francis was a
truck driver in Patton's 3rd Army and helped relieve Bastogne. Ival, Jr. (Red), was a Sea
Bee heavy equipment operator who built runways on newly acquired Pacific islands. O.L. was
a B-29 mechanic on, among other places, Tinian. |
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My dad, Henry Mikes, (far left) at
work in a Pattonsburg, Missouri, garage in the late 1930s. That's my Uncle O.L. far right. |
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I get a ride on my Dad's `dozer
sometime around 1953. The work site was U.S. 36, which runs across Missouri from St. Joe
to Hannibal. |
I take my first set of wheels out for
a spin. My sister Nancy weirds out on the wagon in the background. Girls, who can figure
them? |
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Pattonsburg, Missouri, 1952: Me in a
headscarf, a price you pay when you live in a house full of females. I was born in the
house in the background, old Doc Baumgartner presiding. Our state-of-the-art outdoor privy
can be seen at the extreme left. Looks like someone left the door open. |
Me and my mom, 1953. |
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My big sisters a few years before I
was born. That's Carolyn on the left, Nancy on the right. Buddies then. . . |
. . . buddies now. At the Cadillac
Ranch in Texas, 1996. |
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Nancy and her husband-to-be Gary West
in 1956. Nice flood pants, Nanny. Very cool. Dig Gary's `51 Ford. |
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Little sister Susie in 1974 |
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