Robert Bruce, my mom’s dad, sits at the far left of this shot next to Christine, the woman with whom he cheated on my grandmother throughout their short marriage. She became his third wife. I like to think the dinner photos became progressively less grim with each of his 13 marriages. The picture above was taken at Sivils Drive-In (below) . . .
Martha Rebecca Johnston, my grandmother, was born April 23, 1905. She died nine years ago, on May 6, 1998. This post originally included an anecdote about her dream of heaven, which she wasn’t too crazy about, and her funeral, and now you can read it at the end of “My Son Went to Heaven, and All I Got Was a . . .
Zone Johnston, my granny’s father, was always dragging his wife and kids to carpentry jobs throughout Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, and beyond, and then abandoning them in favor of a new pretty face. According to my mom, “[his wife’s] people would have to come to where they were and take them home until Zone finished his work and wandered back . . .
Meet Rindia Bruce, my mom’s paternal grandmother and a woman to whom I owe an apology. I mistakenly believed she was the ancestor who killed her last baby by beating its head against the doorstep. My mother recently clarified: You are mixed up with my grandmothers. Gran Rindia was a Pentecostal holy roller!! It was Rebecca Johnston (“Mammy” Johnston), Zone’s . . .