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Note: My Aunt Lemmie holds a dear spot in my heart for several reasone. She was very close to her sister, Ida and her son, Leslie. Lemmie bonded with Leslie and helped him in his early education, his later life in the FBI, the law and military service. Her brother (my Dad) had an automobile and included her in many of our vacation trips on the East Coast from Canada to New Orleans. Dad took his two-week annual vacation and drove us up to the World's Fair in New York in 1939. I was about 11 years old. Aunt Lemmie's husband (James Edward Rawles) who passed away January 28, 1932, when I was just four years old. He never got to enjoy these trips. Lemmie was a very independent woman. She insisted on paying her way while on these trips. Whenever my dad was presented with some check, an invoice or bill for a luncheon or some other service, Lemmie would grab it, quickly calculate the percentages, split the sum and folk up the cash for that amount. It didn't matter that there were three of us and only one of her. Dad didn't change her for the car's gas and oil. Lemmie only had one son and she lived in Suffolk, VA when I was young, I'll never forget herhome library of books for kids my age.There were books for others, but they didn't appeal as much as those reserved for me. They were in a bookcase in her living room. I guess they were her son's books (Jimmy) but I enjoyed reading all the Tom Sawyer classics, the Hardy Boys series and so many others. There was a big comfortable chair next to her bookcase and I curled up and read until I often nodded off to sleep. When I stayed over at her house, my bedroom was upstairs. It was dark up there so Aunt Lemmie taught me how to whistle and suggested I practice my tunes while heading up for bed. It worked! Lemmie sold her house in Suffolk and helped her son, Jimmie build an addition onto his home in Newport News, VA. Mary, Jimmy's wife, still lives there on Jonquil Drive.
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