Our home in Lettsworth was on a good sized piece of land and it was surrounded by farmland. The house was 3-bedroom, 1 and 1/2 bath. I had my own room being the only girl and the boys shared a room. The house had a large window air conditioning unit in the master bedroom and a huge attic fan that I remember being on with the windows open pretty often. It had to be really hot for the air conditioner to be on because of the rise in the electric bill. I believe the rent was $250/month. This house was a huge improvement from the tiny, run-down house we had been renting in Innis, Louisiana, across the street from the elementary school there.

We spent a lot of time playing games with mom when we lived here. We often played board games and cards in the house and we played badminton, croquet, and 4-square outside. We also flew kites and at one point, James and I had full sized bows and arrows to play with. Uncle John and our cousin Kathy often came over and played spades with Mom and Dad.

In the back part of the property, we raised animals - chickens, turkeys, rabbits, a couple pigs, and a cow. I remember having to go feed the chickens early and looking for something to eat for lunch or wanting to bake something that called for eggs and going out to the chicken coop to find an egg. I remember a rooster chasing me one time and being scared to death.

Across the rows of farmland, we'd walk out to a large pecan tree and pick pecans to sell for much needed money and we'd shell some to eat.

Across the street, across the levee, there were "pits" we sometimes fished out of and blackberry bushes we could pick a few berries from. Cows wandered the levees and barbed wire fences were everywhere. There was a cattle guard at the end of the driveway so cows could not cross over. 

We had no home phone when we lived in Lettsworth and only had one car that dad sometimes took to work, so we were pretty isolated, especially in the summers when we didn't leave for school every day. We looked forward to the mailman coming and getting a letter was always a big deal. I believe our address was Rt. 1 Box 305.  

We rode the bus quite a ways to school so would catch it very early, sometimes before dawn, depending on the time of year, and would get home in the late afternoon. While living here, I attended Innis Elementary (4th grade), LaBarre Elementary Magnet (5th and 6th grade), Rosenwald Magnet (7th and 8th grade), and Simmesport High School (9th grade). In the summer after my 9th grade year, we moved to Baker, Louisiana.