The memories I have of my Dad are a little blurred now. Time and a stroke have taken most of them away from me.
I can remember some things, both good and bad. I remember daddy bringing the puppy home that he said he found by the railroad tracks. It was a black and tan Rat Terrier that we named Boydog.
And I remember daddy bringing home an orange kitten that we named Tommy. And the next summer tommy gave us a litter of kittens, but it was always Tommy. We never changed it. I don't know what happened to that cat when I was taken away from Daddy in 1948. I do know what happened to Boyday, and it was not good. I won't go into it here because it hurts too much.
And I also remember when daddy brought a rabbit home for mom to cook. But he brought it home alive and us kids wouldn't let mom kill it. Instead, we stold one of grandma's chickens for mom to cook. We kept the rabbit and named it Bouncer. And he lived for 2 or 3 years before freezing to death one winter.
I also remember when my brother Sonny, (Howard Jr), shot me with the BB gun as I was going around to the outhouse. I was around 6 I think. And of course I had to tell daddy, and I thought he was going to kill Sonny. I still have that BB in my butt to this day.
i also remember laying awake late at night and listening to mom and daddy fighting and mom beating up on daddy. And I remember asking him why he didn't fight back. And he told me that a man should not ever hit a woman. And that when I grew up, not to let any man whip on me.
But my best and fondest memories were of me tagging along behind daddy as he would go to one of the houses he built in and around Lawrence. Sometimes he would let me carry one or two of his tools. And on the job, sometimes he would have me bring him a tool that he needed. I just felt so grown up to be helping my daddy build, even though I was only 6 or so. And this went on until I was taken away from him in 1948, when I was 8..
Later when I was in the home, and mom would sometimes bring me home for a couple of weeks or so in the summer, I would call my Aunt Ruth and she would come pick me up to go visit daddy. He was staying in the little room above the garage then. And he would always give me a Bit-O-Honey candy bar. Why I don't know. But he did. And I remember how I waited for his letters at the home. And he would sometimes send me something from his travels around the country.
And I remember the last time I saw my daddy alive. It was Christmas of 1956 and a friend of the family had taken me out of the home that year. I believe it was the first year that they let us go home for Christmas. And Lovie took me to visit daddy in the VA hospital. He was real sick than. And I was the only one of his kids who visited. He took me around to everyone and told them who I was. I was just 16 then. And I remember the home giving me a post card that Daddy had written just a couple of days before he died and he was begging me to try to visit.
And lastly, in 1961 when I was living out in Lawrence with Aunt Ruth, I remember her telling me about the stuff that went on when we were little, and what happened after I was taken away. And how it affected daddy.
I was a daddy's girl, and I loved him very much. He was not perfect, but then none of us are. But he tried really hard to provide for his family, and he did love me very much. In fact, he loved all of his kids. And that included the one that he thought was his, but proved to be another man's.  And it nearly distroyed him when he lost us.  His sister, my Aunt Ruth,  told me that he nearly ended his life when he came home and found all of us gone.  He tried to two years to find where we were and what had happened.  And when he finally found us down at the home, mom had a restraining order put against him to prevent him from visiting us at any time.  That is when he went to work for the trucking firm that transported race horses all over the US. 

Howard H. Bragdon my Daddy