I was very blessed to know all four of my grandparents.  I grew up next door to my dad's parents in Boxville, Kentucky.  Their names were Charles Henry Jenkins and Harpie Dera Jenkins, but we called them Daddy Monk and Mama Harpie.  They were very special to me because I was able to spend much of my childhood with them.  They lived in a small house on a 60 acre farm.  My grandfather grew crops such as corn and tobacco. I remember that my grandmother used to grow strawberries and I don't mean a small patch.  She had almost an acre planted in strawberries and people would come from all over the county to buy them.  I used to help pick them but I think I probably ate more than I picked.  I remember my grandmother rocking me and singing to me some of the old gospel songs like Rock of Ages.  My grandfather was very quiet but my mom tells me that my sister Michelle and  I were the apple of his eye.

My mom's parents lived about 15 miles away on a farm outside of Morganfield, Kentucky, near Grove Center.  I don't know how many acres they had but I remember that it was a big farm.  Their names were Henry Eugene Wedding and Mary Regina Alvey.  We called them PaPa and MaMa.  We didn't get to see them as often as I did my other grandparents, but we certainly saw them at least on all of the holidays.  They always had big family gatherings.  They had eleven children, including my mom.  It was always a lot of fun visiting them and playing with my cousins.  I seemed to have a knack for getting in trouble and my cousins still tease me to this day for the time when I was probably 5 or 6 and  I climbed the ladder which was leaning against the house and PaPa caught me and "kicked my behind"!  He used to get on to me for climbing the trees too.  PaPa. besides being a farmer, was also a police officer for a period of time in his life.  During the depression , he moved to Detroit and worked their to save enough money to marry my grandmother.