My sisters Life and Death:

I've been meditating for hours about writing on this subject. Even if I do, will I be able to publish it. The pain will always be with me if I ponder over the circumstances that this story will bring out. I don't know how my family members will accept me writing this, but I think that my sister should be let into the light.

My sister was born in 1941. Everyone who saw her said that she was the most beautiful baby. When she was four years old our aunt Hester and mom made a duchess costume for her and entered her in a beauty contest. She took the third place ribbon.

Shirley was five years younger than myself. When she was five I use to play paper dolls with her. I always felt guilty being a boy and playing girl things. My older brother would tease me now and then. We would sometime play cowboy and cowgirl, like I was Roy Rogers and she was Annie Oakley.

As the years passed by she became very close with our cousin Marie, who was near the same age. They were inseparable. I use to take them to the movies, miniature golf, arcades etc. I had a rule that use to really irritate the girls. They said I was old fashion when it came to clothing. I insisted that if they rode in my car they must dress like ladies and wear dresses.

The two girls attended Sunday school and church every week. They became good Christians, helped in the church and taught Sunday school. Shirley wanted to someday go to a college in Missouri to study the bible.

While I was in the U.S. Army my sister met and married a young man who seemed fine for the first year, then I found out later that he had an anger problem. When I was released from the army I met Dick. When we were alone one time my sister told me that she hoped that Dick and I would be friends. I promised to try to get along with him. She also told me that they had a puppy and when she came home one day the animal was dead. Her husband said that the iron had fallen off the board on the puppy. Shirley said that she didn't know what really happened.

There was an ad in paper for a free champagne flight from Long Beach to Searchlight Nevada. It was a promotion for a gambling casino. Dick and I went on this flight. He was quite normal. We had gone broke before the flight left the next day so we hiked the two miles to the small airport where we entered the airplane that brought us there.

We tried to sleep until a car pulled up to all three airplanes and shone his flashlight up the ramps.

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