My sister

My sister's name is Linda. Of course, it was Linda Vance for many years until she married. I think she has been married now for over 40 years to Mike Jarrell. She now lives in Shreveport, Louisiana. Mike and Linda had three girls, Stacey, Shelley, and Shannon. Stacey is the oldest and now lives near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania with her husband Andrew and two kids, Emma and Aiden (not sure of spelling). Shelley, the middle one, is married to Allen. Together with their two kids, Ellis and Mary Claire, they live in or around Shreveport. Shannon, who is the youngest, now lives near Baton Rouge, Louisiana with her husband, Randy. They have a baby girl whose name is Harper. She is now about 18 months old. Stacey is an attorney, Shelley is a Physcial Therapist, and Shannon is a Veteranarian.
The first thing I remember regarding Linda was being in a store in Pineville and talking about candy bars. I guess I was probably 2 or 3, don't really remember that too well. Anyway, she has always been my older sister because she is about 20 months older than I am. She now works in Shreveport for HUD of the federal government. More about her in coming posts.

Early Life

The first things I remember from my "babyhood" is being in a very dark room/house. I learned later that this was the small "shotgun" extra house located behind my grandparents house on Lakeview street in Pineville, Louisiana. It was a very old house and perhaps the electrical was not up to standards. It could be that only lamps were available for light (and windows). I don't remember the small house having lots of windwos though.
Outside (it was in the back of the main house) was the "chicken coop'...which was just a large, fenced-in dirt yard where the chickens stayed. There was, I think, a chicken coop in the back part of the yard. In front of the coop was a very large (to me) oak tree that had a tire swing. I do remember swinging on the tire swing and liked it very much. I was probably 6 months to one year old at the time. On the right side of the main house (as looking from front), there was a large ditch. I remember being afraid of the ditch. Maybe this is where my daughter, Sarah got her early fear of ditches (our first house had a small one in front). Also, she loved to swing on a tree swing when she was little. More next post.

Born

My name is James Michael Vance formally of Alexandria, Louisiana but now living in Ball, Louisiana which is a suburb of Alexandria. I was born November 13, 1946 in Alexandria. I think it was at the "Texada Clinic" in downtown Alexandria. My mother, who is alive at this date, is Eloise A. Vance. Her maiden name was Eloise Andries from Belgian ancestry. She is from a family of approximately 12 children and is the next to youngest of that family. She is now 86 and will turn 87 in July. The only remaining child from her family is her youngest sister, Joni(may be mis-spelled, will check and correct later). She is about 2 years younger than my mother. I will go into her family more in depth at a later blog. My fathers name is L.C. Vance. The L.C. stands for Lacy Charles. His father was also Lacy, but my dad was not a "junior" so that is not added to his name. He passed away a few years ago at the age of 88. Next blog will add to this history and, hopefully, I can come up with some pictures.