HOW A CHILD FROM A SMALL TOWN MADE IT BIG
My dad, Thomas Taft Simpson was born on February 28, 1910 as the third in a family of nine kids, five sons and two daughters that I knew. Two others died during early childhood. I told Dad that he was a Blue Blood as he was named after three U S Presidents, Thomas Jefferson, William Howard Taft, and Ulysses Simpson Grant.
The oldest was Uncle Johnny who was ten years older than Dad. I’m not sure how it happened but it seems he received an education. I recall seeing him read, especially the Bible, all the time as Dad’s family were all of the Pentecostal faith. The next child was a daughter, Aunt Lizzie, and her husband’s name was June, a name later to be shared with my wife. Both these siblings lived in Florida and we had limited exposure to each other. Next came Dad who was forced to quit school in the second grade to work the fields and never learned to read or write. This is the reason for my earlier uncertainty as to how Uncle Johnnie became literate and my dad did not in spite of the ten year difference in age.
[/imageframe][/one_full][one_half last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][imageframe lightbox=”yes” gallery_id=”travel” lightbox_image=”https://tomlsimpson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/beginning2.jpg” style_type=”none” hover_type=”liftup” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”center” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] 
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[/imageframe][/one_half][separator style_type=”none” top_margin=”50″ bottom_margin=”” sep_color=”” border_size=”” icon=”” icon_circle=”” icon_circle_color=”” width=”” alignment=”center” class=”” id=””][one_full last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”0% 18%” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””]MOM
Lottie Mae Hancock was born on May 1, 1916 and was the second oldest of five children. Aunt Lois was the oldest and she lived in Tampa my entire life and is responsible for my being in Tampa today. After Mom came Uncle Buddy, Aunt Belle and Uncle Leland. All will be featured later within my story.
Mom and Dad married on September 28, 1935, a union resulting not only in my birth but those of my older sister Sybil and younger brother Ronnie. You will also learn more about both of them as we read along.
Mom was a housewife as were most women and mothers in her day. She was an extremely hard worker and although I know that everyone feels their mother’s cooking was the best, mine really was. I never saw her refer to a recipe nor did I witness her utilizing measuring tools. It was merely a dab of this and a pinch of that. And she knew exactly how much a dab or a pinch was.
[/imageframe][/one_third][one_third last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][imageframe lightbox=”yes” gallery_id=”travel” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”liftup” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”center” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] 
[/imageframe][/one_third][one_third last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][imageframe lightbox=”yes” gallery_id=”travel” lightbox_image=”” style_type=”none” hover_type=”liftup” bordercolor=”” bordersize=”0px” borderradius=”0″ stylecolor=”” align=”center” link=”” linktarget=”_self” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” hide_on_mobile=”no” class=”” id=””] 
[/imageframe][/one_third][/fullwidth][fullwidth background_color=”#25272a” background_image=”” background_parallax=”none” enable_mobile=”no” parallax_speed=”0.3″ background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_webm=”” video_mp4=”” video_ogv=”” video_preview_image=”” overlay_color=”” overlay_opacity=”0.5″ video_mute=”yes” video_loop=”yes” fade=”no” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”80px” padding_bottom=”100px” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” hundred_percent=”yes” equal_height_columns=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” menu_anchor=”” class=”” id=””][one_fourth last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”yes” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/one_fourth][one_half last=”no” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][title size=”3″ content_align=”center” style_type=”single” sep_color=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” class=”” id=””]MORE FROM THE SIMPSON COLLECTION[/title][/one_half][one_fourth last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”yes” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/one_fourth][recent_works layout=”grid-with-excerpts” picture_size=”auto” boxed_text=”boxed” filters=”no” columns=”6″ column_spacing=”40″ cat_slug=”” exclude_cats=”mountain” number_posts=”6″ offset=”” excerpt_length=”0″ strip_html=”yes” carousel_layout=”title_on_rollover” scroll_items=”” autoplay=”no” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][/recent_works][/fullwidth]