William and Bessie lived in Oklahoma until 1935 & then moved to Arizona. They moved to San Bernardino CA in 1941. Bessie Lee sang as a diversion while she worked & to entertain her children. She sung "My Heart Is In the Highlands" frequently. She also sang Irish songs learned during her childhood, contemporary & religious songs. According to Bessie Lee, people lived what we would now consider to be a very primitive lifestyle. When she was a child she told of her grandfather Ashmore trapping and skinning animals including mink & of eating opossum and other wild game. She was a very sociable individual. She mentioned a life threatening illness and had almost died as a child from something serious. I think maybe diptheria. When she was a child schools were limited to country schools. They used slates to learn writing. Mother's Uncle Steve and Alvin had been teachers. Her father wouldn't allow her to continue school past 8th grade. He wanted her to stay home and learn to be a lady. She had potential to have become a scientist.
2001 ~ June Howard-Smith