Honored in their generations

For many Dallas women, “home” means somewhere else. But some have lived here for generations, surrounded by their mothers and daughters, sisters and aunts, and occasionally, grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Here are a few of those women, from three local families with nothing in common except their deep ties to each other and to Dallas.

“To me, there’s not much difference between us. Pat has taken after me so much, and she’s raised her daughter just the same. If you treat your kids right they won’t stray off.”

– Odessa Holt, 65



“Even now our cousins seem more like brothers and sisters – we visit with third and fourth cousins that lots of other people wouldn’t even consider relatives. We were taught that you don’t argue and fuss with your family, you love them.”

– Patsy Kearney, 49



“Hopefully I can give my little girl more than my parents gave me, although they gave me everything they could. I don’t remember my mother saying ’no’ to me very many times.”

– Deana Allsbrooks, 25



“When I was 10 years old, like my daughter, Mary Evelyn, I could make my own clothes. We worked in the fields, picking and chopping cotton and I learned to drive a tractor when I was 13 or 14. My children keep asking me, “Mama, what did you do?” – and 1 tell them about the farm. They feel they would have liked to live that way, too.”

– Florence Butts, 49



“I didn’t work much in the fields. We just did it at a neighbor’s, for the experience and the money – I don’t think I’ve picked a hundred pounds of cotton in my life. I was really aware that I had an easier life than my mother and her sisters. My daughters came along too late for all that.”

– Mary Ann Tolds, 37



“I guess 1 get to do a lot more than my mother and grandmother did – basketball, football, movies, you know.”

– Brigitte Tolds, 15

“When I was a girl, a great deal of our pleasures were in the home. Anyone who had talent would come to the house – we knew the entire Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and we had parlor games and sports. But things were less crowded then, there was less pressure . . .. we made everything an occasion and we rested for it.

– Adah Marr, 76



“My mother’s generation was the most elite. They always had chauffeurs and butlers and every meal served in style. Consequently, she’s very unruffled- the Dalai Lama could study with her.”

– Marilyn Klepak, 42



“Sometimes I want to stay at home and do a lot of things with my family. But my friends are always asking me, “Where are we going this weekend?” There’s just not much time . . .”

– Margo Fogelman, 14