Volunteers needed! Regretfully, after this issue only one more newsletter will be published unless someone else is willing to take on the tasks of publisher & editor. The reasons are manifold, but are primarily due to the increasing demands on my time associated with Jessie’s health—complicated by my own health issues, and the rigor of publishing the newsletter the past three years.

It was my goal to include everyone in the family in the newsletter. We don’t want to slight anyone—therefore please write and submit your articles and images for inclusion. The last planned issue (Oct 04), will include all articles submitted regardless of the number of pages! So get busy and write! We already have articles on Alice Marie Cunningham as well as some information on the Bobbie and Allen Lasiter, and Billie and Everett Sandifer families already on which will be included.

If someone volunteers, subscriptions for 2005 and beyond will be forwarded on to the new publisher; if not a refund will be provided.

As long as I can remember Babe has been a fixture at family gatherings. She has always had an infectious smile and laugh, and is always a pleasure to be with. I really enjoyed her visit with Linda to Belgium whilst I was stationed there. We still enjoy re-visiting those days whenever we get together. Others, as you will read further into the article, will recount what a special person she is and how giving she has always been. In my case I’ll relate a short example. Immediately after graduating from college, and while waiting to enter active duty with the US Air Force, James got me a job in Beaumont with his company at the refinery, and Babe provided me a “bed” in her home. It was so kind of them both and I’ll never forget their kindness and generosity.

Babe’s name actually is Margaret Lee Ward. I am sure I am responsible for the name she has been called all her life. I must have been so happy about my baby sister that I called her “Baby Sis”. The nickname stuck. She was called “Baby Sis” by all the family and she carried it all through her school years, including high school. That was the only name anyone knew. After graduation we came to live in Beaumont, Texas. It was at this time her name was shortened to Babe, which most people call her at the present time. (Amusing incident within the last couple of years—I was at public gathering in Cotton Valley when this “old, old man” came up to me and asked, “Is Baby Sis here?” It turned out to be he was a good family friend from the years gone by.)

I think I must have developed a “mothering nature” over my younger brother and sister. Before I was school age, Mom would leave them in my care when she ran errands. One afternoon she was gone an unusually long time—she had been delayed for some reason and was very concerned about the three of us. She was quite relieved when she arrived back home and found we were all okay. I was sitting with my back against a pine tree in the yard. Babe had her head in my lap on one side, Phil had his head in my lap on the other side. They were both asleep.

With Babe and Phil (see picture at left) being so close in age, they were always into something. Our Dad worked nights on his oil field job and slept days. Mom would get Babe and Phil fed and dressed for the morning and send them out to the yard to play. Her last instructions to them were, “Don’t get near the window to Dad’s bedroom or you will wake him up”. Well, guess what—they always ended up under Dad’s window and got into a fight—“word battle”. Their “fussing” always awakened our Dad and they got a spanking. I have heard Babe say many times, “We got a spanking every day”.

Another incident involving the two of them occurred when we lived at the railroad crossing. (The track ran right in front of our house. The highway towards Shreveport crossed the track there—hence, the term "railroad crossing”.) Mom had closely instructed us not to play on the track. One day, while I was at school, Babe, Phil and a neighbor child were playing with the rocks sitting in the middle of the tracks. They were so absorbed in their playing, they didn’t hear the train whistle. There happened to be a lady in her car passing who heard the whistle and stopped for the train to pass. Then she saw three kids on the track playing and not hearing a thing. She was so frightened, she jumped out of her car and ran to get them off the track. Of course, Mom had been totally unaware of what was happening until she heard all the commotion. Well—poor Babe and Phil—they got a good spanking and were put to bed until the next morning. According to Babe, I think not getting any supper was the worst punishment she could have gotten. She still remembers the incident, even though it occurred before she was school age.

At the present time, Babe and I share the same home, and have for many years. Her home was one block down the street. She and our mother lived there and Dutch and I lived here. Mom had reached the place, due to deteriorating health, she needed someone with her at all times. Babe had help to come in while she was at work. Dutch had the terrible stroke in 1979. Thereafter, he needed someone while I was at work. Babe would bring Mom here and the same person cared for the two of them while we were at work. Then I began to have a lot of late hours, so Babe and Mom would spend the night here in order to be with Dutch. After a time of bringing clothes back and forth in “a little brown paper sack”, I suggested they move in with us. Eventually, they did. I am almost sure that was at least 25 years ago. My mother and Dutch have since passed away. Babe and I continue to live here and she has sold her home.

The Lord gave Babe a servant’s heart. She wants to do everything for you. She tries to help people even though they are younger than she is. We laugh together about their reaction to her offer to help.

Babe’s love for every family member cannot be surpassed. Every one is important and she wants to be sure their every need is met. As new members are added to the family through marriage or birth, her love is extended to include all. She’s concerned about birthdays, weddings, graduations, sickness—everything about life. She loves us all.

Babe’s greatest love, above all else, is her love for God. He comes first, above all else, in her life. She has lived for Him since a young child—having received the Holy Ghost and being baptized in Jesus name when she was still in school. She reads her Bible through several times each year. She is known to give generously of her time and finances to God’s work. If you are a member of her family, she has prayed earnestly for you. She calls name after name in her prayers. Her great desire in life is to be a soul winner for our God.

A special lady in my life is my aunt, Margaret Ward. As far back as I can remember, she has been affectionately known as “Babe.”

Although Babe has no children of her own, yet she has been a “mother” to many. My memories of Babe begin with my earliest days. When we kids would be sick, Babe always went and bought a coloring book or a dot-to-dot book for us to work. In fact, we almost enjoyed being sick because of the attention that she showed us.

Babe always had an interest in the kids in the family. It was not unusual for her to take one or two of us with her when she would make an out-of-town trip to Black Lake for the weekend. She still has a great interest in the welfare of the other members of her family.

In the years gone by, Babe’s pastime was working jigsaw puzzles. She often had one that was in progress of being worked laid out on her table. Sometimes others coming in would try to help her find where a piece of the puzzle would go.

For many years, Babe has been an avid reader. She has loaned out or given away many of her books to others for them to read after she would finish them.

Babe would often join our family for supper during the years while I was growing up. Since she and my mother both worked at the telephone company, we usually heard all of the phone company business over supper. We all felt like we knew the folks with whom they worked.

After my father suffered his stroke, she moved in with my mother and provided the assistance that my mother needed to take care of him. With the passing years, that help became increasingly valuable as his physical condition declined. Without her constant help, other arrangements for his care no doubt would have needed to have been made.

The Lord has made it possible for Babe and my mother to continue to live together. They have been able to help each other. When one of them is down, the other one carries the load till they are both up going again.

Babe is well known for her devotion to the Lord. She faithfully attends every worship service, unless there is a circumstance that prevents it. In years gone by, Babe would go each week and clean the sanctuary without receiving any compensation. When the family life center at her church was being built, she got down in middle of the project, helping to lay the floor tile herself.

Babe is the kind of person that you just simply do not run out of good things to say about her. Although we may not remember but a portion of her good works, the Lord has not missed one of them in heaven’s record. One day she will hear Him say “Well done!”

Thank you Babe for the many washed dishes, borrowed books, warm hugs, and assurance of your love! I love you and appreciate you so much!

Melba has already explained how Margaret got to be “Babe”. Somehow Margaret does not fit, never has, so it will always be Babe. Mother used to say that Babe’s middle name was “Go” because she loved to travel so much and took many trips with friends and family over the years.

I have been around Babe all of my life but I really got to know her much, much better after we have been on vacation together several times. The first one, I suppose, was when we visited my brother, Donny and his wife Carol, in Mons, Belgium. Donny worked at SHAPE, a NATO headquarters south of Brussels—almost in France. We certainly had a wonderful time there, with some “speriences” as they say! It was my first time out of the United States, but Babe had already been to the Holy Land. However, I suppose there can always be surprises anytime you go.

I hope she won’t mind me telling off on her a bit (and also on myself). We landed in Brussels and before long were at Donny and Carol’s house. It would be too much to write about the whole trip.

One of the first “speriences” we had was when Carol took us to the NATO base to get gasoline. She wanted to show us the flags at the front of the base that represented the nations in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization so she drove across the street in front of the base and the guardhouse. Babe and I wanted pictures of flags flying in front of the base. I had no idea that pictures were not supposed to be taken at a base like this. Just before I got ready to snap a picture, one of the guards came out of the guardhouse and told me not to take a picture. I wanted the picture and took it and got us into some trouble. I had my film confiscated and we were escorted to the base for questioning. Carol was very upset and talked to the men, Donny was called, etc. To make a long story short, they gave us our film back and let us go after about an hour.

Donny was first really upset about that happening to us and then got a kick out of it calling us “the Red Brigade”. He said they had tour buses that came in regularly that went behind the guard house, and the last thing they did was stand right in front of the base with the flags behind them and have their picture made and given to them, which was much worse than we had done! It seems that the regular officer was on coffee break and some of the other “guards” just perhaps wanted to have some fun, but it made for an interesting time and a warning not to try to take pictures at bases nor at the borders of countries.

Donny and Carol chauffeured us to the Netherlands, Germany and Luxemburg to help us get “broken in” before we headed out on our own. We learned a little about the challenge of ordering from foreign menus we might encounter on our trip. Donny also taught us some basic German words and motions to try to help us communicate. While in Germany, Babe and I were in a grocery store trying to buy some fruit and got chewed out because we handled the fruit. As it turns out, they want to pick out the fruit for you and get very upset if you do it, but it didn’t seem to faze Babe.

In Luxemburg, Babe and I had our first restaurant visit alone. They allowed dogs in the restaurant which was very unusual to us. After trying to figure out the menu for some time a gentleman at another table started speaking our language and helped us. Before we got out of the restaurant a man from one of the local newspapers realized we were Americans and interviewed us, rather me, as Babe did not want to be interviewed.

The first place we went on our own was to London. We had to take a bus from Brussels through France to arrive at the English Channel where we rode a hovercraft across the channel to England. Then we went by bus to London. Babe saved my life in London one day when we were trying to cross the street when I temporarily forgot about those foreigners driving on the wrong side of the road. In one of their nice “chain type” eateries not far from Big Ben one of the workers asked us where we were from and was correct in thinking that we were from Louisiana/Texas part of the States. Carol had warned us that cafes turn into pubs at night. One afternoon we stopped at a café to get some supper and it turned out that it was a pub by that time. Babe didn’t want to tell me and I didn’t pay any attention (but we didn’t participate in the pub part). We have a really good time in London, saw some very interesting sights, too many to go into here and were ready to head back to the coast. We had arrived at the “bus station” (which was not like any here in the U.S.) and went to where we had arrived on the trip over to catch the bus for the trip back. We waited and waited and no bus showed up. Finally, Babe discovered that the buses were downstairs and almost ready to leave. We would have missed them if it had been left up to me. I thought that you boarded where you had gotten off the bus, but not so. When we got to the channel, they had just stopped the last hovercraft, as the water was too rough, so we had to take the ferry, which takes much longer. We had to wait a long time before we got to head for Brussels and were 5 hours late with no way to contact Donny and Carol. However, they knew things like that frequently happened and found out what had happened not too long before we arrived.

Well, Donny and I went to the base for a trial run of driving his car as he was letting us borrow it to take a trip to Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. I told him to have patience because it had been 5 years since I had driven a standard and he did have patience but warned me that I would have to drive differently or I would get hit from behind—what great news, as I was no racecar driver!

Well, off Babe and I went on our own, me the driver and she the navigator (which she was very good at, even with European maps). Right off the bat, I discovered that I was going to have to grit my teeth and drive like them in order to have a good trip. We were on the autobahn in Germany and were passing exit ramps. They all had this German word that started with an “A”. Babe worked so hard to try to find the city that was on the sign, never could and I finally told her that that evidently meant the exit). She has had a lot of laughs over this, even to this day.

We were really rolling on the autobahn at about 80 mph (no speed limit) and Babe had her head in the map, almost like she was going to have to pass a test! She would look up once in a great while and she couldn’t get over how fast we were covering the countryside. The speedometer was in kilometers instead of miles per hour and I didn’t know if she realized how fast we were traveling but I didn’t want to scare her. You realize we had prayed for the Lord to take care of us and help us on this trip and He surely did just that.

Donny and Carol had suggested that we stay in the guesthouses that are bed and breakfast lodgings. We really enjoyed that but also had some “speriences” staying in those. In Austria we found this guesthouse and the lady who was in charge somehow got the idea that there were 3 of us to lodge for the night instead of 2. She finally had to get her son (a business man who spoke English) to interpret for her. Her guesthouse had the nicest, fresh-ironed bed linens and not a speck of dust anywhere. We had a beautiful view of a mountain there and the air was very cool. The next morning at the breakfast table, we had fresh picked roses on our table and the same lady asked if we were mother and daughter, etc, trying to find out our relationship. Finally Babe went up and got her English/German dictionary and I was able to find “cuzena” and let her know we were cousins, “Ah cuzena” she said. At another guest house in Germany we saw the cattle in the barn eating green, fresh cut grass about 1½ feet long (instead of hay) and then after taking a picture of that, here came a gentleman with a suit on, hat and all, riding his bicycle down the street.

I believe it was in the Black Forest area of Germany that one of the cities, Baden-Baden, we had to go through was very difficult to drive in (so we had been told), and it was difficult to find our way out. We thought we had taken a wrong turn, so I stopped at a gas station and asked for directions from this young blond German who worked there. He said he had had English in high school but could not remember very much, he asked us to wait a few minutes until he was got off work and he would show us. He drove his car quite a distance just to show us which highway to take. We were so grateful. (After the trip we learned that neither Janice nor Dennis who had been there prior to us, would have driven in that city.)

On to Switzerland. We saw beautiful green lakes. There was a mineral in the mountains that turned the water kind of a pretty light green and I bought an item or two made out of this mineral. We went to a high peak where we had to ride a cable car that held 30 people to the peak. I would have never thought I would have ridden a cable car like that over this huge sheer cliff on up to the mountain peak.

Then to the Matter-Horn. After leaving our car in a huge parking lot, we rode a train to Zermatt (no other way to get there). In Zermatt we took a small cable car then switched to a larger cable car further up before we got to the Matter-Horn. It was truly beautiful. They said that the day we were there was perfect and they did not have many days that were perfect for viewing like that day. The air was so fresh and clean with no pollution. We were hesitant to drink the local water. I do not like carbonated water so when I found some ice cream cones, I bought about 4-5 and Babe got tickled at me for eating so many. We finally stopped at a restaurant and bought some local water anyway.

Paris was another “sperience”. Unbeknownst to us, there were some major happenings in the city the time we were visiting and nearly every hotel was booked. As it turned out, we stayed in a one star hotel, which is a BIG mistake. We were very frightened at the people who were there in the hotel and I was determined that I was not staying another night in Paris. We had paid to stay 2 nights but the next morning we went to try to find a better hotel but could not.

I told Babe if I had to sit on the floor on the train, I was going back to Donny’s. We caught a taxi and I handed him a piece of paper with “Gare Du North” (north train station) written on it. He said, “Gare Du North” and got us there. Since we had tickets for a longer stay, I thought we had to get the tickets changed. I left Babe where the trains park on the tracks (for boarding) and went to get our tickets changed. There was a man in line ahead of me who knew more French than I did but not a lot. He was kind enough to help me communicate with the person to get the ticket changed. (We had been told the French are not happy with people who don’t speak French and take it as an offense and this ticket man was not happy with me.) When I got back and found Babe, she had seen a fight. As it was getting close to departure time we were getting anxious because they never put our train on the sign so we did not know which track to go to. All of a sudden they called out “Omsterdaam” (Amsterdam) (which we knew our train was going there after it stopped at Brussels) and Babe saw this group of people practically running. She said, “Lets follow them”, so we did and managed to catch our train. This was an express train that only stopped about 20 seconds at the various stops—you had to have your luggage in hand, be at the door in order to get off in time. We were very anxious to know how we would know we were at the right stop in time. After we had been discussing it for some time, a gentleman in the same seating area (who had been speaking another language), talked to us in English and told us he would let us know when we were approaching our stop, that he was also getting off there. He not only did that but was so kind to be sure he talked to Donny on the pay phone, handed the phone to me and stayed there until he was certain that Donny was coming to pick us up.) It was interesting to hear this gentleman say “Mssr. Ilburn”, leaving off the “H”. The Lord was definitely with us.

Since we left Paris early, we had some extra time and went shopping in Mons, which was the city Donny and Carol lived near. While there, we went into a café to get something to eat and milk to drink. When the waiter came back with our order, it was beer instead of milk! We laughed about “ordering beer” and told the waiter that we did not want beer but it made him mad because he thought we were laughing at him. Donny and Carol were so great to us and we thoroughly enjoyed our trip.

We have also taken several trips together to the Great Smoky Mountains (picture at right and left), which we really enjoyed. One of Babe's favorite things to do on these trips was to shop in the Christmas stores to buy Christmas ornaments to give other family members to enjoy on their tree.

Others have written so well about Babe’s many virtues so I will not repeat all of that. I think one of Babe’s main gifts to others is being a helper, a listener and a giver. She always wants to help in whatever way she can and has repeatedly done that, even to the extreme. She has always loved the family and has played a major part in keeping us close-knit. She has a great sense of humor and loves to pick. She’s just PLAIN GREAT! I’m so thankful to be in her family and to have the closeness we enjoy.

I remember going to Black Lake with her, after we got off from work at the phone company in '73. We were going to see Mom and Pop Ward. The sun was setting and we were both soaking in the beauty of it, on our way to Campti. Anybody could always talk to Babe, because she has always cared about everybody. When My mother died in 1996, Babe was staying at my Dad's house to help out for a little while. I had never lost a parent, but I knew Babe had. I was hurting real bad, and I asked her if it ever gets any better. She said yeah, the pain goes away and you have sweet memories. She was right, and she was there for us when we needed her most! She told me that when she was about five, and my Dad, Phil Ward, was a year younger, they were playing on a railroad track and there was a train coming. A lady passing by in her car saw the two playing on the track, picked them up and took them home to Mom Ward, who promptly put them to bed without supper.

I don't know why, but we've always loved picking on her. Anybody that knows her, picks on her, because she has a great sense of humor. One year I got her a birthday card that said, "Happy one-hundredth Birthday." She loved it.

Babe told me of the time she was in the shopping mall and happened to see one of her pastors, an old time friend, Brother Marvin Cole. He had some other men with him, and he also saw Babe. Most people that know her call her Babe, instead of Margaret. So Brother Cole, loudly across the mall said, "Hi Babe". The men with him kind of looked at him, calling out to a woman other than his wife, saying "Hi Babe," but I'm sure he explained. She is a blessing!

Some of my earliest memories of Babe go back to “Burger Chef” on Sunday’s. Babe used to take me and my three younger brothers (we must have all been under the age of 6 or 7 then) on Sunday after church to the local Burger Chef. I can actually still taste their burgers! I think that the other church members must have thought that she was a brave woman indeed to take us all to lunch by herself. I have another food memory surrounding Babe, I remember visiting she and Mom (May Ward, my great-grandmother) down the street on Pipkin and sitting at her Formica table eating pimento cheese or tuna fish sandwiches. And, who can forget the Frito’s that went with them?? I loved that house—I remember the cool smoothness of the red, concrete front porch and the mimosa tree in the front yard with its spidery pink flowers. I also loved to sneak in her “coloring” drawer and take out that huge box of crayons and color to my heart’s content.

She always had a book to read in that drawer as well—speaking of reading, I know that Babe had a huge part in my love of reading and my eventually majoring in English in college. Babe and I must have gone through thousands of paperback books. Babe’s closet became my own personal lending library—we shared a great love for historical Christian romance—I couldn’t wait for her next shipment of books to come in the mail as a teenager. I feel pretty sure that there were times when she had more books than clothes in that closet!

What stands out most in my mind about Babe is her selflessness. From the time I can remember she was caring for Mom and Pop (May and Elmer Ward). When Mom had to go in the nursing home, Babe spent many days and hours going out there to check on her and let her know that she was still loved and missed. Then, she moved in with my grandfather and grandmother and worked tirelessly to help Granny take care of my dear, sweet Honey. She continues to love and worry about all of the rest of our family. When my Aunt Margaret Ruth was injured in a serious motorcycle accident, Babe went to live with her and help her as she went through physical rehabilitation. She has been there for ALL of us in our time of need. In one of the darkest times of my life Babe came to stay with me—away from her comfortable home and bed—because she was worried about me. That was the amazing thing about Babe; she would quietly let you know that she loved you and that she would be there for you if you needed her. I never felt that she was trying to intrude—she just wanted me to know that she was there supporting me.

There is so much more to share—all of the trips, the shopping, and love—I don’t think I could write it all down. I wish there were a Great-Aunt’s Day just like Grandparent’s Day or Mother’s Day because then we could all take a day to honor someone like Babe. In lieu of such a day, I hope that I live my life to honor the example that she has set before me and I hope that she knows how much she is loved every day by all of us. I love you, Baby.