Loretta Willis Research Paper

[Title Here, up to 12 Words, on One to Two Lines]

This is the life story of my grandmother Loretta Willis. She is the oldest one of the family and also the one who keeps the family together. I am pleased to share the life history of someone who is very dear to me. She is the one who raised, loved, and shown me new things. For her I am very grateful.

Childhood

Loretta Willis was born to Andrew and Lucille Bryant in Boley, Oklahoma on November 10, 1934. Her sister Ernestine was born in 1937. When she was about five years old her family relocated to Arizona. They arrived by train in Florence, Arizona and made their way to phoenix. She started school in the 1st grade at Dunbar School where Mrs. McClellan was her teacher. Her chores were to pick and chop cotton, fruits and vegetables. Back then potatoes were six cents a bag, therefore she tried to gather as many bags as possible. She would also take leftover food home for the family to eat for dinner. At the time, there was not much for children to do recreationally, so she and her sister would play with and catch June bugs.

Adolescence1

During her adolescence years, she attended Bethune Elementary school in sixth grade. At Bethune she learned to cook, sew, and wash. She

Most of her late adulthood was centered on taking care of her sick husband and mother and church activities. In 2008 her husband Raymond became very sick and later passed away. She then took on the role of taking care of her mother who too became ill. Due to her illness, she moved her mother in her house where she took care of her and accommodated all of her needs for several years before her passing in 2013. 2013 was also the year that her great-great granddaughter was born, making her the sixth generation alive at the time in our family. Also, all she has been through from picking cotton, and witnessing racism and segregation, she was able to experience the United States having the a African American president for the first