My Life
Jennifer Rebecca Bradley
Copyright © 2019 Jennifer Rebecca Bradley
All rights reserved
First Edition
NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING
320 Broad Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2019
ISBN 978-1-64096-510-2 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64096-511-9 (Digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
My Sister and I Left Young from Safford!
All Alone at the Airport Going to Germany
My Mom Wanted Me to Give the Child Away!
She Wanted Me to Have an Abortion!
So She Sent Me to My Sister in Mobile!
I Had My Son in Safford, Arizona!
I Didn’t Feel Home in Safford, Arizona
So My Son and I Moved to Boonville
Then to Charleston then Texas!
My Son Stayed Behind in Texas with My Cousin and Mom!
I Left All by Myself to Mobile!
To the greatest father, Thomas F. Bright
This is a true story of my life while growing up.
How My Mom and Dad Met
Mother
Your father and I, when I was a little three-year-old girl, he was about eleven years old. His mother and my mom were best friends. Our families all lived in Solomon, Arizona, and that’s where we met. Our families all went to Oregon one year to pick fruits, and your dad would carry me around on his shoulders through the strawberry field where our folks were working. Then after we came back to Arizona, your dad joined the army. He was a paratrooper (that means he jumped out of the airplane). That was part of his job after serving four years in the army. He served his country in Panama. After he finished with the army, he moved to Rockford, Illinois. His mother Katy, his little sister Cora Lee, your uncle Alfred, and his older brother Delbert were living there. Your dad got a job with a big company named Woodward Governor Company. He worked there as a machinist making parts of airplanes. Later, his mother and sister moved back to Safford, Arizona. One summer, he and his brother Alfred came to visit their mother and sister. The year before that, your uncle Alfred had married Judy Herbert, and they had a baby girl who they named Tiffany. anyway, your dad came for a visit and was when I turned 15, anyway he came for visit to his family and he came to see our family, Then one weekend, we drove up to Kingman, Arizona. Your grandma Katy, me and your daddy went to see your uncle Alfred, aunt Judy, aunt Monica, and uncle Ariel. They were living there and working on a job. Anyway, that night, your daddy took me out to eat and to the drive-in movie. Then two days later, we drove back to Safford; he took me home to my mother, but he would pick me up from high school. We would go out to eat, come to our house, and visit my family. Sometimes he would bring his mother to visit my mother. Then I had a birthday, and he brought me a little gold ring. Your dad went back to Illinois and back to work, and I continued going to high school. Your dad and I started writing back and forth, and he told me in a letter that he had fallen in love with me. I was not sure what I felt. I was so young, but anyway, he said he wanted to marry me; and I finally said yes. A little while later, he sent me a beautiful engagement ring. After I turned sixteen, I flew to Chicago, Illinois, where your dad picked me up, and we drove back to his apartment in Rockford, Illinois. Then in November 30, we were married. Two of your dad’s friends from work were there as witnesses for us. We lived for a year there. I continued going to high school there, and then we decided to move back to Safford, Arizona.
They Got Married Young!
Jennifer
My mother, she was sixteen when she flew to Chicago, Illinois, where my dad picked her up, and they lived in Rockford, Illinois. And then in November 30, they were married, and my dad’s two friends were named as witnesses for them. They lived there for years, and Marlene Kay Bright continued going to high school. They didn’t live there, and they decided to go back to Safford, Arizona. They settled in and rented an apartment on Highway 70. It’s behind the Casa Mañana here in Safford.
Mother
Then your dad started to work at the mines in Morenci. After working at Morenci, your dad got a job with your uncle Gary, your aunt Sue’s husband. He worked there and other places, and that was where he was working before he died. He retired at Tri-county Minerals, which was used to be named Morris Sand and Gravel. Why we decided to move back to Safford was because all of our families lived here.
Your dad worked as a truck driver for many years. That’s the whole story. We lived in apartments when we moved back from Illinois. Then later, my mother gave us money for a down payment for our trailer which we parked on my mom’s property there in Solomon.
How They Had Us
Mother
After we moved back to Safford, Arizona, I went to a doctor, and he said I was expecting a baby in April. And then he and I had a baby. We named her Holly Kay Bright. Then three years and six months later, we had another baby girl; we named her Jennifer Rebecca Bright.
Jennifer