A Country Girl Grows Up Under the Cottonwood Tree

Parents have no idea what they are getting into when they have children. Four little girls, born to Joe and Ruby Kranawetter over the span of five years, were welcomed to the family. Three of them were good little girls, doing all the things you would expect them to do. And then there was Mary. Little Mary, daughter number three, gave her parents several reasons over the years to scratch their heads and ask: What do we do with this headstrong child, who seems to have a mind of her own? One might think growing up on a farm in the 1940’s ‘50’s and '60’s could be very dismal, if your daddy was a share-cropper. Expressions like just getting by and making do described her living situation, but were not part of Mary’s vocabulary. She never felt that her family was poor. Parents that taught the value of hard work, sharing and caring made her life an adventure.