"She's the Pretty One"

At John's military school, they would have an award's day at the end of the school year. After all the programs and award ceremonies, the boys would leave for the summer with their parents.

Colonel Jones told me that John was looking all around for me. He said he asked John what I looked like. John replied, "Oh! She's the pretty one!"

"She's the Pretty One"

At John's military school, they would have an award's day at the end of the school year. After all the programs and award ceremonies, the boys would leave for the summer with their parents.

Colonel Jones told me that John was looking all around for me. He said he asked John what I looked like. John replied, "Oh! She's the pretty one!"

John's Declamation

While raising my children, I always put their needs and desires above everything and everybody. My mother always taught me what whe learned from her mother - "Other things will come and go; but your kids will always be there. You are not worth what you are made of if you do not take care of your kids." This has been a valuable lesson she taught me; and I carried it through all the difficult but happy times while raising my kids. I placed their desires above everything, even money, which I needed desperately because I was the only source of revenue for all of us.

It was nearing time for me to go to pick up my kids from their boarding schools. John's military school was going to have a little program. He was going to receite a little poem which he called, "my declamation." It was a contest. Whoever recited the best would win a medal. He had talked to me on the phone about it several times. He was so excited. He was really looking forward to my seeing him stand up in front of everyone and recite it; so was I.

A few days before his program, I got a call from my agent telling me that he had a booking for me for $600.00 for one week. I had not started making this much money and was estactic about it because this was the financial goal I had been trying to attain for a long time. There was only one problem. If I worked the week he wanted to book me, then I would miss John's declamation.

We needed the money. I called John and told him I was going to pick him up late because I had to work. He started crying, "You're gonna miss my declamation?!" That changed everything. I told him I would be there. He was happy and so was I. I needed this little six year old boy to remind me what was more important. And by the way, he won.

The Other Side of Life from Being a Stripper....

When I was raising my two kids, I wanted them to know about "life". I, also, wanted them to have a good education. I sent them to boarding schools because I was dancing as a stripper on the road. John went to military school in Tennessee his first, second, third, and fifth grade year. Melissa went to a girl's Catholic school in Kentucky her first and third year.

I was trying to balance their life of a good formal education with the "street" education they learned from being wiith me because I took them everywhere with me - even in the burlesk theaters.

The life style I gave them; and the type of people they were around when with me provided their "street smarts" while the boarding schools gave them the best education that I felt possible.

My mother took care of them in Lamar, Missouri during Melissa's second grade year and John's fourth grade year. That was a mistake. She had sprained her back from lifting at the nursing home where she worked. My dad told me I should have her take care of the kids and give her the money I paid to the schools to help her out. They were divorced at the time; but evidently he still cared about her.

Everytime I do something against what I feel is right, I mess up. I thought that maybe he was right, and I should do this to help her. It turned out disasterous.

Evidently her back made a full recovery or she had it cooked up with my dad to get money out of me. I paid her to keep the kids. She ended up going back to work. The kids went to school in the daytime. Mama worked from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.; so the babysitter picked them up from school. She worked the weekends; so they were at the babysitters then, too. Mama had it worked out to be with them as little as possible and still get money from me. They hated it that year, especially, John. I was sorry I left them with her and still am.

During Melissa's fourth and fifth grade and John's sixth and seventh grade, they went to two different Catholic schools in Canton, Ohio. I was in love and wanted to be around him. I got a lot of work at the theater and worked at other dancing jobs in cities close by - such as Akron, Ohio, Youngstown, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pa.

John's eighth grade and Melissa's sixth grade was partially spent in Canton. Melissa was still in Catholic School; but John was too old for this school. I sen thom to a public school - wrong decision! John was used to discipline and rules. This was a typical public school which let the kids run wild. This was the main reason I moved back to Lamar, Missouri for the rest of the school year.

I decided that since John would be starting to high school next year - he needed to go to one school for four years. High school tuition at a military school was really expensive - more than I felt I could afford. I could have paid it; but I wanted to be with my kids; and I wanted John and Melissa to be settled in one school for their high school years.

The short time John went to the public school in Canton made me realize that if they had to go to public school, then it would be in a small town. John hated it. Melissa became wild.

I wish I would have kept them in the boarding schools for twelve years; so do they. It was an expensive, emotional experience that we all endured and a final decision fo me to make me realize to go by my own thoughts and emotions rather than what others "think I should do".