The Beginning

My Sweet Daddy

My story begins before I was born.  This time has a great deal to do with how my life has played out. My mother and father were married in 1958. My father was divorced and they actually had a difficult time finding a minister to marry them because of his divorce. They finally found an understanding minister who agreed to perform the ceremony. My mother was 30 and my dad was 34. My dad was a geologist with Texaco and was transferred to New Orleans almost immediately after they were married. My mother worked for South Central Bell and couldn't get a transfer to the New Orleans office for a couple of months. Every weekend until her transfer came through she would ride the train from Jackson to New Orleans so they could spend their weekends together. They were absolutely, blissfully in love. My dad was incredibly intelligent, very kind and hilarious. In late summer of 1961 my mother became pregnant with me. They were over the moon with joy. My dad had a daughter, Judy, from his previous marriage that he completely adored but only could see her for two weeks each summer. It is my understanding that he and his ex-wife were not on good terms.

 My Mother and Father on their wedding day - June 29, 1958

My dad loved Cajun food, having parties in their home he drank a six-pack of beer every night but was never a drunk. He also loved his cigarettes. For a couple of months my dad had made statements to my mom about what suit he wanted to be buried in and for her to make sure to take him home to Boise, LA to bury him because he didn't want to be buried “underwater in New Orleans”. She really didn't pay a lot of attention to those requests at the time. He had also picked out my name “Sheryl Denise Perkins, not Sheryl with a “C” but an “S”. He wanted me to be called “Dennie”. Whew, thank God that stopped after I was about 3-years-old!

On November 8^th, my mom was tired and Daddy told her to go on to bed that he was going to sit up a while and watch television.

The next thing my mom remembers was my dad falling over her in the bed. At first she thought he was just playing and being a big kidder, as usual. She turned the light on and my dad was lying there foaming at the mouth. He was dead from a massive heart attack.