Edell Atwater

Out of Texas Edell Atwater

Barbara, born in Texas and raised in California, struggles for acceptance from early childhood. Her earliest memories are of Mama saying she is ugly and looks like Daddy. Daddy changes jobs frequently, so she never attends the same school for long, and always feels like an outsider. When they move to California during the depression, the kids make fun of her clothes and she gets a poor grade in English. "Because you talks like a Texan," the teacher explains. They move to Oregon when she is a sophomore in high school, and she makes friends there. She is beginning to feel accepted when they move back to California. In her teens, she falls in love with Sean, who marries someone else. A short time later, during WWII, she meets and marries a soldier stationed near her home. George leaves her with his family, whom she hardly knows, when he goes overseas. Their son is one year old when he returns. After their three children are grown, she divorces him and struggles to make a life for herself. She marries John, a veteran of the same war, and finds love and acceptance.