The Dash: Memoirs and Poems of a Life Well Lived

By Phyllis Elaine Hotsenpiller Hays

Phyllis Hotsenpiller Hays (momma) grew up in a rural Ozark community. She was the last of four and came seven years later than the rest. Momma grew up on a farm rebounding from the horrible times of the Great Depression. Her daddy and brother worked the farm and daddy also worked in town. Momma loved her big brother and learned everything about farming from him. Momma also loved reading. When the chores were done she would while away the summer days under a big oak tree reading one of Americas classic novels. Her sisters took care of the domestic chores but one by one they married and left home leaving Momma with more responsibilities.

Momma loved being on the farm and tagging along with her brother to the rodeo. Momma loved riding horses and became a trick rider in the rodeo.

Life was good for Phyllis Hotsenpiller until age 13 when her daddy became ill with a brain tumor and after long suffering with horrible headaches he died.

Mommas momma, Grandma Hotsenpiller, was a good Christian woman and never turned her back on a single soul. But her momma could not handle the weight of losing her husband and not knowing what to do with the farm. Momma worked the farm until the farm sold and momma was sent to live with her oldest sister. In the blink of an eye Mommas life was forever changed and she was now forced to grow up all at once.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462898558

Phyllis Elaine Hotsenpiller Hays

Phyllis Hotsenpiller Hays (momma) grew up in a rural Ozark community. She was the last of four and came seven years later than the rest. Momma grew up on a farm rebounding from the horrible times of the Great Depression. Her daddy and brother worked the farm and daddy also worked in town. Momma loved her big brother and learned everything about farming from him. Momma also loved reading. When the chores were done she would while away the summer days under a big oak tree reading one of Americas classic novels. Her sisters took care of the domestic chores but one by one they married and left home leaving Momma with more responsibilities. Momma loved being on the farm and tagging along with her brother to the rodeo. Momma loved riding horses and became a trick rider in the rodeo.

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Copyright © 2011 by Phyllis Elaine Hotsenpiller Hays.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011911067

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-9854-1

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-9853-4

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-9855-8

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without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

1) FAMILY STORIES FROM MOM’S CHILDREN

2) NOTES AND POEMS ABOUT MOM’S CHILDREN

3) NOTES & POETRY BY PHYLLIS HOTSENPILLER HAYS

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the seven children

Of Phyllis Elaine Hotsenpiller Hays

She dedicated her life to them.

FORWARD

I am not the author or single subject of this book. I am the third child in a line of seven born into what some might call a modern day gypsy family.

Our family was a product of the sixties, and all that that entails. Mom loved JFK and she probably longed to burn her bra but didn’t. She wasn’t a flower child because she was a responsible mom.

She loved Jeremiah was a bull frog (CC&R) Wildwood weed (Jim Stafford) and many other songs about the times. Yes, she did smoke some pot once when we took her to a Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ted Nugent concert in Dallas once back in 1976. Mom was adventurous on occasion, reserved most of the time, but always a sucker for her kids and we could talk her into many things. I admit I did talk her into taking that toke! And she laughed her butt off.

As I explored putting this book together I realized that I needed to give some background about my mother and the trials and tribulation she went through while trying to raise seven children. I need to explain where she came from in order for the reader to understand how special she was.

Let me start by saying. Our family wasn’t gypsies in the thief or swindler sense of the word. Both my grandfather’s were hard working and integral men. My grandmother Hotsenpiller was a wonderful Christian woman who never turned anyone needing help away, not even during the depression.

My grandma Hays was a good woman too, but this book isn’t about my dads family, it is really about my mom.

Mom grew up on a farm in the hills of the Ozark Mountains. Mom was an oops baby with seven