Colleen Haynes Rongey is my name and my earthly life began in the middle of the worst snowstorm of 1928. Born in an abandoned log house on land homesteaded by Isaac Freeman near the Tarlton Cemetery on top of the mountain at Lurton, Newton County, Arkansas. Firstborn of Errol Haynes and his wife Iva Woodard , my earliest memories are of sawmill camps and friends in the backwoods. Our little family followed white oak timber being cut out of the Ozarks as Daddy worked in the first barrel stave mills. We lived in tents as we moved up and down most of the hills and hollers of Newton County. Finally, in the late thirties, we settled down in a little unpainted house at Lurton, where we lived until I finished school at Deer High School in 1945. Lurton, population 105 in 1940, had the reputation for being a wild place. We didn't know we were different. Probably too busy entertaining ourselves with picnics, dances, pie suppers and singing conventions... The Haynes family moved across the road from Lurton's one room schoolhouse in 1938. The Lurton School was where most of the action was except for The Smith Garage and Dance Hall, local hangout, with nickelodeon music of Bob Wills' "San Antonio Rose" and "Milk Cow Blues" booming through the clear mountain air, luring all of us inside. So exciting for a teenager to see who was there from the creek, Deer and even as far away as Jasper. These scenes made coming of age a time to remember for all of us around Lurton. I speak for everyone when I say this.

In the 1940s as we graduated from Deer, the girls left the mountain to find work in the cities. The boys went to war or to work in the defense plants or for the war effort in some way. In 1945, with the war over and the boys home, many went to college at Arkansas Tech. I thought it was out of the question for me moneywise, so I moved from the mountain to the big city of Fort Smith, Arkansas to work. My friends scattered to the four winds as they went off to California, Kansas City an toTech...Most, I never saw again until our 50 Year Class Reunion in 1995 at Deer. We had a wonderful time visiting as though we had never been apart. All thirteen of us were still living and eleven attended the reunion. Working in Fort Smith, I met and married Paul Rongey, a young navy guy recently home from the South Pacific. Peleliu Island in particular. We now write a newsletter for his Navy group. SLCU 32 (Small Landing Craft Unit) Paul was one of fifteen children born to a farm family in a small community called Honey Hill near Searcy, Arkansas in White County. We were married in a small church wedding; the first church wedding either of us had ever been to, or seen. This is another story. Married since 1949, we have four sons who now have provided us with four sweet daughter-in- laws, seven grandsons and one granddaughter...All live nearby our home in New Orleans.

Colleen's Frame & Art in New Orleans opened in 1973. We sell custom picture framing, art prints and posters and other things that fall our way. For fifteen years, I taught tole and canvas painting classes but about 1990 decided I wanted to write nonfiction stories as promised myself years ago... I hung up the paint brushes for a pen and here I am...Hoping to share tales and stories of today and yesterday...with you and maybe hear a few of yours as well. This web thing is a new experience for me, even though I've been heavily involved with my Macintosh (Computer) for a few years now, I did not allow myself a look inside the web thing, except for an occasional peek. I knew what would happen! This was, until two weeks ago when I was looking for Grandpa Isham Davis Woodard's tombstone on the web and found a new cousin's web page. I was impressed with his Woodard Genealogy Web Page and told him so. His name is Denis Graham and he so graciously offered to design a genealogy page for me, and help set it up; he is a special person. Many mountain friends and family feel the way I do about Newton County. This web site is for them to share their memories. Over fifty years now, we migrate home to meet each other there, share old stories and see how much water is in Piney Creek or The Big Buffalo... Tarlton Cemetery Decoration Day is our day to meet and greet unless one of us is carried back to the cemetery to stay. At that time, we travel back to say goodbye as many others of Gods creatures... head back for the mountain where we began.

From my early childhood, I reached out a hand to take family papers and pictures the mamas threw away; now I have a lifetime collection of Newton County Times, Kansas City Star clippings, and other stories heard as a young'un...I remember things from a very young age, and began to write them a few years ago when the computer came into my life. I hope some of this is of interest to you. Feel free to send me your thoughts and comments. This is why I am writing to you.

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Take Care, Judy Tate