I Reckon So: Life in the Potato Hills

My name is Diamond Ann Taylor- I was born in
Augusta Arkansas to Cletus and Pearly Taylor. I came
from a large family consisting of 13 children, 8 boys
and 5 girls. I am the 7th child of the children and the
third girl. It really was cheaper back then to have a
large family than it is now. My dad wanted to give
my mom a diamond engagement ring to go with her
wedding band. So he saved money and when he had
it all, he came home and said, "Mother get ready, we
are going to town." When she asked why, he said, "I
am going to buy you a diamond ring." She fl atly told
my dad, "Well not today Daddy, we are having another baby." Then her Diamond came
along nine months later . . . ..
I am a mother of 3 children and my youngest child was born in Talihina, OK in the Potato
Hills. I went to work at Eastern Oklahoma State College eleven years ago and it has been
home to me here. I often go to Sardis Lake for fi shing and swimming and look around
the Potato Hills . . . they are beautiful especially in the fall as the leaves turn color leaving
the mountain sides looking like a patch work quilt.
I have traveled across the United States and 3 times across Canada. I want to go to Alaska
and Hawaii then I will have been to every state in our country. I have been all around
Oklahoma and Arkansas, and when the spring and fall comes it is breathtaking.