Memoir-Sands, Alma

My Parents and My Childhood
A Memoir of Robert and Alma (Ream) Sands

My father, Robert A. 'Cricket' Sands, was born and raised in Confluence, Pa., on Sterner Street. He was the oldest of five children, three boys and two girls. His father died of sugar diabetes when he was 16 years old, leaving my grandmother with five children to raise. Being that my father was the oldest, he had to quit school and get a job to help out. He would give most of his paycheck to his mother to help raise his brothers and sisters.

My mother, Alma Leora Ream, was the daughter of Joseph and Sadie (Harbaugh) Ream and also was born and raised in the Confluence area.

My parents met and dated a short time and were married during the Depression, January 11, 1930. They set up housekeeping in a downstairs apartment at Jones Avenue in Morgantown, W.Va. It was later discovered that my future husband, Jack Hawker, had later lived in the same house with his family. We were visiting my parents and looking at family pictures in an old album, when Jack recognized the house and asked my mother the address, they were the same.

My sister Virginia was born at Quataba, W.Va., which is where my parents lived later. Quataba was a small area just outside of Morgantown. They named her Virginia because they were living in West Virginia at the time. She was born February 24, 1931.

Due to the Depression of 1929, times were tough for a lot of years. As a result of the tough times my parents had to move back to Confluence. My grandfather Joseph Ream gave them a piece of property in which to build a house. My father built most of it by himself. It was a small story and a half house (seen here), and the only home I remember.

I was born Sept. 1, 1938. We did move to Connellsville, PA, for a short time when I was around five years old where Dad worked on the railroad. We left the house empty while in Connellsville, but returned later. From that time on, most of Dad's jobs took him away from home, and he only returned on the weekends. My mother, sister and I stayed at home and took care of everything.

My parents had three children. There was a girl between Virginia and me, but she was miscarried. The little girl was a tubal pregnancy and was unable to be brought to term. Mother said it looked just like my Dad. My father had hoped with each pregnancy that he would get a little boy, but by the time I arrived he began to give up and made a tomboy of me.

[Note -- Doris Sands married Jack Hawker, and was elected treasurer of our national Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Reunion in 2001. Doris and her daughter Connie have helped with preparations and decorations on reunion day for several years. In October 2009, Doris' daughter Lisa (Hawker) Janoske and granddaughter Jena Janoske joined 155 other participants in a performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller dance as a fundraiser for House of Hope in Garrett County, MD. In the process, they not only raised more than $30,000 but also coordinated their dance with 300 cities in 32 countries around the world to establish a record in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Lisa (Sands) Janoske and daughter Jena take part in worldwide Thriller dance at Halloween 2009 to set a record in the Guinness Book of World Records.