Aint Looveenee

 Hilda Luvena Prothro was born in 1901. She married Earl Barnett in 1915. Earl was a half-brother of Arvil (Jack) Barnett and Golden (Doc) Barnett, Jack and Doc married sisters Ruby and Irene Hicks.

I first met her in 1960, on a road trip with my mother and grandmother (Cleffie Hicks Burford) and my grandmother's sister (Ruby Hicks Barnett). We drove from Michigan to Missouri and Arkansas. In Missouri (I think) we visited Ruby's daughter Oma Dell. We also spent one night at Aunt Luvena's house. I remember it primarily because she didn't have an indoor toilet. (Some folks called it a 'commode', which seems like a nicer name for it to me.) She had an outhouse. I was 5 years old, and it was quite a shock to me to have to go outside in the dark and use the outhouse before going to bed. 

Back L-R: Aunt Luvena (pronounced Aint Loo-vee-nee), Wathada (my mother), Cleffie (my grandmother), Aunt Ruby (Cleffie's sister, who was married to Arvil Barnett). Front: Me, with Oma Dell's children Donna Kay and Mike Hawley (Oma Dell was Ruby's daughter).

Here is another picture of Luvena with Arvil (Jack) and Ruby Hicks Barnett. 

I have one more picture of Aunt Luvena:

This is a wedding picture of Aunt Luvena marrying Art Miller. It says 1958. (The caption on the front is what is written on the back of the photograph.) I don't know where this wedding took place. Luvena married Earl Barnett in Arkansas in 1915. They still lived in Arkansas in 1920. But in the 1940 census they lived in California - and were still married. Earl died in 1957 in California. Luvena died in 1967, also in California, and is buried in the same cemetery as Earl. (In the Find-A-Grave website she is listed with the last name Miller, but the only spouse on that record is Earl Barnett.) If she was married to Art Miller in 1960, when I met her, I don't remember there being a husband in her household -- but then I was in shock from my first experience using an outhouse, so it could be that I have blocked the other details of the memories from that occasion. [insert smile/laugh emoji here]

So...

I said all that to say this --

This photograph is my grandmother Cleffie (left) and Aunt Luvena's daughter Irene (right).

Cleffie was born in 1917, and Irene was born in 1919 (she was listed as 1 year old in the 1920 census)

Here is another picture of the two of them, taken in 1925: