“I believe I’ve lived an amazing life,” said my great-grandmother, Teekeela Louise Burris. Every part of her life was interesting to hear about, through her childhood, teen years, adult life, and retirement.
Teekeela Louise Burris was born on November 25th, 1938 in Trenton, Missouri. Her mother named her after a character she read about in a book when she was in seventh grade. She is the daughter of Porter Webster Scott and Theta Marie Scott. She had a sister, Linda Marie, that was three years and three months younger than her. She also had a brother, Marty, that was younger than her. She lived on a small farm in Trenton until she was nine years old. The small farm consisted of a cow, pigs, chickens, and a garden. Every year, a horse…show more content… Although they were both eighteen, Jim was the only that had to get a signature from his parents to get married. After getting married, they spent their honeymoon visiting friends and family from their past. Two weeks after the wedding, they were on their way to California. They rented a cottage in by the beach in Oceanside, California for seventy-five dollars a month. Jim got reenlisted to the Marines in 1957 causing Teekeela to move to McAlester, Oklahoma where she worked at Dayco as a return inspector. When Jim got back in 1959, they moved back to California where they lived on government housing. Teekeela loved it when there was outdoor movies on the base. In 1964, Jim was gone for an entire year because he was fighting in Vietnam. Then, he went back to Vietnam in 1970. He always returned safely although he did sleep through a mortar attack once. In 1979, her and her family moved back to Joplin, Missouri. They bought a home between Joplin and Seneca on Highway 86. She worked at Tri-State Motor Trans Company. A few years after starting, she had a heart attack causing her to miss the computer classes that was being taught at her work. She wanted to be there so bad that she decided to go to Neosho Crowder College and take their computer
