Atoka County, OK - Biography: Dessa Ruth Ladd
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Submitted By: Charles Ladd;  Cladd15157@aol.com
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			"A Granddaughter"s Tribute" 
			   For Dessa Ruth Ladd
			      by Karen Ladd

	"Before the skyscrapers touched the sky in Dallas, before autos 
became commonplace, my grandmother came to Durant in a covered wagon 
at the age of 9 with her parents and 3 brothers.  
	During the influenza epidemic of 1918 she lost both her parents 
and become mother to her brothers. She quit school after the eighth 
grade and cooked and kept house, but her thirst for knowledge never 
wavered. She educated herself by reading books and studying the Bible.
	She married my grandfather at the age of 18 and raised six kids 
in the shadow of the depression and in the bosom of the church. She 
rocked the cradles of her children, her grandchildren, her great- 
grandchildren, and the children of the First Baptist Church.  
	Often I wonder how many tears she dried, how many disputes she 
settled, how many lives she has touched with her gentle grace. "Suffer the 
little children to come unto me." They surrounded her and she never tired. 
Her dresser was covered with pictures of children."
	"The back bedroom in her house was my refuge. Nancy Drew and 
Hardy Boys" mysteries from my father and aunts and uncles entertained 
and enthralled me. Bureaus were filled from school year books providing 
many screams of laughter at crew cuts and poodle skirts, awe in the 
knowledge that Dad was once so young. Letters and cards never thrown 
away and pieced together the collage that was her life. Her bookshelves 
overflowed with books, and I think my own love of the written word can be 
traced back to Grandma"s back bedroom." 
	"Her complete dedication to Jesus was the bedrock of her life. She 
gave tirelessly of herself. First to her orphaned brothers, then her 
husband and her children, then in her service in the nursery of the church. 
She sacrificed much, but gained eternity. She was a model of Christian 
charity and life. She didn't just read or quote scripture, she lived it." 

Submitted by: Charles Ladd.