By Jason Todd On October 30, 1920 in a little house in the country two and a half miles away from Dyer, Tennessee a little girl by the name of Loetta Lucille McCage was born to Jacob "J.B." Baird McCage and Mary "Molly" Magdalene DePriest. She was the youngest child (counting only those that lived to be at least two years old). Loetta had three brothers: Frank "Bud", Gerald, and J.B. and three sisters: Earl, Matty Belle, Bertha. Earl and Bertha were married and each had a child before Loetta was born. When Loetta was around one year old, Jacob moved the family about a mile away from where they had lived, her birthplace. They had owned both pieces of land, but needed money so they were forced to sell one. They moved to a 56-acre farm where they grew corn and cotton. She never saw much of her father much because he worked in the field alot. It was a small county where everyone knew each other, a friendly type of town. She lived there until she was twenty-five. Loetta never saw her grandparents (they died before she was born) and was never told much about them. When Lucille was six a terrible tragedy occurred, her father died in an automobile accident. Her brother had been with her father and he wasn't even bruised. Loetta being so young, she really didn't understand but she knew Daddy was gone and he wasn't coming back. With no father, it was up to her mother, who remained single, to take care of Loetta and the other children still living at home. She said that the children didn't consider their mother as a single parent. Loetta's playmate, as a child, was her youngest brother J.B. who was about three years older than she was. In their house the boys lived upstairs in one room and the other girls lived next to them, but Lucille shared a room with her mother. Loetta remembers many stories of her childhood, like this one: "One time when we were little my brother J.B., we always had a lot of popcorn and peanuts and we were always popping the corn and he was always making peanut-brittle. And he made some peanut brittle and he set it out on the doorstep and the cat run out the door and landed in the peanut brittle. I wouldn't eat any of it but he was glad because I wouldn't eat it because it that left a lot for him to eat." Loetta didn't start school until six because she would have to walk long distances to get to school. But when she did start she had to walk three miles everyday to get to school in rain, snow, sleet, and hail. With this obstacle she still managed to have perfect attendance for two years. Her brother Gerald walked with her to school and when it snowed she would follow him and walk in his tracks so as not to get wet. On numerous occasions she arrived at school wet and had to get dried out. Her best friends were Gladys Cooper and Lori Louise King with whom she played "Town ball" (like baseball except with a hard foam ball) and "Red Rover". She remembers being very athletic back then as well as having good grades. She also liked to read but this was a little difficult because they didn't have lights of electricity in Tennessee back then. Lucille called "Cille" by J.B., played marbles with her brother a lot. She never liked pets much but her family kept a stray cat yet Lucille never petted it. The weren't really conscious of each other. When Lucille was old enough, she worked in the cotton fields bringing in around one hundred pounds a day. She remembers it being very hot and tiresome. She had to carry a nine foot long sack that when full could weigh up to seventy-five pounds, all through the fields. Her mother, as I said was an only parent after her father died, tried to teach Lucille right and wrong, took her to church and brought her up as a Christian. Another story: At a small store, as a contest, around the Thanksgiving holiday, they would throw a turkey out the door (alive) and if you caught it, you got to keep it. When they threw it out the window, it flew right in Loetta's arms. And you bet her mother was surprised to see her bring a turkey home! Yet Another story: Once she stayed out until dark (later than allowed) and on the way back she met her mom coming with a switch in her hand. One More Story: One day before her mother came home, she decided that she would make a chicken dinner for everyone. So she went to the barn to kill a chicken. She had seen her mother do it so she figured she could do it as well. She grabbed it by its head, as her mother had done, and swung it yet it didn't work. She tried and tried but she just could not do it. They didn't have chicken that night, after all! Loetta remembered the saddest time in her childhood was when her brother Gerald didn't allow her, to go to the circus and, up to this very day, she's never been to one. Yet she says Gerald influenced her the most. Loetta also remembers her neighbor as a nice person, and he took her to vote for the first time. While at school she was forced to fill-in on the basketball team because most of the team was sick. That started her in basketball, and she decided to play through high school. When she finished the ninth grade she had to change schools because the school dropped a few grades. So Lucille decided to go to Rutherford High School and met her future husband, Carl Todd whom she considered to be a "smarter, studious feller". All through high school she played basketball and was quite good. She enjoyed it and admits that the only goals she had as a teen were basketball goals. Loetta didn't go to college but chose to work making explosives for our army. What inspired her to do this work was knowing she was helping our boys, our army. It wasn't for the money because the pay was little. During the war she would write to Carl who was in the U.S.A. Navy for about six years. One of the biggest tragedies in her life was the death of her brother J. B. (her childhood playmate). He came down to their house and she took off work and they talked a while and he stayed the weekend. Then it was time for him to go to back to sea in the Navy. He went to New York to go to sea and two weeks later they got word that he was missing. His ship was traveling alongside another and then it suddenly exploded leaving only thirteen survivors. This was the end of a very special person to Lucille and a sad time in her life, them being so close. After the war she married Carl Todd on December 29, 1945 and they have been married ever since. After they were married Carl decided to go to college at the University of Tennessee while they lived in Knoxville, TN. They soon had a son named Carl Ross Jr. But work beckoned Carl and where he went the whole family followed. They moved to Philadelphia, PA while he worked for Philco (now known as Ford) and Lucille stayed at home. They attended Olney Baptist Church, and still do. In 1950 they had another son named Michael Bruce, then in 1954 Judith Ann was born. Then in 1958 Kenneth Wayne was born. They then moved for the final time, to Roslyn, PA. Lucille spent a good portion of her life raising and caring for her children. She also enjoys making and painting ceramics. Now seventy-four, Lucille has suffered from rheumatoid arthritis since the late 1950's. She has four children and twelve grandchildren that have settled in: Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. She's the only one in her family still living. -by Jason Michael Todd (grandson) Send suggestions, comments, stories and photos.