Lettie Sandlin was born in a farmhouse near the Arkansas community of Hartford. The family lived in a house at the foot of a mountain and the area was beautiful. Her parents must have been very happy when she came for she was the first girl and, as it turned out, the only one. She was born between 8 brothers and her brothers were very fond of her. When it came time to start school, she attended Hartford School. It was a mile down the road and she walked there each day.

When she was about seven years old the family moved across the Oklahoma border into LeFlore County and settled near Poteau. They lived at various places in the area such as Panama and Shady Point. When they moved to Lafayette Community, near Stigler, she probably attended Lafayette School.

Being the only girl, she was kept busy helping her mother with the cooking and housework. There would be meals to prepare for all the hungry boys coming in from working in the fields; Lettie and her mother may also have worked outside in the fields and helped with the farm work. When there was spare time, Lettie liked to play outside with another girl. They would play house under large rocks. Back then children had lots of imagination and probably had as much fun as the children today.

Horses played a big part in family life. In addition to needing horses for pulling wagons and getting around, they also rode for recreation. There are several pictures with horses in them. She attended school until she was almost through the 8th grade. In those days a person could teach if they completed 8th; which is something she wanted to do. She met Kirby Honeycutt. A horse figured large in their life because Lettie noticed the horse first and then the rider. It didn’t take her long to decide she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She then gave up her plans to become a teacher so that she could get married and raise a family.

When they would go to dances Kirby’s friend would tie up his horse to the saddle horn of Kirby’s horse because, while they were inside dancing, people would ride the horses and wear them out. But Kirby’s horse wouldn’t let anyone near him.

Lettie’s father was frightening to people who came around. But he didn’t scare Kirby. When Lettie was 15 they eloped; she added a year to her age. They are shown in the 1930 census for Haskell County, shortly after their marriage.

They had four boys and a girl, then Lettie lost a precious baby boy when he was only three months old. This was one of the hardest times for the family. The years flew by, more children came and times changed. They had several grandchildren when Kirby died from a heart attack.

After his passing Lettie had a big adjustment to make, she missed him all the time. She still had four children at home, 2 of these were still in school. She raised these last two and then settled in with one of the daughters that had not left home. Family members were always coming to visit and offer help. Several of her brothers visited her and kept in touch. There is a picture to the side at the bottom that shows Lettie with her brother John. She did allot of visiting and kept busy with various projects. She went to work cleaning houses, the local doctor’s office, motel, worked at all the restaurants at different times, managed a Laundromat and any other jobs she could take on. This was a trying time for Lettie, but giving up and letting others do for her was not an option that Lettie would choose.

She had many talents. She and her daughter had a day care for awhile in Stigler. She was also well known for her cooking and was an excellent seamstress. At one time she even sold sewing machines from her home.

After moving to Wagoner and living there awhile, she settled down in Spiro. After having a stroke, she needed help and went to live with one of her sons and his family. She lived a happy, contented life there, enjoying her children and grandchildren. Sadly, Lettie died in Fort Smith, AR. She was diagnosed with having aspiration to her lungs which caused her food to travel into her lungs instead of her stomach. When she was taken to Surgery for a feeding tube, she passed away before the surgery due to the fact her heart stopped beating. She is missed every day!!!