This project is the idea of my daughter, Rhonda Wood, and it is hard to know where to begin and what to write.
I think we should start with a little family history.
My grandparents on my father side were Dexter and Ann (Blair) Sissel. They lived in the Hurdland, Missouri and grandfather was a farmer and part time car mechanic. My grandmother died before I was born so I have no memories of her. Grandfather remarried and with his new wife, Almira, moved to Nampa, Idaho in the early forties.
My grandparents on my mother side were Zora and LaVade (Sparks) Smith. They lived in Graysville Missouri area and moved to Ottumwa, Iowa in thirties for grandfather to work at the Morrell meat packing plant. This was a great improvement over working in the coal mines where he worked before.
My parents John Howard and Ola Fairl (Smith) Sissel met while they both lived in Missouri. Father was a truck driver delivering coal and ice. Mother was a waitress and they met at her job. They were married and move to Ottumwa, Iowa and he worked a Morrell for a few years, but was forced to leave because of health reasons. They decided to move to Idaho to be near grandfather Sissel. He had purchased a ten acres farm and said he would give my father a half acre to build a home. Ten acres doesn’t sound like much by today standards, but it was a nice size family farm at that time.
