ABSTRACT
The author grew up in a small town in the foothills of Virginia, the same place her parents were born and raised. After attending elementary school in one-room schoolhouses, both parents took wage-labor jobs. Arthur, the author's oldest sibling, was born in 1937. Thirteen years older than her, he was more like a caring and dependable uncle than a brother. Rex and the author had an intense and complex relationship as children. The author had more academic smarts than Rex, but it never seemed to bother him. Although he followed her by two years in school, he managed to stand out, sometimes as an athlete, a jokester, or a musician. People loved his commonsense approach to life, his charm, good nature, and seemingly unselfconscious ability to have fun no matter what.
