Page 93 - my-people-abbie-harris-beck

THE RED, W HITE AND BLUE

I was Margaret Tappan's Aunt. I was just five years older. We grew up together.
Maye and Ed traveled with Eds work (construction), The Blair Company. When
Margaret became school age, they were living in Pennsylvania. Margaret would not stay
in the "Yankee" school so Maye tagged her and put her on the train to Alabama. She
lived with mama, Annie Laura and me only staying with Maye and Ed in the summer time.
Margaret had red, red, hair. She and I would fuss over who would get the heal(end) of
the bread. Of course I thought that mama gave it to Margaret more often. Josephine, our
help, told me one day, that I said "the reason you give it to Margaret is because she has
all that pretty red hair !"
Margaret lived with us until the 9th grade. I was going off to college. Mama felt
that with Annie Laura working and me going away, that the responsibility at her age was
too much for her. So, Margaret went to live with Grandpa and Grandma Tappan in
Andalusia. Margaret went to Huntington College in Montgomery. Her cousin taught
there. After a year she joined the waves at the beginning of World War II. I remember
the man in uniform coming to our house on Commerce Street asking me all kinds of
questions about my relative. I later learned that Margaret had been put in the
Communication Department in Washington D.C. She had learned the Morse code. The
war was coming to a close and Margaret was called into the high ranking officer in the
department and told her, "you have just handed me the coded dispatch that said the war is
over". Margaret became part of American history.
Margaret later married Andrew (Andy) Beisel. They had two children, Linda and
Andrew(Drew). Linda lives in Lawrence Kansas and Drew lives in Albany, Georgia.
Margaret died at a young age of 33 of cancer. Andy remarried and moved back to
Kansas his former home.