Something of value

Jane Kinkade

b. 1935

I grew up in a small town near Dallas.  My cousins and I played marbles games back then.  We had lots of kinds of marbles; glass, stone, “aggies” of agate, and there was the rare ‘steely’ that my cousin, Maryann, used for her shooter.

. Our games were simple: draw a circle, put in a marble from every player and then take turns trying to knock the other players’ marbles out of the circle.  She won lots of games with that steely and prized it above anything she owned

When my father was killed in France, Maryann came to our house for the wake.  We were both about 10 years old.  As a kid, she didn’t know the right things to say, but she gave me her steely.  I knew what it meant to her and understood what she was doing.

I won some games with the steely, but never used it against Maryann.  Today the steely is in my jewelry box where I see it and think of Maryann’s war time kindness often.