Easter Sunday

Joyce Allen Lucas and
Gladys Allen Stancil,
circa 1972

Easter has always been a big deal for my family. Mom would take me to "Hudson Belk" in downtown Raleigh to buy a new dress (which would do double duty for Mother's Day) complete with hat, gloves, tights, shoes, and a purse to match. She'd buy herself much the same.

The dress must be frilly and the shoes patent leather. Not white, because everyone knows you can't wear white before Memorial Day!

Carla Stancil,
Gladys Allen Stancil
and Joyce Allen Lucas

We would attend Easter sunrise service, head back home for pancakes, and then to regular church services followed by a huge Easter lunch of ham, potato salad, deviled eggs, and coconut cake. I always got a homemade Easter basket full of candy and little toys. Easter was the next best thing to Christmas.

Sometimes, we would spend Easter with mom's sister and her family in Appomattox, Virgina. The picture to the right was taken in Aunt Joyce's front yard as we were about to head off to church.

Gladys Allen Stancil and
Carl Donald Stancil, 1969