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In a “canvas covered truck,” in 1944, we made our first trip to Arizona. We came for a period of time to pick cotton. I had not finished high school. Though my dad, Willie Woods, wanted us to stay, my mom insisted we go back to Texas so I could graduate. So we went back home

In May 1947 I graduated from Patterson High School in Dekalb, Texas. A few days after that we headed for Arizona by train. For me, it was very sad because I was leaving my friends. We arrived at the Chandler railroad station. My first view were tumbleweeds rolling lazily across the yard of the train station.

We left the station headed south on Arizona Avenue to our first home located at Arizona Avenue and Chandler Heights Roads, southeast corner. Our “new house” was a converted military barrack purchased from the Williams Air force Base by the cotton growers in the area. We had no furniture. The floor served as our table. I lived there for a while with my family, but soon left to live with a cousin in the city of Chandler on east Saragosa Street. This was so I could have better work opportunities. Soon after that my family moved to Chandler and rented a house.

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In 1950 my dad purchased a lot in the Dobson Addition and built a house where we lived. The total members of my family at that time were six: Daddy, Mother, two sissers, myself and a baby brother. Later, three more sisters (one died at birth), and a brother were born.

This recipe is from my mother’s (Sarah Ellen Woods) kitchen. She baked this Happy Day Cake on many occasions. It was my favorite. We hope you enjoy it!