Five Daughters-in-Law and Three Sons
By: Thomas E. Berry, Ph, D.
Lillie Dietz was an heiress. Not of money, but of land. Her family owned many large farms in the community, plus the local store and grainery. Lillie was bored, and trying to cope with a hearing problem that she feared would be passed on to her children if she married. She was looking at a life of loneliness. When the great tornado of 1925 destroyed most of her little farm town of DeSoto, Illinois, Lillie was beside herself with grief and anxiety. Her father sent her to visit her Aunt's ranch in Colorado, where she matured into a young woman with a larger view of the world. When she returned home she met a young man at a card party. Eddie was handsome and different than the local suitors. She fell in love and they married. They lived a loving and happy life, their progeny did not.
The marriage produced three sons, and Lillie could not have been happier. She had her childhood with her sons. She gave them a wonderful childhood. The sons produced five daughters-in-law. All but one brought a multitude of problems to their marriages. This is the story of Lillie's life and how she and her sons coped with their disastrous marriages.
