Donna and siblings

Donna is the youngest of 11 kids.  Her brother just older than her, Thomas Lorenzo, died shortly after he was born. Her brother, Lavar, fell into a potato pit just after he learned to walk.  He hit his head on a rock.  Eventually he lost the ability to walk.  Rhea started having seizures shortly after birth.  There were complications at her birth and her development was effected.
This is a picture of my Grandma with Lavar and Rhea.  Grandma is the little girl in the chair, Lavar is the boy in the chair beside her and Rhea is standing behind them.
It was very common in this time period for families with children with disabilities to send those children to institutions.  Grandma's parents did not.  Her mother, Jennie cared for Rhea and Lavar at home until she was not physically able to any more.  I wonder how being raised in a home where the two siblings just older than her had disabilities influenced her.  Watching her mother care for them every day had to have some impact.
Grandma's family had a rocking horse that Lamar loved to ride.  A family friend says that when she was a little girl she loved to go over to the Forsyth place because she could ride on the rocking horse.