When my Dad was getting ready to retire from McDonnell Aircraft he had to also submit information about my Mom. Well... they wrote to Little Rock for Mom's birth certificate and low and behold one did not exist for Fleta Alleen Powell born in 1917. So, since Grandpa had written in Mom's Bible that he gave them in 1947 that she was born in 1916...they sent away for that birth certificate with the same results. Since all her other brothers and sisters had birth certificates, Mom really couldn't understand why she didn't have one, but then decided since it was so close to Christmas it just must not have been recorded.
For those of you that remember Dad, he was a follow the rules kind of guy. He went about proving Mom's birthdate with three other documents showing her age and name being Fleta Alleen Powell, born December 27, 1917. This statisfied the retirement people and he thought...all is well.
One night, just before they went to sleep... Mom sat up in bed and exclaimed...."I know why we can't find my birth certificate... my name is not Fleta Alleen it is Trellamae." She went on to explain that she remembered being told along time ago that when she was born the doctor came to the farm and when she was born she was given the name Trellamae. Well...as the story goes, Great Grandmother Powell was there to help (our Grandma was not very found of her) and every time she went to change Mom's diaper, she would make a comment that it was time to change "Trell's" diaper again. When she left, Grandma and Grandpa changed Mom's name to Fleta Alleen, but obviously never did it officially.
The next time Mom and Dad were down to visit at Uncle Cotton's home, Mom asked if he remembered ever hearing that story and Uncle Cotton confirmed the story.......Dad's response, "I just know it could not be true, because I would never have slept with a Trellamae."
Dad would never let us send for a copy of a Trellamae's birth certificate.....some how he was afraid it would mess of Mom's benefits. After all....Mom graduated from High School, was married, gave birth to me, had a Social Security Card and Driver license all under the name of Fleta Alleen. The best part of the story is that every year after that, there was a gift under the tree from Skip and Jim marked to Trellamae. Also, note the spelling.......all one word and this led to many, many giggle times.
