"Tom Boston and Bessie May Kile, my dad and mother, both went to Ohio Wesleyan University. They were becoming more than just friends when a little argument ensued and they were currently not speaking to each other. However, one day, as Mother was hurrying to class, she caught her cape on a nail. Trying to extricate herself, Tom just happened by and carefully removed her cape from the nail. Then and there they mended their friendship, which later led to their marriage in Columbus, Ohio, on January 25, 1904. My dad, with his wonderful sense of humor, always reminded my sister Ruth and me that, if it hadn't been for a nail, we probably would never have existed. We have always been most grateful for that humble nail!"In the early 1900s Dad went into business with Mother’s brother, Berton Kile, and established the Kiboling Plantation outside of Earle, Arkansas. Hundreds of acres were timbered off and planted to cotton which was a very prosperous crop at that time in our history. Dozens of black sharecroppers worked the land and lived on the plantation. While the sawmill was still running Dad selected the finest timbers and set them aside to build their lovely dream house in Earle.
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| Esther with her older sister Ruth |
"After seven years of marriage their first child, Ruth, arrived on May 24, 1911, born in the hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. When she was five years old Mother and Dad told her she was to have a little sister. She was delighted at the idea of having playmate. However, when I arrived on April 29, 1916 she was devastated. She had no idea I would be so tiny; she turned and walked right out of the hospital room utterly disgusted. That must have been my first encounter with rejection!
"I dearly loved my Raggedy Ann book and Dad and Mother read it to me constantly. I especially remember Ruth's thoughtfulness one time when I was very sick. She had disappeared all day and Mother said she was sewing. That evening however she appeared and presented me with her version of a Raggedy Ann doll which she had created herself! It did not even resemble the doll in my story book, but I remember thinking at the time what a wonderful sister I had.
"But what delighted both of us more
than anything were our summers spent on the ocean in Matunuck, Rhode Island to
escape the oppressive Arkansas heat. We looked forward all year to June, July,
and August as three glorious months of fun, swimming, picnics, many, many
interesting guests, parties and dances - who could ask for more? Ruth would
walk me across the meadow and over the dunes to the sea. We could swim and
sunbathe all morning. On rainy days Mother overturned all the chairs in the
living room and covered them with blankets so that we could play house."
A calamity changed the lives of the Boston family forever. The flood waters of 1927 inundated the Kiboling Plantation, decimating farm animals, buildings and lands. Esther's father had now lost everything -- his home, his plantation, his job; even the summer home in Matunuck had to be sold. Great sadness and gloom engulfed them all. But Tom picked up the pieces, secured a job with a lumber company in Boston, and moved his family to West Roxbury, a suburb.
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| The Earle Flood |
After a while the Bostons moved to a dairy in West Acton, not far from Boston where Esther continued attending school. As Esther grew up she found that she had great artistic talents. While still in high school she received special permission to take classes at the Boston Museum of fine art. There she could stand before some of the finest art pieces in the world, studying them and sketching for hours.
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