Lisa Holt

I grew up without my parents, as my Dad was killed in an auto accident 6 days' prior to my 6th birthday. I found my Mom dead from an accidental overdose 6 months later/ the day before I was to start the first grade. My brothers and I went to live with relatives on our Dad's side, yet, up until that point, we'd spent most of our young lives mostly with our Mom's side of the family.
However, my paternal grandparents were our beacon of love and serenity. They had a dairy farm that had been in our family since before Missouri officially became a state in 1821. We had to force-sell that place within a year after Grandma passed in order to pay for her staying in a nursing home the last 7 years of her life. My older brother committed suicide Mar. 9, 2005 by stepping out in front of a gas tanker truck out on U.S. Hwy 54.
My first child died at 53 days of age of a heart attack due to complications from her having a congenital heart defect.