When Carrie Conley's <CON-lee's> husband left in the early 1960s, she started raising six children on her own. She took a job at a hospital, delivering meals to patients as what was called "a tray girl." Jerry Johnson, the youngest child in the family, was 5 years old when his dad left. Speaking with his mother recently, Johnson heard his mother repeat the question she asked at that time. "Lord, what am I going to do with all these kids, by myself?" The answers came in the form of lima beans, black-eyed peas and low prices on chicken necks. "Something to boil for every day of the week," Conley said. Conley said she would save up her sick days at work, going in no matter how she felt. Then in December, the company would pay her for the unused sick days. More help came in castoffs, when wealthy families would clean out their toy chests at Christmastime and take a load of toys to the Salvation Army. Conley would pick through them, finding the best ones for her children. The result of those sacrifices: a big, happy Christmas for Conley and her kids.

When Carrie Conley's <CON-lee's> husband left in the early 1960s, she started raising six children on her own. She took a job at a hospital, delivering meals to patients as what was called "a tray girl." Jerry Johnson, the youngest child in the family, was 5 years old when his dad left. Speaking with his mother recently, Johnson heard his mother repeat the question she asked at that time. "Lord, what am I going to do with all these kids, by myself?" The answers came in the form of lima beans, black-eyed peas and low prices on chicken necks. "Something to boil for every day of the week," Conley said. Conley said she would save up her sick days at work, going in no matter how she felt. Then in December, the company would pay her for the unused sick days. More help came in castoffs, when wealthy families would clean out their toy chests at Christmastime and take a load of toys to the Salvation Army. Conley would pick through them, finding the best ones for her children. The result of those sacrifices: a big, happy Christmas for Conley and her kids.