His grandmother suffered from what she called "splitting headaches." They came two or three times a year and would immobilize her completely for three days. All the shades would be drawn in her room. She would eat little, and speak not at all. She refused to take medicine,

His senior year, she had one that did not stop after three days. At the end of a week she allowed them to bring a doctor who diagnosed the cause as a tumor. He wanted to take her into Mexia for tests at the hospital. She refused.