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Family comes together again
By MEGAN SCOTT OLDSMAR -- Mother Pasco raised her 14 children in a house they built for themselves. She could make a feast out of eggs and flour and break down a car with an ax to sell the parts. She raised a family that could have walked right out of Pinellas County's earliest days: poor and resourceful but happy. None ventured far from the nest. They all live within 30 miles of where they were born. It is a huge family. When Sally E. Pasco died Tuesday at 69 from a stroke, she was survived by 236 direct descendants: 14 children, 84 grandchildren, 124 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren. The family is burying Mother Pasco today at Dunedin Memorial Cemetery. "My mother worked hard all her life, and she was ready to rest," said James Pasco Jr., 48. "She hung around long enough to make us happy." Sally Pasco and her husband, James Pasco, both of Safety Harbor, married in 1950. They moved to Oldsmar in 1971 and built a house behind the post office that sits on Bayview Drive near Tampa Road. James Pasco -- no relation to the man for whom Pasco County is named -- worked in Safety Harbor and Oldsmar as a handyman. He died in 1997. Sally Pasco was a part-time cook at a resort in Safety Harbor, but she mostly stayed home with her children. The Pascos had nine sons and five daughters, one who died as a child. The children now range in age from 35 to 54. When their children grew up, James and Sally Pasco adopted a 3-month-old baby, Deedrick Pasco. Deedrick, who suffers from shaken baby syndrome, is now 9.
Mama and daddy ran a tight ship, their children say. James Pasco had a third-grade education, and Sally Pasco never made it past the seventh, but they made sure their children's homework got done. Sally Pasco even sat outside the bathroom and inspected her children to make sure they were clean. They got "whuppin's" if they didn't do as they were told or if they argued with each other. A whuppin' from Sally Pasco lasted 35 minutes. She would whup them, take a break, and then whup them some more, said Joseph Pasco, 48. She had to be tough because she had a lot of kids. "She enforced what my daddy said," said Joseph Pasco. "She expected you to do what daddy said. I can't say we wasn't bad. We wasn't innocent." Growing up poor was rough for the Pasco family. Sometimes it was four or five boys to a bed. There was one bathroom but no indoor plumbing. They each had to get their own water for cooking, drinking and taking baths. At meal times, Sally Pasco cooked with the large industrial-type pots used in restaurants. Everyone ate from the same large, banquet platter. Sometimes there was not enough. Clothing, for instance, was scarce. "When we went to school, we had two outfits," said Joseph Pasco. "We wore one outfit one week, the other outfit the next week. We only got one pair of shoes a year." James and Sally Pasco taught their children how to make do with what they had. They knew how to slaughter their own pigs and chickens, milk a cow and gather eggs from the hen house. They ate coon, possum, turtles, rabbit -- whatever was free and available. "We learned how to survive," said James Pasco Jr. "We learned how to make money come into our house. It was a struggle for us, but my daddy provided the best that he could." Most importantly, the Pascos raised their children to be close-knit: to love each other, help one another and share with each other whatever they had. "If we get mad at each other we can sit down and talk about it: that's one thing my mom taught us," said Carolyn Copeland, 50, the eldest daughter. "You talk things out and get it out in the open." Large families run in the Pasco family. Sally Pasco was one of 22 children. James Pasco had 16 brothers and sisters. James Pasco Jr. has 11 kids, 36 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. And so on. There's one exception. Copeland only has one child. "I wanted more, but every time I thought about the pain, I said, 'Forget that,' " said Copeland, whose son is 34. Now when the Pascos get together, which they do often, they meet at a park or a swimming pool. The ones who cook make a big enough dish to feed at least 100 people. The men bring two bottles of soda each, and they play horseshoes, volleyball and softball. It's a family affair. None of that will stop, although the matriarch of the family has passed. The family is just as close as ever and they are helping each other through their mother's death. "We're keeping each other grinning," said Iris Mitchell, 42. "When we get together we take the sadness away from each other's faces." -- Megan Scott can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or mscott@sptimes.co .
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