The middle child in a big Texas family, Erma reed grew up working hard.
A secretary at the Pentagon in world war ii, she met a handsome army man she'd later marry...
Settled in Oklahoma and taught their five children the important things.
"Oh, to be kind and courteous and love one another," Erma said.
Today, her house is still filled with family.
She collects Santas and angels and traveled to every state.
After losing her husband, his belongings became treasures.
And for the first time, loneliness slowed her down.
"Then she just thought, 'no I can't do this anymore,'" Erma's daughter Linda said. "I'm going to make something of my life and that's exactly what she did."
She started with gifts from her kitchen.
"And after making jams and jellies and bread and whatever, I ran out of ideas," Erma said.
So she moved on to arts and crafts.
"I do oil paint, the arrangement of flowers, decorating pumpkins," Erma said. "I enter all of that into the Creek County fair."
57 ribbons in the past seven years - 18 of them first place.
"I don't get rich, but I enjoy it," Erma said.
Her new skills teaching her family even more life lessons.
After working for three years to create enough oil paintings for everyone in her family, Erma's thinking about her next challenge - and she says you should, too.
"...And become accomplished at it," Erma said. "They might have the talent they never thought they had."
This Green Country woman will never give up.
