We had a couple Uncle Toms, whom I never really knew; no Uncle Johns. Our choicest family "character" was actually Great Aunt Myrtle, my grandmother's sister. After she and my grandfather were both widowed, he married her. The two sisters weren't remotely alike. Aunt Myrtle never appeared to be short of functional intelligence, and to my knowledge she never hurt a living soul. It was just that sometimes she came accross as mad as a hatter.
    On one occasion she told us that she had been to Sea World, and saw a turtle that was 10,000 years old. But, to my memory, her shining moment was when she told us of the fantastic sights at Wall Drug, Wall, South Dakota. Did you know that they have stuffed and mechanized a number of old pioneers there, and arranged them doing things like playing music around the campfire?