Billie Jean Staton's Childhood

Billie Jean (Johnson) Staton was not like any other teenager. Her childhood was not as easy as it should have been. She was born on July 21, 1934 in West Virgina. She became an adult a lot sooner than she should have been. Her childhood was shorter than a child’s should be. At age 13 Billie quit school to get a job to help pay for the family expenses. She got a job at the local drug store. She felt like hot stuff for getting a job since none of her friends had jobs. This made her feel like an adult. She also felt like an adult when she stayed with her grandmother in Ohio for a few weeks. She went on a church hayride while she was there. She did not know anyone so she felt like she had to be responsible for herself. After years of working for her family, Billie never went back to school. When Billie was 14 years old all of the girls had new bicycles, except for her. She begged for a bike, so her father took her to the store to get one. When they arrived at the store, all of the girls bikes were sold out, so her father bought her a boys bike. When she went to her grandmothers house up on the mountain, she would have to push her bike up the mountain. It took her two

Her friend introduced her to Elvin Staton. The year was 1949. Billie did not like Elvin at first, she did not want to be more than friends. When Elvin went to fight in the Korean War, he wanted to write to Billie. She did not want to, but her mother insisted that she should to be nice. Billie did what her mother advised and wrote to Elvin for the six months he was at war. When Elvin got back they started a relationship. Before Billie dated Elvin she had a boyfriend whose name was Walter Carol. Billie thought they were in love and she thought they were going to be together forever. When Billie and Elvin started dating he always joked with her about Walter Carol. Billie and Elvin got married in