1. Name: Lucretia Mavis Tyler Tallard.

2. Date of Birth: December 12, 1858

3. Place of Birth: near Redfield, South Dakota

4. Parents: Patton and Bernise Tyler

5. Siblings: Halbert Lee (1860-), Harold Thad (1863-), Maggie Jewell (1865), Hank Malone (1870-). Hank Tyler is my younger brother, a point he brings up any time he gets in trouble.

6. Describe your childhood. I grew up near Redfield, South Dakota on a blackberry farm. It was a hard life but we enjoyed it.

7. What did you enjoy doing as a child? Playing in the creek.

8. What is your earliest memory? Building a snowman with my mother when I was four.

9. How old were you when you went on your first date and where did you go? Rafe was the first boy to ask me on a date. I was fourteen, I think, maybe fifteen. Anyway, I had dinner with his family. We talked awhile and went for a walk.

Our actual courting was rather unstructured. We became friends. He asked me what it would take for me to be his wife.

I told him I wanted my own house, a decent chance at economic independence and the promise of a Christian life.

He agreed and we got married a few weeks later.

10. Married? July 12, 1874

11. How did you meet your spouse? My family moved to Eagle Creek when I was fifteen. My dad and Lester Lomax opened a lumber mill.

12. Children: Daryl Roland (1884-), Thelma Denise, now Kennedy (1885-), Carmen Amanda (1891-)

13. Grandchildren: Three boys. Dixie had a little girl who went to Heaven after a six month sojourn on Earth.

14. Pets? When Rafe and I first married we had a Collie pup named "Sparky." My guess is, Rafe forgot about him all together. Cute dog. Three years later, he just disappeared one day.

15. Education: My mother taught me how to read, do basic math and keep a home. That's the only education I've ever needed.

16. What brought you to Eagle Creek? My father learned about a lumber mill opening in the area. He came here and invested in it.

17. Current friends: Janet Hall, Patricia Grossman, Lorena Mock

18. Occupation: Home keeper. I like to volunteer at the kitchen in church. We make meals and deliver them to poor people in the area.

19. What was your first job? I've never had a job. I worked at the lumber mill but I didn't get paid.

20. How much did you make?

21. What is your favorite word? Compassion.

22. What are you doing now? Sewing a quilt with some of the ladies over at Peggy Watson's house.

23. Do you admire a famous person? I met the governor once in River City. He seemed like a good man.

24. What makes them admirable? Gov. Norris has a personal approach to politics.

25. What is your favorite food? Squash

26. What is your favorite color? Gold

27. What is your favorite song? The Laborer's Noon-Day Hymn by William Wordsworth

28. Hobbies: I enjoy gardening and promoting the arts.

29. Name of the last book you read? Montana: An Unofficial Biography of the State by a group of writers. Peggy keeps telling me about a pirate novel, but such literature usually does not interest me.

30. Tell me about a memorable moment in your life; a time you will never forget. Awakening from deep sleep to discover that I've given birth to Carmen and I could no longer hear.

31. What things do you find yourself doing that you said you'd never do? Apprciating moden art. Rafe took me to a gallery in River City last year. I thoroughly enjoyed the new art I saw.

32. What are the goals you are still working toward? I would like to see the city host an Arts fair. Visual arts should be better represented in this community.

33. When people look back at your life, how do you want to be remembered? As a servant of God.

34. What is your favorite quote? "The kiss of sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God's Heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth." - Dorothy Frances Gurney

35. Do you attend church or religious services? My husband and Augustus Grossman help found Eagle Creek Memorial Church. That was an unusual time. It was just our two families at first meeting in Augustus and Patricia's parlor. We'd open the Bible, see what it says and talk about it. That doesn't sound much like church but it's all we knew to do at first.

36. What is your favorite Bible verse? Romans 8:38-39

37. What makes you happy? Seeing my children happy. I am so proud of all three.

38. What makes you sad? Funerals. I am in that season of life in which I have to attend many.

39. What frightens you? Fire.

40. What is there about you that would surprise people if they found out? I was the first one to suggest the idea of putting a band shell in the park.