The Duck Commander Family Read Online Free PDF

a word of encouragement always on his lips. My papaw was a salesman for most of his life. Mamaw always said he could “sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo.” Mamaw was a busy stay-at-home mom with six kids. She could do absolutely anything and still can. She doesn’t look like your typical grandma. And at eighty, ifshe doesn’t yet, I don’t think she ever will! She’s always stylish and up for the next adventure. She is truly a product of the Greatest Generation, with the ability to sew all her kids’ clothes and cook fantastic meals, and even, as my mom tells us, once enclosed their garage to make a game room and laid the brick all by herself! She started working with my Papaw in real estate after her kids were grown and is still working today. She’s running their real estate office and serving on the board of the Northeast Louisiana Association of Realtors, along with keeping up with her grandkids and great-grandkids.
    My parents, John and Chrys Howard, met at Camp Ch-Yo-Ca (the same camp where Willie and I met) and were married a few years later when my mom was eighteen years old. They headed off to Harding University, and I was born two years later on October 24, 1973. When we go back to Searcy, Arkansas, where the Harding campus is, my dad loves to point out where I was conceived, in a trailer between a meatpacking plant and a graveyard. Awkward!
    Now back to my parents’ meeting at camp. Camp Ch-Yo-Ca, which stands for CHristian YOuth CAmp, was started in 1967 by my mamaw and papaw Howard, along with several other men and women. They had a dream of having a place for kids and teens to get out of their normal environment, spend time in the woods, have fun with friends, and, most important, grow closer to God. Growing up, my mom, along with my brother, Ryan, and sister, Ashley, and I, lived out there every summer in an RV parked in front of the craftshed. The camp was only about ten minutes from our house, but it is set in the middle of one hundred acres, and when we were there, we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. My dad would come in and out because he still had to work, of course. He was busy growing the family business.
    Some of my favorite memories are of being at camp. We spent the entire summer outdoors. There were no televisions, just Ping-Pong tables, swings, a lake for fishing and canoeing, and a giant swimming pool. Since we were the “camp kids,” we were there for every session, and we loved it. We roamed free and played all day. We would sneak into the kitchen and go into the walk-in refrigerator to cool off. It’s hot in Louisiana in the summertime! I was kind of shy as a child, so one summer when I was about nine, everybody’s favorite camp director, Howard Karbo, decided I was not getting near enough attention. He started the “Korie Howard Fan Club.” This fan club didn’t exactly do anything, and I think there were only about two members. While I was a little embarrassed by the attention, what girl wouldn’t be flattered to have her own fan club?
    My mom taught the crafts and later went on to be a director at the camp, and still is today. My mom has more energy than any woman I know. She works so hard for those kids. She has a servant spirit like none other. She has worked most of her life as a volunteer in some capacity, whether at the camp or at the Christian school that we attended. She started a program at our school for kids with learning difficulties and worked there every day for twelve years, never taking a paycheck.
    By that time, my family had launched a publishing company called Howard Publishing, which was later sold to Simon & Schuster, and she was needed there. She eventually went on to work as a senior editor and creative director for the company. Mom was the kind of mother who loved to make things fun for everybody. She was the one who planned the class parties, and the youth group at our church always hung out at my family’s house. They still do to this day.