I was born in Pontarddulais in 1910 into the Howell family - I had two older brothers Vincent and Glyn, and my parents were Rees and Maggie. At the age of two my father emigrated to America - to Akron Ohio where he worked as a clerk in the rubber industry.

When my father left Pontarddulais my mother, brothers, and I went to live with our grandparents. They were Rees and Mary Jane Evans - my grandfather worked locally in Clayton Tinplate Works. I was also brought up with my cousin Nancy Stevens who had sadly lost the whole of her immediate family to TB.

I have lots of memories of my childhood in Pontarddulais. One of my clearest recollections is watching the soldiers coming home from WW1 in 1918 - marching through the village, and the opening of the cenotaph next to St. Michaels Church. A large crowd of people gathered and I was put to sit on the top of a nearby wall. My photo was taken and it was published in the then local paper - The Daily Leader.

Even though I was christened in St. Teilos Church I attended Sunday school at Siloh Chapel. In fact my grandparents were founder members of the chapel. At one time the minister Ben Davies lived next door to my grandparents. Many people were members of Siloh and I can clearly remember reciting in the chapel on a Sunday.

In 1920 it was decided that my mother, brothers and I should join our father in Ohio. I was very excited at the idea. We were supposed to have joined my father two years after he had had left Wales but the First World War had put a stop to this. My father sent money home to my mother during this period and he also sent us presents. One of my most treasured possessions was a ring that he bought me which had a ruby like stone. My mother was always worried I'd lose it!

The journey to America started by travelling by train from Pontarddulais to Southampton. My class from school came to wave me off at the station and I remember one of my friends giving me a present of a handkerchief satchel.

The ship which took us to America was called the Royal George. The journey took some 13 days - we came to a stop for two of these days as the ship was caught in the middle of a field of icebergs. This was quite frightening as only eight years earlier the Titanic had sank on its maiden journey. My brother even had a photo of the icebergs.

We travelled as second class passengers on the Royal George. I did though make friends with a little girl in first class - her mother gave me a string of beads made out of coffee beans. They were red and black just like a ladybird.

On the boat there were lots of soldiers who were travelling to America to escort the Prince of Wales back to GB. The soldiers kept us children entertained on the long journey - we played one game called 'Priest of the Parish'. The first class passengers didn't like this though! On board the ship we had a small cabin - it was an excellent adventure for a ten year old girl. I can though recall being seasick and being given dry biscuits to eat - we called them 'dog biscuits'.

We sailed into New York harbour during daylight passing the Statue of Liberty - we were met by my father. We spent one night in a New York hotel, before taking a train to Pittsburg. Here we stayed with Uncle Alfred (Hill) and his family for a couple of weeks - everything was extremely exciting to my brothers and I. The final part of our journey was to Akron Ohio - this was again made by train.