Looks can be deceiving. When you meet soft-spoken grandmother Nancy Ezell, 74, it’s hard to imagine she ever threw eggs against a wall, or dated every boy in her high school.

“My grandchildren were horrified when I told them,” she says. “They thought I was a loose woman.”

Ezell and her seven siblings grew up on a Linwood dairy farm.

“We had wonderful fun and freedom,” she says. “Mostly we obeyed our parents, but we’d often go into the hen house and throw eggs against a target. Mother threatened us often, but we didn’t stop until a beloved neighbor threatened us with a 2-by-4.”

In addition to having fun, the siblings had assigned responsibilities.

Nancy Ezell, 74, a longtime Lawrence resident, grew up in Linwood and married classmate Johnny Ezell at 18. She is writing her childhood memories to share with her grandchildren.

“In spring, we planted the garden, tended to new calves, baby chicks and pigs,” she says. “During harvest, three of us would ride our horse, Crow Bait, through the fields, bringing water to the workers. I also remember one particularly snowy winter day daddy rode four of us to school on the horse, singing all the way.”

Ezell started Linwood grade school in 1939 at age 5.

“There were five students in my first-grade class, and Mrs. Smith also taught second and third grade in the same room,” she recalls. “My class grew to 10 when Hercules Powder Company started across the river during the war.”

Her dating days began when she attended Linwood High School.

“We all knew one another, and we dated in groups,” she says. “We went roller skating and bowling together in Lawrence, or Friday night dances above Eudora’s bank, where the owners acted as chaperones.”

Group dating ended when she became classmate Johnny Ezell’s “steady.” She married at 18 and traveled with Johnny when he was drafted into the Army in 1953. When he went to Korea, she returned to her parents’ farm and worked for the Kansas University athletic director.

After Johnny’s discharge, the couple lived in a Lawrence apartment, where the first of their four children was born. They built a house in Linwood and returned to Lawrence in 1961, when they set up a successful building business with Johnny’s brother and brother-in-law.

When Johnny died suddenly in 1991, Ezell, with her children’s help, completed unfinished building projects despite their great shock.

“Thankfully I’d helped Johnny in the business, and he was excellent about sharing future plans,” she says. “I prayed a lot and did what needed to be done.”

She’s now retired and writing her childhood memoirs to share with her grandchildren.

“My childhood was fun in spite of limited material possessions,” Ezell says.