Writing history about myself when I am only twenty-eight years old seems
     very strange. I was born Harva Leigh Mathews, eldest daugther of Harvey
     Leon and Wilda Alberta McReynolds Mathews, on August 4, 1950.
       I remember a very happy childhood. I had a distaste for staying indoors
     from the earliest age. I always was a "Daddy's girl" because I liked the
     outdoors. Nothing pleased me more than a trip to the north pasture to feed
     the cows and calves. Back then, we fed out of jeep, so it was a short crawl
     to the back window with a hand full of cake to feed old Bossy. An added
     delight was the problems that cold weather caused. Withy the calves coming
     in January, February, or March, many cold days and nights forced Daddy to
     bring a shivering little black bundle to the jeep, or better yet, all the
     way back to the house to dry him off and feed him with a bottle. A few
     years later, it was in that same little jeep that i got to "drive" all by
     myself. Daddy would set the throttle and jump to the back end to feed while
     I guided the jeep in a circle.
       When I was about five, Daddy bought a medium sized Shetland with big
     brown spots. We would ride "Ole Punk" for hours, or if there were friends
     over to play, we would tie a lariat onto the saddle horn and attach it to
     the little red wagon. Everyone could ride at the same time and we were all
     happy.
       4-H events seemed to keep me very busy during my grade and high school
     years. During that time, I made many new friends, saw many new places, and
     acquired much valuable information.
       Music has always had an important place in my life. Mrs. David Johnson
     was my first piano teacher. In 1973, I graduated from Wichita State University
     with a Bachelor of Music Education Degree with an emphasis in voice. In
     those sixteen years, my music helped me learn to perform in front of a small
     audience or on a stage in front of thousands and a television camera. Music
     took me to the National Junior Miss Pageant in Mobile, Alabama, in 1968, as
     the Kansas Junior Miss. I won the Talent Award at the Miss Kansas Pageant in
     1972, and I traveled to EUrope in 1970 with the WSU Singers. Since 1973,
     music has been my profession as a public school teacher in the Ferguson-
     Florissant School District, St. Louis, Missouri. I have also sung professionaly
     with the CASA Singers while living in St. Louis. Actually, it was through
     music that I met my husband, William Darby Lambert, III. Mother always told
     me that I would appreciate her keeping me at my practicing!
                 
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 269  
     Submitted by: Harva Leigh Mathews Lambert