CISSY HOUSTON
by Cissy Houston
Doubleday Books
New York 1998
Cissy was a well known singing star in the 1950’s, She is
also the
mother of Whitney Houston.
(page 45)
(reffering to cissy`s mother)
"If she was angry, you didn’t know it," remembered
my sister, Anne. "And I know there were times that she
should have been angry …" You never heard her yelling
at us. She would punish us or spank us - but even then that was
not in a loud, boisterous way. The disciplining she left to my
father."
(page 76)
"We used to play church a lot," Anne laughs. All we
knew was church,
so that was our pastime. But if my father caught us, it was
on."
(page 77)
My father heard the commotion, came in the room and figured
out what
happened. "I told you about playing church," he said.
And then we got
it."
(page 100)
But I did sneak into the Green Lantern. Oooh, I could dance
and I
played all the records I could and ate potato chips in that place
until Reebie caught up with me. I got a good beating for being in
that
place. But I never fought her. … it was unthinkable to raise
a hand to
my sister…"
(page 101)
… I was really happy to be back at my father’s
house, even though it
took a beating to get me there.
(page 169)
(Cissy speaking of her own children)
Gary flinched at my threat. But he made no move toward the other
boy.
"You don’t believe me!" I howled. I grabbed him by
the arm, spun him
around and started whacking his butt with my free hand.
I made John the gentle, more lenient parent. I tended to be
the
disciplinarian, so I told him to be the softie. He looked
confused and
couldn’t understand why I was doing this. "They need
someone to go to
after I whip their butts. Let’em run to you."