Not long after we moved to Bertram, a new pastor was sent to the Methodist Church. He and his wife were very lovely people. They had arrived here after spending time in Goldthwaite, Texas. They had become acquainted with a young couple there that had a young daughter and twin sons that were toddlers.

One time the little girl came to spend a few days with them. They brought her over to our place see the donkeys and the lambs. I was heading down to feed the catfish in our pond so she wanted to go too. I put her on my shoulders and gave her a ride. She was about 4 or 5 at the time. Madeline, my wife, remembers her bouncing away on our trampoline.

I’m not sure I’d ever been around such precocious and cute child. She had so much personality it was unbelievable.

They told us she just auditioned for a TV Series. Soon afterwards she got the part and it was only a short time later that her family moved to California and as they say, the rest is history.

The pastor’s was named Sweet. The little girl’s family name was Sweeten. I always thought that was a coincidence.

You probably remember her as Ally Barone and her little brothers in the show were really her little brothers, the twins, on Everybody Loves Raymond.

Yes I packed a little Madylin Sweeten around on my shoulders one afternoon in Bertram, Tx.

The thing Madeline and I said, along with Pastor Sweet and his wife – “They can forget that dream of life in California after watching the first episode or two“.

But we were so wrong – it lasted for 10 seasons I believe and became a pretty good show. What did we know?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madylin_Sweeten