Roses For Mama: Memories of Our Precious Mother

By Janice K Hines Clark

Mama was born on a farm near the small town of Port, Oklahoma in 1918. She lived through two world wars, The Great Depression, Prohibition, The Jazz Age, The Dust Bowl Days, and the Roaring 20s. This book is about our family’s life experiences in the small towns of Cordell, Clinton and Oklahoma City, our heritage and our mother and the remarkable job she did raising her five children.

I have included as many details as possible about what her life and her children’s lives were like in rural Oklahoma during those years and as much historical data about Washita County and Cordell, Oklahoma as I could find. I have also included details about her children and grandchildren and what an impact she had upon our lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janice K Hines Clark
• Release date: Sep 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311393500

Janice K Hines Clark

Janice has been married to Nick for 49 years and they currently make their home in Oklahoma City, along with their son Paul. She works as an RN Team Manager at a local rehabilitation hospital on a unit specializing in spinal cord injuries. In her spare time she enjoys challenging word puzzles, watching old movies and creative writing on a variety of topics.Janice is most passionate about her family and her faith in God. Her mother's passing in 2011 inspired her to write her first book about the life situations of her family who were led by the strong Christian values of their mother. Her siblings Gary, Larry, Gerald and Anita are among the most important people in her life and are a big portion of the story of this one family.Janice studied at Penn Valley College in Kansas City, Missouri and at Webster University, also in Kansas City. She contributed to a revised teaching manual of Insulin Administration for the State of Missouri in Jefferson City. She also wrote a lengthy proposal to the State Board of Nursing in Missouri to establish a new nursing school. She served as an expert witness related to nursing issues for two law firms in Kansas City and was a nursing instructor for 20 years while living in the Kansas City area.In addition to writing, she is also an accomplished speaker having delivered the Graduation Ceremony speeches at two schools of nursing and writing and delivering four eulogies for close family members.

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The Roses and Rosebuds of Mama’s Life

Gary Wayne Hines married Adrienne Anne Adams

Cheryl Marie Hines

Kenneth Wayne Hines (Kenny)

Adam Lowell Hines

Brad Linn Hines

Larry Keith Hines married Viola Eunice Bearhead

Marvin Keith Hines

Rodney Wayne Hines

Jason Scott Hines

Gerald Lynn Hines married Vicki Linn Deem Taylor

Douglas Cole Taylor (Doug)

Roger Wesley Taylor (Wes)

Janice Kay Hines married Nicholas Eugene Clark (Nick)

Marlys Lynn Clark

Jeffrey Eugene Clark

Paul Allen Clark

Anita Jo Hines (Nita)/married Boyd Lee Stuckey (Lee)

Boyd Lee Stuckey, Jr. (Buddy)

Randall Mark Stuckey (Randy)

Cynthia Ann (Stuckey) Putnam (Cindy)

Mama also has twenty great grandchildren and one great great grandchild.

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Introduction

No single task has occupied more hours of my time than the many hours I have spent compiling the life story of our mother, Opal Lillian Fern Kitchens Hines. Mother is at the very heart of my story, but the focus of her adult life was her five children. We were a huge part of her journey for 69 years of her life. This story is about all of us as a family, about our life experiences and our heritage.

Each person has experiences unique to them in their lifespan, but many experiences will be similar. Memories of siblings living in the same house can be very different, as I discovered when gathering data for this book. My three older brothers had experiences I never knew of, and likewise, my younger sister and I did things they had little knowledge of. Every generation leaves this world very changed from what it was when they arrived. Our mother encountered vast changes in her lifetime and we were aware of the way she adapted to those gradual changes. We, too, experienced changes but the five of us had a common element in our life which was our precious mother. She knew and was involved in most of our experiences and saw us through the changes we experienced with love.

I hope every person reading this book can feel like their mother was, or is, the greatest mother in the world—there are millions of women who hold claim to that title. I only know about our mother and the remarkable job she did of raising her five children. Our mother was not a well-known famous figure and her name is not recognized by a vast number of people. She is, however, well known by our heavenly Father and I have to feel that both she and God gave me the ability and the inspiration to write this book.

I didn’t know I was going to write a book when I sat down one evening with a pencil and a small journal full of blank pages. It was shortly after Mother had passed away and suddenly I knew that I wanted to write about her funeral. My sister and I had talked about putting together a memory book about the event, so I wanted to write things down before they faded from memory. I was missing Mother very much on that warm evening and I felt her very presence as I began making my entries. By the end of a week and with fifteen pages written, I decided I wanted to keep writing, and keep thinking of her. Soon I was at the computer where I could store my entries and I felt driven to perfect this story.

I sincerely hope that this story will hold an interest about the life and times of this one family; about our adventures, hardships, loves, griefs, and our faith and belief. I wrote from my memory and my heart. It was not my intent to offend any person that I wrote about, but rather to mention them as part of our life story. All of my siblings had input into the writing of this book and their interest and encouragement urged me on hour after hour, day after day.

Janice Kay Hines Clark, 2015

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CHAPTER 1

Roses for Mama

The roses of our mama’s life were her five children. She devoted her life to loving and tending to us, year after year. When we were still small buds she protected us, knowing we were vulnerable. She provided sunshine in our lives to help us develop, knowing that someday we would stand tall and proud. She nurtured and fed us, knowing that our bodies had to be strong. She showered us with her love, knowing that love conquers many great things in life.

Each rose was different and she lovingly admired each one for its own particular beauty, its own particular personality. She was always aware that sometimes her roses could wilt and droop a little, but with her unconditional love and attention, each one would flourish again. There certainly were thorns along the way, but Mama only saw the beauty of her roses. After years of love and devotion to each rose, she was pleased to see each one bloom, in her eyes, into a pure thing of beauty.

Because she loved and tenderly cared for her roses, they matured, and began giving her little baby rosebuds in the form of grandchildren. The love and tender care continued for years and then, when it became necessary, the roses, her children, cared for her as she grew older and needed their special love and attention.

We provided all the care we possibly could and came to realize that now she had become our rose! We gave back the protection when we saw that now she herself was vulnerable. We provided sunshine in her life knowing that she could no longer stand tall. We nurtured and fed her when she could no longer do for herself. When she began to droop and wilt, we insured that she had the proper care to help her flourish again. We were her advocates when the thorns of illness appeared. We always saw the beauty of our rose though she was aging, and we continued to admire her for who she was. We knew she was a proud rose and we strived to maintain that quality that she was always known for.

After years of showering her with love and devotion, our special rose finally faded from our view, but we are content and accepting of that fact, because we know without a doubt that she has bloomed again in Heaven for eternity! She left us with lasting memories that will remain in our hearts, forever and a day…we have always been and will always be Roses for Mama!

Mama’s Journey Begins

Mama began her journey through this life on June 24, 1918, at Port, Oklahoma, born to Jefferson Casey and Minnie Ola Kitchens. She was raised on a farm in Cordell, Oklahoma, along with four brothers and two sisters: Ida Mae, Cecil, Virgil, Clifford, Murl and Lois. When Mama was born, Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States; having been elected to that office in 1913, he served until 1921. There were 48 stars on the U.S. flag. In the rural area where her family resided, horses and buggies were used by the farmers for hauling goods, crops, and families, though there were many who owned automobiles also. Electricity and telephone service was limited in most rural homes and the newspaper was the main source of obtaining news, along with word of mouth from friends and neighbors.

Most city and town streets in that area were still unpaved. Highway 41 was established around 1915 and it linked Cordell eastward to Oklahoma City and was later renamed U.S. Highway 152 when Mama was a little girl. World War I began on July 28, 1914, and ended on November 11, 1918, when Mama was an infant. The Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918 started in March of that year and by December it had claimed 600,000 American lives. Our country was at peace during the early formative years of her life though there were national and regional events that affected a good portion of the population in our great country as she was growing up. Prohibition, The Jazz Age and The Roaring Twenties were some notable periods of Mama’s early years.

Our mama was born at home on a farm two miles east and one mile north of the small town of Port, Oklahoma, four miles north and four and a half miles west of Sentinel. It appears that the farm was owned by a Mrs. Leddy. For whatever reason, they decided to move from there in early 1925 and go to Cordell. It may have been because Cordell was the county seat of Washita County and it was a growing, thriving town and her daddy had the foresight to see advantages of relocating his family. They held an auction on December 4, 1924, and sold all the livestock and farm implements and moved to the newly purchased farm in the northwest part of Cordell.

It can only be assumed that he sold everything simply because it was easier to sell all those items than move them the distance to Cordell. He had 39 hogs, 11 horses and mules, and 26 head of cattle to auction off, in addition to the implements. Riley and Walker were the auctioneers and lunch was provided by the ladies of the Port Baptist Church. There were miscellaneous items sold also and one item of interest was listed simply as one organ. I wonder who in the family played an organ. I never heard Mama speak of that. My brothers Gerald and Larry found the actual handbill for the auction and we each have a framed copy of it, preserved forever as part of our mama’s history, her past.

Port was located six miles south and eighteen miles west of Cordell in Washita County and was once a thriving trade center. It was founded shortly after opening the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Reservation in the late 1890s. Before statehood there were about 200 people living there. By 1910 it had increased to include six general stores, the grain elevator, and even a hotel. There was also a bank, a drugstore, a blacksmith shop, a Baptist church and an undertaker. The town was always known for its schools and by 1924 it was the largest consolidated school system in all of Oklahoma. There is a photo taken in 1924 of the students and teachers standing in front of the Port School and our mama is most likely in that photo.

There is another picture of the school with some kids in the front playing on the teeter-totters (see Photo 6). Mama wrote on the back of the picture, my beloved sister Ida Mae graduated from this school. They had sixteen school trucks used to transport about 600 students to the school over dirt—and often unimproved—roads in all kinds of weather. As with many small towns, Port declined after the Orient Railroad was built through Sentinel, Oklahoma, about eight miles to the southeast. Farmers and businesses came to depend on the railroad system, so the town died as people moved away, just like our grandparents did when they relocated to Cordell.

While still in Port, Mama recalled the time when a man came by the farm one day selling Bibles. Grandma invited him into the house, always happy to have company, and Mama and Aunt Lois listened to his sales pitch with interest. As he was demonstrating the positive features of the Bible, Mama noticed something different about his hands as she watched him closely. He was having some kind of spasms in his hands and fingers and had difficulty holding the Bible as he spoke. Grandma told him she would think about buying a Bible, but for the time, she really didn’t need one.

After sitting with him for a while, Grandma thought how tired he looked and he admitted he was hungry also. She felt sorry for him and thought he needed to rest. Mama was curious about the spasms and Grandma told her that he was probably so hungry and tired that it was causing the involuntary twitching. Grandma fixed him a supper of cornbread and buttermilk and Grandpa let him spend the night out in the barn. Mama was very young at the time but she remembered that event because of those spasms in his fingers, it truly fascinated her. She said her mama and daddy were always good to people who needed help; they were true humanitarians.

Mama held special memories of the town of Port and especially the school, even though she only went there through the second grade. She no doubt had made some dear friends, not only at the school, but also through the church. I think the town itself was so special to her simply because of the family connection in her very early years; it was her true hometown. There is a picture of her sitting at her desk, amidst other students in the one room class where she attended school, when she was about seven years old (See Photo 8). Uncle Murl is seated behind her and on the back of the picture someone wrote the names of all the kids and the teacher. It’s interesting to note that she herself was listed as Lillian Kitchens, instead of her first name, Opal.

Her first grade teacher was Mrs. Mary Rigsby and her second grade teacher was Miss Margaret Phillips, a very pretty, fashionable young teacher who is standing at the back of the classroom in the old photo. As I studied that classroom picture, I noted that it was taken in a winter month because there are paper snowmen decorating a back wall where other artwork and special papers are displayed. All 31 children are wearing long sleeved clothing and virtually every one of the sixteen girls has the same hairstyle, commonly known as the Buster Brown style, cut short and with bangs.

Sadly the whole Port School system was closed forever in May 1966 and later demolished as the town itself was essentially dead. Nita took Mother to that site long after it had been torn down. All that was left were some steps and a few bricks denoting it was a former site of the once prosperous Port School. Mother just wanted to go up to those bricks and touch them and remember a time long ago, a time strengthened by fond memories. She clung to those memories throughout her life and was good at remembering minute details of her experiences and the people that impacted upon her life.

When the day finally arrived to leave Port, it proved to be a hectic time, trying to get all their belongings gathered and packed for the journey and saying farewell to their friends. At last she and Aunt Lois, bundled up in their winter coats, gloves and scarves, were seated in the rumble seat of the open car. Their daddy covered them with a horsehair blanket to ward off the cold, frigid winds as they made the long arduous trip to Cordell on this memorable day.

Mama was put in charge of transporting Aunt Ida Mae’s small bowl of two goldfish, which she clung to tightly as they chugged along the bumpy roads leading to a new life in a new town, leaving behind all her friends and memories in Port. She focused on keeping warm and noting the landscape as her daddy drove along the narrow roads, wanting to remember what this new area looked like. When they finally arrived at the new farm, Mama was dismayed to discover that, despite her careful handling of the goldfish bowl, both of them had perished as the water in the bowl had frozen solid and there was nothing to be done to save the poor goldfish!

The New Farm in Cordell

Once they arrived at the new farm in Cordell, Grandpa had the daunting task of buying new farm implements and livestock. This may have taken several months to get everything replenished and make the farm fully operational. He had to obtain seed for the crops and get the fields prepared for planting. The barn and outbuildings had to be prepared to receive the livestock and implements. Grandma had the task of getting the household in order. Under her direction, all the furniture was moved in and beds assembled in the two-story home. Their feather mattresses were fairly easy to move and place on the iron bedsteads. Bedrooms were assigned and clothing put away. She had to get the kitchen in order so meals could be prepared to feed all the hungry mouths, which meant the boys had to gather firewood to feed the wood cast iron cook stove. Dishes were put away in the cupboards and all the cookware unloaded and ready for use when needed. There were curtains to be hung and crates to unpack.

All the kids were kept busy helping with this task as they were also exploring the land and the outbuildings of this new place they now called home. Mama was a small girl but she knew this new home held a special feeling and she was very excited to be there. She knew she would soon be starting at a new school and would make new friends. There would be new adventures and she was looking forward to the experiences; she trusted her mama and daddy when they told all the kids this was a good move for them, and, indeed, it would turn out that way for them.

School Years

Grandma also had to get the kids, except five year old Aunt Lois, enrolled in the new school. Uncle Cecil and Aunt Ida Mae had already graduated from the high school in Port; they were nineteen and seventeen years old respectively. Uncle Clifford was enrolled in the Cordell High School and Mama, along with her brothers, Uncle Virgil and Uncle Murl went to the Lincoln Elementary School, which they also called the North School. She wrote the names of each of her teachers next to a picture of the school that I found in one of her old scrapbooks and stated that she attended that school through the sixth grade before graduating to the high school. She listed her teachers as Madeline Williams, Mrs. E.J. Keith, and Hazel Stricklin for the third through the fifth grades. She also noted that her sixth grade teacher was Mr. Cecil Folks and that he was the first male teacher in the history of the school.

Mama had so many happy memories of her childhood. She made friends so easily and she nurtured those friendships by her caring and loving ways. Some of her special friends were Elsie Harper, Mildred Marshall, Pauline Miller and Marie Duncan. She recalled that she and these friends often had some fun times playing competitive games of marbles and jacks. She once told me that she had a boyfriend when she was in the sixth grade and his name was Levi Brown.

One fall evening, shortly after Mama had started high school, the church sponsored a hayride and she remembers sitting with Levi on that outing. She said the man driving the wagon had a problem handling the horses and got off the wagon and started whipping them. All the kids were scared and did not like his display of anger towards the poor horses. Mama said that event almost spoiled the fun they had been having. When I asked her whatever happened to Levi, she replied, Oh, I don’t know, honey, I think he moved away.

Her parents insisted they all go to school and graduate. There were many children in that era who were needed to work on the family farm so they were lucky to go to school past the primary grades. There were no laws in place that required them to attend school much past the eighth grade so oftentimes parents made the decision based on their need. Many thought education was not necessary. They assumed the children would be farmers and housewives and schooling wasn’t needed to achieve that status.

Mama loved going to school and she was very active in her classes. She was always glad that her parents recognized and encouraged the need for a good education. They either walked the one and a half miles to school or went by buggy in the early days, with their lunch bucket in tow. Mama once told me that she was recognized many times by her teachers as having a natural ability and excellent skills in writing her papers; she also had excellent penmanship. She loved to read books and made good grades throughout her school days. The public library in Cordell was a place she enjoyed going to so she could check out some good books to take home to read. She also played basketball while in high school. She played a center position.

The North School burned in 1939, as noted by Mama. We found an old black and white photo of Mama and her friend, Marie Duncan, standing by the remains of the burned school before they demolished it (see Photo 9). In the photo, it is evident there had been a fire as all the windows and roof are missing and the ground is littered with debris. Mama and Marie both have rather pensive looks on their faces as they stand next to each other. Mama would have been about 21 years old when that picture was taken. The most interesting thing I noted about that photo as I studied it was that I have a grade school picture of myself that looks exactly like mother’s face in that photo, except for the hairstyle!

May Day Tradition

A fun tradition that the teachers adhered to while Mama was in elementary school was the celebration of May Day, held on the first day of May each year. In preparation for the big day, they assembled decorated conical May Baskets with an attached handle which they filled with colorful fresh flowers. They adopted the old European tradition of dancing around the May Pole to usher in the spring. The school yard had a tall pole placed in a central location, which colorful streamers or ribbons had been attached to, and then the children, most often the little girls, would assemble in a circle and move around the May Pole, holding on to one of the streamers as it wound closer and closer to the pole.

Other children, along with the teachers, watched and cheered the children on while singing selected songs. Each cycle would be complete as the children retraced their steps to unravel the streamers once they had each one wrapped around the pole. They presented their May Basket to a special person in recognition of the day or took it home as a memento. Mama often told us of her memories of this special time each year, but it was an old custom that was dropped by the schools in coming years, probably related to the depression and the war. It was never anything that was practiced while I was in school, though it would have been fun had it survived!

The First Baptist Church

The family joined the First Baptist Church in Cordell shortly after getting settled into the new house. It was established in 1898 with five families led by Rev. J. B. Watson. In May 1904, Rev. L. F. Hedge was called as pastor and they officially organized and voted to build a church building, having had previous services at the Union Church. The first building was constructed in 1905 and the basement was later added in 1917 to provide more space and create the fellowship hall (Images of America: Washita County by Wayne Boothe).

The church underwent many changes over the years and we have a picture of it, as it looked when Mama attended there as a child (see Photo 10). It was a wood frame building with a bell tower above the entrance forming the steeple. Here’s the church, here’s the steeple; open the door and see all the people…a remembered childhood ditty and hand gesture. That church is where our mama was baptized and she wrote, I remember it so well. The church is still, to this day, in the same location with the complex covering three-quarters of a block. It is now about 110 years old, more than a lifetime and it holds so many dear memories for this family. It provided the Christian foundation for not only our mama, but for all her kids as well.

Our maternal grandparents had strong religious beliefs. They had both been Southern Baptists for their entire lives and they depended on the Lord to lead them in their daily life and to help them set good examples for their children. They were intent on instilling faith and the joys of being a good Christian into all their children. Sunday was the day set aside to rest, as taught by the Bible, and our grandparents held strictly to that Christian law. The Sabbath was the one day they did not work on the farm except for the basic necessary chores of tending to the animals. Cows still had to be milked and animals still had to be fed even on Sunday, and they believed God was tolerant of that. Beyond that, the family took it easy and enjoyed their Sunday dinner after church.

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Chapter 2

Life on the Farm

The kids had fun riding horses and playing around the farm until evening. There were times, when the weather was suitable, that they would visit relatives for the day. Mama especially enjoyed the visits to see her young cousins and her Grandma Kitchens. No matter what they did on any Sunday, it was a day to see her friends at church and enjoy the free leisure time. The day ended, as each day did, with a prayer that the Lord would guide and protect them and continue to bestow grace upon them.

Life on the farm was a special time for Mama as she grew and learned lessons of life from her mama and daddy. There was always a great deal of work to be done, as was the case for any successful family. Grandma and Grandpa got up early each morning, often at daybreak, to get the chores started. They roused the older boys up first to head outdoors to the barn with Grandpa to tend to the animals, then the girls got up to help Grandma in the kitchen. Times were simple: they used a well for their water source and, with no indoor plumbing, they had an outhouse. There were coal oil lamps to provide light in the early morning and evening hours and the wood-burning stove to heat the house in the winter months. Open windows and doors in the warm months provided the only way to cool the house.

After all the early morning chores were completed, Grandpa and the boys returned to the house where the womenfolk had a hot breakfast waiting which was often hot biscuits and cream gravy with eggs and fresh milk. There were enough biscuits made so they could be sent to school with the kids for their lunch. Grandma would add some of her canned jelly to the biscuits or sometimes, a fried egg. Lunches were simple but were good, and the kids were grateful.

They all had to help tend the farm animals which included cows, horses, pigs and chickens. There was the necessary task of gathering the eggs daily and the cows had to be milked twice each day. After the milking was complete it was allowed to sit for a short time so the rich cream would rise to the top. Grandma would skim a small amount off as a special treat and the rest was put through the cream separator which she would eventually use for making cottage cheese, butter, and for general cooking. Grandpa would load the excess milk and eggs onto his wagon so it could be taken to town to sell. They also had to help feed all the livestock, clean out the animal pens and help tend the garden that was such an important part of their daily life.

There was also a time for slaughtering the animals so there was plenty of meat, and gathering the bounty from the garden and the fruit orchard to feed this large family of nine. Everyone in the family was expected to do their part to maintain their way of life. One of their main cash crops was cotton, which was so prevalent in the state of Oklahoma. They planted the crop and then, as it grew, chopped out the weeds and lastly, pulled the white fluff from the bolls when it was mature. It was backbreaking work, but it was their livelihood.

Tending to the cotton fields would often last up into the fall. It was hauled by wagon to the cotton gin to be weighed and sold after it was harvested. There were also alternating fields of hay and corn, all needing constant tending. It was just farm life. It was a good life and Mama often said that she thoroughly enjoyed the simple life they led; she relished the outdoors, the sweet smells of the barn, being in the fields and sharing time with her parents and siblings.

Whenever Grandma went outdoors to tend to the garden, she always wore a sunbonnet to protect her face from the hot rays of the sun. She had velvet smooth skin, as Mama told us, and she did not like the sun to brown and weather her delicate skin. She made these sunbonnets herself and she also made some for the girls and it was a normal practice to wear them whenever they were helping in the orchard or the flower or vegetable gardens. They also protected their arms by wearing long sleeved blouses. Grandma worked out in her yard a great deal, as it showed a sense of pride to have a pretty yard, and she loved tending her many flower beds. That was definitely a trait that was passed on to our Mama. I feel sure there had to have been rose bushes in that yard, lots of fragrant red and pink roses!

Electricity was made available on the farm when Mama was around ten years old. They had become accustomed to having electric power at the businesses in town, but finally getting it on the farm was quite an event. It certainly made their life easier and safer. It meant that the coal oil lamps were no longer needed and now they had light bulbs in fixtures that were installed in each of the rooms. The on-off switch was a knob that was turned to supply power to the incandescent bulb. Grandpa was frugal with the use of the new power and all the kids knew the switches were turned on only when really needed.

No More Plowing for Mama

The boys mainly helped their daddy with the outdoor chores and the field work, but Mama, loving the outdoors, wanted to help too. She begged and begged her daddy to let her help plow the fields but he kept telling her she was too young, too small. When she was around ten years old she noticed him taking a rest from plowing on the front porch approached him again about it. He had the team of horses hitched up to the plow and they were standing there ready to do another row of plowing. She was surprised when he finally told her she could take them down a row, so she eagerly ran to the horses and turned the team around and started down the long row to prove to her daddy that she could do this easy looking chore.

It was a hot afternoon and she had them moving at a good pace as she watched the earthen soil turn, just like her daddy did. After they had completed a row she managed to turn them around and start up another row. When they were almost to the end, she suddenly decided they deserved a good rest. She was taking their bridle off when her daddy noticed what she was doing and he hollered at her to keep those horses moving. But, Daddy, they’re hot and tired she called back. She apparently didn’t make a very good impression on her daddy as he came and took over the chore and that was the end of her plowing days!

They had a Negro family that lived in a little house at the edge of the farm and the man was a hired hand who helped out with the field chores. Mama loved to play with their daughter, Nellie, and she commented that they were a very nice, clean family. She spent the night with them one time when her mama had been called away to sit with a sick lady from their church. The sheets on the bed were fresh smelling and snow white and Mama felt right at home. That family left the farm when it was discovered that he had stolen from Grandpa, as the story goes. Grandpa had no tolerance for actions such as that. He would share anything but did not take kindly to theft, so he let the man go. Mama missed her little playmate and Nellie must have had an impact on Mama because she never forgot her and often wondered where Nellie ended up living. She, of course, never saw her again after that family moved from the farm.

As winter approached, they would have to move the old wood cook stove from the north side of the house to the south side because it was much warmer on that side of the house. That meant keeping enough wood chopped to feed that stove; it was essentially the center of activity for the home and vital for their existence. Besides preparing meals, it was also where bricks were heated in the evening to place in the beds so feet would stay warm in the cold, unheated upstairs bedrooms. They had plenty of tall trees near the outer edge of the farm where they obtained the needed wood from fallen trees. They only chopped down a tree when needed and bird droppings ensured there were new saplings coming up in a continuous cycle. The land was good to this family as it provided the resources they needed to survive, but they were also good to the land.

The girls did the more domestic tasks of helping their mama around the house. There was always cooking and baking to be done. Grandma would put her bibbed apron on over her simple cotton dress to start her day. She was a very good cook and cooking was a big part of her daily life. When the girls were in the kitchen helping, they too wore aprons. It was standard attire when cooking in the kitchen. They helped with the huge task of canning all the harvest of fruits and vegetables, keeping a tidy house, sewing and mending. Staples like sugar, coffee and flour were bought in bulk sizes. The flour was sold in 50 or 100 pound sacks and came encased in unbleached muslin fabric. After all the flour was emptied out into the flour bin the women would often use that fabric for kitchen dishtowels. They would embroider each one with a colorful pattern of maybe teapots or flowers. Mama and her sisters had their first lessons in hand stitching on those dishtowels.

Coveted Flour Sack Fabrics

The flour mills quickly recognized that families were using the strong fabric in useful ways and soon began to compete with each other by using a sturdy, colorful cotton fabric to encase the flour. Companies that produced animal feed also used this same fabric to encase their products. Grandma always went to town with Grandpa when he was going to buy the flour or feed for the animals because she wanted to have a say in the selection of the fabric; she may have had her eye on a particular fabric for a creation and she wanted to make sure the right sacks were purchased. Mama, Aunt Lois and Aunt Ida Mae also helped select the fabric. Grandma put all that fabric to good use; it was fashioned into simple, everyday play clothes and also school clothes, mainly dresses for the girls since most of the patterns were floral. Grandma also used some of this fabric to construct her aprons and sun bonnets.

Our grandma created her own dress and clothing patterns and put the reliable treadle sewing machine to good use stitching her creations, a very common, essential practice for women of that era. She also taught her daughters how to sew and be thrifty. Mama and Aunt Lois were small enough to get new dresses from the flour or feed sacks. They would stand on a table so that Grandma and Aunt Ida Mae could measure them as the creations came together. They were pleased with the new dresses and often had enough fabric left over to make matching panties! One time Aunt Ida Mae and a friend of hers were measuring the hem length of a new dress for Mama and had her standing on the kitchen table because she was so small at the time. They finished the measuring and then took Mama by the arm, one on each side, and swung her off the top of the table. They, apparently, were too aggressive because they pulled one of her arms out of the socket. She remembered that incident well!

Making Quilts

Grandma had to make sure there were enough quilts for all the beds to provide warmth for the family in the cold winter months. Scraps of fabric were saved for that purpose; nothing went to waste. When there was enough fabric, the girls would help prepare the squares that went into creating the colorful quilt. Cotton batting was purchased from the dry goods store to make the inner layer of the quilt for extra warmth. The quilting frame was put together when the time was ready to hand stitch it together, using short, tight stitches to ensure its strength for durability and wear. Patterns varied based on what was at hand and the intended use. Mama said that her mama turned out some very pretty quilts, as she had an eye for design.

Quilt patterns were also exchanged among the ladies of the community and they all took pride in the many quilts they produced. Mama had a Sun Bonnet quilt-top that her mama had made where each figure of a girl wearing a sun bonnet is hand stitched to a muslin fabric square. Each square is outlined with a patterned fabric that was machine stitched. All the preliminary work was completed, but for some reason, it was never quilted to finish it off. It is stored safely in Mama’s big trunk, maybe someday it will be finished.

Sometimes the quilts were used as bed toppers, much like pretty bedspreads of today. Grandma created one that was made into small round gathered circles and then hand stitched together, one circle to the other. Each circle is made up of a colorful patterned cotton fabric and carefully placed in a section according to color. That section is outlined with a peachy-orange solid color fabric throughout the quilt to define it. It is truly a work of art. It was large enough to fit over the bed and cover the sides, so it was very heavy when completed.

Mama called it a Yo-Yo Quilt and it was one of the surviving quilts she obtained in later years after Grandpa had passed away. Though it is not actually ‘quilted’ it did require hours of tedious handwork. That unique quilt survives to this day and it must be around 100 years old. It was always handled carefully by mother, so it is still in good shape. It is now in Mother’s bedroom at Nita’s house, where it is still handled carefully (see Photo 40). It is truly a family treasure, a real heirloom!

Knitting and Crocheting

In addition to sewing clothing for the family and making quilts, Grandma also knitted and crocheted and taught this skill to her daughters. There were sweaters and gloves to make for the winter months along with the pretty crocheted doilies and tablecloths for the house. Mama learned basic crochet and knit patterns at an early age. She learned to apply an edge of crocheted lace to pillowcases to make them pretty. She also learned to put in hems and sew on buttons to garments to finish them off after her mama had completed each one.

Knowing how to sew and do handcrafted items was a basic necessity for women in that era and Grandma passed her knowledge and skill on to her three daughters. Sewing was often done in a bedroom and if there was a baby, Mama said that women would hook the tail of the baby’s long garment over the bedpost to keep the baby from crawling away. They didn’t have playpens and the sewing had to be done, so this inventive method allowed them to continue the sewing, for a while anyway.

Making Bread

Kneading boards were a kitchen necessity at that time. There was the big flour bin that dispensed the needed main ingredient for making the many loaves of bread that had to be provided as a staple in any kitchen. Yeast was also an essential ingredient of the recipe which would make the bread rise and give it the fluffiness it needed. Once the dough reached its right consistency it was formed into a ball and laid out on the floured wooden board so it could be kneaded and formed into a loaf. It was a weekly chore and several loaves were made at one time, so this task could literally take hours to complete.

Once all the loaves were formed, they were placed in the baking pans, covered with a tea towel and set in a warm spot to rise and the yeast to perform its magic. After all that, the pans were placed