Julia's Impeccable Man

By Frances Armstrong Wood

Julia was a little farm girl and she wanted an exciting life in the city. She arrived in the big city of Memphis when she was about twenty five years of age. She was barely able to rent a room for a week and had no means of employment. She had been trained to be a personal maid but she had no connections for this kind of job. She overcame all of her obstacles by securing a waitress job and therefore meeting the Impeccable Man.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Aug 9, 2010
• ISBN: 9781450245364

Frances Armstrong Wood

Frances Armstrong Wood, a retired author has been educated in journalism by working for three large newspapers. She has previously published five books, Four Years of Track Life, Twenty Years in Korea, Legend of Pigeon Road, Julia's Impeccable Man and Trackwoman Number Two. She has one son living in Rohnert Park, California and she resides in Barstow, California. She is a member of the Barstow Museum and has been inspired by Cliff Walker, who is a Creative Writing teacher at the Barstow College.

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Table of Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter One    Love at First Sight

Chapter Two    The Mysterious Julia

Chapter Three    My Beautiful Mother

Chapter Four    Life on the Plantation

Chapter Five    Dwight’s Sister

Chapter Six    A New World

Chapter Seven    Julia Has Twins

Chapter Eight    Dwight’s Ballgame

Chapter Nine    Time Marches On

Chapter Ten    Julia’s Friends

Chapter Eleven    Life Together

Chapter Twelve    School Days

Chapter Thirteen    The Great Depression

Chapter Fourteen    Tennessee Hills

Chapter Fifteen    Almost Starvation

Chapter Sixteen    Julia’s Three Brothers

Chapter Seventeen    Dwight’s Folly

Chapter Eighteen    Dwight’s Life Changed

Chapter Nineteen    Daughter is Wed

Chapter Twenty    Zion Community

Chapter Twenty One    Yellow Fever Epidemic

Chapter Twenty Two    Julia’s California Life

Chapter Twenty Three    Life and Death

Bibliography

Dedication

This book was written to relate the love and the lives of two persons who spent a life together. Julia and her impeccable man, Dwight, were very close until Dwight’s death in 1963.

About five years later she came to live in my home in southern California. Her next twenty years were spent in an apartment in the town of Barstow. She made new friends and continued her life.

It has been the courage and strength that Julia possessed that she imparted to my life to inspire me to write this book. Her loyalty to Dwight was another asset that she shared with me.

At times when our lives seemed hopeless, Julia was the one that brought us back to normal philosophy. To live to be ninety five was her reward in this world.

Introduction

Julia was born March 9, 1894 and she met a handsome soldier just home from World War I and he became her impeccable man. She was close to twenty five years of age and they were married in 1919.

They met in Memphis, Tennessee where Dwight Lee Armstrong resided. It was a case of love at first sight and they were never apart until his death in 1963. Julia lived another twenty five years and never had eyes for another man. In those days women were like this. If you made your bed you laid on it whether it was good or bad.

This may sound dull but it was quite the opposite. They endured the most difficult times together. Julia loved Dwight when his own family turned him out. Dwight had the best education that money could buy in the twenties while Julia had only a grade school of knowledge.

The difference was that Julia happened to have a great amount of wisdom to get her through life. She was the one to carry the ball when there were tough times.

In 1930 the country was in a depression. Almost the entire population was without an income. Dwight, the impeccable man, demanded real butter on his bread and rich cream in his coffee. He had his favorite lounge chair, his tailor made cigarettes and his meals served to him before anyone else in the family.

Julia was the little servant. The Red Hen, we called her and she did everything. I always tried to have some respect for Dwight Lee Armstrong, who was my biological father. My life under his roof was very rigid and I had no privileges. No keys to the house. My mother, Julia unlocked the door and let me in the house when I came home from going out at night.

While I lived with my parents I slept in a double bed with Julia. Dwight had his own room. I often wondered why I could not have my own room. We did live in small houses so I accepted that as one reason.

I was not allowed to use the kitchen unless Julia was unable to cook. Julia allowed me to set the dining table, to dry dishes or dust furniture. She told me she wanted to protect my hands so they would not be ugly like her hands. I learned to cook meals when I was twenty years old after I was married and had my own kitchen. Everything about me in my father’s house was guarded.

Dwight legally married Julia after they had been living together for forty three years. It was a shock to me when I was a forty year old woman. I never knew what his reason was for this delayed procedure. Maybe it was because his rich family did not accept Julia. They believed in big weddings and Dwight did not have the acceptance from them to have a big wedding. Dwight’s lawyer’s, son said I should be thankful that Julia and Dwight had loved each other all those years.

Finally I was able to accept their belated marriage. It remained a family secret and the subject never came up in our family.

Chapter One Love at First Sight

Chapter One

Love at First Sight

It was one of those beautiful fall days in October when Julia went to work at her new job at the Hotel Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee. Her young life really began when she first laid eyes on Dwight. He was the tall good looking soldier in uniform that she had desired to meet some day. The war was over and Dwight stood outside the hotel soda room door as Julia approached him. She impishly waved to him as she passed and went inside to report to work.

Dwight followed her inside the soda room but she went to the back to change into her uniform and when she came out she saw Dwight sitting at a table. She took his order for a soda and went on her way to serve other customers.

You may call it fate or some other name but it had to be meant to be. This was really the spark that drew them together for life. After that first day in that soda room Julia’s life got very exciting because Dwight was there every day to see her.

Julia grew up on a farm as a share cropper’s daughter and was a might naïve while Dwight was city bred and born with a silver spoon in his mouth so to speak. Here she was in the big city and being overwhelmed by this aggressive and handsome stranger.

His first attempt was to take Julia home from work. This attempt failed since Julia had been warned by her brother in past years about the ways of the world.

Her brother had said beware of strangers. Julia said no thanks to Dwight and continued to walk to and from work.

Dwight did not take no for