More country living.. When we lived in the big white house close to Fleeta, we had a big grove of pecan trees. Every year when the pecans began to fall and were ready to harvest, we would help pick them up and put them in buckets for Daddy to sell.  There were so many trees we would have to have neighbors help and I remember Daddy would take a big "log" (maybe an 2 x 4 or something)  and wrap it all around with an old sheet or spread and the men would take the "log" and hit the limbs of the pecan trees to make all the nuts fall so they could be gathered. I think I remember that they would spread old sheets or something all under the trees to make it easier to see the nuts.  It was a back breaking job, even for us "little" people, but every one had to help.

We also had a huge (at least to this small child, it was huge!) scuppernong arbor.  It was spread out on poles like a tent and the ground was kept clean underneath so that when the scuppernongs were ripe we could just walk underneath and eat all we wanted and not worry about stepping on a snake or something.. I still love to eat scuppernongs, they are so good. They are of the grape family of fruits. I don't know if we ever sold any or not.A lot of people made wine and jelly and such from them. I think Momma  used to make pies with them Nothing was wasted if it was at all possible to use.

We used to have a "Rolling Store" come by the house periodically. This was a big truck with a closed body all the way around it and they had most anything in it for sale that you could find in a grocery and mercantile store. It always smelled wonderful when he opened it up !! There was apples, oranges, candy and all sorts of things to entice the taste buds of the little children. It was always exciting when we would see or hear the Rolling Store coming up the road!!!!! We would go running to tell Momma, "the Rolling Store" is here.  Momma and all the other households would trade eggs, milk, butter, produce and anything they could barter with to buy flour, sugar, oil, kerosene canned goods, material for clothes and it saved a trip to town. It was so much fun, and the smells were absolutely wonderful!!! I can almost smell it as I remember it.

We always had to try to make some extra money by working for neighbors, etc. I remember one summer, Momma hired herself, Wayne and myself to pick cotton for one of our Uncles (I think).  I think Juanita was too young. (I was too, but I went and tried) I never managed to pick 100 pounds in one day but once.  I would get so disgusted!!! I would take a row to pick right beside Momma, or Wayne or anybody, keep up with them til the end of the row and my cotton NEVER weighed as much as theirs!!!  I tried so hard!!!  'Talk about a back ache!!!! That old cotton sack dragging behind you and getting heavier and heavier every minute, by the end of the day you would think, "Boy, I must have at least a 100 pounds or more!"  But only the one time that I remember.

 I had a problem with the heat, for some reason when I was that young, I would not sweat, so I would get hot then get sick to my stomach. Maybe that is why I couldn't get heavy cotton. I still don't understand why my cotton would not weigh a much as Wayne's or Momma's!!! (Reckon they put a few rocks in their bag?) (Just kidding)  Just know that I would have to be starving to pick cotton again!!!!

More later.

One day we got our first car!!! The mule and wagon I guess were then simply farm tools!  I do not know what kind of car it was, but it  was black!!! At that time I think cars only came in black. I don't remember how old I was, just barely remember having a car.

We used to go to town a lot on Saturdays for grocery shopping and whatever else Mamma and Daddy needed to do in town. My favorite part of these trips was to get to go to the Dime store. There were two of them in Opp. They had a lot of stuff for a dime, toys, candy and my favorite, we could have a cone of ice cream!!!! It was soooo goood!!!! We could get a single cone, double or triple dip. I don't remember the price but I am sure it was very small or we could not have gotten one!  But it was just a lot of fun to see all the fun and different things they had in that store. V.J.Elmore was the favorite, but L.M. West Dime store was good too. There was a Jewish Mercantile store downtown too. It was odd to see Jews as they looked a little different. He was a nice man named Leo Finkelstein. They sold fine clothes and other items.

As a matter of fact, when my Momma was just a young girl (before she married my Daddy) she worked in Elba at the L.M. West Dime store, I think she was a manager at a very young age. She boarded somewhere in Elba cause they lived out in the country.. She was working there when the flood of 1929 hit the town of Elba. She got caught in town and could not get out and spent 2 or 3 days and nights on the Courthouse downtown with a lot of other folks that got caught. I think she said she stayed on the Courthouse and it makes sense as it was just across the street from the store where she worked. The Courthouse was the tallest building in town. She told the story of how scary it was and upsetting to hear the cows, pigs, horses and other animals that were floating in the water, and lowing, squealing and sounding so pitiful. I know it had to be a horrible experience for her!!!
I forget how many days they stayed up the on the roof top, but she said that one day they started bringing people out by rowboat. She said she was beside herself with happiness when she looked across the Pea River bridge and saw her Papa waiting to pick her up and take her home.

Side Note:  My husband Bill King"s great grandfather Ephraim King sold the land on which Elba is situated  to Elba. Just thought that was interesting! This would be interesting research for a history buff!!

There has been two more major floods in Elba since the 1929 one, 1990, 1998.

Back to adventures of the car next time, kind of got sidetracked!

First Car Trip That I Remember!!!

I was pretty young when we took a trip to Winter Garden, Florida to visit my Uncle Bill and Aunt Mae Ellen Northey. I don't remember who all went with us. I know Momma and Daddy and of course Wayne and Juanita. I think Granny Northey was  probably with us as well, maybe Uncle Tommy Northey, not sure though.
I don't think we had had the car very long and it was to be a long trip to undertake to an unknown place. I do know that today even with interstate highways its takes 8 or 9 hours or more, so I am sure it took us a long while. I remember it being night time and I simply could not go to sleep riding (still can't). I could hear every time the tires rolled over the slightest bump.
The car had a long (probably 3 feet tall) gear stick in the middle of the floor board in front of the front seat. For some reason I was sitting there, straddling the gear stick. (It is called a straight shift today). Well we were just tooling along, everyone was sleeping or trying except me and Daddy.  All of a sudden we were running off the road through a ditch and it looked like a deep hole (possibly a lake) that we were heading straight for, but thank God there was a fence that stopped us before we went all the way.
Scared is a mild word to describe how we all felt. We were terrified !!! We were out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night!!!It was dark, no lights anywhere that we could see. I don't know how far it was to a town , but some how Daddy got ahold of a wrecker and got the car towed in and I guess we rode in the car, but I am not sure how we got to the town.
The thing that caused us to run off the road was a broken tire rod or tire rod end, anyway when that thing broke, Daddy could not longer control the car. Anyway they fixed it and we reached our destination without anymore accidents that I remember.
God was really with us country bumpkins off on a long road trip that night!!! If that fence had not been there, we might not be here today! No one was hurt that I know of. I do know that my chin hit that big old gear stick and my teeth felt funny and tingly for many years, but no permanent damage that I know of.  We made several trips to Winter Garden,Florida over the years, no more mishaps that I remember.
I will tell more about Uncle Bill and Aunt Mae Ellen as we go along.

Moving Right Along

Well, I guess farming began to not pay off too well as Mamma went to work in the Sewing Factory in Andalusia, Alabama. I think she and Aunt Donna Ward and some other ladies rode together, it is quite a ways to Andalusia from where we lived north of Opp.  Daddy took care of us kids, got us dressed and to school, fed us and whatever he had to do. I do not know if he still was farming any or not. I know they probably had a vegetable garden, cause you almost had to in those days, especially living in the country. He cooked a lot of turnip greens, and tomatoes and rice for us. I learned to cook some of those things and he loved chocolate pudding and I learned to cook that too. I don't know how long it was after he quit farming before he was drafted into World War II.  He went off and was stationed in Baltimore, Maryland for a long time. I do not know how long he was gone. Mamma went to visit him for a couple of weeks while he was up there. She rode the train. I guess we stayed at home with Granny Northey or we might have stayed with Grandmo and PaPa Wise, I don't remember. I just know she went to visit him. He was in the Quartermaster Corp. (dispensing clothes to the servicemen). Thank the Lord he did not have to go overseas where the fighting was!! Then the war was over and he got to come home.
They had sold the farm to our Uncle Dewey and Aunt Vermelle Carnley ( Momma's sister). We then moved to a house located right where the Fleeta road intersected the Opp Highway 84. The house was owned by Mr. Gaston King and he had a store located somewhere at the intersection. We had some good times living there. I don't remember if Momma was still working at that time or not. I know we lived there for a while when Daddy still in the service.
We had cousins that visited and we always had a lot of fun with them. We were all pretty close to the same ages. We would choose husbands and wives and pretend that we were couples and played house. It was a lot of fun. Juanita always chose Gerald Carnley for her "husband" and I think I chose Franklin "Fid" Northey. Anyway, we had a good time pretending and playing house.
Wayne had a bicycle when we lived in that house and he dearly loved riding in the highway because the pavement was so smooth instead of the yard or the dirt road on the way to Fleeta. He had to really be watchful of the traffic, so he could get out of the road if a car happened to come by. Fortunately there was not much traffic in 1944-45.
There were no chain guards on his bike and he had to try to keep his pants leg folded up so as not to get caught in the chain. One day it happened!!! His pants leg got caught in the chain and down he went!!!!We were so scared!!!! We ran screaming to the house, yelling "Momma, Momma!!! Come quick! Wayne's pants are caught in his chain and he is in the middle of the road and can't get up!" She came out, and saw the situation and go her trusty scissors, cut his pants so he could get up and get the bike into the yard. All was well!!! He was fortunate that no car came along and hit him!!!!
I have a funny story about that bike!!! Of course, I, a girl, did not have a bike, so Wayne "graciously" agreed to teach me how to ride his bike.  He told me just how to get on it and just peddle and learn to balance. I got where I could balance and ride in a straight line ( in the yard, not the highway). Our front yard was pretty long so I had a good little distance to practice in. One day he decided I needed to learn how to turn around on the bicycle.  We had a large bush or small tree at one end of the front yard and he told me, "Now go straight toward that tree/bush then ride around it and come back." So he got me started and turned me loose and EVERY time I did as he said, I would head straight for that tree/bush and run right into it!!! I could not make the turn to go around that tree/bush. Wayne would roll on the ground laughing out loud!!! He would say,"I said go around that tree/bush". I just kept on running right straight into it. I guess I finally learned, but I don't think I ever made it around that bush/tree!!  I can see Wayne dying laughing at me and I think probably Momma was laughing too!! It made me mad to be laughed at, but I did learn to ride a bike, I betcha!!!!!

More from when we lived in Mr. King's house

When we were living in the house that belonged to Mr. Gaston King, I remember several things, some funny, some not so funny.

My Momma was scared of bad weather. Every time a thunderstorm came up, even in the middle of the night, she has us all get up. grab our clothes and head to Grandmo Wise's house. It did not matter what time nor how hard it was already raining, we had to go!!! I don't know why she was so afraid and Daddy went along with her, I guess to keep her happy!!! I am glad it didn't cause me to be afraid of bad weather and I guess none of the other kids are either. Of course, I respect bad weather and don't get out in it unless it is necessary, but I never ran to Mamma's house when a storm came up.

I remember one time when we went to Grandmo's house,  I had a bad earache. I remember having them a lot growing up and I suppose that is why I have always been "hard of hearing" all my life as long as I can remember. Anyway, back to my story, we were at Grandmo's house and it was in  the middle of the night, I was squalling and hurting so bad. All Momma  knew to do was to put some heat  on my ear. There were no heating pads or any other such thing back then. I remember Momma getting a towel and putting it around the single light bulb hanging down in the middle of the bed room and putting that warm towel on my ear. I guess it helped, I don't remember ever going to the Doctor for my earaches and I probably had some ruptured ear drums or something all along. It was an almost never ending thing. I just remember keeping my Momma up a lot. I have been hard of hearing for as long as I can remember. I now wear one hearing aid.

Another thing I remember is when we lived in that house, I was in the fourth grade and got my first and only paddling at school!! I got paddled for not finishing my homework one night. When I told Momma about it she hit the roof!!!! She was so mad, not at me, but the teacher!  She went to that teacher and told her in no uncertain terms that she gave too much homework and that I worked on it from the time I got home until bedtime and there was no way I could do it all.  Anyway, made me feel good to have my Momma take up for me.

Also, one Christmas it was raining cats and dogs and we wondered how Santa was coming. We had fireplaces in several of the rooms, but they had coal grates in them instead of being open like an ordinary fireplace. I remember it rained hard enough to spatter smut/soot on the floor and around the fireplace. But I also remember that I got a stuffed long tailed white cat that Christmas!!! I loved that cat. I guess that is why I have always loved cats. We always got an apple, orange, some "nigger toes" (brazil nuts), some candy peanuts and orange slices. Once in a while we would get a chocolate drop or two.  These things were in our stockings. Then we always had some more apple and oranges, Daddy would buy a crate of each, but we never once thought that Santa got our orange and apple out of those crates. He brought us special ones. I am sure I probably got a doll or two as I was growing up, but I only remember that cat!!!

At some point, I am sure I was probably 11 or 12, my Grandmo Wise got sick. She had what was called "sick headaches" (likely it was migraines). Anyway one time she got so sick and threw up so violently that she ruptured some blood vessels in her eyes and subsequently she was blind and bedridden for most of the rest of her life. Anyway, I went and stayed at their house to take care of her while Grandpa Wise went to work. He worked for the County, working on roads and such. I do not remember anything that I did for her, but I must have done whatever I needed to do. I only remember Grandpa getting me up in the mornings to eat breakfast. He cooked the best buttermilk biscuits, bacon, red eye gravy and eggs. I guess I probably had to clean up and stuff, but I did this for one whole summer. The house they lived in then is still standing and someone was living in it the last time I saw it. It is located right across from the cemetery "Peaceful Acres" where L.G., Momma and Daddy and numerous other relatives are buried in Opp, Alabama.
Still more to come!!!! Stay tuned!

More Florida Tales

We went back to Winter Garden, Florida to visit Uncle Bill and Aunt Mae Ellen a few more times. I don't remember when exactly, but we visited and then one time after Daddy got out of the Army we actually moved down there for a little while. I am not sure how long we lived there, just a few weeks, or maybe months. Momma did not like it down there at all. I liked it, I think I was probably in the 4th or 5th grade. I remember the school was really nice. It was fancier than Fleeta, I even had a dance class at the school and I loved it!! The playground was neat. I do not remember anything about the teachers though. But we moved back to Alabama, to Blue Springs, a community about 10 miles south of Opp, Alabama. We lived in living quarters in the back of a Texaco service station. We rode the bus to Blue Springs School a few miles from where we were living.

Back to our visits to Florida. Uncle Bill was a big drinker and was drunk a lot. Aunt Mae Ellen was a small woman, and bless her heart she was not pretty at all! (kinda ugly, really). But we got along with them okay, I guess. They had three kids, two boys and one girl. I really don't know, but I think the two boys were fairly close to Wayne and my age. I don't think Judy had come along at that time. But I tell you what!!! We were SCARED TO DEATH of Uncle Bill and Aunt Mae Ellen!!!  They would whop them boys up side of the head for nothing!!! I mean it wasn't a light slap, but it would be a hard, knocking down whop!!! I don't see how they survived!!

Strangely, neither of those boys had any children. Their daughter Angelee may not have been born then or she might have been a baby, I simply don't remember. The two boys grew up to be good upstanding men. James the oldest was either a Superintendent or Principal of a school/system near Jacksonville until he retired. Warren, the next oldest I think worked for the City of Winter Garden, but I am not sure. Anyway, I guess the beatings either made them want to do well, or maybe they had to do well to get away from home.  I don't know much about Angelee. I do know she had some children, not sure how many though.

Uncle Bill liked to go to the Cock fights and drink and gamble. One night he had Aunt Mae Ellen with him (she might have gone with him a lot, I don't know). I don't know if she drank with him or not. But anyway they were in Tampa, Florida at a Cock fight and were going back  to Winter Garden. Uncle Bill got to the interstate and got onto the wrong ramp and was going against traffic. They had a head-on collision and Aunt Mae Ellen died instantly. She was decapitated.  Of course Uncle Bill was arrested for drunk driving and I don't know what other charges, but he did some jail time and if I remember correctly, he may have died in prison. Mamma, Daddy and I went to his funeral I think. I don't remember if Wayne or Juanita went or not. I don't remember going to Aunt Mae Ellen's funeral, or it might have been hers we went to, but I don't think it was. Very sad life and ending!! Very proud of my cousins though for overcoming such a harsh upbringing.  Really, it was scary being in their house, you never knew what would set them off to whop those poor kids upside the head!!!
Thankful for my fine parents!! They never had such tempers, Praise the Lord.

Opp!

When we moved back from Florida to Blue Springs and were living in the back of a Service Station, Daddy bought a lot on 7th avenue in Opp. He proceeded to build us a 3 bedroom house. I don't know how much of the actual building he did, but I do remember hearing that he wired the house himself. Now, he had only a 2nd grade education, but obviously he was smart to figure out how to do that. I think he put brick siding on the house to start with and later he put white siding on it and then later painted it a light green. The house is still being lived in today. My cousin Exie and her husband Herman Ellison live there now. Of course there have been a lot of modifications and modernizations done to the house over the years.

We were still living in that house when I got married. We had one bathroom and three bedrooms, living room, dining room and kitchen. We were uptown!!!!  When we first moved there Juanita said we rode a bus   to school, I don't remember, but I think she said we went to Fleeta for a while on a bus . Then we had to start attending Opp High School. I was in the 7th grade when we started going to Opp and Mrs. Marie Baker was my teacher. That was the hardest year I EVER had in school. It was so different from the country schools I had been attending. My homeroom was Mrs. Baker's room and I don't remember what subject she taught, but then we had to CHANGE classes!!! That was really strange as all my other years all classes were in one room with the same teacher. And to top it off, no school buses ran in town, so we walked to school, it is quite a ways from the Sunny Slope subdivision to the School. But it did not seem to bother us, at least we did it.

I forgot to tell about an accident that Momma had while we were living in the back of the Service Station. Back then there was no air conditioning in homes, so we had oscillating fans, window fans, etc. to keep cool. Well, somehow Momma had a fan start to fall or something, anyway she tried to catch it and the blade cut her had pretty bad between her thumb and forefinger of one of her hands.  She was a pretty free bleeder and we thought she would bleed to death. I guess Daddy took her to Opp and had it sewn up, but that was about 10 miles away, so I guess she must have lost  a lot of blood, but she came back home. I imagine we had to help do housework for awhile and I guess Granny Northey stayed with us until Momma could take over again.

Granny Northey's husband (my paternal Grandfather) died from a stroke of apoxlexy  before Momma and Daddy even met, so we never knew him (I think he was a BIG man, I saw one picture of him). Granny took turns staying with us for a couple of weeks and then staying with Uncle Tommy and Aunt Lottie Northey. She never went to Winter Garden, Florida to stay with Uncle Bill and Aunt Mae Ellen that I know of.

When we lived on 7th avenue in Opp, when Granny was there, I always had to sleep on the couch in the living room and Granny slept with Juanita.  After Wayne got married, Juanita got his room and I had Judy move into our bedroom and then when Granny came, I still had to sleep on the couch!!! I never really had a room of my own until L.G. passed away!!
More stories next time!!! Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Revisit Plus

I need to revisit the house that we lived in that was owned by Mr. Gaston King.  I don't know how most people feel about eating wild game, but that is one thing I never acquired a taste for. Although, I know that in the olden days and even the days when I grew up sometimes it was eat wild game or go hungry.
Anyway, my brother and possibly my Dad used to go hunting for squirrels and I guess doves, and quail. Well, if you had an older brother, you know how they loved to torment their younger sisters especially!!! One night Momma had cooked some squirrel that he had killed, all nice in gravy, with biscuits and I don't remember what else. All I remember is that I said I don't want any squirrel and I will not eat any squirrel. Well, Mr. big shot Wayne, put some squirrel on my plate, knowing how I felt about eating it and was going to make me eat it. Well, he might as well have slapped me!!! I started bawling like he HAD slapped me!! I don't know if I ate anything or not, but I do know I did not eat squirrel!!!! Of course, he laughed and laughed and said poor little thing, don't want no squirrel. heh,heh! I was pretty old before I would eat catfish, wouldn't even consider it. Still not my favorite fish.

Now I did cook some doves and quail after I got married, but could not stand to eat the doves and only tasted the quail. I may have cooked squirrel, but I grant you I did not eat it!

Now my Momma used to clean and cook opossum and sweet potatoes. I was at home one day when she was cleaning one and boy!! I never smelled anything that stunk so bad!!! But she cooked him and ate it. I don't know if anyone else  ate it or not. I figure she had eaten that stuff growing up. She was raised out around Ino Commuity, way in the country. This happened when we lived in Opp on 7th Avenue.

Talking about my older brother and how he tormented me and Juanita.  We could build us a playhouse in the yard using pieces of wood, broken dishes, sticks and our imagination and have the best time, but Mr. Wayne could run through it and tear it down and think he was really something. Of course, we started hollering Momma! Momma! make him quit!!!

Then we had paper dolls!!! Prettiest things you ever saw, whole families.We cut out pictures from the Sears & Roebuck catalog and would set them up against books, boxes or whatever and be have such fun imaginary fantasies with our paper families. Oh, the places we would go and the games we would play. Well, Mr. Wayne would come by with a paper or his hat or whatever and holler: "Tornado, or storm"! Then he would simply blow our playhouses away!!! Again, Momma! Momma! Make him stop!!!!

Then there were the times when Juanita and I would just be playing dolls or something and he would walk by and take the hand of one of us and hit the other one, starting a fight between us unless we saw him, then we hollered: Momma! Momma! make him stop.

One other thing I can't stand is roaches!!! or insects in general.  He and Juanita both were guilty of this trick. they would find a dead roach and hold it by one leg and chase me all over the house, with me screaming bloody murder!! Again, Momma! Momma! make them stop!!! I still can't stand roaches, mice or spiders, but I can manage to kill them if they get close to me, and FLIES!!!!

Back to 7th Avenue in Opp
We had a lot of fun growing up in that house. We lived there until all of us were married except Judy.

One day we decided we wanted a see-saw. So I guess we used a saw horse  or it might have been something else we used and a long board. Anyway, Momma said, "y'all going to get hurt!" But we said, "No we won't". So we proceeded to set up our seesaw. Momma warned us, "if y'all get hurt, I am going to whip you!" Now our back yard was not level at all, it slanted down pretty significantly from the house, but we set it up anyway on that hill with the seesaw going up and down it. Well, I guess we were having a good time, BUT all of a sudden the board shifted and threw me and I think Wayne was on the other end. Anyway, the end of the board came up and hit me under my chin on my neck and broke the skin pretty good. Of course I started bawling and squalling loud as I could!!  Momma came to the back door and said, "I told you, y'all was going to get hurt!"  Well, I did not want a whupping, so I said,
"I-t-it-it ddiinn't hurt, IIII jusstt t-h-o-u-ght it dddddiiiiiddd! Trying very hard not to cry. I think Momma probably got tickled at me trying not to cry, but I tell you it did hurt!!! That was the end of our see-saw! We took it down.

One of the most important things to happen there in 1948, We had a baby sister born in February of that year.  I was twelve years old at that time. We were all excited when we were told that Momma was at Dr. Hurst's clinic and that we had a new sister.  They brought Momma and the baby home in the ambulance later the same day. Daisy Sexton was Dr. Hurst's nurse at that time and she rode the ambulance with them. When they got Momma all settled in with the baby and they started to leave, Daisy said, "If the little brat starts crying, just give her some paregoric." I tell you, that made me so mad!!!! The very idea of calling my baby sister a "brat"!  Don't know if it bothered anybody else, but it hurt my feelings something terrible.

Momma wanted to name her Judy, so that was her first name. There was a song on the radio that my Daddy really liked: (Goodnight Irene) and he wanted her to be named Irene, so that is how she became Judy Irene Northey!!! She was a pretty little thing. Of course we all spoiled her rotten. One day when she was a few weeks or maybe months old I just know she was small, I was walking up the walk in front of the house holding her and I dropped that precious little baby!!! Oh, I was so scared I had killed her!!! I probably cried harder than she did. But it evidently didn't do her any great damage as she is still alive, no thanks to me. But I was one SCARED youngin I tell you!

My Summer of Music!

At some point Momma had me taking piano lessons. Momma played by shaped notes and I knew the shapes, (my Grand Father was a big Sacred Harp Singer and they sang the shaped notes), but she wanted me to play music as it is mostly written in lines and spaces. We had a big upright piano at home, so she took me to Mrs. Myrtle Wright in Opp for lessons. I don't remember how long I took lessons from her, but probably a couple of years. I remember how good she always smelled!!! Not like perfume or cologne but just so sweet and clean. She was a very sweet, patient lady. I always enjoyed going to her house for my lessons.

But, my Momma had an Uncle that taught Singing school at different Churches all around Opp, Elba, Cedar Grove, Blue Springs and I don't know where all he taught. Always in the summer and usually he would teach at one location for two weeks. All the neighborhood kids for miles around would attend singing schools.His name was Uncle Jim McKinney. Everybody that knew him loved him. He was a sweetheart of a man. He knew music and how to teach it!!!  It was always Christian songs and each year he would have new song books, some new songs and some old ones were always in those books. One summer, Momma got Uncle Jim to take me with him to the singing school to play the piano for him. Let me tell you, I learned more from him that summer than in all the years of formal lessons!!!  He would call out a number for a song and I don't care if you had never heard or seen that song, you better play it and play it correctly!! I learned pretty fast how to get the timing/beat right!  I mostly remember coming to Curtis Church that summer. Made a lot of new friends, one especially, Mary Esther Jacobs. She had a big family and I even spent the night with her one time.
We always brought our lunch with us and I will never forget how good those homegrown tomato sandwiches, all soggy with mayonnaise by lunch, tasted!!!  They were so good!  The tomatoes today can't compare to the homegrown ones we had then. Sometimes I would have an egg sandwich with mayonnaise and they were just as soggy and good too!! I really appreciate Momma letting me go to Singing School with Uncle Jim. I still am very proud of the lessons he taught me in music and how he treated all the students. I believe all the kids that came to Singing School carried a lot of lessons as well as happy memories with them. I know a lot of them had the privilege of attending more than one summer, hearing and learning with Uncle Jim McKinney!!! I could, and most of the other kids too, learned to recite the lines and spaces. I could do them backwards and forwards. I am sure that there were others that could too. I know Uncle Jim had other girls that played piano too, as the singing went on from I guess 8 am until 3 or so in the afternoon, so we had to take turns playing and singing too.!!  Now that was some good ol' days!!!  Fun,Fun,Fun!!! I still really enjoy playing the piano to this day!

Some Important Happenings I Have Left Out Accidently

I, for some reason, forgot to tell something about myself and Wayne. I don't rightly remember which house we lived in at the time, but I do know I was about 12 years old.  For some reason, my two front teeth rotted so bad they had to be pulled out!!! Well, Dr. Foster in Opp did the honors and he was a rough dentist, but I don't guess he hurt me too bad,  I have never been afraid of the dentist. The only way they could replace missing teeth at that time was to put a solid gold crown on the two teeth on either side of the missing teeth to hold the false teeth in. So it was that I had TWO bright gold crowns in the front of my mouth. I absolutely hated those Crowns!!!!  But I lived with them, it was better than no teeth at all. I do not know why my two front teeth rotted so, but they did.

Now Wayne had what they called soft teeth. They would not hold fillings and he had to have ALL of his teeth pulled when he was about 16 years old and he had to start to wearing dentures at that time. He, Mamma and Daddy all had dentures. Mamma and Daddy got theirs later. More about the gold crowns later on in my saga about my life.

Now I want to go back to the piano. Our piano was HUGE!!! It was almost as long as our couch and almost as tall as I am now (I think). Anyway it was BIG and black.  It had little wooden curlicues glued to the front panel for decoration and that panel would tilt out to make the sound louder.  Anyway, I, by myself, removed all the black paint off that big old thing and refinished it. I had never done anything like that before nor since. But it turned out beautifully!!! I was very proud of the job I did. Some time later Mamma decided she wanted to have the top cut down and a mirror installed across the top. It was popular back then to do that. But it still was a beautiful piano. I doubt I would undertake such a task today. It took me quite a long time to do it. This was after we moved into the house on 7th street in Opp.

I remember that while we lived in that house, I cooked my first cake!!! I worked so hard to get it just right and it was just beautiful. But, guess what, I simply could not even stand to take a bite of it! I guess it was the mixing of raw eggs, sugar, flour and milk and everything, I guess I had had enough cake for one day. I don't think I ever ate any of that cake.

Daddy started driving a gasoline truck sometime, can't remember just when it was, but I think it was after we moved to Opp. He worked at the Texaco gas station as a gas truck driver for several years, all over south Alabama. He was known far and wide, going to all the little gas stations out in the country and small towns. He only had a second grade education, but he could figure gas and prices and keep up with it all really well. He had to wear khaki pants and shirts, starched and ironed to work. I learned how to iron pretty good, cause Momma was working too and I had to do a lot of things at home and ironing was one of them. Momma had worked at the sewing factory in Andalusia, later at Boutwell's Grocery store as a cashier and then at B.C.Moore as a sales clerk for a long time. Can't think of her working anywhere else right off. But we had a good home life.

Just Continuing

My Daddy got the mumps while we lived on 7th Street. I can't remember just how old he was, but he was old enough for it to be dangerous for him. I remember Dr. MacLennon told him to really take it easy. He was not to talk loud, talk on the phone or even call out a greeting to a neighbor walking down the street. I know he was miserable and we all were so worried about him, but he did okay and got over them normally.

I remember when Judy was probably 4 or 5 years old, she was the cutest little girl, long brown/blond hair and Mamma kept it in pigtails.One day Mamma decided to cut her hair. Judy started bawling, crying her eyes out!!!! We thought it was because she did not want it shorter. But, we found out when she said, "No!No! don't cut it, it will bleed!" We all laughed at her and that made her cry more for being laughed at.

My Grandmo and Grandpa Wise lived just around the corner on Maude Avenue, so we were over there most everyday. My Grandmo was confined to bed because of her health and being blind. But we still had lots of visits with them.

This part of my story is a little personal, but an important part of my growing up. I always had trouble with my "monthlies". I was very irregular but sometimes for months on end, I would bleed some every day, not much, but enough that I had to wear a "sanitary napkin/kotex" for weeks on end. Let met tell you the "sanitary napkins" were very different from what is available today. Like walking and sitting with a corn cob between  your legs. Sometimes I bled heavily!! Never knowing when I would have a monthly I had to always be prepared for it. I  remember going to a 4-H rally somewhere and we went on a bus. So I wore a gathered skirt and had a "sanitary napkin pinned underneath my skirt "just in case. Then after I started working for Dr. Burgess, one day I went to the bathroom and I was hemorrhaging very heavily. I don't remember how I told anyone, but there were two doctors in the same building, so I must have told one of the nurses as Dr. MacLennon sent me home to bed and his nurse came to the house every day and gave me a shot for at least 2 weeks and the bleeding finally stopped. I missed midterm exams and had to take them later. Made the only D that I had ever made. If I remember, they let me take that test over (it was in economics) . I always made all A's with a B once in a while. I don't know what I made, but it kept me in my status as a Beta Club member. When I got into algebra, the best I could do was C's. Never could get algebra although I had always made A's in math.
Next I will tell how I wound up working for Dr. Burgess.

More Story

Well I have to begin this one with an apology and correction. I was informed that Wayne did not lose all his teeth at 16 but when he was in his early twenties. He did have partial denture earlier though. Thanks Eloise for straightening me out about Wayne's teeth. Still a shame to loose your teeth so young.

Now to tell you how I wound up working for Dr. Charles Burgess.  Momma was having all her teeth pulled and since she was sort of a free bleeder she had a hard time stopping the bleeding when she would have some pulled. One night she could not get it to stop and Daddy had to call Dr. Burgess to meet them at his office and get it stopped. When they go back home, I had a job as a DO student dental assistant. I do not know how they wound up talking about me and that I would be a Junior that year and that Dr. Burgess would let me work and learn dental assisting working for him. I had never, ever even thought about working in a dental office. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I am glad I got to do that. I enjoyed it and went back into it when we closed the Big"R" many years later. (That story will come later, not in this blog however). I only had two classes besides the DO class in the mornings and then I went to the dental office and worked in the afternoon. I was receptionist, dental assistant and made appointments, answered the phone and any other things that Dr. Burgess wanted me to learn to do. I made and developed x-rays, cleaned teeth, assisted Dr. Burgess with filling teeth, extractions, sterilized instruments, anything we had to do, I had to learn. I especially liked doing surgical extractions, trimming bone, and helping him sew up people's mouth, loved it! Eventually Dr. Burgess had his accountant teach me accounting and keeping books. Then I kept his books as well as the other jobs. I did not do his income taxes though. I worked for him from September 1952 until October 1965.

I was very shy when I started working there, but I had to overcome that plenty fast!!! I had to know how to put on a smile the second I opened the reception room door and greet patients. I got really good at it. Dr. Burgess' wife said one day, "she thinks she has to smile all the time!" I still smile a lot. I am mostly an upbeat, happy woman.

Dr. Burgess had others working for him as well. The second year I was there he had two DO dental assistants. Patsy Bonner started working there. She later married my cousin Bobby Davis. We all became really good friends and when I was married to L.G. we became a foursome and did lots of things together.

I only made $15 a week until I graduated, then I went to work full time for $30 a week. I helped Daddy pay for a new dinette set for the house. Then I bought myself my very first watch and paid on it til I got it paid for. I think Juanita got her first watch that same Christmas!! Kind of bothered me, but oh well. When I was working full time I used to LOVE to eat lunch at the Sweet Shop on Main St. A little hole in the wall place, but they had the best food and their cherry pie was my favorite!!! Yum!

I never did even get to think about learning to drive until after I got married.  Wayne was older and he was a boy, so he got that privilege. Don't know if Juanita did or not.

Lots of years to cover yet.

Back To Those Horrid Gold Crowns!!

I still had those two ugly gold crowns when I started working for Dr. Burgess and it did not take him too long to take care of them. I needed a lot of dental work and he spent a lot of time fixing me up. I had to have a lot of fillings done. I also had my upper left cuspid (eye tooth) impacted in the roof of my mouth, which he had to cut out. When he got all that done, THEN he made me a partial to replace four of my front teeth, removing the two with the crowns on them and the two front teeth. I was so happy!! No wonder I could smile all the time!!! No more gold tusks!!! That is what I looked like with bridge with the two crowns!! I wore that partial for about 30 years. When I went to work for Dr. Irving Bern in 1985 in Montgomery, Al., after we closed the Big "R", he made me a permanent bridge. It took me several months to stop reaching up to remove my partial to brush my teeth!! Ha! I would just automatically reach up to take it out to clean it. I had a new bridge made about 5 years later and I am still SMILING :)!!!

Now, I will go back to my story,
I worked for Dr. Burgess and went on and graduated, then I worked full time for him. Loved him and his family and working for him. I really enjoyed working in dentistry and went back to doing that after we closed the restaurant. (more about the restaurant when I get to that point.)

I even got to go to my Junior/Senior prom when I was in the 11th grade. I did not date anyone, but Drexel Lundy, a boy my family knew, took me. I think that Mamma and Daddy asked him to take me, I don't think he asked me. We never dated afterwards. Anyway, I had a light blue, long evening gown to wear. I had never been to a dance or anything like that banquet and dance.  They had a Grand March after the banquet to begin the dance. Imagine my surprise and a little embarrassment when Mr. St. John, the superintendent of the Opp City Schools, chose me to be his partner to lead the Grand March!!!! I am sure he had no idea who I was and just happened to pick me. Anyway, I was kinda impressed with that.  I don't remember anything else about the prom.

I did not go to my Senior prom, as I was married by then and L.G. (my husband) did not want to go and I always thought I had to do whatever he wanted.

I will tell more about L.G. and our whirlwind courtship and marriage next time.
Adios!! For Now!

And We Continue

I never dated anyone that I went to school with, no one ever asked me out, so I went to school and work and then home. My family formed a singing group, I played piano and sang alto, Wayne sang bass, Juanita sang soprano, and Mamma sang tenor.  Judy was small and sometimes we would let her stand on a chair and sing too. We were the "Northey Family". Daddy did not sing, but he loved for us to do it and he enjoyed hearing us and everybody else. We would go to several different Churches where they would have singings. I don't remember if we went on Friday or Saturday night. sometimes we went on Sunday afternoons too. Sweetwater Baptist is where we went to Church and we had singings there too.

I think I must have met a boy named, Max Bush at one of those singings, I don't know how else I would have met him as he lived in Sanford, between Opp and Andalusia. We did start dating, but I don't remember him going to singings with me. Doesn't matter, I guess. We dated pretty often, going to the movies, but most of the time we parked somewhere and kissed. A lot!!! Boy, he could kiss!!! But that is all we did. One time we were parked, I think Exie and some boy was in the car with us, a policeman came up and told us to move on. We did, as we were a little shook up by that!! Did I tell you he could KISS?!? Well, I know I knew how after that.

Then one Saturday night that summer between my Junior and Senior year in High School, at Sweetwater Baptist Church, we were having a singing. Ann Donaldson from Kinston was there and we took turns playing the piano for the congregational singing in between specials. I don't know how many special groups were there, but we, the Northey Family was one of them.  There was a boy there from Lowery, named L.G, Weeks. He was dating Ann at the time. I guess I was still dating Max, but he was not there that night, don't know that he ever went to the singings.

Anyway, when L. G. got home he told his Mom and Dad he was going to marry that girl with the gold teeth.
Well, I think it was the next day (Sunday) that he came and took me and Juanita (I think) and probably his brother Emmitt, and we went to Sasser Crossroads to some Baptist Church for a singing. Well, from then on  we were a couple. He did not have a phone so we wrote letters during the week and saw each other on the weekend. Of course the letters would come the next week, but we still stayed in contact as much as possible under the circumstances. I still worked for Dr. Burgess, full time in the summer and he had a job with the state working on highways.

Well we decided that we belonged together and we went to a lot of movies at the drive-in, but we also spent a lot of time in the living room "courting and kissing!" with Mamma and Daddy and every body gone to bed. But we had a certain time for him to go home.  On Thanksgiving of that year, he brought me an engagement ring. We were proud as peacocks!!! We told everybody that we wanted to get married when I finished school. We set the date for June of 1954, put an announcement in the Opp News and everything.

Than along about March, L.G. decided he did not want to wait any longer and said if I did not get Mamma and Daddy to sign for us to marry then, he was going to go to South America!!! Well, naive as I was and am, I believed him. How I thought he was going to afford it never crossed my mind, so we told Mamma and Daddy we would run away if they wouldn't sign. So they finally agreed.................and the saga continues next time.......

More....

I think one of the reasons that L.G. decided he could not wait until June to be married was the fact that my brother Wayne married in December of 1953. He married a classmate and friend of mine: Eloise Colquitt. I think he thought that if they didn't have to wait until she graduated, then why should we. Although we were only 17 years old and had to have our parents signature. I guess Eloise had to have her parents sign as well.

Anyway, we set our date for April 3, 1954.We were married at Westview Baptist Church, Brother James Eady officiated at our wedding. We had a very simple wedding, just a few potted plants at the Church. We were going to let Brother Eady marry us at his home across the street and he told us it would look nicer on our Marriage Certificate for our children to see that we got married in a Church instead of his house. We agreed. L.G. was late arriving for the wedding. He said their car caught fire, but they could still drive it. He did not have his own car and his Dad would not let him keep it. Don't really blame him as they had to go home to Lowery.

My Daddy and Momma took us out to the Sweet Shop in Opp and bought us our wedding supper. I remember eating hamburger steak with all the trimmings and it was delicious!!  Then Momma and Daddy let us drive them home and we went on to the apartment we had rented. We had furnished the living room, bedroom and a kitchen dinette with furniture that L.G, worked out with his cousin who owned a furniture store in Opp. The store was going bankrupt and the cousin told L.G. he could have what we needed if he would help him move some of the stuff out of the store before it foreclosed. That is how we got our first furniture.

We went to our apartment to begin our married life together. BUT!!!! guess what? L.G.'s Aunt Myrtle and Uncle Shelton Clark were sitting there waiting for us! I don't remember how long they stayed, but we were just a "little" put out with them. I don't know why they didn't just go to the wedding.  THEN the next morning, would you believe that L.G.'s Mom and Dad came and dropped Emmitt (L.G.'s) brother off to spend the day with us!!!! So, since we had to return Daddy's car to them, Momma cooked dinner for us and we all stayed over there awhile before Daddy took us home. What a start for a honeymoon! We both walked, me to school then to work and he walked to work. He only went to school through the 7th grade. He had to help his daddy on the farm, that is why he quit (although I don't think he liked school). That is why he had a job at 17 and not still in school

Regardless of all this, we lived together for 45 years,4 months, 10 days and 2 hours and 15 minutes before L.G. passed away from complications of congestive heart failure in August 1999.

After we had been married for 6 years we had our firstborn a son, Scott, then two years later our firstborn daughter Jan, and then after 11 years we had another sweet baby girl, Lori Anne.
This will conclude my blog as the rest of my story with L.G. is too private for a blog but is being put in writing for my children and grandchildren. They will chose what to share or not.

Thank all of you that have read and followed my story. I am sure I left out a lot, but at least I got some of it down.
Love in Christ.