I promised y’all when wrote my last blog (Reflecting on 101 years of Life) about my Mamaw that I would follow up with another one about the day I spent with her while working on a project for Developmental Psych in college. So here it is…
April 2002, she was 86. We spent the day going through her baking recipes, looking through old photo albums and built a family tree all the way back to my Great Great Great Grandparents. I can still remember, it was a nice sunny warm Spring day. One part of the project was to conduct an interview. Here are my questions and her answers below…
Q: How would you compare your childhood to mine? A: We really didn’t have a childhood. We didn’t have toys, maybe one toy to share, we just went to school and worked around the home. We played outside and used our imaginations. We went to church every week.
Q: How many siblings did you have? A: 5 Sisters & 3 Brothers, all were born at home. Ona was my twin.
Q: At what age did you marry? How did you meet? What did you like about him? When did you get married? A: I was 20 when we married, we went to school together and were good friends, he was an honest and good worker. We married on January 30, 1936. Side Note; supposedly they never kissed before they were married but no one can confirm this and she gave a sheepish grin when answering lol
Q: How long did you attend school? A: Til 8th Grade
Q: What was school like back then? A: They were all one room schools, 1-5 grade on side and 6-8 on the other side.
Q: How hard was it to find/get a job? What was the wage? A: Not hard. Housework could be done for $1 per week while I was growing up. Once a woman gets married she shouldn’t work.
Q: What were your parents like? A: Nice, hardworking people. They were all farmers.
Q: Is there a favorite recipe you would like to share? A: Chicken-n-Dumplins & Cornbread Chicken-n-Dumplins, cut up a chicken and boil it to cook it and make some broth, pull out most of the bones, then make the dumplings (cold water, crisco, and self rising flour) and drop it into the pot and mix it all around. Cornbread, take cornmeal, self rising flour and buttermilk and mix and bake until golden brown. Fun Fact if you didn’t catch it, mamaw didn’t measure ingredients very often!! Also if you were eating her chicken-n-dumplings you knew to watch out for a stray chicken bone that may be left in there. lol
Q: What are your favorite flowers and vegetables to grow? A: Peonies, Irises, Roses, Corn, Beans, Tomatoes and White Cucumbers
Q: Why didn’t you learn to drive a car? A: My husband did not want her to learn. Now he wishes he had taught me but its too late now.
Q: Do you have any theories on life? A: Every woman should learn to drive a car and every man should learn to cook.
Q: Do you have any home remedies for first aid? A: Turpentine for cuts and stings, Castor Oil for a laxative, Vicks Salve for a cold and if those things didn’t work then you just tufted it out.
Q: If you could change anything about your life would you and what? A: Absolutely nothing!
Q: About technology, good or bad, what parts do you like? A: Telephone, so I can talk to my friends. Medical Technology is saving lives. My mother died from a ruptured appendix and back then no one knew what to do.
Q: What did teenagers do for fun? A: Jump Rope, Hide-n-Seek, Marbles, Tag & Run Around the Mulberry Bush
Q: Did you have chores? What kind? A: Yes everyone had chores. I washed clothes and cleaned.
Q: At what age did you have your first child and why only 2? A: I was 23 and only had two because there was a miscarriage between Glenna and Anna.
Q: What spare time activities do you like to do? A: Quilt, Sew, Cook, Clean and Garden
Q: How do you feel about women in the workforce? A: Don’t like it, they should stay home to clean and care for their family.
I am so thankful for that professor who gave this assignment, I now have this scrapbook with all of these memories and history documented to pass along to my kids. Below are some photos from that day.
It has been one month since you have been gone. 30 days since you took your last breath. 37 days since I kissed your forehead and held your hand. I knew I would miss you, I mean you are my Mamaw, I was with you or Mamaw Maynard SO Much when I was growing up, but I thought that losing you would be easier to bear because I had been anticipating it for what seemed like years because of your age and ailing health. I was mistaken. I am clinging to those memories with you harder than ever before. I am so happy though, you are where you have wanted to be for such a long time, in heaven with Papaw, Anna and Ona. I imagine you sitting on your porch in Heaven reading your paper while waiting for your pie to come out of the oven.
Sign up to follow my blog to stay up to date on the life and happenings of Amanda Greer Photography, LLC.
Amanda Greer Photography 