Reunions - I love them!

Front row, L to R: James Shorter Grimes, Clem, Spurgeon, Morgan and Malissia Tillis Grimes. 2nd row: Mary Blankenship, Eugene, Cynthia Meacham. 3rd row: Surley, Fannie Wilson, Toby, John, Julia Smith, Buddy Grimes and Lillian Redmond.


James Shorter and Malissia Tillis Grimes and 13 of their 14 children gather for a family portrait. Ellie, the youngest, was not born when this photo was made. My grandmother Fannie is 2nd from left on back row.



I have such fond memories of going to the Grimes family reunion. Always on the lst Sunday of October we would gather under the big oak trees at my Grandmother Malissia Grimes' home in the country at Curtis, near New Ebenezer Baptist Church, to celebrate her birthday. She had 14 children and most of them lived close enough to make the trip in one day. We lived with my grandparents until I was in the 6th grade and I remember that my mother and grandmother would cook and bake all week, getting ready to go to the 
reunion. My favorite foods at the reunion were banana pudding, banana sandwiches and grandmother's tea cakes or homemade fig newtons. The men would stretch a long roll of fencing between the trees to form a table for the food. The fencing was covered with white starched and ironed tablecloths that smelled so fresh when they spread them out. Then the food would be placed along the "tables" and you can imagine the aromas when lids were removed from pots and bowls.


The "cousins" had fun exploring and playing under the scuppernong vine, finding a few scattered scuppernongs to eat. Or taking a walk to the big woods nearby looking for grandmother's turkeys that stayed in the woods. Most of all we spent time getting acquainted since we all attended different schools around. After WWII ended, families moved away, and interest in the family reunion waned for several years. Grandmother Grimes died when I was a senior in high school in 1952, in her 90's. I went away to college and forgot all about the reunion. Football games were more important. After a period of not having reunions, my Aunt Mattie Lena, invited the "first cousins" to her house for a cousins reunion sometime in the 1970's I think. And the reunion has continued since that date. Now it's a 2nd cousins and other kin who make up the reunion crowd.

Each year someone from one of the 14 families is responsible for the reunion. This year it is the family of John and Mae Grimes, and their daughters Hazel Lee and Eva Deal. They send out cards to remind people, put notices in the papers, get supplies together, etc. and then there's clean-up and disposal of trash afterwards. Nobody looks forward to being host/hostess but then that family usually has more attending and to help out and they have fun getting together.


The reunion is held at New Ebenezer Baptist Church under the covered pavilion that the Curtis School alumni built a few years ago for their reunions. My grandfather James Shorter Grimes was the first person buried in the cemetery there. He died at a young age with typhoid fever, before their 14th child was born. The front part of the cemetery is filled with Grimes families since many of the 14 children are buried there, along with their families. We have our plot reserved, next to my parents Lawrence and Ruth Smith Wilson.


The next time you are invited to a reunion, whether its family, school, work, etc. don't hesitate for a minute to go. You'll have so much fun "remembering" and if it's a school reunion, you'll be amazed at how your classmates have aged!

Railroad Trestle across Pea River at Elba, AL

This photo was taken March 2005 when my brother Perry Wilson took me on a boat ride down the Pea River to the dam. I was so surprised to see the trestle still standing. The train stopped coming to Elba many years ago and the track was taken up.

When I was a little girl in the 1940's, I would visit my Mama and Papa Smith in Elba and accompany my aunts and their friends when they walked on the railroad track and crossed the river on the trestle. Trains did not come to Elba on week-ends so it was safe. I could never get very far and would sit and cry until they would help me back to the bank of the river. I was ok until I looked down and saw the water and then I panicked. I still don't like heights and stay off ladders!

The railroad crossed the river near my Uncle Drayden Smith's store, Smith Bros. and the depot was in front of his store in New Town. The train workers would always have some good roasted peanuts from Sessions where they last stopped and would share them with us. Elba was the end of the line and the train would deliver freight. I remember the big packages the workers would unload onto to the platform of the depot. People would have to come pick them up. Soon after we moved to Elba in the winter of 2003, I wanted to walk behind Smith Bros old store and see if I could find the trestle. The track had been removed but I thought I could see an outline of the trestle through all the brush. I was so happy to find that it was still there when we traveled down the river that cold March day.

The scenery along the way to the dam is so nice. At one point there is a beautiful sandy bank and we saw some houses along the way, with steps going down to the water. I wonder who lives in these houses? Maybe they are week-end retreats.

It's so much fun to return to a place in your past and find it is still there after about 60 years. The Pea River is an asset for the city of Elba, waiting to be used as a tourist attraction someday. I know people would love to take boat rides and watch the wildlife along the way.

Living In the frozen north - Minneapolis

When I heard about the bridge collapsing in Minneapolis, my thoughts were about how many times we have crossed that bridge and enjoyed the riverview and St. Anthony's Falls upstream. You crossed the Miss. River on this bridge to get to the twin city of St. Paul, the capital of MN.

This is our home, on a hill, in Wayzata, MN, about 12 miles west from downtown where Jim worked (Vice Pres. of Manufacturing, Vassarette Women's Div) at the Munsingwear Headquarters. We transferred from Texas in May and everything was green and lilacs were blooming and it was beautiful. We didn't know we would be going up this hill in several feet of snow in the winter! I had a neighbor with a snow plow (he was a contractor) and he found out I could sew and repair his Eddie Bauer down jackets, so we bartered right away. He plowed our driveway when it snowed and I mended his jackets when he snagged them while working. Our home was split level with a basement where we would stay in the summer when it was hot on occasions. We didn't have air cond. I really enjoyed living near Lake Minnetonka and we learned to go cross country skiing on Cargill Grain corporate headquarters property adjoining our property nearby or on golf courses.

Our mentally handicapped son James was still attending public school in Crystal, several miles away. The roads were plowed during the night and his school bus (van) was never late and never missed a day because of weather. Jim was traveling to plants in Texas and AR and LA, so he was gone a lot and hated to return to the cold weather. He was happy when he was offered a job with Bali, Div. of Hanes, in Winston Salem and we moved there after two winters in MN. I attended VP Hubert Humprey's funeral while living there. We had met him earlier at the sheltered workshop his granddaughter attended. The quality of life in Minneapolis was great! And I loved the summers there - so many blue lakes all over the city. The winters were another story. We left two sons in Texas, in college, when we moved and later the youngest son, Bill, got a job in St Paul with KSTP TV station for awhile. I still have two friends there that I hear from on special occasions.

Home, Sweet Home- 33 years ago in Paris,TX

1975

Jim and I have lived in a lot of places during our almost 54 years of marriage. We were in Paris, TX while the boys were growing up and for them this is their home town. Jim worked for Vasserette Div. of Munsingwear and I got my B.S. degree from Texas A&M at Commerce (had 1 year from Troy State) while we were living there. We built this new house in 1974 and only got to live in it 2 years before Jim was transferred to Minneapolis, MN.

2007 - 32 years later

Occasionally we hear from friends back in Paris and we talk about going back for a visit - but it's a long drive from Elba. I had an email this week from one of my friends and I asked if she'd go by our old house (over 32 yrs old now) and take a picture for us. That's what you see here. The tree on the left side of the house is a sycamore and I bought it for 25 cents at Gibson's (now Walmart) and set it out - never dreaming it would get this big. The roof is a different color now. Otherwise it looks pretty much the same. You entered our garage from an alley behind the house. The room on the front right was the "music room" where the boys would gather with friends and play their musical instruments. It was a "sound-proof" room so we didn't have to listen to them practice. Bedrooms were on the opposite end. We loved living in Texas and go back often to visit our son and family who live in Austin. We are going to Austin in October and spend a couple of days on the Frio River, west of Johnson City where Pres. and Mrs. Johnson are buried.

The same family who bought our house still live there. I'm glad they are taking care of it!

Our Sweet Autumn Clematis is blooming

We cut this vine to the ground every spring and it comes back around May and grows so fast. It provides shade for our swing arbor in the afternoon and on the east side we have confederate jasmine which is a slow grower but smells so good when it blooms. Our clematis blooms don't have much odor this year. I thought that last year they smelled so sweet.

It's a hardy vine. We don't have to water it very often. The bees love it, and the pink coral vine in the background.

I got a start of this vine from Dr. Bill Cowart down the street. He has one that climbs a trellis in his yard. My favorite flowers are the "pass alongs" that people have given me.

Flower garden at birthplace home of Gov Big Jim Folsom

The birthplace of former Gov. "Big Jim" Folsom was moved to Elba in Dec. 2003. Vandals were destroying it out in the country. The house was deeded to the city to use as a museum. Work on restoring it has been slow. So far all that has done is a new chimney has replaced the one that had to be torn down during the move.

A front yard flower garden was planted in 2005 while waiting to restore the old country home. I got the high school welding class to design and make the wrought iron fence from iron donated by Dorsey's. High School Key Club members laid the brick walkway from old bricks.

I have planted many antique plants and bulbs (over 50 years old). Climbing roses are growing on the iron fence. Pictured here is a pale pink climbing rose that dates back to Savannah, GA about 200 years ago. There is a Cherokee rose on one fence, some antique red roses, and a chinquapen rose in a corner of the yard. The white sand yard is kept free of weeds and grass and swept as they did in 1900, using yard brooms made from gallberry bushes. In the fall the yard is filled with lavendar daisy mums from long ago.

Many years ago Gov Folsom bought and placed a granite marker near the old house and that marker was moved to Elba when the house was moved. In Sept. 2007, representatives from the Ala. Historical Commission and Lt. Gov Jim Folsom's office are coming to Elba to offer advice on how to restore the old wooden frame house and perhaps use it as a museum for school children to visit to see how people lived in early 1900's. The house was located on city property next to the old jail.

This is a special project that I enjoy working on. I placed an old bench under the big pecan tree in the yard and when I'm working in the flower garden, I sit on the bench and drink cold lemonade. Sometimes people stop by to visit or wave as they drive by.

Lazy Saturday

Nightime at our home with the dim solar light to help us get around in the front yard.

Last night we went outside and looked up into the dark sky to see the international space station cross overhead. It was on schedule at 8:18 PM CST. It was a little overcast so we didn't see the bright light until it was overhead. Then the bright light popped out of the clouds and it was fun watching it move very fast across the sky up high with the stars, until it was out of sight. What an experience. I cannot imagine living on that space station.

I will be glad when it is cool enough at night to take a cup of hot tea outside and sit in the swing arbor with Jim and look at the stars and listen to the night sounds. I'm glad we don't have any dogs in our neighbor to bark and ruin the quiet, peaceful evenings. An occasional car goes by but not too often after about 7 pm.

Jim went to a community men's breakfast at 8 A.M. where men from the local churches all meet monthly at one of the churches for fellowship and food, and occasionally a speaker.

We did odd chores throughout the day including spraying the climbing roses with a mixture of water, baking soda, and Ivory liquid soap to combat black spot disease. This mixture coats the leaves and the fungus spores cannot grow. This happens when it is hot and humid and you have to spray weekly to keep your roses from losing their leaves and eventually they will die. It seems like something always need spraying; either for aphids, powdery mildew or fungus.

Back to reading my book, Immaculee Ilibagiza's book "Left to Tell". It's so good.

August 4th was a good day and will soon be history.