Washing Clothes

"The Spring" - this cold water spring was on my grandparents farm when they moved to the farm in Curtis, near Elba, AL in the early 1900's. The water came from underneath some giant oak trees. This is where we got water to wash clothes when I was growing up and take baths in the hot summer. We dug a larger area when we moved to the farm in 1996 and the ferns appeared when we cleared the area. I placed the water lily there.

Washing clothes was hard work back in the 30s and 40s. Today when I was washing bed linens, I remembered wash day when I was growing up. We didn't have a washing machine because we didn't have electricity or running water in the early days. Once a week we would load the dirty laundry in a big red wagon and pull it downhill to the spring where we would wash the clothes. It was an all morning chore. First you had to fill the big iron wash pot with water from the spring. Then you would build a fire under the pot and put some homemade lye soap in the water. While the water was heating, we had to bring buckets of water from the spring to fill three big tubs. One was for washing and others were for rinsing. Near the bench where the tubs sat was a large "battlin' block" which was a large tree stump about 3' tall. This is where we battled or beat the clothes to get the dirt out of them, using a battling stick which looked like a minature canoe paddle.

Clothes were sorted and soaked in the hot soapy water after applying lye soap to dirty spots. The whites were washed first, then the colored clothes and finally the dirty work clothes. The clothes were put in the hot boiling water in the wash pot and stirred with the big stick and then they were lifted out of the water with the stick and taken to battling block to be beaten, and then to the lst tub of water to be scrubbed by hand. Water was squeezed out of each garment and they were put into the tub of rinse water. They were rinsed twice. The water was squeezed out and the clothes were hung on a line to dry. The clothes lines were tied between trees and a long stick was used to prop them up when the heavy load of wet clothes made the line fall to the ground in the center. Some things were hung on the fence to dry.

This process took all morning and late in the afternoon we went back to the spring to take the clothes off the line, fold them and bring them home to iron. Most everything had to be ironed since all clothing was made of cotton in those days. Many of the clothes were starched before hanging out to dry. Starch was made by boiling flour and water until it was thick.

The wash water was used until it got too dirty and some more had to be heated. Mother would usually let us get into the rinse water tubs and get a bath when she was finished with the wash. The lye soap was slippery and a very good cleaning agent. We used it to wash our hair and it made it shiny and silky.

We thought we had moved up in the world when daddy dug a hole under the house and installed a hand pump which was located along one wall of the big dining room. This was ok for water used inside but we had to pump the water into buckets and take it outside to do the laundry. I wanted to go back to the "the spring" but mother enjoyed being closer to the house on wash day. I had to help pump the water. Maybe that's why I have big muscles in my arms! We moved to our own house when I was 12 (and there were 4 kids by then) . Our new house had a well on the porch and you would let the bucket down into the well and turn the crank and draw up a bucket of the coldest water. We never had a washing machine until after I left home and went away to college in 1952. In 1996, Jim and I bought the family farm and put a house in the woods near "the spring" and built a water garden there plus a large spring-fed lake behind the house. We lived there until 2003 when we sold the farm and moved to town. Too much work even with all the modern conveniences!! We loved the wildlife, especially the birds but not the armidillos or fire ants that pestered us.

I'll save ironing to write about another day. It was a hard job, especially on hot days in Ala.

Heirloom Teddy Bears

Do you know how Teddy Bears got their name? They were named for Teddy Roosevelt after he went on a bear hunting trip in Lousiana and it was a blunder. The press made a big deal of it and a toy manufacturer started making little bears and called them "Teddy Bears". I made this patriotic bear for a DAR/SAR Constitution Day luncheon in Sept 2005, held at the historic Rawls Hotel restaurant in Enterprise. The guest speaker was Teddy Roosevelt, talking about when he was President.  This colorful bear was given away at the end of the meeting as a door prize.

Do you notice something wrong with this bear made from old quilts? I didn't notice my mistake until I had finished stuffing and sewing up the opening. I had put his ears in the wrong place and he looked like a monkey! I had to remove the stitching at the neck and take the head off, remove the stuffing, turn the head inside out and put the ears in the proper position. Then I stuffed the head again and sewed it to the body. There are many pattern parts for this type bear and you can imagine how thick the cloth is since the bear is made from a very old quilt. The cotton used for the old quilt came straight from the field. It was "carded" and then spread on top of the quilt lining, then put into a quilting frame and quilted with tiny hand stitching. It was not uncommon to discover cotton seeds in the stuffing. When a granddaughter turns 18, I make her a quilted teddy bear. I think maybe she's old enough to take care of them and appreciate them. This bear went to #3 granddaughter, Nerissa. I have 2 more to make in the future.

My Hero, My Dad

This is my dad, Lawrence Wilson, dressed in a tux for my youngest sister Carolyn's wedding in Gainesville, June 15, 1974. He never did like to dress up and this is the only time I ever remember seeing him in formal attire. He was reluctant to "give away" his baby girl, the youngest of 7.

I remember daddy as a farmer, riding his tractor and plowing or picking peanuts. There were no mechanical cotton pickers on our farm in the '40's and '50's. I used to dream that someday they would invent one - and they did much later! We never had a lot of material wealth growing up but he always made sure we had the basic things. And he was so resourceful and could make of repair almost anything - especially cars and engines. He was a good mechanic. I could write a book about my dad. He always praised us when we got good grades in school and this encouraged us to do so. I never wanted to disappoint him. He rewarded us for good work, especially when we had to work in the field. He would leave and go to the store and bring back treats and drinks. Our friends like to work for my dad because he was so nice. When we finished working in the field, he would let us load up on the back of his old truck and go to the creek and go swimming.


This photo was made the week he died from cancer. He took radium treatments and we asked if we could come home and drive him to Dothan for treatments. He said "no"; that he would call us when he needed us. On Sunday, July 25, 1982, I got a call and he asked if I would call the other sisters (5) and tell them that he needed us if we could come. We were all there by Monday, coming from FL, NC, IN, & Washington DC. He wanted us to get the Dr. to let him come home from Opp hospital because he knew he was not going to live very long. We spent 7 days with him at home before he died early Monday, Aug. 2nd. Our son flew to AL from Texas to help care for him three days that week. He couldn't taste so he wanted some beer for breakfast one morningjust to see if he could taste it, and the grandchildren thought that was so funny. The little ones would come in from outside and climb in the bed with him and talk to him the last couple of days when he could no longer get up. My sister Sue is a nurse and she gave him injections for pain. This was a very special week when we could all be there with him. After the funeral, we had dinner at home with extended family, and in a way it was a celebration of his life and we rejoiced that he was no longer in pain.

Rags to Rugs

In January 2003, my sister Christine was visiting with us and she taught me how to crochet rag rugs - from 1-2" strips of cloth. This is my first rag rug. I had so much fun making it that it has become a hobby. I have use so many kinds of cloth, and different sizes of crochet hooks to make different thicknesses of rugs. I can now make one in 8 hours. When we go on long road trips, guess what I do to pass the time - I take along my strips of cloth and crochet a rug.




This is a rug made of green and red for our church Special Persons
bazaar. A friend bought it for her daughter for Christmas to put in her den doorway in her California home. This rug was made from homespun fabric cut into 1" strips.





Every year the Rotary Club that Jim is in has an auction. I made this rug from old garments, mostly my old blouses. Someone bought it for their beach home - and Rotary got a lot of money for this item.




My sister Judy lives in Sarasota, FL. I took this rug to her one spring to put in her newly decorated bath room. It is made of fleece like robes are made of. It was difficult to work with. It is thick and feels good to your bare feet.

This rug was made for the state DAR annual meeting. We were

asked to bring things for the silent auction white elephant room.
I remember it had lots of bids and helped raise a lot of money.

Lately I've been using old sheets to make rugs. I have made all of our 5 granddaughters rugs for their rooms. We have rag rugs all over our house and at entry ways. They can be washed in the washing machine when they get dirty. I usually dry them outside in the sun but can be put in the dryer. Very nice hobby.

You'll Never Know Who You will meet in a Foreign Country

Soon after Jim and I were married, we went to Wurzburg, Germany to live for 2 years. He was in the lst Infantry Division and since he was a Corporal, we could not live in govt. housing. We lived in a little village not far from Emery Barracks where he was stationed. He arrived there in January 1955 and I went in March 1955, as a tourist. We didn't have a car and couldn't afford gasoline even if we had a car. We used      public transportation to get to wherever we wanted to go. Jim relied on the Deutches bundesbahn (train) to get to the army barracks early every morning. We lived upstairs in a private German residence, and ate our meals with them. They didn't speak much English so I got a German-English dictionary and learned conservational German very fast. (I wanted to know what I was eating!)



One morning Jim arrived at the bahnhoff (train station) and wanted to know when the next train was due to arrive. As he was struggling to get an answer, the station master told him he could speak English and Jim was so glad. They began to talk while he was waiting for the train and Jim asked where he learned to speak English. He told him that he was a prisoner of war during WWII and was sent to Camp Rucker, AL. And that he worked on a peanut farm while there and became friends with a farmer and his school teacher wife who tried to teach him English. They kept talking and he asked Jim if he knew where Elba, AL was. Of course he did. That was my hometown. Then he said the farmer's name was John B. Johnson - who lived near my family and we were actually living temporarily in a house in the middle of Mr. Johnson's peanut field when the German man was working there!! He had corresponded with the Johnson family after he returned to Germany and the war had ended. I thought there were so many coinidences in this encounter. I couldn't wait to get back to the US and tell the Johnsons who we met.


Jim got a promotion soon after this encounter at the train station and we were able to move into government housing in Wurzburg and we never went to the train station in the little village again. We have both been back to Wurzburg at different times and it looks much the same except for modern highways (autobahns). Our oldest son Ron was born in Wurzburg and has a German birth certificate. Six years ago on a business trip to Europe, he located the house we lived in, and called us on his cell phone as he stood looking at our house. He sent a photo via his cell phone to our computer and after 50 years, it looks almost as it did when we lived there. (That's our son Ron standing in front of our house at 66 Zepplinstrasse in Wurzburg in 2001. This is his birthplace!)

Churches in my lifetime

2003 to the present time -
Pictured here is Elba United Methodist Church where we are members. There is a large bell in the tower and it is still rung on Sunday mornings. When I was elem. school age, I would visit my grandfather who attended this church, and he would lift me up to ring the big bell by pulling on the big rope. I remember the big "sand" table in the children's classroom. We joined this church when we moved to Elba in 2003.

1996-2003 -When we moved to our farm between Elba and Opp in 1996, we went to church at First Baptist in Opp, when many of my friends from Curtis community were members, and my niece and family. Our first Sunday there was also the first Sunday for the new minister David Franklin. It was summertime and Jim was the only person there in a suit. They probably thought he was the new minister. David was entering the church the same time as we were and we didn't see any bulletins and asked if they had one. He said "I'll find you one." He came back with one and we were seated. We were surprised when we learned he was the new minister. He had asked our names and introduced us to the congregation. We were trying to enter unnoticed on our first visit. We became good friends with David and his family and he often came to our place in the country to fish early in the morning. We had been members of Covenant Presbyterian Church before moving to Opp, but there was not a Presbyterian church anywhere near us.

1990-1996 - We have such fond memories of Covenant Presbyterian Church on Lake Lorene in Albany, GA. The church was an unusual contemporary design and had a beautiful pipe organ. There was a big covered area outside the church,facing the lake, where people lingered after church to visit and have lemonade or coffee. I was on the board to help establish a 3-4 year old kindergarten there, and it has grown over the years. We went back to their 50th anniversary in 2004 and enjoyed seeing our old friends. Our minister Paul Luthman had been promoted to the head of the Presbytery and was wearing a beard. As we were getting out of the car at the parking lot, Paul saw us and yelled, "Here come the Gilmers", and everybody knew we were there.

1988-1990 - First Presbyterian Church in Florence, SC was our church and it was here that James wanted to "join the church". Th minister visited with him and discovered that James knew all about the Bible and was so sincere in his decision. Many of our family came with us the day he was baptized (sprinkled). James loved his Sunday School class because sometimes his teacher took them to the donut shop. We visited there last year when in Florence visiting our son and family. Didn't recognize a soul but Roger Gullich, the minister, and he remembered us.

1987-1988 - We lived in Dothan for a short time when Jim decided to try a new career in business real estate. (He decided right away that he wanted to get back into the clothing manufacturing business and we moved to SC). We joined First Baptist Church and really liked the minister there - Bob Baggott. We lived near the airport and he was always dropping by to visit us and talked with James about sports. I went back to that church in July to attend a funeral, and it brought back lots of memories.

1985-1987 - We were members of First Baptist Church in 

Haleyville the two years we lived there. We were not there long enough to get to know the people very well but we did enjoy visits in our country home from Dr. Stringfellow, the pastor. What I remember about that church was that they had a great pianist and her offetory music was always beautiful. I loved to hear her play "My Sheep Shall Safely Dwell".

1979-1985 - these years were spent in Winston Salem, NC - one of my favorite places we've lived. We were members of Knollwood Baptist Church where many people associated with Wake Forest Univ. and Bowman Gray Hospital attended. It was unlike any Baptist church we had ever attended and we really enjoyed going there. We loved Dr. Jack Noffsinger and his associate, John Totten. While there, we helped start a class for mentally handicapped adults, which is still in existence. One Sunday, our son James wanted to sit with the people in his class during church and we sat a couple of rows behind them. Dr. Jack was talking about the qualities of a good mother, and he said something about a good mother doesn't nag. James turned around and looked at me and said aloud, "He's talking to you". Dr. Jack heard him and got so tickled. James sat with us from then on!

1977-1979 When we moved to Minneapolis, I didn't see anything but Lutheran churches. We discovered Minnetonka Baptist church and loved going there. Dr Lawson was a great minister and wanted the church to be a big family. On Memorial Day weekend, the church was closed and most of the congregation went to a lake near Canada. The ice was still frozen on the lakes. James and I went to camp once while Jim was on a business trip. We nearly froze at night. We loved the Swedish people who made up most of the congregation.


1967-1977 Moving to Paris, TX was another world apart from Atlanta, GA. We joined the First Baptist Church of Paris and not long after we joined, the old 

church was replaced with a new one. Our boys grew up in this church. Dr. Jim Semple was pastor there for many years. What I remember most about this church was my close-knit Sunday school class. When I left they had a big party for me and gave me a Bible that I still use today, with this verse on the inside cover: Proverbs 31:29 . We went back to visit in 2002 and didn't recognize very many people. The older members had died and the younger members had grown older!

First Baptist Church, Bremen, GA

1957-1967 - We lived in the Atlanta, GA area. When as in school in Chamblee we were members of Chamblee Baptist Church and Cecil Sherman was pastor. We bought a house in Atlanta later and went to Peachtree Baptist Church. I don't remember much about this church although our oldest son went to Kindergarten there. It was a big church. We were transferred to nearby Bremen, GA for a couple of years and became members of Bremen Baptist Church. While there, the minister, Grover Tyner, took a post as a missionary in the Phillipines and they moved. We went back to Atlanta after a couple of years in Bremen so James could get into special education classes and we joined Woodlawn Baptist church near Towers High School.

1955-1957 Jim was in the army and we lived in Manhattan and Junction City, KS. We attended First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and what I remember about this church was the kindness offered to us when our infant son died at one month of age.

1954-1955 - Wurzburg, Germany - we attended services on the post. 
Married Oct. 3, 1953
1952-53 - I was a student at Troy State Univ. and went to church at First Baptist Church in Troy. They sent a bus to the school to pick us up. Students didn't have cars back then.

1934-1952 I grew up at New Ebenezer Baptist Church in Curtis community, near Elba. The building was wood with big windows. In 1953 they built a new brick church. I still have ties to that church - I attend the monthly meetings of the WMU, along with some of my deceased mother's friends.

We get a lot of Christmas cards each year from friends we have made in these churches.

One of my favorite flowers -

         I like flowers and spend many hours working in my flower garden. Today while I was weeding and sweeping the bare soil at my favorite hangout, the old Folsom house yard downtown, I remembered a funny incident involving day lilies and how I got introduced to them.
         We had a piano teacher at our country school and each spring we had a piano recital and parents and friends all came to hear us play our selections we had memorized. The girls wore long "evening dresses" and this was a very special occasion.
        I think I was in the 6th or 7th grade the year some of us girls decided we needed to decorate the front of the stage where there were lights in a shallow well that provided a dim light for the stage. So we started looking around the school grounds during recess. We spotted some glossy green smilax (a vine) growing on a fence in the back of the school yard and kept that that in mind to place over the dim lights at the edge of the stage. Then we decided we needed some color.
Cousin' Maggie lived near the Curtis School and always had beautiful flowers. When we needed flowers for special occasions at school, she would let us come gather some. 
          We got permission from our teacher to walk to Cousin' Maggie's house to see if she had any flowers we could use for our recital. She was such a sweet lady. It was hot that afternoon so she didn't come outside with us; just told us to take whatever we needed. There were lots of flowers blooming but I spotted these beautiful orange "lilies" and suggested we gather some of those for our decorating. We had brought a pail of water with us to put the cut flowers in so they wouldn't wilt. After collecting what we thought was ample, we hurried back to school and placed the flowers in containers of water all along the "well" so that only the blooms were showing above the smilax vine.
          Our teacher came to the door of the auditorium and praised us for the beautiful decorations. Then the bell rang and we all got on the school buses and went home. I can still close my eyes and see those beautiful decorations. Around dusk, we came back to the school house, all decked out in our formal dresses and the boys wearing suits, and we filed up to the front of the auditorium to be seated. The auditorium lights were dimmed a bit for the program so we didn't have a full view of the flowers until we were near the front.
Then it happened!! I could not believe what I saw! Those beautiful orange blossoms had closed up and were not visible anymore. No one told us that they would do that at night. I'm surprised that I even remembered my piano selections because I was so distraught. I thought people would laugh at us. But you know what - after the recital people were talking about how nice the stage looked with the lights shining on the glossy green leaves of the smilax vine. Nobody said anything about the naked day lily stems sticking up with something on the end resembling a deflated balloon! I never see day lilies blooming that I don't remember this occurrence.
          By the way, we had a great piano teacher, Mrs. Mary Ringsdorf, whose husband was a dentist in Elba. She taught us all about the old masters and this is where I got my love for classical music (even though the tunes were called another name, like The Happy Farmer for Schubert's Serenade. And I think that we only had to pay 25 cents for a lesson. Since most of us didn't have a piano at home to practice, we took turns practicing on the piano at school during recess or during class when we finished our desk work early. I'm so thankful for having this musical experience in my early years. I never had any more music lessons, but I have always had a piano and play for my own enjoyment and I love going to concerts.