On being the first grandchild

I was the first grandchild for both sets of grandparents. I was born at home on November 25, 1934 in the Curtis community between Elba and Opp, AL. My parents were living in a small frame house next door to his parents. Not long after I was born, we moved in with Mama and Papa Wilson.

They then rented the frame house to sharecroppers who helped on the farm. One family was the Stewarts, parents of Alberta Martin, the last surviving confederate widow, who is buried with her parents at New Ebenezer Baptist Church (Curtis) cemetery. Her father played the fiddle. I don't remember them living there. I just remember people living there but don't know much about them. When I was around 10 years old, the house was torn down and my father built a sawmill on the site.

My dad was one of the few people in our area who owned a car. He was a good mechanic and kept all the neighbors cars running. When I was a baby, I was told that he and mother would put me in the car and ride around in the evenings when it was so hot, so I would go to sleep. The roads were not paved so it must have not been a very smooth ride.

My mother was one of the oldest in her family so she had lots of siblings at home when she got married. The younger ones were very jealous of me (they told me this). They did not want their mother (Mama Smith) to leave home to help take care of my mother and me when I was born. My Aunt Ida, was was 15 when I was born, tells me that she had to prepare Thanksgiving dinner when I was born and she didn't really know how to cook. Mama Smith was not a good cook and didn't teach her daughters how to cook either.

I was not the only grandchild for very long since Christine was born on Christmas Day, 1936. Eventually there were 6 girls and 1 boy in our family, with the boy in the middle. I ended up with 25 first cousins and I was #1 (the oldest that is)!!

My First Christmas Memory - 1937

Nell and 1-year-old Christine - Dec 1937

When I was 3 years old, I received a "Little Mother's Laundry Set" and I remember that so well. I remember setting up the little folding ironing board and mother heating the little tin iron (I wonder what kept it from melting) and I would iron and iron. And we considered that fun? There was a clothes line and some little wooden clothes pins in the box and mother would tie the clothes line between some posts so I could hang out my "laundry". Kids would not be happy receiving an ironing board and iron in these modern times!

We were living in this big house with my paternal grandparents. The two big arborvitae bushes (evergreens) at the edge of the doorsteps were also useful when ironing. Mother would break off the end of a limb about the size of her hand and place it near the end of the ironing board to smooth her hot iron when the starch started sticking to it. She would place the iron on the greenery and I can still remember the

fragrant odor from the hot evergreen limb. These irons were very hot when she would take them off the stove or from in front of the fire in the fireplace. They were called "sad irons". One meaning of sad in nineteenth century dictionaries was "heavy." Although many of these irons were small, they were very heavy. Thus the name "sad irons'. I used to think they were called "sad irons" because people were sad to have to iron! So you can see my fascination with owning my own iron and ironing board! I was mother's little helper.

My mother's ironing board was a board about 12 inches wide and about 5 feet long, tapered at one end and wrapped with an old sheet for the ironing board cover. She placed the board between two ladder-back chairs or placed one end on a table and the other end on the back of the chair. She would lower the ironing board for us to use as we got old enough to handle the hot iron. We used a folded cloth to hold the red hot handle. Some irons had wooden handles but they were more expensive. I always burned my hand or arm when I had to iron. I DID NOT like to iron when I got older and this chore was assigned to me. I was the oldest of 7 so I had to do a lot of ironing. We didn't get electricity (REA) until I was in the third grade. And much later we got an electric iron.

Probably that red wagon was a Christmas gift also. We always had a red wagon around when I was growing up, but never got one with wooden "sides" on it - and I always wanted one of those. I guess they were too expensive. Looking back at the photo, those shoes I was wearing had buttons for the straps, not buckles. I remember how hard they were to fasten and I was glad when my new shoes were not "high tops" and had buckles, not buttons. When I was 4 or 5 I got some black patent leather Mary Jane's and I loved my new shoes. We would use a left-over biscuit to "shine" our patent leather shoes (I guess all the fat in the biscuit made the shoes shiny).

Riding an elephant

I had always wanted to ride an elephant (loved Rudyard Kipling's Jungle stories) and I got my wish in the summer of 1982 at the Cincinnati Zoo. I was attending the American Home Economics Association annual meeting and one evening we were treated to a picnic at the zoo.

Zookeepers were on hand to answer questions and to give tours. I saw the elephant and asked if I could have a ride. For some reason, there wasn't a line formed for this ride. I wonder why?  You climed up the steps and the elephant handler moves the elephant near the steps. Then you sorta jump up to get on the elephant seat. It's a little tricky with the rail around the seat. It is much easier to get on than to get off! My legs are so short that once seated, they stuck out on the elephant's sides. I felt very awkward. The trainer took the rope and led me all over the Cincinnati zoo - what a view from up high. We were going along and the elephant stopped and was looking around. I was so scared. I didn't know what he might do. He saw a pool of water and decided to walk over and get a drink. I just knew I would roll over the top of his head and fall in the pool when he leaned over to get a drink of water. Fortunately the seat was fastened to his back and I held on as tight as I could to keep from falling off.

I decided to pat the elephant's head and found the little hairs on top of his head were like thin steel spikes sticking up.


I got a lot of stares from the people in the park. Except for being a little nervous, I had fun and it was a new experience for me.


I drove from Winston-Salem, NC to Cincinnati, traveling along the Ohio River for a long way. The scenic drive was beautiful. I came home via interstate highways and that was a little boring.
I was an officer in the NC Home Economics Association and a delegate from NC to the AHEA annual meeting. Another highlight of the meeting was a dinner cruise on a big steamship on the Ohio river going northwest from Cincinnati. I remember the beautiful sunset over the high cliffs along the river. And the good German food we had that night, and German band.

My first (and only) deep sea fishing trip

In February 1986, we were living in Haleyville, AL. I took a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC that month to have some maintenance work done at our condo there. A friend, Nancy Stovall, went with me. One day while we were having new carpet installed in the condo, we decided to go deep sea fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. This was a new experience for me. We went on a 1/2 day trip and since it was off-season and not many tourists wanting to to fishing, the boat captain took us a long way out into the ocean and we were gone almost all day. I can remember how hungry we were since we didn't take any lunch so the captain shared his food and drinks with us. Everybody was having a good time. Nancy and I were the only two females on the voyage. Most of the others were serious fisherman and tried to tell us what we were doing wrong.

I was amazed at how easy it was to catch fish on the huge fishing poles containing several large hooks. Once I caught 3 fish at one time! I almost fell overboard once when something so big and strong almost pulled my pole out of my hand. I had help reeling it in and it was a big white sand shark! One of the fishermen wanted it to eat and to take the teeth to his grandson. I gladly gave it to him. I caught mostly black sea bass and when the red basket was almost full, I stopped fishing. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all those fish. Nancy caught about the same amount. When we got off the boat, we saw people cleaning their fish at a table near the landing and we offered to pay them to clean our fish, and they did. We bought a styrofoam cooler and filled it with ice and packed our fish on ice and brought them back to Alabama the next day. Jim was very surprised when I showed him the fish I had caught. They were very good to eat, except for the many bones.

My dad taught me how to clean fish when I was growing up and I could have cleaned them myself but it was cold and getting dark when we got back to shore. I was happy to pay someone to do it for me. We got back to the condo, after stopping in Calabash, NC to eat seafood for dinner, and all the condo work was finished and it was ready for another rental season.

We left early the next day to come back to Haleyville. I was happy to have someone with me to help drive on the long trip home.

NOTE: Don't you just love those fashionable glasses I'm wearing!!

Named "Kiwanian of the Year"

Today the Kiwanis Club of Elba President Brandi Dean awarded me with a tab for my membership pin, "Kiwanian of the Year". Also presented me with a certificate of appreciation.

I am a charter member of the Elba club and secretary from the beginning in March 2004.

Our big project has been building the new Elba playground.

The Kiwanis Lt Gov for our area came from Dothan and installed our club officers. I am serving as Secretary again for the 4th year. It is not an elected office and you serve at the request of the President. Nobody wants me to give up the Secretary's job.

Our 54th Wedding Anniversary is today

Today we celebrated our 54th wedding anniversary. It was rather low key 
since I  told Jim I wanted to spend the day shopping in Dothan (alone) to buy some new clothes. He was happy I didn't ask him to go with me. He gave me a beautiful anniversary card when I got home around 4:30 PM this afternoon. I left home at 7:30 A.M. and was gone all day. I bought some new fall clothes for our trip to Texas on Oct. 17th. Our son Ronnie called from Austin tonight to wish us happy anniversary, as did my sister Alice.


The photos posted here are from our 50th Golden Anniversary at Ocean Isle, NC where many of our family gathered at the beach for a celebration. Our family rented a large condo for several of us to stay and to have the party. Bill ordered a big sign to put up on the balcony.


Alice ordered a wedding cake and a week or so before the event when she made the trip down to Ocean Isle to check on things. She had called to Food Lion in advance- and when she went by to place the order ahead of time - that was when she found out that they couldn't do the small cake- She went to Wal-Mart and several other places around there- then found the bakery on U.S 17 down toward Myrtle Beach area- an ice cream and cookie shop- which had formerly made wedding cakes- She told the owner about her plight and she agreed to make the small cake- So it was a relief that it was settled before the big weekend -- She was nice to lend Alice her cake stand and columns- which we used and returned the next day. She was such a nice lady to do this on such short notice, and the cake was delicious

Our 5 granddaughters had fun visiting with each other and helping with the party. The two on the right , Allison (Ally) and Elizabeth (Lizzy) live in Austin, TX. The other three, Nerissa, Katie and Caroline, live in Florence, SC. Nerissa, Ally and Lizzy are all in college now; Katie is a Jr in high school, and Caroline is in 6th grade. They are growing up too fast!

Spirit of Elba Award

This award was really a surprise for me. Usually just one of us goes to the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet and this year it was Jim's turn, and I would stay at home with James. Besides I had already bought a ticket to go to a dinner/play that Sat. night by myself. So when he asked me to go with him, I gave him several reasons why I didn't want to go. He kept asking me to please go with him, and so I said ok, and I'd get my cousin JoAnn and her husband to come stay with James. Jim knew about the award but didn't want to tell me.

We had been to a luncheon that day and had a big meal and were there about 2 hours. I was tired when I got home. I really didn't want to go to the Chamber dinner that night. But I got dressed and went along, even wearing high heel shoes and a formal dress (thanks to my sister Alice for giving me this dress a couple of years ago).

We arrived at the banquet at the appointed time, 7 P.M., and found some friends to sit with. We looked over the room and saw that most of the people there were much younger that we are. The Chamber is made up of working people not yet retired. It was refreshing to be in a young crowd for a change. Two businesses were honored; one for their 60th anniversary and another for their 50th anniversary. Then a couple of other business awards were presented, and then the Chamber Director asked me to please come to the podium for an award. I had no idea they were going to do this. I was presented the "Spirit of Elba" award which they don't present every year. They recalled some of the things I do for the city to make it a better place to live, etc.

I was very proud of this honor. Especially because it was given to me by a group of people that I know very well. Of course I didn't compete for this honor but was honored for doing things I enjoy doing and trying to improve our community. It was truly a memorable experience. And I'm so glad Jim convinced me to go with him.