|
I Remember Mama
By Nancy Hampshire Rush
Author: My Mother’s Child
The following is a selection from my book, “My Mother’s Child.” It
reflects my memories of a mother who lived through some very difficult
times raising a family of four while working side-by-side with other
family members in OUR local poultry business. It is also a story of her
life as a wife and mother and how she dealt with the everyday
challenges that life often brings. Even though she has been gone for
many years, her beautiful smile and joyful laughter will always be with
me.
My motherm was born in Spartanburg, Indiana on October 18, 1900.
Daughter of William Martin Elliott and Laura Elizabeth Stephens
Elliott, she was just one of nine children, three of which would died
in infancy. I would’ve loved to have seen Mom as she was in the early
1900s, and what she looked like as a small child. Unfortunately,
with the passing of time, any childhood images of Mom are nowhere to be
found our family cannot find any photos of Mom as a little kid.
A funny story about Mom is that she always celebrated her birthday on
October 18th; however, according to her birth certificate, she was
actually born on October 17th. I believe Mom never knew about this
until she applied for Social Security and had to provide proof of her
birth. Imagine her surprise! Nevertheless, Mom still chose to
stick with October 18th as the day she celebrated her birth; I guess
she figured she was just too old to start changing it.
How could I ever forget the sound of her laughter? It came quite easily
and was like no other in the world. She would get so tickled sometimes
she would almost choke on her laughter. It is this same laughter that
always comes to mind when I think of her; she was just a really happy
person. To say that a smile came quite easily to her would be an
understatement. She truly enjoyed life and the people around her.
Church was always very important to my mother. I remember how much she
loved being a member of the Church of the Brethren. She would get so
excited when she talked about the people she had made friends with and
the minister and his sermons. When she went to church on Sundays, she
always wore a pretty dress and a hat with a brooch pinned to the front.
And she always carried a purse.
Mom believed wholeheartedly in God and read her Bible quite faithfully.
Baptized on October 26, 1969 by the Reverend Owen Preston, she
absolutely loved learning about the Lord. Church became a very
important part of her social life after Daddy passed away. She soon
joined the ladies at church in making lap robes for the elderly or
quilts to be sent overseas. There were many times I stopped by
her apartment and she would be working on a lap robe to be distributed
to someone in the community. This not only gave her something to do, it
most likely gave her great satisfaction to know that she was
contributing a part of herself to others. I’m also quite certain that
her belief in God and the fellowship she received from members of the
church brought her great comfort in times of sadness and strife.
A tradition that has gone by the wayside in our modern times – and a
memory I will always keep – is of Mom feeding the hoboes who stowed
away on the boxcars. Since we lived next to the railroad tracks, it was
not unusual at all to hear a knock on our back door (they always came
around to the back of the house) and when Mom would answer there would
be a hobo needing a handout. They would ask for a sandwich or something
they could take with them. I don’t remember them ever coming in to the
house for a meal. But Mom, being the softy that she was, would wrap up
sandwiches, cheese, or anything else we had around the house that she
thought they might like. It was never a big deal to her; it was
just something you did to help out your neighbor. Sadly, acts of
kindness and compassion such as these are pretty much unheard ofa
rarity in today’s world of crime and corruption.
In her later years I remember Mom always wearing a sweater with her
dress. When one of us took her to town she would put on her “dress up”
sweater to wear. She also wore a headscarf when going outside if the
weather had turned cool. And yes, she had “every day” headscarves
as well as her “good” headscarves that she wore when she wanted to wear
something special. I also remember that she always kept a handkerchief
in the pocket of her dress because that’s what ladies did in those
days.
Mom had a button box that was almost like a secret treasure; one
never knew what was inside until the box was opened. I probably spent
many an hour as a kid just sorting through all those buttons. She would
have just plain, ordinary buttons, but there were also lots of fancy
pearl ones. Mom was quite handy with a needle and loved to embroider; I
can still see her sitting in her chair working on a pair of pillowcases
or making beautiful dresser scarves.
Mom was always a very hard worker. I can still see her doing the
laundry in our old kitchen on Division Street. In those days, Monday
was the day designated for this particular chore. So, come Monday
morning, she would haul out the She used an old wringer washer that
which was basically a big tub with two wooden wringers used to wring
the water out of the clothing. Mom would load the washer with water
that she had heated on the stove, put in the clothing and then add the
soap. After the clothes were washed clean, she had to take them out,
put them in another tub of clean water for rinsing, and then take them
back out and run them through the wringers to get the water out. This
was done by turning a crank on the side of the washer. There were no
softening agents, such as Downy, so the clothes were stiff as a board
after they were dried. And, speaking of drying, there were no electric
dryers so all the clothes had to be hung outside whether it was summer
or winter. On rainy days Mom used a rack to hang things inside to dry.
After the clothes were dried, Mom would get out the iron and ironing
board and start ironing basket after basket of clothing. I can remember
her using “pant stretchers” which were designed to put creases in men’s
pants; they still had to be ironed but they had a heck of a crease! The
point of this is that Mom had a lot of responsibility riding on her
shoulders. She kept a household running while still working fulltime in
the poultry barn. And I don’t ever remember the house needing
dusted, or going without a hot meal. She always made sure our needs
were met before her own. For this reason, and many more, my Mom was a
very special lady.
Mom was always so considerate of other people and their feelings and
worried about those less fortunate than we were. She loved
television and when we finally got our own TV she faithfully watched
Ruth Lyons, Paul Dixon, and Lawrence Welk. It was so much fun to
watch her when Big Time Wrestling came on; she actually believed the
wrestlers were honestly “for real” and would yell at some of them about
their dirty fighting
tactics.
One time we all went to Hobart Arena in Troy, Ohio to a wrestling
match. I was still just a little kid but I remember how excited
Mom was about going. She was pretty passionate about
wrestling. Sometime during the match she got so worked up and mad
at the guy she considered a “dirty fighter” that she stood up and threw
a wad of gum at him. That alone wouldn’t have been so bad, but
her aim was a bit off and the gum ended up stuck to the head of a bald
guy sitting a few rows down from us! We tried to look as
inconspicuous as possible while the bald man looked around for the
person who threw the gum. He never did find out who did it and if
I remember correctly that little episode kind of ended our attending
any more wrestling matches with Mom after that.
My most favorite memories of my Mom are the special times we
shared. Most often, these were the evenings we went for a ride or
stopped for an ice cream cone. Just being able to stop by her
house for a cup of coffee and her home-made sugar cookies was a
wonderful treat that I often took for granted. She would tell me
all the latest gossip in the neighborhood and we would share a laugh or
two. Quite often, she wanted to ride out to the cemetery to
visit Daddy’s grave. She would change her dress –
“it’ll just take a minute” – and grab her purse and off we’d go.
Sometimes during those rides I would take her by our old house on
Division Street or we would just ride in the country to get a breath of
fresh air. Until now, I only thought of how special those times
were for me. I never realized they were also special for my Mom.
Mom was easily my most favorite person in the world and I miss her more
each day. I think of her daily and oftentimes have to smile at
some of the comments she made to me at one time or another. I
know that she was proud of me, even though the words were never
spoken. And I know that she loved me even though those three
words were difficult for her to speak. But, as my mother and my
friend, I can truly say that I loved her without hesitation.
“My Mother’s Child” is a collection of stories of the Hampshire family
in Darke County beginning in the early 1800’s. It is steeped in county
history with dozens of photos, and is a ‘must read’ for Darke County
history buffs. “My Mother’s Child is available at Garst Museum, Bear’s
Mill, Montage, Heads or Nails by Candy and Fair Photo Express in
Greenville, the B&B Frame Gallery in Arcanum, Corner Cupboard, the
Antique Mall and Hair Productions in Union City and Curves and the
Randolph Grille in Winchester, Indiana for $25.00. Or you can query the
author by emailing County News Online at www.countynewsonline@gmail.com
for further information. Copies mailed will include a shipping and
handling charge.
|
