Friday, October 9, 2009

My other Grandmother

My Dad's mother was a teacher, as was Daddy's father...and that side of the family has been for 5-6 generations, through Daddy for a while, both his brothers, myself, and now our oldest son. I guess it must be in the blood, or a gene that insists on pushing itself to the front of all us various family members. This grandmother, Mama B, was widowed at a young age and finished raising her three boys to be wonderful men. I remember them telling how they would pick blackberries and Mama B would make Cobbler in a large metal dishpan! Can you imagine how those boys must have eaten!!She was a woman ahead of her time. During the great depression, she started a school/boarding house for young women in part of Appalachia, teaching them to make handicraft items to sell, making them of local "found" products. One was a necklace made of walnut "slices", varnished and strung on a leather thong. Another was similar using dry shelled corn. Nylon had just been invented and they used narrow strips of nylon and wove squares of this and sewed purses, lined, with a zipper, handles, etc. I still have one of these. I treasure Mama B's industriousness, ingeniuity and her ability to make her way in a very difficult time.

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