Josephine Jones Whitehead

    

      Aunt Josie was the second daughter of Lay and Nannie Jones born in 1911. Sometime when she was small, she was burned around her neck and her hand. This caused her hand to not open completely but she could still use it very well. Her husband was James Whitehead and they owned and operated the Whitehead Florist in North Rome. We all called her "Aunt Josie" but her husband never called her anything but "Josephine." She could make the prettiest corsages that I had ever seen and she was always busy. I loved to visit there because it always smelled so good. All the different flowers were lovely. Now she was a character from the beginning. I always thought of her as the Edith Bunker of the family. She wasn't really ditsy but the things that she said were so funny. Like the time that she made homemade chicken salad. Uncle James didn't like chicken at all. But he would eat it sometimes. Well after she finished, she made him a sandwich and fries with a dill pickle on the side and took it to his chair in front of the TV. When he was just about finished, she asked him how it was and did he want some more. You know he just looked at her and stated " no more, tastes too much like chicken." Well Paula (their daughter) and I just about died laughing.  So the next day, she made meatloaf. She could make the best macaroni and cheese that I ever tasted. It was never from a box. I always liked grating the cheese. After it was cooked, it would be so creamy and taste delicious. Lots of times after church on Sunday, daddy would take us out to the farm just to eat dinner with Aunt Josie. She really catered to my brothers. She didn't have boys, just Paula. They had another daughter named Joy Sue but she only lived 4 days. I think that she wanted more children but it just didn't happen.

     James was funny also. He loved to eat ketchup on his eggs. I have several cousins who still eat eggs that way because he did. And they had to be scrambled, never fried. He use to say if he has to eat eggs there had better not be any yellow running so scramble them up. He liked to watch the Monday night fight after he had fed the cows. Sometimes I thought he would jump in the TV with the fighters. Paula and I were suppose to be in the bed asleep because it came on at 10:00 but we would still hear the TV and lay there awake. When I was growing up, I use to spend the night with Paula often. They had an apartment behind the florist. There was 4 rooms. A living room, dining room, bedroom, and a kitchen. It also had an enclosed back porch where  Uncle James slept in the summer time but in the winter time, he slept on the couch. Now it had a bathroom but no bathtub. Aunt Josie would bring in the wash tub to the kitchen and we would take a bath. Then James would empty the water out the back door. There was a shower in the basement but we only used it in the summer time as there was no heat downstairs. It was also open and I didn't want anyone to see us naked. After the farm house was restored, they moved and did away with their apartment. I missed it because in warm weather, we got to ride on the back of the pickup truck all the way to the barn. Children are not allowed to ride on the bed of trucks now because of so many deaths.
     After my mom was killed, we spent alot of time at the farm. Daddy worked out of town so we stayed with Aunt Josie and Uncle James. Now this meant that Josie would drive us to school. She didn't get her drivers license until Paula was in high school. James didn't want us to ride the bus. It was the city buses then. There were no yellow buses in town. It cost a nickle to ride and that is how I use to get to Paula's house. Just take the to bus to Celenese and get off at the red light. North Broad didn't go past the hill. It wasn't till later that it was extended to new 53 highway. Then Paula was elected cheerleader and we would get to go to the out of town football games.
     After I married, I didn't see her much. Just at family gatherings but when Jeff was born, she came to the hospital with my dad and sat with me for a long time. I really missed seeing them so I would go every chance I got. Paula had married and moved to Athens. The house just seemed deserted. When uncle James died, I went to see them and it was never the same. Aunt Josie still had a Christmas tree sitting in the living room. I asked her why she didn't take it down. She told me that by the time she got around to taking it down, it would be time to put it back up so she just threw a sheet over it.
     I think my family is interesting and I hope anyone who reads my stories likes them. These are my memories of them when I was young. I want every one to get a feel of who they were and how they lived. When you run across a name on paper it is just a name. But if you learn a little about that person, then you feel like you knew them and they can live on.