LIFE and TIMES OF RHONDA JANE BEALL

I have started this story 2 or 3 times and have never gotton very far. So I will try to get more than 2 sentences this time. I was born. How familiar is that to another story but I guess everyone is because they are not hatched. So I was born on the fourth day of February, 1944 at Floyd Hospital about 10:00 am. My mom and dad lived on Avenue A in West Rome and dad worked for the Georgia Power Company. We rented an apartment from Mrs. Agnes Giles. She owned a house and rented a small apartment to provide for herself and daughter after her husband died. The daughter's name was Sybil. She later married Quillan Mills. They became good friends with my parents and sometimes Mrs. Giles would watch me so they could all go to the movies. A young girl lived with her mom on this street and her name was Mary Francis Burnes. She was in high school but she took notice of me. She would take me to the parades on Broad street. Now I don't know if I remember this or I was told so many times over the years that it just sunk in my memory.

After my mom became pregant with my brother, Dad bought a house in front of the City Clock-411 East Second Street- and I lived there until I married. I just found out that my dad was one of the first to buy a house on the GI bill after World War II. He didn't want to pay rent the rest of his life. Now this house was 2 blocks off Broad St. We could walk anywhere we wanted and did most of the time because we didn't have a car. It was about 4 blocks to the garage where dad worked, so he came home for lunch everyday. People were not afraid for their kids to walk anywhere in the good old days. No one ever bothered them.
     There were 3 movie theaters in Rome- Desota, Gordon, and the First Avenue. We didn't like the First Avenue much because it was down by the cotton block close to the river and a train track. It was always dark so we saved it for Saturday matinees. Could stay all day long for $ .10. Larry and I would go through the neighborhaood gathering up Coca-Cola bottles and take them back to the stores for the deposit. Also coat hangers-Liberty Hat Works on Broad Street would pay a penny for 2 hangers so that's how we got money. Larry was born on September 10, 1945 so our ages were close. We were always together. We had friends who lived in the neighborhood. Some didn't stay long because they were renters. But our next door neighber, Mrs. Lytle, owned her home and she was always there helping us raise money for the movies. When her grandchildren came over, we would take them with us. We were always going to the movies. Dad got paid every 2 weeks and that Saturday night, it was the movies. We didn't own a TV. I never could stay awake when we were at the movies on Saturday. I called them adult movies, but they would probably be rated "Family" today. They contained no blood, no sex, no nudity, and no violence.
In the summer, we would go swimming. The city pool was just across the river, about 2 blocks down from 5th Avenue on West Second Street. It was open every day from 2pm to 6pm so in the mornings, we were gathering money to swim. If we didn't get enough money then it was play ball on the playground across the street. Beside the City Clock was Neely School. The first school estanlished in Rome, GA named for Benjamin Neely, it's first principal. There were 8 rooms, 4 upstairs and 4 downstairs. Daniel Sullivan was the principal when I attended in 1955-1957. After they closed the school, he taught at East Rome High School. He was my algebra teacher my freshman year.
There was no lunchroom in 1950 at Central Primary which is where I started the first grade. It was just down the hill from Neely. I went home for lunch everyday since it was only a block. Then low and behold, when I started in the seventh grade, a lunchroom. But where did they put it, you guessed it, down the hill at Central Primary. By then, I still went home for lunch unless they had something good like their meatloaf or spaghetti. We did not have a big variety of foods like they do today. And the playground was always there for us. Swings, sliding boards, see-saws, and monkey bars, we could play all day. When all the neighborhood kids showed up, it was chase, kick-the-can, softball, or hopscotch. Even jumping rope, my favorite was double Dutch. That is all for this chapter in my life. Catch me again another time. RHONDA

MY AUNT DORIS

  Hello Doris, I went to a funeral last week for my step-mom and after hearing the eulogy delivered by my brother, I got to thinking about my Aunt Doris. They were not sure about the date she was born, so I wondered if by chance that the Dr. and Pa Jones were talking on the front porch after she was born with a jug of home brew and got the date wrong. She always said her birthday was on the 15th but the birth certificate states the 16th. Who knows. I just know that she came to live with us when I was 5 years old to attend Rome High School and play basketball. There were more opportunities in the city than at a country school. I have a picture of me with my mom on the day of my party for 6 years of age and somewhere there is a picture of Doris holding my birthday cake that mom had made. She and my mom were always doing some kind of baking and home decorating. And they were good at it. Doris could make the best chocolate pies in the world. With meringue on top, not whipped cream. Homemade pie crusts, nothing from the freezer. They were always making flower arrangements. How I wished that I could do something like that in my home. And they made rag rugs for the floors. Beautiful rugs of different colors. They said that they learned it from my grandmother.

     Doris use to date a guy named Curt Bozeman and when they would sit on the front porch, I would look out the window to watch them smooch. I was a stinker when I was young. Aunt Sybil has a son named Michael and his middle name comes from Curt. Curtis, and I liked the name as well so my youngest has the same middle name.
     After Doris graduated from high school, she married Dudley Sheppard in my living room. I was suppose to be in the wedding but I broke my arm and had to stay on the sidelines. That was the third break for me. The house was decorated so beautiful with flowers from Aunt Josie's florist. Candles were lit and music was playing and she walked down the long hall thru the swinging glass doors to the far side of our living room where Dudley and the minister were waiting. I don't know where they went on their honeymoon but they moved in an apartment behind us and I visited her often. Dudley was in the navy so she spent some time alone at night. Some times Larry stayed but mostly it was me. Her first son arrived on September 10, 1952 on my brother, Larry's birthday. Later they moved to Garden Lakes subdivision and Uncle Dudley went to work for GE. She had 2 more children named Roger and Mark. Later they moved in Glenwood apartments. When Dudley retired, he found out he was a diabetic. This caused the lose of his leg just before he died. But he was an avid Boy Scout throughout his life and attained a high rank. Now my Aunt Doris lives with her son, Mark in an apartment on Martha Berry Blvd.

EVELYN BEALL.

      This is stories that I have heard about Miss Evelyn. The first time I met her, she was Mrs. Mary Evelyn Dudley and worked at the Krystal in West Rome. I called her Mary Evelyn for a long time. She made the best donuts that I ever tasted. My favorite were the maple ones. We would go out on Sunday morning before church and eat breakfast. Little did I know that my dad had been checking her out as a possible date. He knew her father, Mack Johnston, and he was the one to suggest the meeting. Later on down the road, they would marry and my dad became the "love of her life." This became the yours, mine, and ours family of Rome, Georgia. Each had lost a life mate in an automobile accident so GOD put these two people together and they became one and raised 9 children. IMAGINE that today. They made it work and work it did and these children are productive citizens in their respective communities.
     On September 8, 1964 she married my dad and became my mom but the amazing point is that I was already married and expecting my first child. On February 22, 1965 I went to the hospital to give birth. Even though she was expecting her fifth child, she came to the hospital and sat all day with me before Jimmy's birth at 4:29 pm. How many step-moms would do that. She told me once that my dad had given me to her the day they married and no matter what, that would never change. She was my friend and helped me in many ways. She was always there for me in any situation. She was a devoted person to her husband, children, and family until the day she went home.
     At one point in time, Evelyn needed a birth certificate. So her brother made a trip to Alabama to get it for her. He came back with some interesting facts. #1 her name was found out to be MARY EVA LYNN JOHNSTON. Well since this area was known for alot of bootleg whiskey or moonshine, the observation is that on the day Evelyn was born, her dad and the Dr. might have been on the porch on a hot summer day in August to take a nip or 2 or 3. This means writing down the wrong name. #2 the year she was born. Don't know if the correct year is 1934 or 1935 so take your pick. Either way she was one courageous lady with poise and dignity and plenty of character to have accomplished all these achievements in her life. I am proud to call her MOM. Good bye for now, Evelyn, but I will see you again soon.

SORGHUM SYRUP

Hey ya', no it's not Paula Deen but I do alot of reading and it is mostly cook books and the history of recipes. This one is about sorghum syrup. I spent alot of my growing up years at my grandmother's house. I called her Ma Jones. To all of you who are not descendents of her, she was called Aunt "Nannie" by everyone. When every I visited her house, her kitchen table would be covered with a tablecloth. I asked her why she did this and I was told that some family members had not eaten so she covered the food. There weren't any plastic bowls back then. I found out later that the dirty dishes were covered as well. If a few people had eaten, then she would wash dishes at a later time so she didn't have to heat so much water on the stove. Dishes were washed in a dishpan and as the water cooled, you could set it on the stove to re-heat and finish-up the chore. Imagine that, no indoor running water. But the one thing that was always a staple on her table was sorghum syrup. If you have never eaten any, you probably would not like it because of the strong taste. But I grew up with it so I would always eat it when ever Ma Jones cooked biscuits. She would add fresh butter to them and it would melt in your mouth. Sometimes I would help her churn the butter. This is made from clabbered milk. This is to any of you who do not know about  clabbered milk, it is milk that has set out to sour. It's the "curds and whey" from the nursery rhyme titled "Little Miss Muffet." Some people say it tastes like cottage cheese. You put it in a churn, add a dasher and with an up and down motion it turns the mixture into butter and buttermilk. Now this is not just a few minutes, mind you, it is continuous motion for about 30 to 35 minutes and your arms get very tired. Some people do not realize how hard women had to work just to put a meal on the table. You had to make do with what you had on hand. Mostly it was vegetables from your garden and meat that you raised on the farm. Or anything that you bartered or swapped. With this in mind, sorghum syrup was not bought in the store. You had to make it. But you had to grow syrup cane and cook the mixture just to get a small amount. My granddad, Pa Jones used to peel some of the cane for me to have a sweet treat. After this process was done, the syrup was put into jars and Pa Jones would take it to town and sell it. He also sold vegetables in town. This was how he made money to raise his family. But the syrup was used to sweeten any foods cooked like fried sweet potatoes, lemonade when no white sugar was available, oatmeal, and PIES-lots and lots of PIES. Ma Jones made the best pies. Chess pies, pumpkin pies, egg custard, fried apple pies, peach cobblers, blackberry cobblers and molasses pie. I don't know where she got her recipes because she died before I even thought about learning to cook. Then my mom died so I had to depend on cook books So I found this recipe for 150-year-old Molasses pie and when I cooked it, it was very similar to her pie. The following is the story that came with this particular recipe.
"Sorghum molasses (or "sweet sorghum," as it's also known) is most likely what cooks in rural Kentucky, the Blue Ridge, and the Smokies would have used in this pie a hundred or so years ago because nearly every family grew a patch of this grain to feed their livestock-plus a little extra for themselves. Early on farmers learned how to press the juice from sorghum's ripe seed clusters and boil down into a sweet thick syrup the color of amber: "nothin' better on hot buttered biscuits or pancakes." Mason jars of sorghum molasses are sold at roadside stands in the mountains or county stores just about all over the South. I urge you to buy a quart. Sorghum molasses is lighter, mellower, and sweeter than cane molasses and it's flavor is unique. You can also order sorghum molasses online."
My granddad always made his sorghum from syrup cane. I don't know if he ever grew anything else. He may have because he had cows for milking and hogs to be killed after frost. And plenty of chickens.
Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. freshly grated mutmeg or
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup milk or evaporated milk
2 tbsp. butter softened
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Whisk together the sugar, flour, nutmeg, and salt in a medium-size bowl. Whisk the eggs in, one by one, then mix in the molasses, milk, melted butter, and vanilla.
2. Pour the filling into the pie shell, slide the pie onto a baking sheet, and bake on the middle oven shelk for about 1 hour or until puffed and a cake tester inserted halfwqy between the edge and the center comes out clean.
3. If you want to serve the pie warm, cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Or, if you prefer, cool the pie to room temperature before serving.
note: The filling will fall somewhat but this is as it should be. Cut the pie into small pieces. Serve plain or top with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping

THE SILENT SERMON

As I was turning to my daily Bible reading this morning, I came across a memo I received from a co-worker some years ago. I scaned the memo and continued with the reading. I had to run some errands so I forgot about the memo until I logged on my computer after lunch. When I opened my yahoo account, I had received an e-mail from a distant cousin about Silent Sermons. As usual, I opened it and began to read. The message was clear and to the point. Then it followed up with the exact same memo that I had read earlier this morning. I took that to mean that I needed to read and not scan it. So with this in mind, a thought came to me that I needed to put this on my blog for everyone to read. It has a lot of meaning and shows how much GOD loves and cares for us.
 
  THE 23rd PSALM

The Lord is my Shepherd ----- that's a Relationship!

I shall not want ----- that's Supply!

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures ----that's Rest!

He leadeth me beside the still waters -----that's Refreshment!

He restoreth my soul -- that's Healing!

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness -- that's Guidance!

For His name's sake ----- that's Purpose!

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death --that's Testing!

I will fear no evil ----- that's Protection!

For Thou art with me ----- that's Faithfulness!

Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me -----that's Discipline!

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies ---that's Hope!

Thou annointest my head with oil -----that's Consecration!

My cup runneth over ----- that's Abundance!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life ---that's Blessing!

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord ----- that's Security!

Forever ----- that's Eternity!

                    THE SILENT SERMON
A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going.  After a few weeks, the preacher decided to visit him.

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.  Guessing the reason for his preacher's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace...and waited.  

The preacher made himself at home but said nothing.  In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs.  After some minutes, the preacher took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone, then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this in quiet contemplation.  As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more.  Soon it was cold and dead.

Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting.  The preacher glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave.  He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire.  Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the preacher reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, 'Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the firey sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday.'


 

THE RECITAL

When I was about 10 years, I started taking piano lessons from  a Ms. Eleanor Webb. I found out that she was an old friend of my dad's when he lived in Atlanta. Her husband had died, so she moved to Rome. My dad bought me a piano for the lessons. He had a tough time getting the thing home because we lived on a hill. The lady that he bought it from lived way out on the Alabama highway so when they got it loaded, they started back to Rome. Just as they went across Broad St. and started up 5th Avenue, the piano shifted and almost rolled off the truck. It didn't do much damage but I think my dad hurt his back when this happened because after it was unloaded, he had to lay down with a heating pad on his back. I don't think it was really a heating pad, I think it was just some towels warmed in the oven to lay over his back. Anyway the piano sat in the dining room on the right just as you entered the door. These were hugh sliding double doors. I never could make them close. Well I loved the piano and I dearly loved Ms. Eleanor because she came to the house for the lessons. I learned alot from her. One day, my uncle Kerwin came up from Florida and was re-acquainted with Ms. Eleanor. It was love at first sight. They married and went back to Florida and I lost my piano teacher. It just so happened that my dad had heard about another teacher who lived on 8th Avenue near the Catholic school of St. Mary's. I had to go to her house for the lessons and I didn't like it. But she had a beautiful home with lots of antiques and a baby grand piano. I had never seen a piano like it. It sounded so much better than mine. It was hard for me to practice after playing on her piano. But I worked hard because she told me that I had improved enough that I could play a more grown-up song. I couldn't wait. But low and behold, she picked a song that I had never heard of. "The Theme From Liebestraume" by Franz Liszt. It means "Dreams of Love" in German. Well I didn't speak German and after World War II, I sure didn't want any song to do with them. But she insisted, saying it was a beautiful song and forget it was German. Okay, so I practiced and practiced until I could almost play the piece by heart. Mother bought me a gorgeous dress of mint green and I got new shoes and gloves. I just couldn't see me playing with gloves on so I left them at home. But my dress was so sheer that you could see right through it. It had an underskirt that was satine the same color. The top looked like it had embroidered flowers all  over it and they were a darker color of green. I was scared and nervous, afraid to go in front of all those people.
My teacher, Miss Addie Lou Lay, just told me to look at the ceiling and at the piano and I would do fine. When it came my turn, I walked very carefully up to the piano and sat down. I didn't dare try to move the bench 'cause I was afraid I would turn it over. I raised my hands in the beginning position and started to play. Everything went fine and when I finished, the audience started to clap and I got up and took a small bow and walked into the wings behind the curtain. It was a great experience and I got flowers. It was better than going to the circus. I continued to take lessons for another year and then my interests were on dancing so I dropped piano and dad sold the piano. But you know, when I was about 48 years old, I started back again and found out that you never forget the notes. But you do have to brush up. And I mean alot. I think I practice alot more when I was older and I learned alot of new things. My teacher, Mrs. Burns, was the pianist at the church and I wanted to learn gospel music. So that is what she taught me. And I got to be pretty good. Enough that I could play for myself and sing. That is how I got involved with the Sounds of Praise but that is in a previous story.