As I sat reading my Bible this morning, it brought to mind all the things in my life that have thrown me a curve. Those things also brought me closer to GOD. Now I don't claim to be a story teller and even use correct grammar, but I like to write down the things in my life that I love and am grateful for due to the grace of GOD.
My first child was born on February 22, 1965 and he was a joy to the whole family. I went to the hospital about 5:00 o'clock in the morning of February and it was Monday. My dad was off from work on Monday's and every other week, he would pay his bills. Since we didn't have a phone, Marvin had gone next door to wake up our neighbor and call my dad. He came to our house and drove us to the hospital. I didn't know who else was there but later I found out that many of my family were in the waiting room. Aunt Sybil, Aunt Josie, and Aunt Doris as well as Evelyn and my dad sat patiently in the waiting area. Aunt Totsie was a patient down the hall and came to check once or twice to see how I was progressing. My mother-in-law, Ruby, was there. She had taken off from work in Dalton and came all the way to Rome for the anticipated birth. About 4:29 pm James William Burns came into the world. He has always been called "Jimmy." We were expecting a girl so the boy was a surprise. We didn't have a name picked out so he has the first name of Marvin's father, James Jefferson Burns, and the middle name of my father, Noble William Beall. He has names of three of our grandfather's. James Guy Beall, James Edward Burns, and William DeLay Jones. And how beautiful he was. Dark hair and blue eyes weighing 7 lbs. and 9ozs. He was 21 inches long. Everything went fine. I went home in three days.
About the 4th week of Jimmy's life, he starting throwing up his milk. Being a new mom, I wondered if this was normal. I knew that babies would spit-up when they burped but this was different. So I called my dad and he drove to Calhoun to pick my up and take Jimmy to the doctor. By the time we got to his house, it was late so Evelyn called her pediatrician at home. Dr Methany said he would meet up at the emergency room. I was so scared, I just knew that he was going to die. Evelyn told me that she thought he had rickets and that made me more afraid. By the time he was examined, I was told that he would be admitted and they would start an IV. I panicked!! What was wrong with my child. He was too young for an IV. How would they find a needle small enough for him. His weight had gone to 6 lbs. and 14 ozs. since he was born. He was so small that they wanted to put the IV in his leg. This did not work and they tried his head. They could not get it started. They were telling me that they would have to do what was called a cut-in and this entailed cutting a small incision in his leg to insert the needle directly into a blood vessel. Before this could be done, Dr Methany came in and got an IV started directly in his head. He made it look so easy and scolded the attendant for being clumsy. I was then told that he would have to have surgery. My goodness, how much more could this child stand. The problem was called "pyloric stenosis" which is a blockage at the opening of the stomach and intestine. I was numb. All of this going on and on a baby! I sat down and cried. Since an IV was started, the drip to put him to sleep was added and they took the bed out of the room to the OR. I went to the chapel to wait and pray. He was in GOD's hands. About 6 hours later, the Dr came and told me that everything went fine and he was in recovery. They made a small incision on the side of his stomach and clipped the muscle that wasn't working and he would pass it probably the next day. There weren't any stitched. Just held together with a spray plastic. Well after that, he started gaining weight and growing as what we refer to "like a weed." He never had any more problems in this area. I was told later that according to all statics, this happened to the oldest child's first child of the male gender. It never happened to girls. I just wonder how many families were checked to make this comparison.
I have many more stories about my children that they will read later. Many of these stories have never been told as I was saving them until they were grown. Each of my children have different personalities but in many ways, they are the same. But they are far from perfect, yet I love them dearly. We all make mistakes and sometimes we learn from them and maybe not!!!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
EDWARD LEE JONES Sr.
This story is about my uncle Ed. Now he was a character from the day he was born. He was the youngest boy and was doted on by his mother who thought he could do no wrong. His older sisters adored him. After losing two boys, the girls thought that the boys should be looked up to and catered to them all the time. This included Cliff, Charlie, and Ed. I don't know what mischief that he got into when he was young but he was always one to carry a joke to far. His first wife, Beatrice, was a friend to me always. They lived with us right after they got married until their daughter, Jean, was born. They lived in the back bedroom and the house stayed extra clean when she was there. Now my mom was a clean person but she had just had a baby and couldn't do much. I just don't remember if Ken or Jean was born first. I was just 7 years old.
When Ed moved to the farm with Ma Jones, they lived upstairs in three rooms. When I look back on those times now, it just seemed natural that the privy was in the back yard. Unless you lived in town, you did not have an indoor bathroom. All the water was drawn from a well and you had to draw enough to take a bath in the wash tub. There were no everyday showers, just a quick rinse in the wash pan. When I think about those times, we were healthy. So no one went to the Dr all the time. Home remedies were the cure-alls. But back to my story. Every time I went to see Ma Jones, uncle Ed would lock me in the outhouse. He just loved to play jokes on me. I would have to hollar until Ma Jones would hear me and let me out. She would scold him by then, he was over 6' tall and didn't pay her any attention.
Now Ed was a "con man." He was all the time having some scheme to get money from anyone. My uncle Cliff is usually the one who got hooked. The rest of the family had caught on to his schemes and just blew him off. But uncle Cliff was the one who usually went to Florida on his make-to-do get-rich-quick trips Only they never came back with any money, just fish. I don't know how many tricks he pulled on people but he never got in trouble.
There was an episode when he worked for General Electric and went on strike. Uncle Ed was walking the picket line with a stick. Now Ed had a bad temper and when someone smarted off at him, there was a scuffle and the other man was hurt. I never did know all the circumstances for the altercation but Uncle Ed spent some time in jail.
The night my mom was killed, she had gone to a tavern called "Green Gables" on highway 27 toward Armuchee. My uncle was there and he told me about what happened on that night. Of course I didn't hear about this until I was grown. Little girls weren't allowed to hear such stories at age 15. I learned later about the fuss with her second husband and the drinking. Then she drove off at a high rate of speed. He was waiting at the hospital as we pulled up after the accident and told me that my mom was dead. This was in an earlier story.
After I married and moved to Calhoun, I was having some problems in my marriage so I separated from my husband and stayed with Ed and Beatrice in Garden Lakes. Ed was a fisherman so he took my boys fishing. They can remember this still today. Not too long after I moved out, his son, Eddie, died. It was so unexpected that I don't think he ever got over it. His son, Joseph, died about the age of thirty. He had cancer. His girls were checked regularly for a long time after.
Uncle Ed died about the year 2005. I sang some songs at his funeral because he loved to hear me sing. He was one of the faithful who listened to my radio broadcast on Sunday afternoon. I saw him quite a lot after he moved to Calhoun. He often had some scheme to catch someone with and this included my first husband. It happened in a car trade. We found out later, that he didn't own the car that he traded, it belonged to his brother and he was looking for the vehicle. My cousin, Jean, told me they never knew what to expect for supper. Whatever he brought home from a hunting or fishing trip. Fish or turtle or maybe a rabbit or squirrel went into the pot with dumplings. Or maybe some other surprise. Yummie!!! Maybe yes or maybe noooo....
When Ed moved to the farm with Ma Jones, they lived upstairs in three rooms. When I look back on those times now, it just seemed natural that the privy was in the back yard. Unless you lived in town, you did not have an indoor bathroom. All the water was drawn from a well and you had to draw enough to take a bath in the wash tub. There were no everyday showers, just a quick rinse in the wash pan. When I think about those times, we were healthy. So no one went to the Dr all the time. Home remedies were the cure-alls. But back to my story. Every time I went to see Ma Jones, uncle Ed would lock me in the outhouse. He just loved to play jokes on me. I would have to hollar until Ma Jones would hear me and let me out. She would scold him by then, he was over 6' tall and didn't pay her any attention.
Now Ed was a "con man." He was all the time having some scheme to get money from anyone. My uncle Cliff is usually the one who got hooked. The rest of the family had caught on to his schemes and just blew him off. But uncle Cliff was the one who usually went to Florida on his make-to-do get-rich-quick trips Only they never came back with any money, just fish. I don't know how many tricks he pulled on people but he never got in trouble.
There was an episode when he worked for General Electric and went on strike. Uncle Ed was walking the picket line with a stick. Now Ed had a bad temper and when someone smarted off at him, there was a scuffle and the other man was hurt. I never did know all the circumstances for the altercation but Uncle Ed spent some time in jail.
The night my mom was killed, she had gone to a tavern called "Green Gables" on highway 27 toward Armuchee. My uncle was there and he told me about what happened on that night. Of course I didn't hear about this until I was grown. Little girls weren't allowed to hear such stories at age 15. I learned later about the fuss with her second husband and the drinking. Then she drove off at a high rate of speed. He was waiting at the hospital as we pulled up after the accident and told me that my mom was dead. This was in an earlier story.
After I married and moved to Calhoun, I was having some problems in my marriage so I separated from my husband and stayed with Ed and Beatrice in Garden Lakes. Ed was a fisherman so he took my boys fishing. They can remember this still today. Not too long after I moved out, his son, Eddie, died. It was so unexpected that I don't think he ever got over it. His son, Joseph, died about the age of thirty. He had cancer. His girls were checked regularly for a long time after.
Uncle Ed died about the year 2005. I sang some songs at his funeral because he loved to hear me sing. He was one of the faithful who listened to my radio broadcast on Sunday afternoon. I saw him quite a lot after he moved to Calhoun. He often had some scheme to catch someone with and this included my first husband. It happened in a car trade. We found out later, that he didn't own the car that he traded, it belonged to his brother and he was looking for the vehicle. My cousin, Jean, told me they never knew what to expect for supper. Whatever he brought home from a hunting or fishing trip. Fish or turtle or maybe a rabbit or squirrel went into the pot with dumplings. Or maybe some other surprise. Yummie!!! Maybe yes or maybe noooo....
Monday, May 23, 2011
HELEN MORRIS PAIGE
I have thought many time about obituaries and what are contained in them. Just recently, I have even considered writing my own for later use. Last night as I was laying in my bed, the thought came to me about what would be written in mine as I went to sleep. This morning, when I woke up, I had a message from my aunt Doris that my cousin Helen Morris Paige had died. I don't know if this is a premonition or not but it has happened 3 times in the past three months. When James died, when RM died and now when Helen died. Here are some memories about Helen. You may have heard them before but it doesn't hurt to remember them again.
I spent a lot of time at Helen's house when I was growing up. She was a little older than me. Probably would be the same age as aunt Josie's daughter
(Joy Sue) that died. I know she spent a lot of time with Josie at the florist and even worked for her after she married. I remember her coming to clean aunt Josie's house. She was always doing things like that to make a little extra money. Her husband, Billy Paige, worked for his dad in a garage. Sometimes, that work load was light and the money didn't go far. But I am sure she had a good life with her boys, Tim and Terry.
She liked coming to my house because the movies theaters were very close. It's funny that when I was little we called them "Shows." "Can we go to the Show," we would ask and then we would go around the neighborhood raising money for the "Show." It didn't matter what was playing, we just wanted to go. Westerns, love stories, sailing ships, Tarzan, wars, The three Stooges, comedy, we saw them all. I saw some crazy, frightening movies and would always hold Helen's hand when I got scared.
She is the one that got me started watching scary movies. We would read about them first in the comics and when they were on the TVs. Dracula and Frankenstein were my favorite. The black and white seemed to be more frightening that the color because we had to use our imagination.
Helen loved to read "True Romance" and "True Confession" magazines. She was always telling me about the love stories before I knew about boys. Sometimes I thought they were funny and sometimes they made me cry. But I would listen to her read them to me when I stayed all night with her. Then we would make up our own stories. We would play dress up and fix our hair. Helen loved "red" fingernail polish and I do mean "red." If it wasn't red, then she didn't want it. And false fingernails. Now my mom had long fingernails and kept them manicured so we wanted long fingernails like hers. We would go to the dime store on Broad street, on the bus, and buy a box of false fingernails. Then we would get busy gluing them on the end of our fingers. I was a nail biter and mine were always short. I never left much to fasten the nail onto so Helen would take a cuticle stick and make some room. Sometimes it hurt and I would cry and she would say "don't be a baby." I realized when I was grown, that I was her guinea pig.
I talked to my cousin, Jean, this morning and she was telling me about her mom (Aunt Beatrice) and Helen playing cards on the week-ends when the guys went fishing. They loved to play Rummy. I can barely remember playing "Go fish" with her. Now she has gone to a better place. I know her last days were filled with pain. After her heart attack, she had to take a lot of pills. She had a lot of grief about having to leave her apartment and give up all her personal things. But we can't take anything with us when we leave this world. I saw her at a reunion a couple of years ago and she was still smoking. Everyone wanted her to quit but you know that she didn't have much joy in this life and I just told them to leave her alone. Her church was her joy and so was her smoking. Many times when I called her before she moved, she would be getting ready for church, "Hollywood Baptist Church" in East Rome.
Everyone has to leave this old world some day. Some younger than others, but we will all definitely be leaving one day. Good Bye, Helen. You will be missed by all.
I spent a lot of time at Helen's house when I was growing up. She was a little older than me. Probably would be the same age as aunt Josie's daughter
(Joy Sue) that died. I know she spent a lot of time with Josie at the florist and even worked for her after she married. I remember her coming to clean aunt Josie's house. She was always doing things like that to make a little extra money. Her husband, Billy Paige, worked for his dad in a garage. Sometimes, that work load was light and the money didn't go far. But I am sure she had a good life with her boys, Tim and Terry.
She liked coming to my house because the movies theaters were very close. It's funny that when I was little we called them "Shows." "Can we go to the Show," we would ask and then we would go around the neighborhood raising money for the "Show." It didn't matter what was playing, we just wanted to go. Westerns, love stories, sailing ships, Tarzan, wars, The three Stooges, comedy, we saw them all. I saw some crazy, frightening movies and would always hold Helen's hand when I got scared.
She is the one that got me started watching scary movies. We would read about them first in the comics and when they were on the TVs. Dracula and Frankenstein were my favorite. The black and white seemed to be more frightening that the color because we had to use our imagination.
Helen loved to read "True Romance" and "True Confession" magazines. She was always telling me about the love stories before I knew about boys. Sometimes I thought they were funny and sometimes they made me cry. But I would listen to her read them to me when I stayed all night with her. Then we would make up our own stories. We would play dress up and fix our hair. Helen loved "red" fingernail polish and I do mean "red." If it wasn't red, then she didn't want it. And false fingernails. Now my mom had long fingernails and kept them manicured so we wanted long fingernails like hers. We would go to the dime store on Broad street, on the bus, and buy a box of false fingernails. Then we would get busy gluing them on the end of our fingers. I was a nail biter and mine were always short. I never left much to fasten the nail onto so Helen would take a cuticle stick and make some room. Sometimes it hurt and I would cry and she would say "don't be a baby." I realized when I was grown, that I was her guinea pig.
I talked to my cousin, Jean, this morning and she was telling me about her mom (Aunt Beatrice) and Helen playing cards on the week-ends when the guys went fishing. They loved to play Rummy. I can barely remember playing "Go fish" with her. Now she has gone to a better place. I know her last days were filled with pain. After her heart attack, she had to take a lot of pills. She had a lot of grief about having to leave her apartment and give up all her personal things. But we can't take anything with us when we leave this world. I saw her at a reunion a couple of years ago and she was still smoking. Everyone wanted her to quit but you know that she didn't have much joy in this life and I just told them to leave her alone. Her church was her joy and so was her smoking. Many times when I called her before she moved, she would be getting ready for church, "Hollywood Baptist Church" in East Rome.
Everyone has to leave this old world some day. Some younger than others, but we will all definitely be leaving one day. Good Bye, Helen. You will be missed by all.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
HOUSE FIRE
When I left work that morning, the first frost of the season had fallen. As I turned on the wipers, a little layer of ice gathered along the blades. Beautiful autumn colors were breaking through the mist as I rode home. Blazing reds, lemon yellows, burnt orange and golden browns were among the many trees and bushes as I pressed to get home and get a good sleep. It was Friday, the 13th of November in 1992 and I had worked all night. I was looking forward to a good week-end. Was hoping that Christy had worn her new coat to school that morning because of the frost. She was in kindergarten and Adam would be starting next year. I arrived home and hurried to get in the house as the wind had started to blow briskly.
Marvin was ready to leave and Adam was asleep in my bed. Jeff would be working with his dad today. His girl friend, Terry, was asleep with her son, Jeremy. I took a quick shower and climbed into bed. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep long after Adam woke up. Suddenly I was awaken with a loud blast that sounded like a siren. I thought it was Adam and I told him to just sit down in the kitchen while I dressed and we would fix breakfast. As I turned to put my feet on the floor, Adam was asleep beside me and I jumped up to check out the noise. When I opened my bedroom door, flames jumped up in the kitchen. The sound was the fire alarms. I started shouting, "The house is on fire, Terry, the house is on fire." I turned and went back in my bedroom to get Adam. I don't remember anything but dropping him out the back door. When I stepped on the top step, it came to me that I couldn't go to a phone because my pocketbook was sitting beside the bed with my car keys inside. Like a crazy person, I turned and went back into the bedroom and grabbed my purse and ran to the door. When I stepped to the top step this time, a large flame of fire singed my hair so I slammed the door still hollering for Terry to go out the front. When I got in the car, started it and turned on the heater, Terry was already in the yard. I told her to go in the church while I went to the neighbors to call the fire department.
My neighbor, Irene Bramblett, lived just a little way from me and she was up drinking coffee. As I dialed the number, I realized that I didn't have on shoes and my feet were freezing. All I was wearing was my gown. My coat and everything I owned was in the house. When I pulled back in the yard, flames were jumping over the top. I knew that nothing could be salvaged. The neighbor (Billy Brown) across the street had gone hunting that morning with my cousin, Mitchell Greeson, and he called Marvin and told him about the fire.
Now I am a rather large woman so I didn't know anyone to call about clothes and I couldn't go to the store in my gown. Mitchel had given me some money and told me I better get some clothes. About this time, my mother-in-law, Ruby Dean pulled up and told me not to worry. She would get me some clothes. To this day, I don't know where they came from. Not only did we lose all our belongings but the Christmas in my closet for Christy and Adam. The neighborhood churches and many neighbors and friends were so kind to us and Tolbert school replaced the Christmas presents.. The outpouring of love in our community was unfathomable. God took a tragedy and turned it into a blessing. I am thankful to all the friends and neighbors who helped us in our hour of need. I will never forget all the many gifts of love for my family.
After the fire department finished their investigation, it was determined that bad wiring in the deep freeze had caused the fire. I was so lucky that the alarm woke me and we could get to safety.
Fires still scares me today.
Marvin was ready to leave and Adam was asleep in my bed. Jeff would be working with his dad today. His girl friend, Terry, was asleep with her son, Jeremy. I took a quick shower and climbed into bed. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep long after Adam woke up. Suddenly I was awaken with a loud blast that sounded like a siren. I thought it was Adam and I told him to just sit down in the kitchen while I dressed and we would fix breakfast. As I turned to put my feet on the floor, Adam was asleep beside me and I jumped up to check out the noise. When I opened my bedroom door, flames jumped up in the kitchen. The sound was the fire alarms. I started shouting, "The house is on fire, Terry, the house is on fire." I turned and went back in my bedroom to get Adam. I don't remember anything but dropping him out the back door. When I stepped on the top step, it came to me that I couldn't go to a phone because my pocketbook was sitting beside the bed with my car keys inside. Like a crazy person, I turned and went back into the bedroom and grabbed my purse and ran to the door. When I stepped to the top step this time, a large flame of fire singed my hair so I slammed the door still hollering for Terry to go out the front. When I got in the car, started it and turned on the heater, Terry was already in the yard. I told her to go in the church while I went to the neighbors to call the fire department.
My neighbor, Irene Bramblett, lived just a little way from me and she was up drinking coffee. As I dialed the number, I realized that I didn't have on shoes and my feet were freezing. All I was wearing was my gown. My coat and everything I owned was in the house. When I pulled back in the yard, flames were jumping over the top. I knew that nothing could be salvaged. The neighbor (Billy Brown) across the street had gone hunting that morning with my cousin, Mitchell Greeson, and he called Marvin and told him about the fire.
Now I am a rather large woman so I didn't know anyone to call about clothes and I couldn't go to the store in my gown. Mitchel had given me some money and told me I better get some clothes. About this time, my mother-in-law, Ruby Dean pulled up and told me not to worry. She would get me some clothes. To this day, I don't know where they came from. Not only did we lose all our belongings but the Christmas in my closet for Christy and Adam. The neighborhood churches and many neighbors and friends were so kind to us and Tolbert school replaced the Christmas presents.. The outpouring of love in our community was unfathomable. God took a tragedy and turned it into a blessing. I am thankful to all the friends and neighbors who helped us in our hour of need. I will never forget all the many gifts of love for my family.
After the fire department finished their investigation, it was determined that bad wiring in the deep freeze had caused the fire. I was so lucky that the alarm woke me and we could get to safety.
Fires still scares me today.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Remembering RM Greeson
My oldest cousin died this morning. Robert Moses, but he was always called RM Greeson. He was 82 years old. I remember calling him to ask about the family. I thought he would remember more than me. He gave me all kind of information and I wrote it down. I might not have all of it but the most is added to my family tree. I remember calling him one time to ask about his dad and siblings. Well he told me I better get a pensil and write it down because there were 13 children. It took me forever to get all the names entered on my tree. Since he was the oldest grandchild, he remembered Ma Jones and Pa Jones better than most. About going fishing with Ma Jones and learing how to bait a hook. Bet you didn't know that you had to spit on the worm after it was on the hook. Don't know if the fish went after the worm or the spit. Or going to the cemetery with her and putting flowers on all the ancestors graves at Mizpah Methodist Church on the Kingston Rd. He knew all her (Ma Jones) sisters and brothers and who they married which was a big help to me. All I knew were first names. And Pa Jones's brother and sisters and where they lived and who they married. I was surprised to learn that most of them had lived in Bartow County before moving to Floyd. Sometimes they just moved across the road and were in another county. But most of all I remember visiting just above Adairsville where aunt Aline lived close to the railroad track and meeting RM's wife, Barbara. I fell in love with her because I could sit in her lap. Her name was Barbara Sue and that is what she was called being from the South. A couple of years age, I saw her at Walmart and introduced her to my husband. She corrected me when I said her name, and said she was just Barbara now. "I am getting to old to be called by a double name." RM was in service at this time. It was about 1951 and I was 7 years old. It was just off of Taylor Bridge Rd. I don't live far from that area now. They didn't have any children at that time and Barbara loved children so I was in heaven by sitting in her lap. He told me that just after he married, my dad came to see them in Calhoun. He took them to the Georgia Power Co. where he worked and bought them a stove. Barbara said they used it for years, even after they moved in their new house just off Peters St. 108 Azelia Drive- they lived there for years.
As I attended his funeral today, I listened to the eulogy and could remember many things about him. He was a man of his word and never met a stranger. When you met him, you were his friend for life. Whether you were close or far apart for a while, he would just pick up where he lift off and continue with the friendship. And he was a family man. Loved his immediate family and all the rest. His sister, Joanne, had a dinner for them around their birthdays every year. RM'S was February 28th, Mitchell's was March 1st and Ovaline's was March 12th so they would meet at Joanne's house usually for lunch. I saw many pictures of this happy occasion on the video at the funeral home. The songs at the service were "In The Garden" and "The Anchor Holds." But when they started "Go Rest High On That Mountain," I couldn't stop the tears. The last time I called him to tell him my grandson died, he asked me if I wanted to talk to Barb'. I told him no, I could talk to him. He proceeded to tell me, "That's good cause she's cutting grass and I didn't want to go get her. If she stopped, she wouldn't get started again today." Later he came to the funeral home just before the funeral and talked with me about an hour. I asked how he was doing? He told me pretty good, I will be here till the Old Master get ready for me and that happened on May 15, 2011.
This picture was on June 5, 2010 in Cedartown, GA for the Jones reunion
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