memoriespressedbetweenthepagesofmymindmemoriessweetenedthroughtheagesjustlikewine
My grandmother is Verna Ollie, back row, first one of the left--
This is my grandmother's family in the header picture taken about 100 years ago--circa 1909. My grandmother is all the way to the right in the white with the big bow. She is standing beside her grandparents. I never knew them. Her father, Hugh is on the first row, second left. He was a very dear, sweet southern gentlemen--courteous to the core. My Aunt Ethel is on the back rown to the left and Aunt Edith is the other female in the picture. I did not know my grandmother's uncles. I'm sure I met them on a couple of occasions but I was only 6 when we moved away and things are blurry after that as far as extended relatives.
The first picture in the actual post is this same family minus the grandparents. My grandmother is the farthest one to the left in this picture. It seems she almost always was barely in the picture.
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I have a friend whose grandchildren call her "Mama Doll." Isn't that the cutest granny name ever? I called my maternal grandmother "Mama Deere" -- because my grandfather was John Deere--no, sorry, not THE JOHN DEERE. Many times when I speak of her people think I am saying "Mama Dear."
She was a dear in many ways, not the least of which was her faithfulness to take me and all of her grandchildren to church. Only eternity will tell the fruit of her labor, the descendants who came to Christ because of her loyalty to the cause of Christ.
My favorite memories of her include sitting on her side porch with all the cousins and aunts shelling purple-hulled peas, her breakfast biscuits that we ate at all hours of the day (they were big and chewy and the bottom crust was to die for), her fried potatoes and her cellar. That was where she stored all the food that she spent the summer "putting up." And we KNEW better than to enter that sanctum. After I started cooking for a husband and three teen-aged sons, I understood WHY it was a sanctum.
She was a very shy and humble woman. She had an ancient upright piano that set in her living room. I don't remember how I came to realize that she played the old instrument--I suppose I walked in on her unexpectedly but I know I begged her to play after that. I recall the haunting strains of a one octave melody accompanied by a simple C, F, and G chord -- NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS wafting through the windows of her living room on those hot, sultry summer days.
My grandmother did not have an easy life. I won't go into all of her heartaches but suffice it to say that she was faithful in her service to God for many years. She succumbed at the young age of 72 to the ravishing disease of multiple myeloma. I guess I have her especially on my mind today because of the cross pictures I posted yesterday--pictures taken last week in her home church.
I am so thankful for ancestors who acted on their faith, prayed for their relatives and took their grandchildren to church. Because of the great faithfulness of God, I am sure the fruit of Mama Deere's labors can only be measured in the timelessness of eternity. Oh, Lord, grant that I may be faithful to my family as she was to hers.
| "For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5" |
49. the Lord's faithfulness
50. my grandmother's faithfulness
51. chewy biscuits
52. the harvest she "put up"
53. fried potatoes
54. old upright pianos
55. the song--Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
56. extended families
57. inspiring stories related by old friends
58. inspiring stories related by new friends
59. the Psalms
60. the classic devotionals by Oswald Chambers and Charles Spurgeon
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