Mamamae and Granddaddy the Early Years...

When I look at the photo to the left it is hard for me to see Mamamae and Granddaddy. That is not the way they looked when I knew them.  However, there they are as teenagers, husband and wife and parents.  Granddaddy is holding my mother. Mamamae is holding the horse. Never in a million years can I visualize in my mind, Mamamae riding a horse, but she did and often.

According to my grandmother's family Bible records, they were married Oct. 3, 1925. Grandaddy was 17 and Mamamae was 18. I do not remember our family celebrating their anniversary...ever. They probably went out to eat or to Cairo dancing... or they did nothing. It was never talked about. I never knew the date until I was grown.  I find that kind of strange, since anniversaries are very special days for my generation. Times change.

I do remember asking Mamamae once, how she met Granddaddy.  I really wanted to know about their life. We were sitting on the front porch, drinking a couple of ice cold cokes with peanuts in the bottle, when Mamamae started laughing as she remembered their story. Mamamae left the home of her stepmother, Mama Jo, when she turned 18.   She was young and pretty, naturally the young men came 'a courting'.  She was living with family either in Columbus or Hailwell.  She dated several young men after she began living in Kentucky. 

 One day Granddaddy rode by her house on a horse. He saw her sitting on the porch and slowed down to talk to her. She asked him, "Why he hadn't asked her out yet, when all the other young men had already introduced themselves?"  She said Grandaddy was shy and mumbled, "I've been working and I thought you were taken." Evidently Mamamae let him know she was not 'taken'. That evening they began courting.  A few months later they were married. 

When I asked about their wedding, this is the story I remember her telling me. It is the only story I ever heard. Grandaddy, Mamamae,  Aunt Sadie and a man named John Owens who was dating Aunt Sadie were riding in a buggy on a pretty October day.  Apparently the couples drove to Squire Shaddrick's home and asked him to marry Mamamae and Granddaddy. And he did. At 17 and 18 they began their long married life together. The next May, Mama was born.

Two years later Uncle Gene was born. Granddaddy worked at farming, helping his mother and younger brothers.  He worked for the railroad where he severely hurt his right leg. I think they were living in St. Louis when this happened. It was a wound that plagued him all his adult life. I remember seeing the deep, hollowed out scar become infected. Many a night he would come home with blood in his shoe because the wound had started bleeding again.

Mamamae and Granddaddy were married 45 years, when he died suddenly on Oct. 29, 1970. Granddaddy was only 62 years old.  Mamamae lived a long time, well into her 80's, after Granddaddy passed away.

                                  

This is the way I remember my grandparents. They gave me unconditional love. The best present a child can ever receive. 

This isn't all of their story by any means, it is the beginning. I want to share their story with my family and friends. I was blessed beyond measure to have had them in my life.

To be continued...