This past Friday (March 19) would have been my mother's 104th birthday. Some people do live to be 104, and I'm envious of those people who still have their parents. I know there are many challenges with taking care of elderly parents - my parents were older when we girls were born, and I was pretty ill-prepared for taking care of them when they became old and ill. My mother was only 74 when she died. I sure wish she was here to celebrate birthdays. She must have been about 14 or 15 in this photo. The boy in the back is probably her brother Louis, who was six years younger than her. We miss them all.
Mama taught me to appreciate beauty. She had once collected sets of china for all of us children(3), which sadly were destroyed when the farm house burned in 1958. She taught me to love pretty linens and a nice home. At an earlier time she had made quilts. There were some squares for a Star of Bethlehem quilt in her room when she died. It was made of bright primary colors: red, yellow, blue. She once remarked that her mother (Grandmama) said that Josephine could go into her home in the dark and find anything because everything had a place, and everything was in it. I confess that's a hit and miss thing with me, but it seems to have skipped a generation because her granddaughter Amy is much like that. And my cousin remembers her fondness for shoes - she did pass that on to m
e as well as to Amy. I ruined my feet wearing those beautiful high, high heels and even with that, I still wish I could wear them. Here's a photo of her taken shortly after her first husband's death. She and Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jiggs were in downtown Houston. Aunt Jack said Mama looked very sad in this photo because it was shortly after her husband Leonard's death. That would make this around summer 1936. She was dressed beautifully, but the grief is apparent in her face.
