Aunt Flo Stories – Page 3 – Memories about my family

April 15, 2021April 15, 2021

Uncle Willie’s home

My brother Donald once said, “It’s so quiet in the country, the quiet hurts your ears.”

The Willie Williams’ home place on Ragged Ridge has been quiet a long, long time. But there is still life there, especially in spring. The dog wood tree near the woodland blooms white each April; wild flowers grow fresh and fragrant at the base of the Willie Bluff; and blue birds build nests in the fence rows behind the garden.

Ernest said he could remember when the Uncle Willie house was still standing. Uncle Willie’s son John told Donald that he could recall the day they moved from there to Calvary Ridge. The farm they were leaving was one of several smaller farms occupying a few acres, just a few acres, just large enough to raise a cow, to raise a garden, to grow corn for the pigs, to sow a wheat field. That was the nature of all the small farms comprising his father John Frank Williams’ original settlement.

October 20, 2020September 3, 2021

Terrel Durham and Jack Denny

There is another member of Aunt Artie’s family besides Carlos who should be mentioned because he relates to Reed and Deva, Linda’s mom and dad. That other person was Aunt Artie’s son Terrel Durham. He was a handsome man but I do not have a picture of him. . This younger son grew up to become a minister, and it. was he who performed the ceremony when my brother Reed and Deva were married in 1948. This was shortly after Reed had been discharged from the army.

October 19, 2020September 3, 2021

1966 Photo

I love this picture made in 1996 because it is full of people I love and miss seeing. L to R Clarence Emerson (wheel chair); Frank Williams, standing; Carlos Durham, cap and dark glasses; far right Ernest Williams, standing, blue cap. The apple tree in the picture was planted by Frank when he was a boy. Bet you recognize a lot of those people

October 19, 2020September 3, 2021

Dad, Carlos Durham, Ernest and Reed

This picture was made in 1942. L to R, Marvice Williams, Carlos Durham, Ernest Williams and Reed Williams. Don’t you love how grown-up Ernest and Reed looked? But look closely at their faces. They were so young

October 19, 2020December 8, 2021

Aunt Artie Durham Johnson

In the picture, the lady on the left with my mom and dad is my Aunt Artie Durham Johnson. She was born in 1893, a few years before my mom and dad. . She married Dad’s older half brother, Uncle Elvin Durham, 1887-1926. I never knew Uncle Elvin because he had passed away before I was born, and I do not have a photograph of him. But I was told he was a teacher and that he and Aunt Artie lived on Ragged Ridge when they were first married. This picture, about 1966, is a good depiction of my aunt’s personality. She was personable and pleasant just as she appears to be in the photo. I wish all our email group could have known her.

September 15, 2020September 3, 2021

“But time grows short when you reach September”

At times when I was young, more than once, I thought about what it would be like to get old. I remember one fall afternoon on my way home from high school, I was walking down the ridge road, enjoying the golden rods and pleasant weather, and singing the September Song. I remember the day clearly. I was just passing the old walnut tree that still stands in the field near the road not far from Donald’s house as I walked and sang.

In phone calls with my brother Donald during the past spring, he and I often talked about getting old and facing our Septembers. “You and me will soon be where the rest of our family has gone,” he said. I agreed. Confronting death is very serious and very sad. But when we talked together about being the last two remaining of our family, it was good not to dodge the seriousness and the sadness.

September 15, 2020September 3, 2021

Dad carrying the mail

My Dad, Marvice Williams, who carried the mail riding his horse “Old Joe” in the 1920s. My older sisters, Clarice and Alline, remembered hearing Dad singing the hymn “Come Thou Fount of Many Blessings” as he rode home down the ridge each night.

September 10, 2020September 3, 2021

Photos – information and memories (3)

In the picture above, Aunt Lola is with her daughters, Pauline and Enza. Aunt Lola was a half sister to Dad, about 15 years older. It seems like Aunt Lola came often to visit when I was growing up. I always thought of Aunt Lola (born in 1882) as the oldest person I knew when I was a kid. Dad, as well as Mom, was very fond of her.. Clarice stayed with Aunt Lola her first year of high school and went to McKinney High School because there was no bus available to Middleburg High School at that time. Aunt Lola was always a very small lady as long as I can remember. I have heard from my older sisters that my grandmother, Quintilda Durham Williams, mother of Dad and Aunt Lola, was also small like Aunt Lola.