The Forties & The Fifties is a collection of humorous stories about life with a large family. I was the youngest of seven, with six older sisters. (Yes! SIX!)
I grew up during the 1940s and 1950s. Things were so different then. I won’t say that things were kinder and gentler, but I will say that I felt as free as a bird.
This is not a biography nor is it about world-changing events. My stories are about the little things. If you think about it, life is, primarily, made up of little things.
I hope you’ll enjoy sharing my memories.
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Excerpt From “The Forties & The Fifties”
My Mama was born in Natural Bridge, Virginia. If you don’t know the area, it’s back in “them thar hills.” It’s only about an hour or so from Natural Bridge to Roanoke these days. When Mama was a little girl, it was quite a trip.
I may have told you before, but if I haven’t, Mama was a Baptist. She was born, raised, and died a Baptist.
The only thing is, I don’t think she ever said the word “Baptist” in her life. I don’t think anyone in those hills has ever said “Baptist,” except maybe an outsider (more than likely, a Northern outsider). Actually, I think the same thing runs true for much of the South. Nobody down here was raised to say “Baptist,” That seems to be changing now. That’s a real shame.
The nuts and bolts of it is that accents are different in the South. So, Mama was really born, raised, and died in the “Babdist Church.” When I was a boy, depending on where we lived at the time, I went to the Babdist Temple, or the Twentieth Street Babdist Church, or the Fifth Avenue Babdist church. I don’t think I went to a “Baptist Church” in my life.
Mama was also ahead of her time with respect to “Women’s Lib.” Mama was saying “Miz” long before all of this recent noise. Of course, she never wrote “Ms” in her life. She always wrote either “Miss” or “Mrs.,” whichever was appropriate. It’s just that when she would say it, it all seemed to come out as “Miz.”
Mama had a funny little laugh. It wasn’t really what you might call melodic, but it certainly wasn’t harsh. It was a pleasant laugh. I miss that little laugh very much. That pleasant little “Ha-Ha-Ha”.
I don’t think I’ve told you, but Mama could hold her own in a conversation. Sometimes, she would talk about the old days. About the hard times. It always seemed to be more matter-of-fact than bitter. I don’t believe that she meant some of her things to come out comical, but they would, indeed. One time Mama was telling my wife about the days before I was born. It went something like:
“Well, dear, things were going along pretty well. Then the Depression came along and …”
Mama went on for a while about how things were. And, I reckon, just to let Carolyn understand that things could always get worse, she ended-up with:
“And then came the flood.
“Ha-Ha-Ha.”
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