Thursday, April 5, 2018

MOM'S 100TH BIRTHDAY



     

'CHATHAM COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, April 6, 1918...
        Grover and Verdona Phillips Cooper announce the birth of their fifth daughter whom they have named Mildred Leona."

   So might the local newspaper have noted her arrival.  Five other children came later.  Ten of the twelve grew to adulthood ---two having  died in their early youth. Her early years were spent on a hard-scrabble farm where her dad scratched out a living.  In time, he became postmaster in the mill village and his wife  acquired employment in the cotton mill.  

   At a young age (she always said that she was "mature"), mom eloped with an eligible bachelor in the village. She and dad had been married for almost  60 years at the time of his death.


Earliest photo of mom as an adult
probably mid to late 1930's

        Finding employment during the Great Depression of the 1930's was a challenge for dad. Eventually, his dad helped him secure a railroad job in Montgomery, Alabama.  In time his pregnant wife joined him and I was born in that city. Soon thereafter they returned to North Carolina.  Being proud of her first  born, she apparently had regaled her parents with stories about him.  Grand-pa Cooper on first visit apparently was less impressed with his grand-son's beauty and quoted an ancient Talmudic proverb: "Every crow thinks hers is the blackest."


At Kenan Stadium
Chapel Ilill,NC
Late 1930's-early 1940's

    Despite their considerable native intelligence, due to various circumstances, neither of our parents completed high school. That experience caused them to emphasize the importance of formal education (while never becoming 'uppity') .  Mom was proud of her GED  and the LPN degree that she received after her three sons were adults. I often comment that I was a college graduate before realizing that I had an option.  

   Frugality, thrift and the integrity of hard work remained life long values for our parents. But they were never miserly.  Whenever I had 'payday' in my high school jobs, she always insisted that a portion of that was for savings.

    While not especially verbal about her love, mom  expressed her love and affection through her cooking, and she was 'world class'. Chris (pictured below with mom and her oldest grand-daughter) always liked to visit because, as he said, "Grand-ma cooks old-fashioned."   Sunday 'dinner' (eaten after church) usually featured fried chicken or roast, fried okra, potato salad, a made from scratch cake, sweet iced tea, and other items since decreed 'unhealthy'.  And, special occasions such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas  and birthdays . . . well, 'you had to be there'.  In the 1960's, mom took her skills to the local public school where she managed the cafeteria for several years.  I am including a sampling of her recipes at the conclusion of this blog.

    The younger of my two brothers also wrote of her cooking in his weekly column in the local weekly newspaper:

"Mamma could cook. She had to in an effort to feed three bottomless pit sons and a hard-working husband, as well as herself, as well as the crowd of relatives who dropped by often, the neighbors who came over, the friends we boys brought home from high school and college, the families she fed when their luck got down or there was a death in their family."

    For  all her other positive attributes and  achievements, mom particularly excelled in one area:  'Grand-parenting' ! She showered her eight grand-children with affection, advice, candy from her not-so-secret hiding place,  modeling kindness for one's neighbors, droll humor, sage sayings and . . . well, ever so much more.
Family lore tells how their oldest grand-daughter (my daughter) in early attempts to say 'grand-ma' and 'grand-pa' did not master the 'grand' portion; thereafter, they pretty much answered to 'ma' and 'pa'.
With Chris and Kirstin

She believed that it is a grand-parents duty to spoil .
    After dad's death, mom lived alone for several years until a surgery-gone-awry left her unable to walk.  She made the decision to move into a nearby nursing home.  Among the residents were many friends of her age cohort  so she had a 'ready made' social life until her passing in 2003. 

Late 1970's
    So, she would have been 100 years old on April 6 were she living today. 
   100 !! Without being 'soppy  sentimental' (as she might have termed it), I have thought several times this week of the late 'Bear' Bryant's long ago "reach out and touch someone" commercial for AT&T : "Have you called you mama today? I sure wish I could call mine."

    Satchel

Mom's 'Cold oven cake recipe' in her own handwriting:



Tomato Pudding:
  1 quart tomatoes           4 slices of bread
  1 egg                             1/3 cup sugar
   Salt and Pepper to taste
   Mix above ingredients, pour into buttered pan, cook at 350*
for one hour. Sprinkle top with cheese, cook until melted.







    

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful - thank you for sharing, one old crow to another.

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  2. Wow!!
    What memories... Thank you for sharing.
    Dominique

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  3. As you well know, she was one of my favorites - so much that my mother (her sister) let me go to New York/New Jersey with her to Dennis and Irena's wedding when I was maybe 12(?). I'm pretty sure I wouldn't not have been able to go with anyone else. She was a treasure and I'm sure there'll be a big celebration in her honor tomorrow. So many of our loved ones are there with her and don't you know, they are loving on each other like always!

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  4. Ron,

    I truly savored this remembrance of your mom, as it opened the portal for me to remember my mom. She would have been 93 last month.

    What a wonderful tribute to your mom. I know she is smiling down at you.

    Thanks for sharing.

    ARay

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  5. Wow, Ron. This one brought tears, and I never even met your wonderful Mom. What a beautiful tribute to her. I know you made her proud. And that she would be-- is-- proud of this non-"soppy sentimental."

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  6. Ron, How great to remember your Mom. I too remember my Mom who made it to 102. Lost my Dad at 94. enjoyed your article.Hope I get to one of those numbers.Miss seeing you across the street.you were a great neighbor & friend RC (Dick) Rountree Jr

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