...About My Mom

My mother was born in Birmingham, AL. She, her five brothers and sisters, and Grandmother and Papa lived a modest life. According to my mom, they didn't have a lot of money. In fact, there were times when money was tight enough that children still living at home contributed a large portion of their work-wages to help pay the bills. 

Papa worked for a meat company and would, from time to time, travel to help make sales of meat and associated products. Papa passed away when I was about 10. I don't have many memories of him, except that I was, generally, scared of him. I don't know why. The only real memory I have was that, every Sunday we went to their house to visit. Dinner was light. The children were put in the den where the TV was. The "Grumps" (grown-ups) were around the dining room table. We were given 4 crackers and cheese and one 8 oz glass of Coca Cola on ice. The only time we were allowed to have Coke! I recall (only once) having the nerve to go into the dining room to the Grump table to ask for seconds of crackers and cheese and Papa yelling "GIT!" I don't recall ever going back! We watched The Wonderful World of Disney on TV. In fact, it was there that we saw the very first color TV. It was Disney's The Wonderful World of Color! But... I digress. 

My mother worked for the (Bell) Telephone Company and was quite pretty and friendly. She was a telephone operator and, thinking back, I remember her always having had a sweet, friendly voice. Though there are not a lot of adventure stories about her life, I do know that she enjoyed going out with her sisters and girlfriends when possible. This often included going to the local USO dance! 

We'll talk about the USO dance and what it brought about. Stay with me! 

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