The Day My Childhood Came To A Screeching Halt

Mary Corrine Wall

1915-1974

It happened on a day in September of 1974. The woman whom I adored and spent summers with, the woman who cooked the best collard greens and cornbread, the woman who would go out to the garden and pick fresh strawberries for dinner, the woman who caused me to love quilts, and so much more, was gone. On an unassuming day, she left this world for a better place. That woman was my Granny. She was a place of calm and reassurance. She was a giggle in my frustrations. She was a hoot while on the phone with her sister-in-law Floy and a helpmate to my PaPa.

Granny worked for 31 years in Spartanburg's Cotton Mills as an automatic spooler. She was a whopping 6' 1" tall. Granny, no doubt, inherited her height from her father, Willie Poole, who was 6' 2" tall.  Not sure where she inherited her good teeth from, HaHa. But, she never had a cavity in her life.

In Granny's family room was a closet she called Noah's Ark because it had a little bit of everything in it and after the chores were done and dinner was served, we would sit in the family room and talk the evening away. I would sit in her goose neck rocker and do word searches. She would sit on the edge of her couch as she watched wrestling and acted out the massive headlock that Andre the Giant would put on one of the wrestlers. She wore thick stockings up to her knees and always wore dresses with an apron. Her hair was as white as snow. I can't put into words how much I loved my Granny and how much I felt love from her. I truly felt life would no longer be the same the day she died. My childhood came to a screeching halt that day. It was over....the making of summer memories with Granny would be no more. Life took a turn that day and having no choice, I entered a journey of uncertainty, of learning a new way to spend summers. It was a learn as you go time. But from the lessons I learned from Granny, I was a confident girl heading into waters unknown. I stepped into my teens with ideas of what I wanted out of life. I don't remember much of our conversations, but I do remember the feelings of love and safety, while in her care. I feel so blessed for having such a loving, caring Granny. I hope that I live the kind of life that creates an atmosphere of love and safety, of reassurance and confidence, of good food and crafting. And I hope that my days of being an influence on my own grandchildren will result in their lives being fuller and richer and that this world will be a better place for having lived in it.

I was not lucky enough to inherit one of Granny's quilts, but I did inherit her thimble.

I was literally in tears, when I used it to make my first quilt.

 

Granny's goose neck rocker, newly covered a few years ago.

I wouldn't take a million dollars for it. Oh the memories I have of sitting in this rocker all those evenings spent with Granny.

A close-up of the goose's neck.

 

Remembering my Granny,

Laurie