Memory Lane
Lately I have enjoyed writing about the time period of my own childhood. As part of that project, I have gathered photographs of Ray and me when we were young children. I’d like to share some of those with you today, along with thoughts of gratitude for our parents.
I was an only child for almost three years. My parents and I lived in a three-room house in the country beside Mama Sue and Daddy Leland, who were Daddy’s parents. We had a bedroom and a living room in the front of the house and a kitchen on the back. Our “bathroom” was a privy in the backyard. Notice that my dress (in those days before we ever heard of “permanent press” clothes) is freshly-ironed, which speaks to Mother’s good care.
My most precious memory of that house is Daddy kneeling beside the bed to pray at bedtime. On Sundays we drove to a country church. Beside it was a cemetery with graves of generations of my ancestors. That is where I received a New Testament with my name embossed in gold on the front cover. It was my reward for perfect attendance when I was about one year old.
The most precious gift I got when we lived in that house was my baby brother, born in 1956, about one year before we moved to the little town of Ashland City.
Ray grew up in Columbia, Tennessee. In this picture, his momma has lovingly made sure he was warm by dressing him in a snowsuit. His English mother was still learning American ways when this picture was taken. She had only been in America for 7-8 years, after marrying Ray’s dad during World War II. I’m sure that Ray’s daddy took impeccable care of this Plymouth. Our first car was also a Plymouth. I remember when my parents bought it used. Before that we borrowed a truck on Sundays so we could drive the 13 miles to Springfield to visit Mama’s parents.
This picture reminds me of how faithful my parents were about taking us to visit relatives. I don’t know for sure who we were visiting in this picture. Mama probably made my shirt and pedal pushers.
Ray was five years younger than his brother, Alan. Little red wagons, like this one, were common toys of the 1950s. Steve and I had one, too. I don’t know where you bought little red wagons in Columbia, but in Ashland City they came from the local hardware store. Notice that Alan is wearing cowboy boots. This was the cowboy era.
Here Ray and Alan are on an amusement ride. Ray’s daddy and my daddy both worked six days a week. Finding time for fairs and amusement parks took effort.
Mother and Daddy were especially good about taking us places. Steve and I rode many amusement rides. We went to the Cheatham County Fair, where we lived, and to the Robertson County Fair, where Mother’s parents lived, and to the Tennessee State Fair in Nashville. We often went to Fair Park, a small permanent amusement park in Nashville. Many Monday nights we rode the indoor carousel on the third floor of Harvey’s Department store in downtown Nashville. Time and money are constant challenges in families. Both were challenges in our families while we were growing up. We are grateful that our parents made the sacrifices they did to give us joyful childhoods.
I remember when Mama made me this blue evening gown for a beauty contest. I (on the right) am standing beside Daddy’s baby sister, my Aunt Emily. She was in the contest, too. Mother also worked hard to give me my Shirley Temple curls, not only for the beauty contest. She rolled my hair every Saturday night, so I would look like this for Sunday School and church, too.
Here Ray and Alan sit on their front porch in Columbia. Ray and I had similar humble beginnings. We both were blessed with parents who gave us security and love and peaceful, happy childhoods.
That is what you are doing for your children now. Enjoy every day of these memory-making days.
This is the day which the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24