Memory Day

Share Now

I got a romantic email on Saturday. Though Ray, John, and I were together at the North Carolina convention, Ray still sent me an email, a daily encouragement just for me. He reminded me that exactly forty years before, we had driven into the country to Godwin-Chappell Church near Knob Creek in Maury County, Tennessee. There Ray got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

Ray took me to Godwin-Chappell because it is special to his family. When Ray was growing up, the descendants of his great-grandparents gathered there each Mother’s Day. They brought food for a dinner on the ground (that’s southern for an outdoor potluck) and peonies to decorate the family cemetery (that’s  pee’-uh-neez for most Americans, but pee-oh’-neez for southern folks).

Notgrass men pulled window shutters off the church building and laid them on car hoods to serve as tables. The family shared a meal, waded in Knob Creek, and decorated their ancestors’ graves.

Last Monday when we went to cousin Lura’s funeral, Ray and his cousins reminisced about Godwin-Chappell and Knob Creek. Lura’s daughters had told the minister about the Mother’s Day picnics. He told parts of the story during the funeral. When he asked the audience who had ever heard of Knob Creek, I was glad to be among the number who had.

Ray’s daddy was excited about our engagement. He always treated me special. I loved, respected, and admired that great man. In the evening after Ray proposed to me, the three of us went to a drive-in theater to watch a movie. That was back in the day of front bench seats. I sat in the middle with my new fiancé on my left and his daddy on my right. It was a privilege to sit between two men I adored.

On this day set aside for remembering, I remember Daddy who served stateside in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. I remember Ray’s daddy Wes who landed in France the day after D-Day in 1944 and then served with distinction in the 1st Army’s headquarters company during every major battle until Germany’s surrender, being shot at, but never having to fire a shot himself.

And I remember a Friday afternoon in May in 1974 when I was invited to become a Notgrass, a name I have been proud to wear since our marriage seven months later.

Thanks be to God for giving us memory and for being our God Who remembers. Remember to share your family memories with your children.

He is the Lord our God;
He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac.
Psalm 105:7-9 NASB

Share Now