Earlier this year I promised myself to make more time to write, and I decided then that I wanted to include feature articles about my grandparents. I have been writing but not on this blog. Today is my maternal grandmothers birthday and March 28 was celebrated with her for many years, so I want to continue and celebrate her life.
Evelyn Redford was born in the Rowletts community of Hart County, Kentucky on March 28, 1913. She had one older sister, Elizabeth, and they enjoyed a close relationship their entire life of which our family was blessed to enjoy. Their mother passed away when my grandmother was very young, I believe she was only 6 years old. Her father later remarried and moved to Indiana where he and second wife had additional children. My grandmother kept in touch with her half-siblings and I know they traveled to Rome, Georgia to visit but, sadly, I was never well-acquainted with them. Losing a parent and growing up during this period I believe helped to make my grandmother a very independent person with the greatest of skills needed to survive during wartime and the depression in rural Kentucky. She married Elroy Ross, my outspoken extrovert grandfather and I will always believe opposites attract.
Nanny was our name for my grandmother and it suited her well. She was a very thoughtful, caring person and I know I have watched her cook many meals and desserts to take to those in need or who had suffered a loss. Her favorite place was at home. She wasn't a traveler and never could understand my desire to travel and see this great country of ours.
My grandmother was very private and never spoke much of her childhood or earlier years, this is just how she was. I remember when I was very young and enjoying a summer day at their farm and having lunch, I asked them about how they met and married. My grandmother didn't say anything but my grandfather smiled and said, "Well your grandmother was engaged to marry another man, and I came along and stole her away from him!" My grandmother replied, "Now Elroy, you just hush!"
He never explained that comment and nothing else was ever said about their courtship so I will never know if his statement was true, or had any truth to it because my grandfather loved nothing more than to have fun with everyone.
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| Elroy and Evelyn Ross, March 1960 (date listed on photo) |
My grandmother was one of those people that could prepare a meal and feed the family or farm help and make every meal feel special. She was one of the most talented cooks and bakers in my life, and some of my favorites were her canned pork sausage balls, fried chicken, any of her vegetables, jam cake, custard, and her peanut butter divinity roll. (Christmas favorites)
Growing and preserving their own food was the way of life for the majority of people during most of her lifetime. Nanny and Pappaw both worked hard in the garden. If my memory is correct, Pappaw did most of the planting and kept the garden plowed and they both worked to chop out weeds and she would do the majority of gathering the vegetables. She preserved most of the vegetables in the freezer but canned tomatoes and tomato juice, canned pickles, and peaches.
Raising chickens to kill and put in the freezer was very common for my grandmother and most farm families during that time. Playing with the baby chicks in the brooder house was always a treat for me and I also remember the days when it was time to butcher the chickens, dress, and freeze. It may sound gruesome, but I remember helping Nanny by going into the woods to pick up the chickens that had run and stumbled there after having the head cut off or rung off as she often did.
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| My maternal grandparents, Elroy and Evelyn Ross. I loved their car, a Dodge Monaco, maybe a 1967 model. |
Eating at restaurants was not in the budget for daily expenses and I can remember that celebrating birthdays or special days at a restaurant was a treat for us all, but Nanny enjoyed a meal out and I understand, it gave her a break and we all enjoy eating someone else's cooking!
Her favorite restaurants are still in place today, The Lighthouse at Sulphur Well, Kentucky, Bully's Catfish in Glasgow, Kentucky, and The Whistle Stop in Glendale, Kentucky. We gathered there as a family many times for special occasions.
Most of my clothes during my childhood years were made by my grandmother and mother. Everything from pajamas, to play clothes, to all my dresses. They were both talented seamstresses that could use a sewing machine to make anything and their hand stitching and hemming was professional quality. I still measure handwork to theirs! Nanny made quilts in her younger years and her work was extraordinary! After my grandfather passed away in 1984, my grandmother began crocheting more than I can remember in earlier years and she made several beautiful granny square afghans for family and friends.
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My first day of school, wearing dress made by my Mother and Grandmother. It was 100% polyester and today I would much rather wear natural fabrics, cotton and wool, anytime over polyester!
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Much to the disappointment of my grandmother I was very much a tomboy and enjoyed being outside at the barn, helping in the hayfield, or with the tobacco instead of in the house learning those wonderful cooking skills. By the time I was a teenager, I believe she finally accepted it. Little did she know that even though I wasn't always in the house I was paying attention to how she worked and how she cooked. After marrying and trying to be frugal as well, I purchased a whole chicken instead of one cut-up. I started to butcher the chicken but just could not recall exactly how Nanny had always done it so I gave her a call. That today is still one of my most memorable conversations with her. Her pleasure was so evident that I had called to ask for help and we went through it all step by step. I lived an hour away and the phone call was long distance but it didn't matter that we talked for over an hour, it was just good conversation.
That same summer, the first year we married, we had a wonderful garden and both my mother and grandmother came to the house and helped me to put up all the sweet corn. We put up over 360 ears of corn that day but enjoyed every minute.
Nanny knew how to take anything common or everyday and make it special. One of my favorites was watching movies and her making popcorn with white popcorn seed and popping it in a 2 quart pan on the stovetop, just like I still do today. I can remember our family going to their house to watch movies like "The African Queen", "True Grit", "Casablanca" or any of the old classics. It was better than going to a movie theater!
Nanny also made small feather pillows, just for my brother and I to have when we stayed overnight and she took old metal cot frames that originally had the webbing on them and replaced with cotton canvas covers that she hand-sewed into place, giving us a special place to sleep.
She would wash bread bags by hand, turning them inside out and scrubbing them in a sink of soapy water then hang them on the clothesline to dry. Those bread bags were used for everything. Food storage or just anytime we needed a plastic bag. In those days all the grocery bags were paper and of course those were kept and reused.
I remember when we would be putting up hay or working in tobacco, Nanny would make cheese and cracker snacks and wrap each in the wrapper the Kraft American cheese was wrapped in, making individual servings, and protecting the food.
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My mother, Betty Sue Gammons, my grandmother Evelyn Ross, and my great-aunt Elizabeth Stark. I took this picture on one of our many visits through the years with Aunt Elizabeth at her home in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. It was always a fun time when we could all be together.
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Nanny and her sister were both great cooks and when you got them together the food was so special even if it was a ham salad sandwich, for some reason it was better at either of their homes. Aunt Elizabeth would make the best banana croquettes and we could always count on them being on the table any time we made a visit.
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| Nanny with a pitcher and bowl set I made for her in ceramics. This had to be in the mid-1970's. I love the cedar Christmas tree with red ornaments and red birds. |
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| Nanny and Pappaw opening a Christmas gift. |
Christmas and all holidays were so special with her extra touches on setting the table, salads or desserts, or all the trouble and fun she went through with my mother to purchase and hide gifts for the family. We always had so much fun preparing for Christmas and attempting to keep gifts secret and hidden, shopping together and separately, and the stories were always so much fun to share.
Nanny was a very special person and she took her place in life seriously and did everything well. She loved her family, adored her great-grandchildren and I cherish my memories of her rocking those babies and enjoying each moment.
I have recently thought of how she would handle this present time of our life, with the corona virus keeping everyone at home, and the great majority of people cooking every meal. She would thrive and would no doubt be an example of calm and stability to us all.
In closing, there is so much to learn from our older generations and elders but sadly many times we don't realize their wisdom until we are much older. How much easier would our younger years be if we actually paid attention? I write that last sentence with a little humor and a lot of honesty. I know Nanny loved to read the Book of Psalms, or at least that's what I found her reading a lot at night in her last years,
