RAISIN'
Granddaddy Wright had the opportunity to run his own store in Deer Park, AL, so he moved his family there from Yellow Pine. He would go to the store early in the morning and would close about nine at night. I don't know if he closed the store for a while after noon, but Mother said that he would go home and get a nap in the afternoon.
After he closed the store, at night, he'd go home and milk the cow by lantern light, while Mama Wright fixed his supper.
Mama Wright would go to the store once in the morning, then back late in the afternoon and stay until closing time. She enjoyed horseback riding, visiting friends all around the Deer Park area.
At thirty seven-years-of-age, Granddaddy Wright had appendicitis. He had to wait for the train to get him to Mobile to a doctor, some sixty miles away. His appendix ruptured and he died on the train enroute to Mobile. Mother was fourteen at the time.
After her father's death, the family kept the house in Deer Park, where they would return some week-ends, but they rented a small apartment in Chatom where Mother and Uncle James went to school.
Mama Wright took in sewing and did crochet and knitting to have money for food and rent. There wasn't much more than that.
Mama Wright moved to Prichard after Uncle James finished school. I really don’t know how she made a living down there except that she rented out the front two big rooms in her house and lived in an enclosed back porch and another room.
She was always generating some sort of funny stuff or was fussing about some things that others would do. Once, she had a few drops of water left in her glass and decided to throw it on Daddy. Well, he had a little more water in his glass and threw it back on her. She got the dipper out of the water bucket and threw a dipper full on him. He turned the water bucket over her head. She kept talking about it saying , “And poor Joe had to mop it all up.”
Once on Christmas eve, she threw a hand full of gravel on the tin roof and asked the question in general, “Did y’all hear Santa Clause on the roof? Y’all better get to sleep in a hurry!” Well, that just kept us awake longer.
There were kids that played their yards around her yard. If they accidentally let one of their balls go over her fence, she’d keep the balls and give them to Joe and I. We got quite a few!
In her later years she developed what was called “Hardening of the Arteries.” Now they call the Alzheimer’s. We had to move her in with us. She read a series of Earl Stanley Gardener books many, many times. I’d ask if she hadn’t already read one of them, she’d say, “No I haven’t.” Mother had to have someone to be here with her while we were all at school. She got into a walking routine and repeat it all day. She’d walk down to the pond and go about half way across the dam, and come back to the house; go to the cabinet and get a glass; go to the refrigerator and get something to drink (water, tea, kool aid, etc.); sit down and drink it; and wash the glass, dry it and put it back in the cabinet. Then she’d do the same routine by going to the mail box or go down to the yard gate at CD & MP’s and back. Finally, we weren’t able to keep her at home so she was taken to Bryce’s Hospital in Tuscaloosa where she stayed ‘til she died.
10. GRANDDADDY AND MAMA WRIGHT
(no photos available)
(no photos available)
Granddaddy Wright had the opportunity to run his own store in Deer Park, AL, so he moved his family there from Yellow Pine. He would go to the store early in the morning and would close about nine at night. I don't know if he closed the store for a while after noon, but Mother said that he would go home and get a nap in the afternoon.
After he closed the store, at night, he'd go home and milk the cow by lantern light, while Mama Wright fixed his supper.
Mama Wright would go to the store once in the morning, then back late in the afternoon and stay until closing time. She enjoyed horseback riding, visiting friends all around the Deer Park area.
At thirty seven-years-of-age, Granddaddy Wright had appendicitis. He had to wait for the train to get him to Mobile to a doctor, some sixty miles away. His appendix ruptured and he died on the train enroute to Mobile. Mother was fourteen at the time.
After her father's death, the family kept the house in Deer Park, where they would return some week-ends, but they rented a small apartment in Chatom where Mother and Uncle James went to school.
Mama Wright took in sewing and did crochet and knitting to have money for food and rent. There wasn't much more than that.
Mama Wright moved to Prichard after Uncle James finished school. I really don’t know how she made a living down there except that she rented out the front two big rooms in her house and lived in an enclosed back porch and another room.
She was always generating some sort of funny stuff or was fussing about some things that others would do. Once, she had a few drops of water left in her glass and decided to throw it on Daddy. Well, he had a little more water in his glass and threw it back on her. She got the dipper out of the water bucket and threw a dipper full on him. He turned the water bucket over her head. She kept talking about it saying , “And poor Joe had to mop it all up.”
Once on Christmas eve, she threw a hand full of gravel on the tin roof and asked the question in general, “Did y’all hear Santa Clause on the roof? Y’all better get to sleep in a hurry!” Well, that just kept us awake longer.
There were kids that played their yards around her yard. If they accidentally let one of their balls go over her fence, she’d keep the balls and give them to Joe and I. We got quite a few!
In her later years she developed what was called “Hardening of the Arteries.” Now they call the Alzheimer’s. We had to move her in with us. She read a series of Earl Stanley Gardener books many, many times. I’d ask if she hadn’t already read one of them, she’d say, “No I haven’t.” Mother had to have someone to be here with her while we were all at school. She got into a walking routine and repeat it all day. She’d walk down to the pond and go about half way across the dam, and come back to the house; go to the cabinet and get a glass; go to the refrigerator and get something to drink (water, tea, kool aid, etc.); sit down and drink it; and wash the glass, dry it and put it back in the cabinet. Then she’d do the same routine by going to the mail box or go down to the yard gate at CD & MP’s and back. Finally, we weren’t able to keep her at home so she was taken to Bryce’s Hospital in Tuscaloosa where she stayed ‘til she died.
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