Pawpaw Clark, Stories From My Dad

Marvin Elgie Clark lived in the mountains in a little town called Crossnore, NC. Crossnore was about 1 hour away from where dad lived.  He was a carpenter by trade and loved to farm and live off the land.  He loved the outdoors and liked raising chickens & cows.  He also had several Honeybee Hives that he used to collect honey. Paw Paw was a worker and always stayed busy. He lived to be 103 years old. 

Dad remembered how they would always drive up the mountain at least once a month on Sunday after church to visit Paw Paw & Maw Maw Clark.  They would always eat lunch with them and spend the afternoon.  Dad has great memories of these Sunday visits where his family would drive up the mountain in the car together and then come back home.  Dad said they did this as long as he could remember from when he was a little boy until he went on his mission.  Dad and mom would take me and my sisters up to visit on Sundays after church when we were little too.

Dad told me a story about how he, his dad and his brother would go up to Paw Paw’s to plant potatoes in a big field every spring and then harvest them in the summer.  They would raise and harvest about a 100 bushel of potatoes and put them in a cellar and use them to eat all year.  They always had plenty of fresh potatoes to eat.  They also would go up and help Paw Paw cut and split wood that he would use in his wood stove to heat the house all winter.  Dad remembers a time after he was married and about 29 years old when he was helping Paw Paw split wood for the winter.  He was 85 years old then.  They worked from about 8:00 am to 4:00pm and Paw Paw worked right beside them the entire time.  He would ask dad and his brother Randy if they needed rest.  Dad said he was unbelievable and could basically still out work them at 85 years-old.  This is amazing because my dad and his brother were young and strong and are very hard workers.

Mawmaw Clark, Stories From My Dad

Emma Jane Clark lived to be about 91 years old.  She had a stroke when she was 35 years old that paralyzed the left side of her body.  She could not use her left arm and had to slide her left foot along with a brace on her leg as she walked.  She did not use a wheelchair until she was about 80 years old.  She was a hard worker that loved her family and did not know what the word quite meant. She was a great cook also that knew how to cook everything and spoil her children and grandchildren.  She loved to farm, can and preserve things.  She always kept the house nice and clean and loved to cook for her family.  Dad said that Maw Maw Clark loved it when they would come to visit on Sundays.  She always would have a meal cooked to serve a king.  She always would have potatoes, gravy and the best biscuits in the world.  She would have chicken and usually some other meat with cream corn, slaw, green beans, deviled eggs, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, applesauce and corn bread.  Then she would have some kind of homemade cake and a pie just out of the oven!  Then she would always insist that dad and Pa Pa Dan eat more because they looked like they had lost weight!  My dad was always a big boy and never looked like he had missed a meal.

Maw Maw loved to swap recipes and share cooking ideas.  Dad said that Maw Maw would always say she didn’t understand why he had to go so far off to school at BYU.  She worried and would write him letters.  She also worried when dad went on his mission to New Mexico.  Maw Maw & Paw Paw Clark were Southern Baptist and never joined the church.  They were good Christians that never missed a Sunday.  They raised PaPa Dan good and prepared him to join the church when he was 18 when he met my Nana. Maw Maw Clark was always proud of dad for serving a mission and dad believes that they will accept the gospel one day.

Mawmaw Dot, Stories From My Dad

Dorris Ann Bowman Winters was born in to the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, and had a wonderful family. She married Don Winters and had six daughter, one son, about thirty grandchildren, and eighty great grandchildren that she was able to meet and love before she passed on. Maw Maw Dot was Dad’s favorite grandmother.  Probably because she lived with dad’s family when he was about eight years old and then again when he was a teenager. He had the opportunity to spend more time with her.  She was the best cook and always made the best food.  She knew how to spoil all her grandchildren and always make them feel special.  Dad has many special memories of her.  

He remembers how Maw Maw loved the holidays and especially Christmas.  She would always put her Christmas decorations up the 1^st of November and leave them up until January 2^nd! She decorated the inside and out of her house in grand fashion as she kept collecting more decorations over the years.  All the grandchildren loved Maw Maw’s Winter Wonderland! She said time went by so fast that she had to get them up so she could enjoy them before it was time to take them down. 

Dad remembers buying a box of chocolate covered cherries for Maw Maw when he was about 12-years-old and wrapping it up for her Christmas present.  She loved chocolate covered cherries at Christmas.  As years went by and Dad wanted to buy Maw Maw better gifts, he would always include a box of Chocolate Cherries for Christmas as a gift.  Maw Maw always said that was her favorite gift from Dad.  Maw Maw always knew how to make each grandchild feel special!

Dad would help Maw Maw with chores at her house when he was a teenager and in college when he came home in the summers.  He would help her mow her grass and always wash and wax her car.  When dad was in high school Maw maw would have him wash her car and give him money when she taught he was going out to do things on the weekend.  Dad would tell her that he did not want her to pay him that he liked helping her because he loved her.  Maw Maw Dot would say, “Now, I know you can use a little money and this isn’t much but you are going to take it because I said so! It is not near enough pay for the job that you do for me, but I want you to take it son because I love you!”  Dad always will cherish those times that he spent helping Maw Maw Dot with her chores!

Pawpaw Don, Stories From My Dad

My dad shared some stories and memories he had of his grandfather Brownlow Mcdonald (Don) Winters. Paw Paw Don lived in the mountains in a town called Asheville, NC which was about an hour and ½ away from where dad lived.  He moved down from the mountain to live in Connelly Springs where dad lived when he retired. That was when dad was about 17 years old. Dad and the family were excited when Paw Paw decided to move near them.  He was a painter and worked for a company where he would spray paint big machines and equipment.  He learned the trade of painting when he joined the Navy at the age of 17 years old.  He helped paint the USS Enterprise when he was in the Navy.

Pa Pa Don loved Nascar Racing before it was popular.  He was a big Chevrolet fan and always pulled for Cale Yarborough who drove a Chevrolet or Oldsmobile most of his career. My dad remembers how he would always go out to his car on Sunday afternoons and listen to the race on the car radio for hours.  Paw Paw had a neighbor / friend that he worked with for years and called “Stroop”.  Stroop was a big David Pearson fan and he and Don would always make friendly wagers/bets on the race for bragging rights.  Pearson drove a Ford and Stroop was a big Ford fan.  Don would always say he did not care if Yarborough did not win the race just as long as he finished ahead of Pearson!  Dad remembers listening to some races when he was eleven & twelve years old with Paw Paw Don on his car radio.  He loved it when Yarborough beat Pearson and he had bragging rights at work all week and would harass his friend Stroop!  When Yarborough lost to Pearson he was not very happy to say the least.

Paw Paw Don loved to hunt and fish and spend time outdoors with his grandchildren.  My dad cherishes memories when he took him deer & squirrel hunting on several occasions when he was a teenager with his cousins Mike & Tim Carpenter.  Mike was the oldest grandson and dad was the second oldest grandson.  Dad had lots of cousins on his mother’s side of the family.  They would go out in the woods early in the morning before dawn and take good turkey or bologna sandwiches to eat for lunch.   They would stay out in the woods all day and hunt.  Dad said that they did not shoot too many deer or squirrels, but they sure enjoyed the time out in nature with Paw Paw.  He always had good stories to tell and good advice to share.

Dad most cherished the summer days that he would go out fishing on the lake with Paw Paw Don.  He would usually take dad fishing out on Lake Hickory at a cabin with a dock.  The man that owned the cabin was named Sam Herman and he was a friend of the family and member of the church.  They would always refer to this fishing place as Sam’s Cabin.  Paw Paw would take dad with his cousins and sometimes with Dad’s younger brother and sister to Sam’s Cabin to fish. This was their favorite place to fish.  Sometimes Dad and Paw Paw would go alone and dad really liked that.  Dad was always a good fisher!  Unlike hunting, they would always seem to be successful fishers and catch many fish that they would clean and cook for dinner.  They would put extra fish in the freezer and save for later. 

Dad remembered a time when Paw Paw took him (12-years-old) and his sister Tammy (7) and brother Randy (6) fishing one summer day on the lake at Sam’s Cabin.  Paw Paw took out two ten foot ropes and tied one around the waist and through the belt loops of Tammy and Randy’s pants and tied the other end around a tree so they could get near the edge of the water but not fall in. Dad was a proven fisher and good swimmer so Paw Paw didn’t worry about him falling in the water.  They all caught lots of fish that day!  Dad’s sister Tammy still remembers that fishing trip to this day and says how embarrassed she was to be tied to a tree like Randy.  She would talk about it many times to Paw paw as she grew older and how it embarrassed her.  Paw Paw would say, “Sis, it is better to be embarrassed than 10 foot under the water with a chance of not coming back up! It worked out just fine and you will understand better someday when you have children of your own.”  Tammy ended up having 4-boys and 1-girl and she did understand as she used the same kind of techniques Paw Paw used on her with her young sons when she took them fishing!

Stories From My Mom

My parents and grandparents were always insistent that we get an education and graduate from college.  They made HUGE sacrifices to make sure we had the things that me, my brother, and my sisters needed to finish our schooling.  They supported everything we did in the church and were very proud of us.  They would come to all of our piano recitals, dance recitals, ball games and anything else we were involved in.  Family, church, school, and hard work were the most important things to them.  I clearly remember each of them teaching and demonstrating these principles to all of us.  They were also very charitable.  They would give all they had to help someone in need. 

I hope you girls know that church, family, school, hard work, and charity are very important to me.  I have tried to live this way and I hope I have shown you girls this by example.  You are far better than me at each of these things.  I know you will teach your children to value these things also.

Love Always,

Mom

Grandmother Jackson, Stories From My Mom

Grandmother was a very hard worker.  She loved to work in the kitchen.  She was an excellent cook.  One of my favorite things that she would make was a pineapple cake.  She taught me how to make the “7 minute icing” and the pineapple syrup that went on top.  We always had that cake at special events when I was growing up. 

She was also an excellent seamstress.  She made the most beautiful quilts that we all still enjoy today.  She made them out of old dresses of ours.  She made us each a baby quilt, a quilt when we were about 14 and another when we were married.  These quilts took her about a year to make.  She did them all by hand.

Grandmother never got a driver’s license.  She never drove a car.  She was always so calm and I used to tell her it was because she never had to drive and deal with traffic.

She was very practical and felt that you should “make do” with what you had.  I remember when I was planning my wedding, there was a lady who wanted to charge over $100 to make me a vale.  Grandmother, who hardly ever spoke above a whisper, laughed out loud.  I remember we were all shocked.

Grandmother never joined the church in this life.  Grand daddy had died pretty early in life and I think that was part of the reason.  She came to church every Sunday and everyone in the ward loved her and called her Grandmother.  She lived with us from the time I was about 12.  She lived to be 96.  When she died, we all went to do her sealing to Grand daddy.  It was a rushed day and there was some confusion about the paperwork in the temple.  It seemed a little chaotic especially for the temple and I remember asking the sealer to please stop for a minute so I could tell them something about Grandmother.  I said “Grandmother never rushed in her life.  I don’t think she would like this sealing to be rushed.”  Then I told them about how she loved to quilt and how she loved her family more than anything in the world.  I really felt like Grandmother was there and everything seemed to settle down.  I think she would have liked that.

Grandaddy Jackson, Stories From My Mom

Jesse Tildon Jackson was born in 1905 to Fonnie and Grace Jackson. There were four children in the family, Mary, Jesse, Inez, and Bertie.  He married Mildred Addie Guthrie. I don’t remember much about him because he died when I was 5.  He had pancreatic cancer.  I remember he was very quiet and calm.  He was not a tall man and he was very thin.  He smoked a pipe on occasion.  He used to work a crane and he served in the marines in 1926.  He did his basic training at Paris Island SC.  I remember him being very kind and taking time to talk with me when we would go to visit him in Tennessee where he and Grandmother lived until he died.

Jesse's parents, Fonnie and Grace Jackson

Jesse in about 1925

Bertie, Mildred, Jesse, and Grace Jackson

Cheryl, a friend, and Jesse Tildon fishing at Conway's Lake in SC

Jesse and Mildred

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Jesse's mother Grace

Jesse (Left) at the Paris Island, SC Marine Base

Jesse (Left) at the Paris Island, SC Marine base

Jesse (Center)

Mildred and Jesse