Grandmother Emery, Stories From My Mom

Lee Emery lived most of her life in larger cities.  I knew even at a young age that we knew each other in Heaven before we came to Earth.  As I grow older, I realize how much we are alike.  Grandmother was raised by her Grandmother, Susanna.  Her biological father left before Grandmother was born and never married her mother.  I’m not sure where Grandmother’s mother was when she was growing up.  She never talked about it.  Grandmother’s grandmother used to make sauerkraut and sell it.  I remember her telling me that.  She loved her grandmother and she was good to her.  Eventually, Grandmother’s mother came back and she married a man who owned a butcher shop.  Grandmother lived with them from this point on and helped in the butcher shop.  She had a ½ brother named Joe who was very eccentric.  He never married.  He was a wonderful artist, loved photography, and kept his motorcycle in his kitchen.

Uncle Joe

Grandmother had many jobs in life, most of them in retail or restaurants.  She and Grand daddy owed a supper club in which she cooked and he played piano in a band.  They ran a bed a breakfast also.  This was the time that a Yankee came to stay and asked her to cook him “1 grit”.  She used to laugh a lot about that.

Jesse and Mildred Jackson, Cheryl Jackson Emery and Eddy Emery,
and Alma Louise and Edward Emery

She was a cook at a fish house one time and made really good catfish stew.  She could cook anything really well.  The only thing she made that I didn’t like was oyster dressing.  That is just because I don’t like oysters.  Everyone else really liked it. (I loved this dressing!!)

I remember spending the night with them when I was little at their lake house.  She had a special room fixed just for me and my sister, Mary.  She would make the BEST breakfast, more than you could ever eat.  Her grits were always perfect!  She would always pour the biggest glass of milk and you couldn’t get up from the table until it was all finished.

I remember when I was really little, she would take me to the grocery store.  I was little enough to ride in the front of the buggy.  She would talk to me like we were best friends.  She would always buy me animal crackers in the little boxes that look like a circus railroad car.  I still like those today J

Her last job was working at a small department store in Lexington, SC called “Sessions”.  She worked in the little girls department.  I used to love going in there after school or on Saturday to see her.  She always looked so pretty.  She always wore panty hose and high heels.  Sometimes I would just come in to say “Hi” other times we would go to lunch.  She always talked to me like we were best friends.

Grandmother joined the church shortly after her and Grand daddy were married, but he didn’t let her go very often.  They were very supportive of our membership in the church, but they didn’t go.  When the Columbia Temple was build she said, “I want to go to that temple.”  Grand daddy would not let her go.  She always paid tithing with her money and said one day she would go.  When Grand daddy died she was about 83.  She started making plans to go to the temple.  She attended the classes and got her temple recommend.  We all went with her to be sealed in the Columbia Temple.  I remember her saying, “I told you I was going to go in this temple.”  I remember sitting in the Celestial room with her and all of us were sitting on the floor at her knee.  She said, “ Now I don’t have to hunt for my grandchildren in Heaven”

I used to take her to get her hair fixed every Thursday at 10:00 when I lived in SC.  Katie was a baby and that was part of our weekly routine.  Then we would go out to lunch and the grocery store.  I loved doing that for her.

I remember one time long after she had died that I was driving on the interstate on a very rainy day.  I had a very strong impression about Grandmother and was remembering some of the times we spent together.  Just at that time, a car hydroplaned and spun off the road hitting a tree.  I truly believe Grandmother was near watching over me and kept me safe.

She had the best smile and the best laugh and I miss her every day.