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A View Of Columbus Through Rose-Colored Glasses
This column is dedicated to acknowledging examples of positives that express the community spirit of Columbus – our town.
Hopefully you celebrated Mother’s Day in a happy atmosphere. Most of my friends and acquaintances’ mothers are deceased and our Mother’s Day celebrations are based on memories. I must begin with my mother-- a child of the depression. She was always quick to let people know that her younger sister went to college and she did not. She did however enter nursing school and very quickly dropped out. That nursing school story was told with an element of sadness and regret. She married my daddy in a short while and thus considered herself a housewife. I hope that that classification gave her satisfaction; she could have won a Betty Crocker Award. If I had entered her in some kind of contest, her entry would have been fresh peach ice cream. There was lots of rich milk from our two milk cows. The main ingredient was fresh peaches from my grandparents’ peach orchard. There were at least six fresh farm eggs gathered the day before. Sugar, vanilla. And the tiniest pinch of salt completed the recipe. Mother’s freezing of the ice cream required a kid sitting on the freezer while another person cranked. The effort took a while, but there were no regrets or complaints. Besides the culinary arts, mother kept a clean and comfortable home on the ranch. The house was over a hundred years old, but she had a way that made it very comfortable. There were always wool rugs to cover the hard wood floors; somehow, the rugs gave a decorative touch that enhanced each room.
Once Mother decided to save her money and start to buy china and crystal. One weekend, after having made a purchase on a trip to Abilene, she came home and deposited her treasures on the buffet. This was by a door that had a fabric drape to help control the air that blew across the West Texas prairie. I will never forget the sounds of Mother’s screams when the sack of china and crystal flew off the buffet and dropped, breaking into the tiniest pieces. The drape on the door was the culprit (no one to blame).
On a happier note, in Mother’s senior years, she had the crystal and china to enjoy. She lived to be nearly 99 and after a move to Columbus, had delightful friends, Dorothy Fitzgerald being one of them.
When I questioned Steve Mc-Cullough about his mom, his first words were, “she was so special”. When they lived in Corpus Cristi, his mom took his sister and him to Padre Island every New Year’s day. He mentions that his family uses all of her recipes at Thanksgiving. Steve related a particulas fun comment of hers was made each time she cooked dressing. She would say, “this recipe calls for a little bit of champagne in the dressing and a little bit of champagne in the cook. Steve’s mom’s maiden name was Betty Pearl Price.
A new friend, Alisha Brummett, has plans to write a memoire about her foremothers. Alisha’s mom and her grandmother were both remarkable ladies. They both had a spirit of determination that brought them success. The two of them endured to a point that one might say “they had grit”. Alisha’s mom, Patsy, was a single mom; she worked many years in accounting for Brown & Root. Later, she finished her business degree when Alisha was in college. Alisha’s grandmother was named Clarice. She was a district superintendant in Pushmataha, near Antlers, OK. She actually taught and substituted until she was 86 years old. She loved to take pictures and kept them in a multutude of albums. Alisha believes that this was her first influence for being a photographer.
The last mom that I’ll discuss is one that I would love to have known. She, Constance McClure Stiles, was Bob’s mom. She passed long before Bob and I met. Putting bits and pieces of info together, I’m sure that she was “classy”. Bob’s remarks are unique and interesting. “ Mom and I walked in the woods regurlarly, accompanied by the family dogs and cats”. She was a topnotch grammer specialist which helped Bob in all of his English classes. Bob laughs about what his mom cooked when his dad was away on consulting jobs. They always had hot dogs and rice & tomatoes and some other dishes that “Dad didn’t like”.
Bob’s memory of his mom influenced one of his “bobisms” which are one liners that he has authored about his outlook on life. He wrote the following: “Be careful in claiming a miracle from God when you pray for one loud enough for “Mom” to hear”.
