Interviewing the Aunts, Pt 2

     A little bit ago, I talked with my aunts June and Charlotte and asked them questions about the family and their childhood. In the following video they talk about their family in Elbert County, their grandparent's home and my Aunt Charlotte recalls when the family survived a tornado.

"And That's How We Got Married" - Amanuensis / Memory Monday

     My parents were married on 20 Oct 1978 in DeKalb County, Georgia. A little while back, I asked my mom to tell me what she remembered about her wedding.  Here's what she had to say:


Audio:







Transcript:

Valerie: It's June 16th, 2010. Uh, this is Valerie Craft, talking to my mom, Ruby Albea Craft. I wanted to ask you a few questions about when you and Dad got married. Um, you know, about your wedding day and where it was, what'd you wear, how'd you feel, was anyone, you know, what guests you had. That sort of thing.

Ruby: Well, we didn't have any guests so I'll answer that one real easy. But, um, we um, had decided to get married, but we didn't want to have a big wedding, so we just went down to the courthouse and got married.

Valerie: Which courthouse?

Ruby: Uh, we went down to DeKalb Courthouse. And I remember we parted somewhere and we had to walk a-ways to find the, um, the courthouse. And we just went, and uh, you had to go and apply for your license. And then you had to wait a couple of days because you had to go get a blood test. So we went to, uh, DeKalb Hosp - uh, DeKalb Medical Center. And you could go into uh - through the emergency room, even though it wasn't an emergency. But that's where you went in through to get your blood test. And they do blood tests for marriage license. And then we had to wait to get the blood test back. And then you had to take the blood test to a doctor, to get the doctor to sign off on it, for some reason. Even though he's not the one that did the blood test. And uh, then you have to take all that down to the, uh, Courthouse. 

     And so when we took all that down to the Courthouse and we got our license. And then, uh, we asked them, they said there was a judge there in the building, that we could just go to the judge's chambers and get married there. So that's what we did. And uh, we just had a very private ceremony. I just wore a skirt and uh, little um, summer top, and your dad was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt . Which is what he usually wears for everything. And uh, we got married and we were very happy and, uh, just really excited. And it was just a beautiful day. And uh, it was October but it wasn't cold. And uh, that's how we got married: we just went down to the courthouse and got married.

     I also asked my Dad what he remembered about their wedding.  In his usually taciturn way, he simply stated that they had gone down to the courthouse and got married. However, he did surprise my by being able to remember the outfit that my mom was wearing.

Monday Memories - Notes from Aunt Ree

My mom recently had a simi-interview with her father's sister, her Aunt Ree. I fed her a few questions during her conversation and we learned the answer to some questions that we had been wondering about for quite a while. All we had to do was ask and then listen.

• Q: We recently came across a marriage record for your [Ree's] father, Vernon Albea, to an Alice Budell Hooper. We only knew about his marriage to your mom, Auline. Were you aware of this marriage?
• A: Auline moved to Atlanta with Roy [her son] and Auline and Vernon got a divorce. He married "that Budell woman.". They had been seeing each other and that's why Auline left Vernon and divorced him.

• Q: He died only six months later...
• A: Vernon had galloping pneumonia. His sister, Evelina and her husband, called uncle "Dooby" Duvall and their daughter Sarah all had TB. Sarah was the only one to survive. They had come out with a medicine that would have cured Vernon's TB, but they came out with it too late. That's what cured Sarah.

• Q: We visited the Edgwood Cemetery in Greenwood last year. We saw the graves of Vernon Albea and his parents. There was also a grave marked "Infant." Do you know who this baby was?
• A: The grave was Coleman's son that was stillborn. [Q: from which marriage?] It was Shirley's brother [from Coleman's wife, Marie]

• Q: Roy Albea [her brother, my grandaddy] didn't fight in WWII. He had told me something about having a broken nose keeping him out of the war. Is this true?
• A: He was 4-F. They said that he had broken his nose as a child and he wouldn't be able to wear a gas mask. He wouldn't be able to breath with it on. If you couldn't wear the mask, they wouldn't let you go to war.

• Q: How did Roy react to this? Did he want to go to war?
• A: He wanted to go. He went down right after Pearl Harbor and tried to sign up. All the men did when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Vernon tried to sign up at the first of the war but they wouldn't take him because he had four children. At first they had so many people trying to sign up that they wouldn't take anyone with so many children. But he was 1-A.

Monday Memories - From "Cousin" Sandra

My maternal Grandmother's cousin, Sandra, sent me a few memories that she remembered about my Grandmama, Betty Huyler Albea:

"As I told you, we were a close family and usually lived near each other. When we lived in College Park , Betty, Roy and the children lived just a few blocks from us. I was about the only one they would let baby sit. Betty couldn't drive, so we would load up the kids in the station wagon, go to a back road with no traffic and let Betty practice driving. Once in July I drove us to the drive-in theatre. It was a stick shift and I was so nervous trying to keep it from rolling back on the car behind me. We had to wait in line a while and we were all burning up it was so hot, then we discovered one of the boys had turned the heater on full blast !"

"I also have a sad memory of Betty. I was young when Aunt Ruby died, but I will never forget the day of her funeral when Betty came in and saw her mother. She fainted and Roy picked her up like a baby and carried her out."

Monday Memories - Halloween - Mom's Memories

Monday Memories - Dinner Time, pt 2

This is the second part of an interview I did with my mom about dinner time when she was a child. The first part of the interview was about home cooked meals. This second part is about fast food - something that was brand new at the time.

(audio not visible in some blog readers)

Monday Memories - Dinner Time, pt 1

This is an audio story from Mom, about her memories of dinner growing up. It surprised me what simple meals they ate.

Monday Memories - Mom's Jobs

Monday Memories - The Family Bible

Monday Memories - Touching Heads

Story from Mom about my sister and I as babies.

Transcription:

"When I was talkin' about y'all - y'all entertained each other. Y'all also, uh - they had - they had told me that I could put y'all in the same crib until y'all started movin' around. But, y'all were just like, almost immediately, you know, like within a - whenever I brought you home from the hospital I'd put y'all in the little bassinet downstairs. Well, it was - it was more like a portable crib. And y'all would scoot around until your heads would touch. So it's like, I could put y'all on opposite ends, but y'all would just scoot towards each other until y'all found each other.

So, y'all were really pretty uh - I guess from, um, all the pushing and shoving that y'all did before y'all were born, y'all were - y'all were used to being close together and that the way y'all liked to be. So, I've actually got a picture of you, whenever y'all hadn't been home.. yeah maybe, prob'ly the first day y'all were home. And y'all were downstairs and y'all had already scooted till - till your little heads would just touch. Like y'all would just be, you know. And then y'all would be fine. Then you'd just lay there and sleep and everything. But y'all always liked to be close to each other.

And at night, at night when y'all first came home - I was tryin' to breast feed you so I was the only one who could take care of you at night - And uh, y'all did real good 'cause one of you would, uh - you would wake up right after I got through feedin' the other one. Y'all didn't wake up at the same time. Y'all sorta did the shift thing really well. So, that was really nice. And y'all slept through the night early too. So... Probably 'cause I was so exhausted taking care of both of you, it was hard to wake me up. No, y'all - y'all did real good. Y'all enjoyed, um, bein' together, always."

Monday Memories - Childhood and Encyclopedias

Monday Memories - Betty (and not) working

Monday Memories - Easter memories

Monday Memories

Around the end of elementary school, I'd collected a few documents and pieces of memorabilia that I thought were important enough to save. I put these things into a shoebox and stored it under my bed. In the years since then, the box has moved around a bit, but it remained intact. At this point, it's something of a time capsule. I opened it today and here are somethings that I found. (click to view a larger image in a new window)

This is a ticket from an NHRA Drag-race that our family went to in 1996. My Dad likes to attend the Friday trials because they were less crowded.

After almost drowning during a daycare trip to the pool, our mom enrolled my sister and me in a swim class. I remember attending with another girl from the daycare. We were 8 years old and learning to swim along with babies.

A postcard from my mom when she went to Puerto Rico. This was the first time she'd left the continental US and flown on a plane.

This is a luggage tag from a 5th grade field trip to Hunstville Space Camp in Alabama. As far as I know, this was the first time I'd left Georgia.

In 5th grade, Sarah and I participated in 4-H. We both did presentations on computers in their competition. We decided we wanted to do it the day before it was scheduled and, needless to say, didn't win. We participated a second time at their Rock Eagle location.

I think this was 5th grade too. I participated in a puppet play for art class. I played and endangered sea turtle. My sister was enlisted at the last moment to play "the net." It was a play about endangered animals and pollution.

Other items in my "time capsule" include: My braces, a Field Day t-shirt, the last published Calvin & Hobbs comic, a Six Flags over GA map, a Valentines Day card from my Dad, and an Atlanta Braves Keychain.

(belated) Monday Memory - Albea Birthdays

Transcription to be updated later. This is a memory from my mom about how birthdays were celebrated when she was a child.

Superstitions

Me:

Did you have any family superstitions?

Mom:

Yes and No. Like, we had the bread and butter thing. And um, bread & butter is where you're walking with someone and something comes between you you say bread and butter. Like you walk between a pole or something. I asked my mom [Betty Huyler Albea] one time she did that and she said that you've let something come between you symbolically and you could have an argument by the end of the day. but by saying that you've sorta smoothed it over.

The other one that I knew we weren't supposed to do - and it was a superstition - was we weren't supposed to open an umbrella in the house. Grandmama didn't really believe that, but it was a superstition. She also said you don't put a hat on the bed or break a mirror. She didn't really believe that you would have seven years bad luck, but she didn't want to break a mirror.

I never remember your Grandaddy [Roy Albea] saying anything about superstitions. I think Grandmama - his mom - was superstitious, but I don't think he was.

I'm not a died-in-the-wool supersitius person, but I do believe in avoiding certain things. It's like, don't press your luck. Your Grandmama would say, "The best insurance is to have insurance."

.

Monday Memories - Uncle Roy & Vietnam

Last monday I helped plan a going away party for my friend, Ashley, who's an Alabama National Guard Sergeant who's being deployed to Afghanistan. It reminded me of some photos of my Uncle Roy's welcome home party when he returned from Vietnam.

I asked mom about these photos and the party.

Uh, Roy served in the Vietnam War. He joined the army with, um, my cousin Bobby and Gary Anderson from up the... Anderson? Yeah - from up the street. And, uh, the three of 'em enlisted together and went through boot camp together, but then they got split up.

Uh, and your Uncle Roy went to Vietnam and was over there. And while he was over there, of course it was hard on Mama and Daddy. I think I told you before about the map that Grandaddy had up in the living room. And when he'd watch the news at night he'd put the little push pins on the map where the bombing would go on. And he'd have a different color push pin for where Roy was supposed to be.

So, um, we were looking through the pictures and I was tellin' Valerie - I was tellin' you - about the - when he came home we had a welcome home party. And we had it out on the carport, out on your Grandmama's house. So we've got some pictures of it. And uh, Mama had cooked - baked cupcakes and she put the little flags on there. And she had a cake and we had punch and just, you know, stuff and just welcomed him home. We had balloons and streamers up and, uh, we'd made a big banner to put across the front of the carport when he came home, so it'd say "welcome home roy" so that he'd see that when he came home.

And uh, all the - all the families in the neighborhood came down and - and uh, my Aunt Ree and Uncle Bill, my Grandmama was there and all of us kids. And we were just really happy that Roy was home safe and sound and uh, home from Vietnam.

And then after he was in Vietnam he went and served a year in Germany. And then from Germany he came back home. So, it was - it was a hard time for the family and we were just glad that he was home. He was just so young and uh, he made it home safe.

Monday Memories - The Tornado

No audio this week.  This story is from my Aunt June Partain and takes place in Elbert County, Georgia, sometime between 1943 and 1947.

"Mama and Daddy [Sarah (Britt) and Thomas Craft] had been to the movies and were on their way home. They saw the bad weather and thought it was a tornado. When we got home Daddy handed me to Mama and she got under the bed. Daddy had Charlotte and did not have time to get under anything. Mama said the next thing she remembered she was outside in the rain. She felt me and I was sticky and she thought it was blood and I was dead. Then I started crying. None of us were hurt.. The house had been lifted off it's foundation and was a total loss. They started walking (I do not know where they were going) Charlotte told me that Mama told her that she was barefoot and there was glass everywhere and she did not get cut (seems God was looking out for all of us). Mama told me they were walking past a house and this woman was screaming that her baby was dead. Mama was going to stop, but Daddy said they needed to keep going, there was nothing they could do. Also, a 17 year old boy who lived in that area was paralyzed from the waist down. His name was "Punk" Seawright. As an adult he had a jewelry shop in Hartwell. Mama and Daddy and Troy and I would take our watches to be cleaned by him. That was before battery operated watches."

Monday Memories - The Beatles

An audio story from mom

"When I [Ruby] was prob'ly around 9 years old, um, the Beatles came to Atlanta [1965]. And your Aunt June wanted to, um, see them. And, uh - but Daddy said 'no' and aunt Marie had even said that she would, you know, buy the tickets and stuff. But, Daddy said 'no' - Daddy couldn't stand the Beatles. 

And, um, so your Aunt June came up with this idea with your Uncle Charlie that, um she would... she was gunna go see the Beatles. Oh, well they were... I don't know how old they were. So... older than me. So, anyway, um, the thing is that me and, uh, your Aunt June shared a bedroom. So she decided that she was gunna bribe me into not telling Mamma and Daddy that she wasn't in bed. 

You know, I prob'ly wouldn'ta thought to tell 'em anyway, but she decided to bribe me. So, she told me that I could have her Barbie doll if I didn't tell that, um, Aunt... that she didn't go to bed and, um, because she was sneakin' out. So I didn't tell. So, I went to bed. 

Then, the, um... what happened was they did actually go... they made it all the way to Downtown Atlanta and the police picked 'em up and, uh, ended up bringin' 'em home. And there was a big, big, big, big, row about it. 

But, um, the next day, um, whenever I went to get my new Barbie doll to play with, your aunt June said I couldn't have it. And I said, 'why?' And she said, 'well, because we didn't get to see the Beatles.' And I said, 'no, that wasn't the deal. The deal was that if I didn't tell, I got the Barbie doll.' So, I went and told Mamma because June wouldn't give me the Barbie doll. I was cryin' and she said, 'what's wrong,' and so I told her. 

And, uh, I don't remember for sure, but I think Mamma.... I guess I'm sorta lucky she didn't get mad at me for not telling, but she got mad at June for telling - you know, for telling me I could have the Barbie dolls and then not giving 'em to me. And I think I got the Barbie dolls - I'm not sure. But, maybe I didn't get the Barbie dolls, but I got Barbie dolls that year for Christmas. So, I finally got my Barbie dolls. But, uh, it was... it was somethin... but your Aunt June and your Uncle Charlie were just determined that they were gunna get to see the Beatles. I think she was gunna go see 'em off at the Airport or somethin' but they got caught. And that's the Beatles story.”

Monday Memories - Learning to make Biscuits

Mom: I was telling Valerie about, um, when my mom got married - um, really young - my mom got married real young. And so, she didn't know how to cook. So she had to teach herself how to cook. So, um, one day she was trying to teach me how to cook biscuits and I was not doing a very - I, I just couldn't understand it - I couldn't do it. And, the way your Grandmama would cook biscuits is she would take the flower, and she had it in a big bowl and then she'd make a little well with her hand. She's sorta stir it so you'd have this little impression there. And then she just put her ingredients in there and mix 'em up - with her hands. And with your Grandmama, whenever she was cooking, she didn't measure anything. It was just like she knew how much to put in there. And then she could feel when the biscuit dough was right. And so, whenever I tried to do it and she was trying to tell me, she just go so frustrated. And, um, because I was tryin' to do it and the dough was sticking to my hands. And she was tryin' to explain why. And so finally she just made the biscuits. And so, um - but she told me, uh I - I was frustrated and I said, "I'm never gonna learn how to make biscuits" - which I never did. But, um, she was saying how she had to teach herself how to make 'em. And I said, "Why didn't your, um, your mom teach you?" And she says, "Well one - one day my Grandmama was gonna teach me how to bake biscuits. And, uh, she - she told me to come home by a certain time 'cause she was teachin' me - gonna teach me how to bake biscuits. And she said, but, um, what happened was she come home and, uh, she washed her hands and she went to go help her make biscuits. And she had put on - she had been over at one of her girlfriends house and she'd put on finger nail polish. And when her grandmother saw that fingernail polish on her hands, she had a fit! And told her, "how dare she think she's gonna make biscuits in her kitchen with that stuff on her fingers. And just get outa there." And, uh, she never would teach my mom how to make biscuits after that, because she come home wearin' finger nail polish one day. She just thought that was shocking that she was gonna make biscuits with finger nail polish on.

Valerie: What about other food?

Mom: She, she didn't teacher her how to cook anything.

Valerie: What about her mom - did her mom teach her how to cook?

Mom: No, she didn't know how to cook anything when she got married.

Valerie: Not a single thing?

Mom: Not a single thing.

Valerie: Did she talk about what they ate when they first got married?

Mom: Your Grandaddy used to laugh and say she didn't even know how to boil water when they got married.

Valerie: So what did they eat?

Mom: I don't know! They didn't starve. I guess got - like I said she taught herself how to cook.
Well, you know, for a while - for a little while she lived with, um, they lived with Aunt Tootsie.

Daddy's sister in South Carolina. And so finally Mama got fed up with that. And one day she just told - she just packed up and moved back to her parent's house. And she told her Daddy - she told Daddy, um, my Daddy - that he could either find a home, provide her a home or, or do without her. 'Cause she wasn't livin' with people anymore unless it was her people. So, he got a job in Atlanta and, and they got a hou- an apartment. And that's when it started... [unintelligible] So, I don't know. She just - she just taught herself how to cook.