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Lightning striking is very
provocative!
I
knew what lightning was, but I didn't know what uncle Grown Man meant
when he called M'Dear "Light'nin". But I learned at an
early age. If M'Dear was anything she was provocative! And she
was quick. Quick as light'nin! In thought and deed!
"She's quick on the draw (quick tempered), drives her car with the pedal to
the metal, and don't take 'no shit' from nobody", is the way he described
her. They had a little
whistle code they used when they were out of sight of each other around
the farm. Uncle Grown Man would whistle thusly: "Wheew
whet" and M'Dear would whistle respond with: "Wheet whee
whew"; and Uncle Grown Man would whistle back: "Whet
Whew". This meant "Lightn'nin?" and "What you
want?" and "Come here." M'Dear would come in
from the barn or hog pen in her khaki riding pants from the horses stall,
where she was working, making her way hurriedly toward the house.
During her lifetime she was a real go-getter. Self-reliant, a little
rough around the edges, so some said, but she was the true Matriarch of
the family.
M'Dear married quite young to John Ash and gave birth to a son who died as
a boy, I believe, from scarlet fever. She then gave birth to a
daughter, my mother, Johnnie Mae Ash. That marriage ended in divorce
and she then married Joseph Benjamin Molette. From that union came
my aunt Bobby Mollette. I don't remember much about J. B. Mollette
except that he had asthma really bad. We called him "Pop".
M'Dear married one more time later in life, to Adolphus White.
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M'Dear
was indeed a feisty and determined woman. I recall one of the last
times I saw her alive. In the Summer of '92, the family was in Pine
Bluff for my Aunt Bobby's funeral. That day M'Dear was
complaining about the sloppy job that someone had done cleaning underneath
the kitchen sink. She got down on the floor on her back to scrub and
sweep under there, her knees in the air. She was following her own
advice. As she always said, "If you want something done
right, you better do it yourself" I warned her that anyone in
the right position could look up her "name and address"
She gave me a snaggled tooth grin and said "Thank ya ma'am".
while I helped her up from the floor.
Later that evening, I gave her a pedicure, and she told me her feet were
shouting, and she was really happy. It was her first pedicure.
She then led me to the front of the house and showed me a long kimono and
a small red rose. She told me to be sure that she wore that when she
went home to meet her Maker. She gave me all her family records and
told me she wanted me to have them because she knew I'd know what to do
with them.
Two weeks later M'Dear died in her sleep. I made sure the
garments she wanted were taken to the funeral home for her to be dressed in, as she
requested. She looked very peaceful, smiling, and dressed in her
kimono with the little red rose at her neck, just like she wanted to be:
Lookin her best to meet her Maker when she went home. [Obit] |
