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Lillian Barbin Whitman Lillian Barbin Whitman was born in 1906 in Marksville La. She was the second oldest of eight
siblings born to Winton Aristide Barbin and Cecille Bize. She married Winnfield Carroll
Whitman and had four children: Gretchen, Mary Marjorie, Charles, and Don.
She died in Sept. 1990 several months after this picture was taken with her great grandson, Alex.
 Mother's Day 1990  Lillian "Grandma" was dearly loved by her family and is in our thoughts and prayers. She still lives in our hearts and we would like to share some of the family memories of her. NEW! Feel free to elaborate on any of the memories in our family message board. Billy's Memories -Updated Jan 3, 2000 Charles' Memories -Updated Nov 9, 99 Donna (Dee Dee's) Memories -Updated Nov 10, 99 Susan's Memories Gretchen's Memories -Updated Nov 10, 99 Dawn's Memories
 Billy's Memories I have some pretty good memories of Grandma as well. When we were little, we used to go over to Grandma's a lot. Occasionally, one or more of us would spend the night with Grandma. I really loved spending the night over at her house. I would stay in Grandpa's room, the one with the wood floors and the bookshelves. The next morning, she would always make great scrambled eggs and toast. I especially liked playing with her toy chest. It was located in that section of the dining room that led to the steps down to the den. I remember I would start playing with all the different toys in the chest, making a big mess of the room. However, at the end, Grandma would tell me to clean up all the toys, and I would. Remember the cow bell in her kitchen or how grandma loved to play solitaire? It was also a tradition in our family to have ice cream cakes for each of our birthdays (Mary Beth, Barbara, me, and Mikey). We also would have an ice cream cake for Grandma as well. I still remember the yellow water jug that Grandma had. The water from that water jug always seemed so refreshing. When Grandma was in the nursing home, I remember talking to her about my school and telling her about my life. She always seemed so caring and understanding. Finally at the funeral, I was one of the people that held the casket. I remember being very sad. The post-funeral reception was held at our old house at 902 Cleveland. That was the one time that I can remember that every relative had ever shown up in one place. Grandma was truly special to a lot of people.
Charles' Memories In the weeks before Mama died I tried to visit her frequently. The doctor had put her on a synthetic morphine to ease the pain she had. Whether the following was the result of the morphine or something else I'll let the reader decide. On each visit Mama would tell me of visitors she had since my last visit. Usually they were Gretchen and some of the grand children but one day she told me that she had been visited by her sister Juliette. Mama told of how she and Juliette remembered about their youth and events in Marksville. I thought that this must have been a dream because Juliette was already deceased. On other visits she told of childhood friends and other relatives visiting her, all of whom had predeceased her. On one of the last visits I made she spoke of my brother, Don, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1961. This interested me because I had periodic dreams of Don over the years and in my dreams he grew older like myself. I asked Mama what he looked like and she described him as looking similar to my most recent dream of Don! On my last visit, Mama said something about "Mama" and I responded "You're my mama" to which she replied "Not me, I'm talking about my Mama -- she's at the foot of the bed?" Of course, no one else was there, but I said anyway "What does Little Grandma want?" Mama replied "She's come to take me home -- I think its time for me to go." With those words Mama closed her eyes and I never again heard her speak. She died the next morning. Mama loved her children and grandchildren and other relatives (including in-laws) with an unconditional love that's hard to find nowadays. She got that from Little Grandma (Cecile Bize Barbin), who was undoubtedly the only true saint I have ever knowed personally. I want to believe that Little Grandma really came to get Mama to take her to Heaven!
Donna (Dee Dee's) Memories I always loved going to grandma's house in the summer to spend a week with her. She taught me how to sew. I remember that she made clothes for me when I was in first grade and I would go to church with her. Grandma made the best homemade fudge in the world. She also had a great green thumb.She taught me about all kinds of plants. She had beautiful magnolias, azaleas, and roses. I remember that she loved to play cards with Aunt Margie,Aunt Georgette, Aunt Elsie, and other ladies.They would joke around in French so we would not understand them. I still love Grandma and think of her often. I know she is there in heaven with Grandpa. God Bless You Grandma.
Did you know that she had long black hair and wore it in braids tied on top of her head when she was younger. When she started turning grey she greyed first above her forehead and next to her face then it slowly worked its way until it covered her head except for the part just above the nape of her neck. That remained black. She always used Alberto VO5 to keep it from frizzing. Do you remember the vast amount a shoes she had???? Every different color and style in pumps that you can imagine. Once when I was in the 9th grade, I was in a beauty pagent and she lent me a pair of spiked heels that were brocade scallopes - black alternating with rainbow colors and pink. How wild, but I did wear them. After she had her hip replaced she always had trouble walking, but would want to go shopping for shoes anyway. I'd bring her. Usually to the most expensive shoe store or a place that had Dr. Scholls or maybe to Cocos She'd try on EVERY pair, choose one and buy it. Then after she'd get home, She ALWAYS had me return them. I can remember when I was very young (Maybe 40 years ago or so) She'd take me shopping downtown. She'd have Grampa drop us off at Mullers and we'd spend the entire day shopping every store. She'd always bring along a pair of fold up slippers to wear when her feet hurt. We had lunch at Walgreens in the window so we could watch the shoppers pass by. We'd have a huge limeade with a cherry in the bottom. Then towards 5:00 Grampa would pick us up and we'd go home. She didn't usually have a lot of packages. She just liked to look and touch everything. Once she told that when she was young that they would go to "Elic" to shop like that. An all day affair. You know that she believed that if you ever had to go some where overnight, you HAD to have a new nightgown and robe and new underwear. I can remember so much more. Some old memories from the 50s and some not so old - like the time she was in the hospital after the surgery that never healed. I visited her and tried to make a cup of tea with one of those hot coils. Well I had to leave and I left the coil plugged in on the floor across the room. She was in traction and began to get worried when it began to smoke. She couldn't get out of bed to unplug it. Boy did I hear about it the next day. In the 50s before they had air-conditioning G-ma would take her nap on the wooden floor in the summer. She'd put her arm over her eyes to block out the light. She didn't have a dryer then and would hang out her laundry, but the pollen would make her arms and hands itch so bad and they would break out. We had a good laugh at Grandpa one time. He was so hot and his forehead would perspire and drip in his eyes. Soooo he tried a headband, but that didn't do any good so he used Arid on his forehead. THEN the sweat burned his eyes with the Arid drippin down and getting in his eyes too. Did you know that G-ma never perspired under her arms? She never had to use any deodorant at all. But she did perspire at the nape of her neck. Her hair in the back would always be wet. In the cabinet over the dryer, Gramdpa kept every different kind of glue made. He had several kinds of epoxies and contact cement. G-ma had him fix all kinds of things. One time he broke his upper plate in half and G-ma suggested that he glue it. And he did. It worked just fine. G-ma always had a dish of celery, radishes, cucumbers or other fresh vegetables on the table at lunch. They ate their main meal at lunch because Grandpa started his workmen very early in the morning. He be on the phone by 5:00am talking with Cowboy or Gabe and then be on the job usually by 6 ot 6:30. G-ma always fixed a full meal for his return, about 12:00. In the evenings they always just snacked or ate cereal and milk. One time we went to Weingartens grocery shopping. This was in the 50s. The total bill was $52.00. They had two shopping baskets full. When they got home, G-pa discovered that the check he wrote to Weingartens was still in his checkbook. So G-ma had him call the store. They said that he would have to wait until they closed out the register to see if he really didn't pay. G-ma wanted to go back right then, but Grandpa said that they had to do what the manager said and sure enough, the manager called and said that he hadn't given them the check. G-ma was mad that they had to wait so late to take the check. They usually were in bed by 8:30. After Grandpa died G-ma started staying up later. She liked to have a covered cup of water on her night stand and a piece of cheese just before going to bed. She said that the cheese made her sleep better.  Gretchen's Memories Grandma had a lot of trouble with me when I was little as I was the "only child" for five years! I can remember tantrums that I threw when I didn't get my way. One time either she or Little G'ma made me a beautiful black velvet dress with appliqued red velvet shamrocks(!) all around the skirt. I loved it but I didn't want to wear it to church cause I thought everybody would look at me. She and Daddy had to drag me into the car (that was at Ro Gully) and people did look at me because I was all redeyed and pouting. Do you remember tales about Ro Gully? She used to say that when they lived out there she just stopped living. There were a lot of water moccasins and other little varmints that she didn't like and neither did I. She loved to eat crackers and milk for lunch out there. If she wanted to bake we had to go to Aunt Ease's next door (about 1/4 mile) to use her oven. Grandma only had a kerosene stove. Aunt Ease had a big wood stove with an oven. She made wild plum jelly from a tree in our yard. In summer Grandpa would buy a 150 block of ice in Pineville on his way back from work and prop it up on the back bumper of the car so that we would have at least a hundred lb.block when he got home. We had a cow named Beulah. We had no running water or plumbing or electricity. Just a well & pump, an outdoor toilet and kerosene lamps. Grandpa had built a huge fireplace which heated both rooms in the winter. But the house was so cute. We were the only ones on the road who had casement windows and a huge stucco chimney out front! Both Don and Tootsie were born there and Little Grandma came both times. Once there was a flood and Grandpa made a raft out of washtubs and planks. We got out before the house was flooded but Grandpa and I went back on the raft to hike up some of the furniture. Ah, that was life during the Great Depression. We would go out there when work was scarce and we were out of money. But we ate well. Grandma did a lot of needlework and visited a lot with Aunt Ease (Eloise) who was a lovely, motherly person. Grandma came to live with us after she became so
disabled that she couldn't care for herself any more.
We hired two women, Felicia & Josephine, to tend her
while I was at work. She especially loved TV and Jane
Pauley was her favorite. She never forgave "that old
Gumbel" for "getting rid of Paula." After a year, we
lost our help and I had to miss several school days
to stay with her. We had talked about the nursing
home here in Welsh several times so we went to visit.
The people there were all so nice to her and when she
saw that they had TVs and potted plants in the rooms
and found out that they played Bingo twice a week,she
said that seemed a nice place to go. Also it was only
three blocks from the house and there were no visiting
hours. I could come and go at any time of the day or
night! I will always be thankful that Mama refused to
let me feel guilty about "putting" her in a nursing
home! Any time I felt tired and stressed out I could
go and relax in her room. She was usually in her chair
and I was on her bed! She was so tickled when she won
enough at Bingo to pay for her shampoo and hairdo (25cts.) Dawn's Memories Growing up, I remember how excited I was when my parents would say "We're going to Grandma's". Something seemed magical about her and her house. Everytime we visited she took us on a tour of her yard. We took the same tour more times than I can count, but it was fun just hearing her talk. She would take us to see her comquats, muskadine trees, roses, magnolia blossoms, and pecan trees. She always seemed to put us to work cleaning out her bird bath. I think she noticed every new flower blossom, bird, and squirrel that was in that yard. When she noticed something new she would say "Well, I Declare!"  Some of my fondest memories of her is when she would have us grandchildren gather up all of the muskadines to make jelly. Then we would take turns grinding them for her and we would watch her make the jelly. Oh, it came out so good that I can almost taste it now. She would pass out jars for the relatives to take home and enjoy. I wonder if that muskadine tree is still standing.  She had such an assortment of breakables in that house that I don't know how she could stand
to have so many grandchildren, and great grandchildren running around. I guess we knew
better than to touch or we would get "The Stare". Her thick glasses made it all the more
indimitating. If you didn't take heed of the stare she would say "Ahhh Ahhhh" and that's
usually all it would take to keep us in line! Everytime I smell Oil of Olay or Rose Milk Face Cream, I think of her. Sometimes even now I
think I smell it out of the blue. Maybe it's her way of saying "Hi". One year she got
six bottles of Oil of Olay for Christmas which I found hilarious. She swore that it keeps
your skin young and beautiful...but I thought she was beautiful down to the last wrinkle
and gray hair. I used to love to hear her talk in French. She usually reserved the french for get togethers
with her cajun girlfriends when she didn't want the grandchildren to hear the conversation.
I can still imagine that bunch of old ladies drinking, playing cards, giggling,
and carrying on. I could make out a few unmentionable words so I knew they were being
naughty. I always wondered what was being said about me.
I miss Grandma. She was the glue that held the family together. Out of respect for Grandma and the love she had for her extended family, I feel it is our duty to keep the family ties for family is the most important thing on earth. Treasure the moments we have together for our lives are brief and fleeting. We often don't realize the impact our loved ones make on our lives until they are gone. |
