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Note: H00034
Note: Jessie Eugenia Darling Walker was a woman with great stresses in her later life. She saw four of her sons, Sterling, Clarence, Billy and Walter go off to serve the nation in World War II just after the time she lost her first husband to a massive heart attack one Wednesday night after they had been to worship at Caplevillle Tennessee Baptist Church. Left with two small children to raise; Marion (Pete) Warren and Robert (Bobby) Eugene times were very difficult. She later met and married Jesse Watwood, a widower who took her into his household that consisted of an old aunt, Lizzie and a crippled daugher, Nellie. Although he worked hard as a carpenter and storekeeper he provided little income for the family. There was little money for even school clothes for Pete and Bobby and had it not been for the older siblings and their spouses it would have been even worse. Much of the time of the marriage was spent on the old homestead near Germantown, Tn. (now part of Memphis, TN.) which consisted of 40 acres and an old two story farmhouse. Water for the family came from two cisterns which later had an electric pump to get water into the house. Every year Jessie had a large garden to furnish food for the family which she canned with a pressure cooker and mason jars. In the sprintime she would gather buckets of wild blackberries with my help for delicious jellies for the winter. I can remember the dozens of "chiggers" from the berry picking. There were always cows for milk and butter. The butter was made in an old fashioned churn. There were always in the summertime churns full of 14 day pickles being made for winter meals. Pork sausage was usually make in the winter after the weather was sufficiently cold enough to kill one of the large hogs we always had. In my imagination I can still smell the smoke of the fire used to heat water to scald the hog. A large barrell was used for the proceedure before it was scraped with sharp knives to get off all the hair from the skin. There was always a hugh box of salt to put the hog shoulders and hams in for preservation.On the night of the "hog killing" there would be a kind of celebration supper with fresh sausage, pork chops or "neck bones". The next morning the hog brains were served with the morning eggs and hot biscuits. I never had the stomach to try this. In late summers the pastures would be cut for hay which was bailed and stored in the loft of the barn. I spent lots of hours playing in the hay loft as a boy constructing "hide outs" with bails of hay. When the war (WW 2) was over and all my brothers came home and started their own families many Sundays were spent with hugh Sunday dinners and afternoons just sitting around a tree in the yard visiting and enjoying each other's company. The old Watwood homestead was sold and a new home with twice the amount of land was bought North of Memphis, Tn. in the Shelby Forrest area when I was about 17 years of age. Much time was spent on renovating the new home. The land except for a garden was never worked. It was about this time that I went away to Union University in Jackson, Tn. for thelogical studies. A scholarship in voice helped me to defray the first years college expenses. Each week I would hitch hike back home with a suitcase (with coathanger handle) full of weeks laundry to do. The main reason for all the effort of getting home most every week was to see and date Elizabeth (Betty) Lyle who was to become my bride. We have now been married almost 47 years. Written by Robert E.Walker __________________________________ DEATH CERTIFICATE: Says she died September 2, 1969 Cause of death: Urema due to or as a consequence of: Plasma Cell Myeloma. Other significant conditions: Anemia due to Renal Insufficiency.
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