|
a.
|
Note: I don't remember much about Mary Frances Speer, except that both she and Grandpop seem awfully old when I was growing up. Of course they were, both having been born in the late l800's. Daddy mentioned that Grandmama was a sucker for anybody that seemed needy. He remembered her making him go buy some cigarettes for the prison chain gang working on the road in front of the old farm Arp, Texas. My mother remembers Grandmama as being a bit of a hypochondriac, lying in bed all the time and complaining about her various illnesses. Beats me who was right. I remember Grandmama "dipping snuff," specifically Eli Garrett out of the bottle. And using a stick to get it out!
The last remembrance of Grandmama I have was when she and Grandpop were in the Sunshine Nursing home in Tyler. I remember going into their room and Grandmama's skin on her arm being taped, so that it wouldn't accidentally be knocked off. I her saying "Take me home, John, please take me home," of course Daddy could do no such thing, since no one could take care of her at the farmhouse. She died within a day or so of our last visit.
I vividly remember the "wake" and funeral for my grandmother. The wake was held in my aunt Cat's home in Arp, Texas. The coffin was brought in the day before the funeral was to be held in the local church. I remember the lid being left open and a gossamer veil being put over the opening. The local florist, Mrs. Skeen, brought in a floral arrangement and placed it on the coffin. Someone set up with the body all night long - I believe it was Aunt Cat's son, James.
DEATH RECORD, 1957
Smith Co. Death Records
Childress, Mary Frances Childress, b. 3/13/1875, d. 6/4/1957.
Father, R.H. Speer, born in Alabama.
Mother, Martha Ellen Ingram, born in Alabama.
View a photograph of this individual by visiting the online family photo album at:
<a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jpcfamily/">Childress/Mathi s Photo Album</a>
Photographs of many other related individuals also are in the above album.
|
