Newspaper Page Text
HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Talk of the Town
a
I
Julie
Evans
Evans
Newspapers
Inc.
jevans@evansnewspapers.com
Tommy Storey, you
did a wonderful job last
Friday afternoon at Allen
Pritchett’s funeral. I know
that the family couldn’t
have been more pleased
with the kind words you
shared with everyone.
It is very obvious that
Allen Pritchett will be
missed in this small com
munity that we call Perry.
• • •
She is just as pretty
today as she was when she
was in high school. I would
recognize those green eyes
anywhere, and don’t for
get that perfect smile she
carries around with her.
(I wonder where she got
that from?) It is always
good to see “Miss Georgia”
when she comes to visit
her parents. It was Kelly
Jerles that I saw in town
last week.
Do you know who I think
is just as pretty or prettier?
Kelly’s mom, Miss Peggy!
• • •
Some of my kinfolks have
found out that they are
going to have a baby girl.
It’s Gary and Kat Virden
who live in Orlando,
Florida now. Gary is from
Marshallville and his par
ents Freddie and Mary
Jane still live there.
The proud parents are
expecting on March 15th.
which is my Danny’s
birthday along with that
of Julie Moore, Roe Jerles
and Scott Free.
Must be a popular date
other than the other birth
day that has gained popu
larity with me, April 15.
• • •
Do you know Diana
Deighton from Warner
Robins? I haven’t known
her too long, but was invit
ed to her home the other
day for a game of Bunco.
There were three tables
of ladies who played the
dice game, and we all had
a great time.
Diana showed nothing
but southern hospitality in
her beautiful home with a
great lunch that she served
before the games started.
Julie Dimes was the big
winner and Hope Cerillo
the runner up.
I don’t guess that I did
too badly. I won $5, but
can’t remember why!
• • •
We are just about ready
for the Pig Jig next week
end. If you come down to
Vienna on Thursday or
Friday night, stop by our
“house” and say hello.
We are on the back side
when you come through
the gate.
Look to your right and
it looks like a fire station
... Who would have ever
thought that Danny Evans
would do that? I’ll let you
know how we do.
• • •
Congratulations to my
little gentleman friend,
Tom Tuggle. He bagged
himself a 10 pointer this
past weekend. Tom has got
hunting in the blood.
I believe that I would
attribute that to his grand
daddy, Bobby Tuggle.
• ••
Just met with Melanie
Lewis today about the
upcoming Christmas
See TALK, Page jC
LIFESTYLE
A child of the Great Depression saves everything
Mandatory to my mama’s
generation was the owner
ship of a deep freezer and
a sewing machine. These,
remember, were people who
believed in self-reliance and
independence. You grew
what you ate, you froze or
canned it and you sewed
what you wore.
To demonstrate my
mama’s solemn oath to inde
pendence, she owned two
sewing machines and two
freezers.
“Why?” I once asked.
“Because if one gives out, I
got a back-up.”
Of course.
Well,. one of the freez
ers - a good ol’ Frigidaire
- is well over fifty years old.
Sometime, a long time ago,
when the white chest freez
er began to show extreme
signs of rust, Mama sprayed
painted it black. Then, when
the black began to rust, she
took blue gingham checked
contact paper and pasted it
all around the body. Mama
Perry friends stitch in time for a good cause
r v -'tW ’
Journal/Charlotte Perkins
Judy Lilley with the hand-stitched, queen-sized quilt she and her friends made
to raise money for the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure. At the right, a detail
of the handiwork, close up.
A person who has blessed my life
Me and the Boys
9B I '. ’iH
pf . *-‘ J I
1
Angela
Lineberger
Columnist
The ringing of the door
bell sounded. As I went to
answer it I had no way of
knowing that the person on
the other side of my door
that day would bless my life
and truly change it forever.
A few months before, my
husband I had brought four
babies home from the hos
pital. After seven months
of pregnancy, five of those
being on bed rest, I had
delivered quintuplets, all
boys. Four were healthy and
one was stillborn.
Dixie Divas
' '
Ronda
Rich
Columnist
www.rondarich.com
was thrifty as well as clever.
“Smartest woman I’ve
ever known,” Rodney, my
brother-in-law often said.
The ugly freezer called
the “old one” sits across the
utility room from the “new
one” which is young at forty
years old. And the old one
still works. Which is the
problem.
“Mama, that old freezer
is eating up your power,”
I’d been telling her for two
years before she died. “What
do you need two freezers
for?”
What about if hard times
My pregnancy had been a
roller coaster ride of emo
tion. We found out that I
was carrying four babies my
fifth week of pregnancy. At
15 weeks, we discovered by
ultrasound that I wasn’t car
rying four, but five babies.
As I lay in bed week after
week, arid then month after
month, everyone prayed that
our babies would be healthy.
Each week was a mile
stone. Twenty-four weeks
was our first goal. Once I
made it there, my doctor
admitted me to the hospital
to remain until the babies
were born.
My husband, Kerry, and
2-year-old son, Tully visited
me daily and spent the night
with me on weekends. We
had a big celebration when I
reached 28 weeks, complete
with cake and balloons.
It was a good reason to
celebrate too. At the time
come and I need somethin’
to eat?” She set her jaw and
„ that’s when I knew she died
with two freezers which, of
course, is exactly what she
did.
Now, I’m almost as thrifty
as Mama though not to the
extreme where I go to a res
taurant and take home all
the free bread they’ll give
me. Still, when the power
bill at Mama’s house became
my responsibility to pay,
that’s when I became very
interested in the electricity
liability of the old freezer.
The day that our elec
tricity bills came and mine
was one dollar cheaper
than Mama’s was the day I
decided something had to be
done. After all, my house is
twice as big as Mama’s and
I actually live there. Mama’s
house was empty.
“I’m cleaning out that old
freezer and unplugging it,”
I told my sister. “What’s
good, I’ll move into the new
freezer.”
of my pregnancy, babies
that were bom after twenty
eight weeks had a 90 percent
chance of survival.
Two more weeks crawled
by without incident, but
heartbreaking news was
given to us at week 30. On
a Saturday morning, dur
ing a routine ultrasound, we
found that our littlest baby
had died. We already knew
that he suffered from a con
genital heart defect.
I had prayed that if he
couldn’t be healed, I wanted
God to take him before he
was bom. I didn’t want him
to suffer. God answered my
prayer, but it’s never easy to
let go of someone you love,
even if you know it’s for the
best. The days seemed to
crawl, but we finally reached
31 weeks.
On Monday, March 6,1995
my doctor came in to check
the babies by ultrasound.
First of all, Mama appar
ently never threw out a
margarine tub. Instead, she
cooked something, put it in
the tub and put it in the
freezer.
You wouldn’t want a per
fectly good butter tub to go
to waste, would you? She
marked everything by put
ting a piece of masking tape
across the lid and identifying
it with: Fried Squash, ’Ol. I
found many tubs and freezer
bags that had been in there
for 10 to 15 years.
Good heavens, you have
never seen so many contain
ers of homemade vegetable
soup and collard greens. If
I had five dollars for every
package I found, I could pay
Mama’s power bill for years.
Why do you suppose, I
asked myself, she didn’t eat
some of this soup or col
lard greens instead of always
making fresh batches and
putting them in the freezer?
The answer is simple.
Mama was a child of the
Great Depression, an eco
Pretty in Pink
By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
The whole project took a year’s time and countless tiny
stitches, but for Judy Lilley and her friends, all the time
they spent on their project will bay off with a donation of
over $6,000 to the battle against breast cancer.
The drawing for quilt they blade, in a classic “wind
mill” pattern, with delicate shades of pink, will be held
today at Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure at Wesleyan
College. • •- •
Going back to the beginning, Judy Lilley, a social work
er in private practice - who had never made a quilt in her
life - saw a short story in a magazine about a quilt being
auctioned off to raise funds to Battle breast cancer
She decided it was something she could do, with help
from her good friend, and experienced quilter, Jackie
Marshall.
They picked the pattern, and Judy picked the fabric,
helping with the ironing as Jackie did the stitching
See SJUIL T, Page jC
I *« * • *li
I kwt&s&p l ****** ;JjKfW. >1
I T ‘ EsglgS • \ ‘jfjffl
| : 3 ** * i'w- IhSSSgwA' •
One of the babies’ heart rate
was slowing. That was the
sign we needed. It was time
to deliver. Later that day, at
1:15 and 1:16 p.m., Joshua
Talbot, Hunter Christian,
Zachary Quinten, Charles
Lucas, and Benjamin Kirk
were delivered by c-section.
Kerry and I were able to
hold Zachary and tell him
goodbye.
The others boys were
whisked away to the
Intensive Care Nursery
where they remained until
they each weighed four and
a half pounds.
After several weeks in the
hospital, it was time for the
boys to come home. Friends
and family volunteered to
help with the babies and gifts
of clothing, formula, and
diapers poured in. The fol
lowing weeks were a blur of
feedings and diaper changes.
The boys were all on moni
SECTION: C
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2S, 2008
nomic downturn that had
nearly smothered the
Southern mountains.
khe had known hard times
arid wanted to make sure
she always had something to
eat, even if it was 15 years
old.
But you got to hand it to
that old Frigidaire freezer.
It’s outlived five stoves, four
whshing machines, three
microwaves and two refrig
erators.
Plus who knows how much
longer it’ll continue to run.
I wonder if the Frigidaire
folks have a museum and
wbuld like to have it back.
After all, with its ging
hhm checked contact paper
decoration over black spray
paint, it would certainly be
the most unique one in their
collection.
And it still works.
Sign up for Ronda’s news
letter at wwwrondarich.com.
She is the best-selling author
of What Southern Women
Know (That Every Woman
Should).
tors to record their breath
ing and heart rate, and each
was also on several different
medications. Kerry and I
survived on very little sleep,
but all of the hard work paid
off. The babies were thriv
ing. They gained weight and
after several months, began
sleeping through the night.
Taking care of them was
still a monumental task, so
when my doorbell rang that
fateful day, I was thrilled
to see Joan Dorsett stand
ing at my door. I had only
met Joan once before, when
she and a friend had visited
me when I was pregnant.
That day, she had offered to
help us once the babies were
bom.
Several months passed,
and that visit slipped from
my thoughts, but not from
Joan’s because there she
stood, ready to work. As
See JOAN, Page 3 C