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ZONA BELLE TRIPP
Ms. Zona Belle Tripp died at the age of 91 in Greensboro, GA,
on Thursday, June 21. Zona came to work for our family when I
was a baby to look after my sister, Judy (and ever after into adult
hood, Judy remained "my baby" to Zona). Zona was 16, and she
had a child of her own at home. Her work as nurse evolved into
housekeeper and cook, and she was a part of our family from then
on until my mother died in her 80s. (Zona's death came the day
before my mother's 100th birthday.)
I did not stay in touch with Zona as well as I should have to
ward the end of her life, but news of her passing brings a flood of
memories from the very quick of my soul, for she was part of us.
She was part of the history of our family, and, in a larger sense, of
our state and our region, for her story is not unusual, though Zona
herself was an unusual person.
She walked across town to show up at our house in time to fix
breakfast seven days a week. Before she left each day, she had also
cooked our midday dimer, cleaned the house, and, on washday,
washed our clothes and ironed them. For a large part of her time
with us, we children were in school during the day, so the nurse-
ma’ding slacked off, but she was always there, always keeping a
critical eye on Judy, sister Jo and me. If she thought I needed a
haircut, she would tell me I looked just like a boy I won't name
from the mill village, who was notoriously ill attended. If we mis-
oehaved, she would inform my father, the ultimate enforcer. Zona
had an unwavering sense of what was right and wrong and what
was proper for us, and she
was even quicker and more
direct than Mamma when we
needed to be reminded that
we weren't behaving.
I will not tell you what
Zona Belle Tripp made work
ing for our family. It was
little enough at the time—
the only way a middle-class family could afford such care—but it
would sound criminal today. In later years Zona also helped Judy
with her house and branched out to Cousin Miles and others, by
this time paid better and driven to and from work.
Several years after Zona came to work for us, w*hen I had not
yet started to school (kindergarten being nonexistent), my father
agreed to build Zona a house, and she agreed to pay him back
out of her wages over time. My Uncle Lawton was between jobs,
as usual, so Daddy hired him to oversee the construction. Unc, in
turn, took me on as his assistant supervisor, and every morning he
stopped by and picked me up on his way to inspect the progress
on the house. Daddy thus not only got the house built, he kept his
brother and me both occupied.
Zona lived up to her part of the bargain. She was proud of her
home, and she paid my father every week and kept paying after
he died. At some point, my mother forgave the small amount Zona
still owed on her house, but not before a panicked siding sales
man called our home one Thanksgiving Day, saying that he had
put asbestos siding on Zona's house only to find out when he went
to get a lien on it that she didn't own it. "She told me it was her
house," he bemoaned, asking us to sign it over to his company. "It
is her house," I told him. "and I can assure you that she will pay
you every penny whether or not you hold a lien over her." And of
course she did.
With little education. Zona was wise. She read the newspaper
and kept up with the news on television. She had a wide circle of
friends and family in town and was active in her church, where she
sang in the choir. Her friends called her "Noon," but I've forgotten
why. She was devoted to her son, James Russell, and even when
he moved to New York, they stayed in touch, and he would come
to visit her. Zona had a husband, Linton, but he had problems, and
she finally got tired of putting up with him.
James Russell convinced Zona to come up to New York and live
with him, but she just got homesick and came back. Later in her
life, he got her to come live with him in South Carolina, and I
guess to make sure she would stay, he sold her house. Then James
Russell died, and Zona came back to Greensboro, where her nieces,
Mary Ann and Alberta, too her in and took care of her for the rest
of her life. Through it all, Zona, though she could be fussy, kept
her positive outlook, in spite of the cruel turn of fate that took
her son and her home. She maintained her interest in our family,
our spouses, our children and grandchildren.
Any time I saw her, she would say I looked just like my father,
and she would laugh about things he had said and done. I think
they were in many ways of the same temperament, unsentimen-
tally taking care of business. I think Zona and my ladylike mother
weren't exactly on the same wavelength, but they got along, and
Mamma couldn't have been near the lady she was without her.
Zona did the heavy lifting for us all.
Pete McCommons editor@flagpole.com
She was part of the history
of our family, and, in a
larger sense, of our state
and our region...
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
MEWS & FEATURES
In the Trenches for the Middle Class 8
Day Labor Stories, Part 2
In this installment: out of the labor pool and on the job...
ARTS & EVENTS
Grub Notes 13
Get Your Sushi On
Sampling the sushi at Shokitim. and trying out the new menu at Thai Spoon, formerly Thai Cafe.
MUSH©
Celebrate Good Times 22
The 2007 Flagpole Athens Music Awards Show
Flagpoles ninth annual show upped the ante, getting the crowd out of their seats and into the aisles.
AthFest In Pictures 24
A Look At The 2007 Summer Festival
Eleven years in and the annual local throwdown keeps growing and growing.
Giving Form To The Formless 27
Free-Jazz Chicagoans Ken Vandermark and Tim Daisy Combine Forces
With just two players at this Flicker show, these musicians' multiple talents should have free rein.
LETTERS...-
4
ABC
.. 16
CITY PAGES
5
FLAGPOLE ATHENS MUSIC AWARDS .
.22
CAPITOL IMPACT
6
ATHFEST 2007
..24
BOOK REVIEW
7
A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW .
..26
DAY LABOR STORIES. PT.2
8
VANDERMARK & DAISY DUO
..27
SCOOTERS
9
RECORD REVIEWS
.28
OUT THERE!
10
THREATS & PROMISES
.29
GRUB NOTES
13
COMICS
.30
MOVIE DOPE
14
REALITY CHECK
.31
MOVIE PICK
15
CLASSIFIEDS
..32
COVER DESIGN by Kelly Ruberto
featuring a painting by Claudia Padilla on
display at the Lyndon House Arts Center
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ISSUE NUMBER 25
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NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS JUNE 27,2007 • FLAGPOLE.COM 3