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1 July 1926 - 23 December 2017

  • She is Helen, Miz Helen, Sister, Mama, or Gee Gee.
  • She is an impressive 90 years old.
  • The second oldest of ten children - seven boys and three girls - she helped her mother raise her brothers and sisters during the Great Depression. Her father, unfortunately, was not interested in being a proper parent.
  • She started working as soon as she started walking. One of her earliest memories is crawling through a field to pick cotton at age three.
  • Her grandmother Ada Belle was a major formative influence in her life, and talking about Ada Belle makes her so happy. She greatly admired her grandmother's kindness, resiliency, and positive attitude.
  • She was the first girl to make her high school's basketball team.
  • She was a finalist in the school spelling bee every year that she attended. She won twice.
  • Everyone is welcome in her home.
  • She believes that food is love. You cannot leave her house without eating something.
  • "I can't eat that. I'm a diabetic," she says as she digs into the plate of desserts that's just been placed in front of her at a family dinner.
  • She loves pizza, fuzzy socks, and reading.
  • Her favorite color is brown.
  • She is a breast cancer survivor. For her, cancer was simply one more obstacle to overcome in a life that has been fraught with obstacles.
  • Much to my surprise, she really did frame the postcard that I sent her from London.
  • At age fourteen, she got her first job in town; she was a hostess at a Krystal. A few years later, a tall, skinny boy with dark hair and light blue eyes became one of her regulars. He always sat at the counter, and somehow she never noticed how rarely he ordered food. He came in just to talk to her. One day, he asked her out on a date, and she said yes. The rest, as they say, is history. The boy was my great-grandfather.
  • Her phone conversations never last more than five minutes.
  • She is a superb cook. Her biscuits and cakes are legendary.
  • She believes that a cup should contain an impossible amount of ice before you add the drink.
jul 29 2016 ∞
dec 30 2017 +