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Iris Jean Sellers, 30 August 1936Mama….
Ever present, ever guarding, at any cost, the little ones she had brought into the world…
Mama was the baby of the Carver & Flora Sellers family, and the most beautiful by all considerations. Shy yet feisty, completely devoted to Daddy as the true love of her life. Not many stories were kept of her childhood and attachment to Daddy, but it is clear that the move to be with him forever was an easy one, and her love for him was undoubted.
Mama was raised poor, as were the majority of the families of the Appling County area, and they moved from house to house around the county, never owning anything, but living as the sharecroppers of the times did. Mama's natural beauty obviously made her the object and apple of Daddy's eye, and many others at the time as I recall being told, and their marriage was an inevitable consequence.
When they married, Daddy did not have a "pot to piss in", and they were compelled to live with Daddy's parents for a while, even when I was born, and Mama never liked that. She didn't really like Grandpa much, and was never comfortable around him. They soon moved into an abandoned sharecropper house at the edge of a cotton field, owned by Shorty Edmunds, whom Daddy had signed on to work for as a handyman on his huge farm. The house was far less than comfortable, but Mama made it a home. The kitchen was primitive and cold and the bedrooms (2) were too small and drafty to be comfortable. The small living room had an inadequate fireplace and only barely enough room for a couple of their friends to sit around and talk.
Mama had the three of her kids in the house (me, Susie, Debbie), and she had Granny Sellers over much of the time to help care for us, while she picked cotton by hand in the cotton field adjacent to the house, often 5 days a week, from sun-up to sundown. Mama even made a small cotton-pickers bag for me, which was a bag made from flour sacks, with a shoulder strap. The bag dragged the ground behind you, as you trudged up and down the cotton rows, picking the cotton bolls and filling up the bag. My bag was not so much for me to pick cotton, but rather to beside her and let Granny take care of Susie and Debbie.
Mama was always quiet, and always seemed to be reclusive and dreaming. Being country kids, we spent most of our time outdoors, and Mama spent most of her time in the house, watching the black & white tv or sitting in the porch swing, sort of watching us, but mostly waiting for Daddy to come home. She made us hero uniforms (I vividly recall my Robin Hood handmade outfit), helped us make dog-fennel forts to play in, and made sure when we fell out of the trees or the tire swings or the roof of the house, that we were petted and kissed and sent back outside.
Mama was focused on her children, wanting to make sure that even though we were among the poorest in the county, we were not mistreated or frowned on too much. Sometimes she overlooked too much our faults and mistakes, just to make sure that we stayed up with everyone else.
Grandpa Carver & Granny Flora
We didn't spend as much time with Granny & Grandpa Sellers, but we were close to them. Grandpa Carver, strong, silent, hard-working, was usually out in the garden, out working or sitting outside. He loved Granny so much, but she was a nagger, and constantly on Grandpa about something he did not do or something he did wrong. Thus, he preferred to spend as much time away from her as possible, outside, piddling.
Grandpa Carver was a solid man. He grew up poor and hard and worked quietly to take care of his family. You never heard him say much, and when he did, it was about getting food for dinner or making some innocuous joke. He had an infectious giggle for a laugh, and his arms were strong and comforting. I loved sitting with him.
I remember Granny as comforting and loving, and always dithering about the house, seeming to have somewhere else she wanted to be. She was tasked to raise her son Ed's two sons, Donnie & Jimmy, when Ed's marriage broke up. Donnie had Muscular Dystrophy, and died before the age of 16. He was one of my closest cousins. More about the cousins later.
There is much more to be written about Grandpa & Granny Sellers, and it will come soon.
Ever present, ever guarding, at any cost, the little ones she had brought into the world…
Mama was the baby of the Carver & Flora Sellers family, and the most beautiful by all considerations. Shy yet feisty, completely devoted to Daddy as the true love of her life. Not many stories were kept of her childhood and attachment to Daddy, but it is clear that the move to be with him forever was an easy one, and her love for him was undoubted.
Mama was raised poor, as were the majority of the families of the Appling County area, and they moved from house to house around the county, never owning anything, but living as the sharecroppers of the times did. Mama's natural beauty obviously made her the object and apple of Daddy's eye, and many others at the time as I recall being told, and their marriage was an inevitable consequence.
When they married, Daddy did not have a "pot to piss in", and they were compelled to live with Daddy's parents for a while, even when I was born, and Mama never liked that. She didn't really like Grandpa much, and was never comfortable around him. They soon moved into an abandoned sharecropper house at the edge of a cotton field, owned by Shorty Edmunds, whom Daddy had signed on to work for as a handyman on his huge farm. The house was far less than comfortable, but Mama made it a home. The kitchen was primitive and cold and the bedrooms (2) were too small and drafty to be comfortable. The small living room had an inadequate fireplace and only barely enough room for a couple of their friends to sit around and talk.
Mama had the three of her kids in the house (me, Susie, Debbie), and she had Granny Sellers over much of the time to help care for us, while she picked cotton by hand in the cotton field adjacent to the house, often 5 days a week, from sun-up to sundown. Mama even made a small cotton-pickers bag for me, which was a bag made from flour sacks, with a shoulder strap. The bag dragged the ground behind you, as you trudged up and down the cotton rows, picking the cotton bolls and filling up the bag. My bag was not so much for me to pick cotton, but rather to beside her and let Granny take care of Susie and Debbie.
Mama was always quiet, and always seemed to be reclusive and dreaming. Being country kids, we spent most of our time outdoors, and Mama spent most of her time in the house, watching the black & white tv or sitting in the porch swing, sort of watching us, but mostly waiting for Daddy to come home. She made us hero uniforms (I vividly recall my Robin Hood handmade outfit), helped us make dog-fennel forts to play in, and made sure when we fell out of the trees or the tire swings or the roof of the house, that we were petted and kissed and sent back outside.
Mama was focused on her children, wanting to make sure that even though we were among the poorest in the county, we were not mistreated or frowned on too much. Sometimes she overlooked too much our faults and mistakes, just to make sure that we stayed up with everyone else.
Grandpa Carver & Granny Flora
We didn't spend as much time with Granny & Grandpa Sellers, but we were close to them. Grandpa Carver, strong, silent, hard-working, was usually out in the garden, out working or sitting outside. He loved Granny so much, but she was a nagger, and constantly on Grandpa about something he did not do or something he did wrong. Thus, he preferred to spend as much time away from her as possible, outside, piddling.
Grandpa Carver was a solid man. He grew up poor and hard and worked quietly to take care of his family. You never heard him say much, and when he did, it was about getting food for dinner or making some innocuous joke. He had an infectious giggle for a laugh, and his arms were strong and comforting. I loved sitting with him.
I remember Granny as comforting and loving, and always dithering about the house, seeming to have somewhere else she wanted to be. She was tasked to raise her son Ed's two sons, Donnie & Jimmy, when Ed's marriage broke up. Donnie had Muscular Dystrophy, and died before the age of 16. He was one of my closest cousins. More about the cousins later.
There is much more to be written about Grandpa & Granny Sellers, and it will come soon.