MY MOM, “THE MASTER STORY TELLER,” BORN IN THE EARLY 1900’S

Have you ever known anyone (off stage,) who could weave a tale so intriguing, so suspenseful, so dog-gone interesting that you could sit for hours spellbound, lost in another world, unable to move except for that demanding trip to ‘you know where’ and, of course, for the usual expedition for a Coke, Snickers bar or Black-cow?

Well, not to brag a whole lot, but my mom was a champion story teller.  Of course, Mrs. Ellarbe, our home town’s Librarian, said that Mama had read every book in our famous Carnegie Library, (except the technical books,) so she had a veritable wealth of information, ideas, plots and great characters to draw from.  Her imaginative resources were not just from the classics, mind you, but from detective stories, horror stories, love stories, history and well, you name it. (excluding our modern day literature, which should be trashed!)

I’ve known the times nobody  had any fingernails left, and the times our back downstairs bedroom, (which was behind Mama’s bedroom and which had two double beds) was unbelievably over-crowded, to say the least.  No one dared to go home, so we all slept however we could to ensure our protection from such villains as Dr. Fu Man Chu!  Every  child on our end of the marshland knew of Mama’s gift, so, as you can surmise, she was very popular. Even older people loved her.

She had so much to talk about and such an interesting way of talking. Oh, how I loved her laugh! Her sense of humor and her appreciation of fun and her genuine delight in kids and people made her a very special lady. My friends used to come to see her even when I wasn’t at home. I wish so much that she had followed through with her desire to write. You would have loved her. Everybody else did…my friends called her by her first name.

Post written by An “Anonymous” writer with request for photo.