VISITS WITH MY MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS

VISITS WITH MY GRANDMOTHER AND GRANDFATHER JONES

This is me with my paternal grandparents, Granderson Monroe (Dutch) and Eva Mae Attaway Jones.  I am under one year old in this photograph, which dates this picture in the spring or summer of 1942.  The photo is at the back of my grandparents’ home at the intersection of Pine Street and East Fourth Street in Junction City, Louisiana.  Yes, it is Louisiana.  They live one block south of the Arkansas/Louisiana border, which is known as State Line Road.

My grandfather died when I was nine years old and my grandmother died when I was nineteen.  Therefore, my memories of them are cloudy.  I knew them as Granddaddy and Grandmother Jones, even though my grandfather had the nickname of Dutch.  This is the name that was in the 1930 Federal Census and also on his tombstone.  Even though I have asked all of my family, no one has any idea where this nickname came from.

We would travel from Unionville to Junction City on Sunday afternoons and they would always greet us with a warm welcome and open arms.  My favorite memory on our visits was to come into the kitchen door and peek under the heavy white muslin table cloth on the kitchen table that covered the leftovers from the larapin meal that grandmother had cooked.  There was always my favorite hot water cornbread cooked just right and stewed potatoes that had the most scrumptious taste of anything I had ever eaten.

Since my grandfather Jones died when I was about nine years old, I have fond memories of him, just not too many of them.  I remember my grandfather Jones as a small man who was in a wheelchair and was always seated by the fireplace in the living room of their home.  I remember him as confined to the wheelchair and with very poor eyesight.  I have tried to remember him earlier in our lifetimes at a time that he was active and able to move around.  But, sadly that is too early in my childhood for me to be able to remember.

My grandmother Jones died when I was about nineteen years old; therefore, I have more memories of her.  I remember her when she was active and was able to move around with very little trouble.  Later on in life it was difficult for her to get around and she was confined to her favorite chair in her bedroom.  After grandfather died she was always glad to see us and still was a very good cook.  One thing that stands out in my memory about grandmother was she dipped snuff.  She always had a dip in he lip and had her spit can setting down next to her chair so that it was always handy.

Since we lived with and next door to my maternal grandparents I have many more memories of them.  But I still loved and cherished both sets of grandparents equally.  By the grace of God, I have lived to see all five of my grandchildren and two of my great grandchildren.  I try to have those memory making moments and events with them that will last them a lifetime.