Happy Birthday, Mom, Amelia & Jack in 1941, Georgia Memoir
Series, July 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey.
All rights reserved.
It’s my mother’s birthday. She was born November 10th, 1937 in the eighth sign of the Zodiac, Scorpio. I miss her and have fond memories of jumping out of a giant cardboard box and surprising her last year (due to the generous and loving nature of my siblings, their spouses, and extended family).
I love this photograph of Mom and her brother, Jack. She is 4 years old. I have found that in many of the family photographs, she is often by Jack’s side. The handwriting on the back is probably my Grandmother Elise’s. I can’t be completely sure, but I think I recognize it from past letters.
To Grand Dad From Jack and Amelia
Jack is 5 and Amelia is 4
Cryptic words and numbers on the back of old photographs are as meaningful to me as the image. And I imagine a relative taking a few minutes to scribble down names, ages, places, dates, that in the future become invaluable to me in piecing together the past.
The year Amelia was born, the Golden Gate Bridge opened in San Francisco and 200,000 pedestrians were the first to walk across it. In 1937, the first social security payments were issued by the U.S. Treasury, Wimbledon was first televised, and inventor Sylvan Goldman introduced the shopping cart. It was also the year the Zeppelin Hindenburg exploded at Lakehurst, New Jersey, and the first animated feature film, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater in Hollywood.
I have always loved the name Amelia. It reminds me of Amelia Earhart. I never thought to ask Mom if she was named after the famous aviator. Amelia Earhart’s plane disappeared on July 2nd, 1937 near Howland Island in the South Pacific. Mom was born 4 months later.
I feel fortunate to have spent time with my mother in Georgia the last few summers: visiting with relatives we hadn’t seen in 10, 20, 50 years, excavating family history, honoring the past. It made me even more aware that many of the details of our history will leave this Earth with her. I want to mine as many of her memories as I can; it has brought us closer.
So, Mom, thanks for putting up with my endless questions about the past. (Ask any of my friends, the questions never end! I guess I’m the curious type.) I’m sorry if my card is late (it takes 4 days to go by snail mail from Minnesota to Pennsylvania and I forgot the pick-up wasn’t until 1p.m.!) And thank you for all the support you have given me over the years, especially around my writing, always encouraging me to follow my dreams.
Happy 71st Birthday. I miss you today, and wish I lived closer to home and could take you out to dinner. I’m grateful for every moment together. And in the times when I can’t be near — I have my memories, enriched all the more by ones you have shared with me.
To Grand Dad (Amelia Is 4), handwriting on the back of a photograph of my mother, Georgia Memoir Series, July 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, November 10th, 2008, day of my mother’s birth (and also the birthday of Mr. StripeyPants who is 11 years old today!)
-related to post: November 5th, 2008 – ybonesy’s father is a Scorpio, too. And we were recently sharing with each other how much we enjoy being able to share old family photographs and history with each other on red Ravine.
I love the name Amelia, too. It’s old-fashioned and maybe because of Amelia Earhart, there is something courageous about it. Yet sweet, too. It really ought to be one of those names that makes a comeback, and yet I haven’t heard that it has. You know, like Audrey or Emma. Do you know, anyone, if the name Amelia has made a comeback?
Amelia and Jack were good-looking kids. I notice that their chins and jaws were very similar. They both seem genuinely happy in this photo.
Thanks, QM and Amelia, for sharing family photos and stories. And Happy Birthday, MOM. And Mr. Pancelot. (Pantsalot?)
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ybonesy, I agree….one of those names that needs to makes a comeback. I have not heard the name Amelia much. And when I do, I usually take notice. One of my nieces received Amelia as a middle name in tribute to Mom. I like the continuity.
They do look happy in this photo. There were others, too, one I thought I might use with Mom and Jack in a farm-like setting mingling with a few cattle. But it wasn’t quite as clear. This one was taken by a photographer, I’m sure, but they seem so happy to be together.
I have one of Mom up in my studio next to the family tree. It’s Christmas time and she’s leaning over a train set my brother received for Christmas with the biggest smile on her face. She was probably only in her early to mid-twenties. Old photographs are great.
I did call and talk to Mom today. She’s well, was down in Georgia a few weekends ago for a wedding (Uncle Bill’s son). She said they had a good time. Was going over to one of my brother’s tonight for dinner.
About Sir Pants, Liz came home with these gourmet cat meals for him, Kiev, and Chaco. Some kind of cat potpie. It was chunky and rich. Pants really liked it. 8)
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Aww…
just aw. And that’s a beautiful photograph. They’re scrubbed and shining. Twin grins.
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Oh, thanks, amuirin. That’s so sweet. Twin grins. 8) 8)
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Well, I seem to be a day late again but Happy Belated Birthday and well wishes to Mama Amelia from the West Coast.
A wonderful photo you have chosen QM.
I betting on Earhart and am curious. I like your Grama’s name too. Elise. Pretty. Mine was Iula Violet 😉
QM, In my cat house, birthdays are celebrated with large doses of catnip. They get quite rowdy! 🙂
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Heather, the way I look at it, there’s no late in birthday wishes. We are celebrating for a full year! And that’s just what I called her when I was a young child — Mama. My friends called her Miss Amelia. Isn’t there a Miss Amelia in Carson McCullers’ Ballad of the Sad Cafe?
Speaking of, I was continuing on through Flannery’s O’Connor’s letters last night (I’m slowly savoring them, reading bits at a time) and she mentioned Carson McCullers. She’s always talking about different books and writers. She was a voracious reader. And is always talking about her peachickens. 8)
So many great names of mothers and grandmothers. Iula Violet is so cool, isn’t it? My grandmother’s was Della Elise. You don’t hear the name Della much either. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever run into another one. I forgot to ask Mom about Amelia Earhart when I talked to her. I’ll have to ask her next time.
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Oh my gosh, I just had this HUGE flashback and remembered that I had seen the name Amelia numerous times all throughout the family tree when I was studying it this summer. I think Aunt Cassie’s name was Cassandra Amelia and Amelia goes way, way back in the family. I bet she was named for Aunt Cassie. Well, I’ll clear that up when I talk to her next time!
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Happy Birthday, Memamma, sorry I missed it and I wish I had known sooner. Did we not celebrate? Hope it was a great one and here’s to many more to come. 🙂
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Oh, and by the way, my grandmother’s middle name is Wessy. Beat that, haha.
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I hope Moms day was great! J spoke to her & she seemed to be having a terrific time at T & DD’s. They had invited her for dinner. She is a wonderful woman & I couldn’t hope for a better Mother-in-law! We love you, Mom!
I think the name Amelia is so charming. It just rolls off the tongue with such ease & it sounds so graceful. I noticed it in the family tree. It appears to have been handed down over many years. My favorite name is Elise, so that is another family name that I cherish. D
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Hi everyone! I had a very quiet birthday. All my children called me and I went to T and DD’s for supper.
I am named after my Aunt Cassie and it has been passed down through the family for years. I have run into a few Amelia’s at work. At least 2 grown ladies and a few have told me they had grand children or knew a child named Amelia.
Jack and I were very close in age, only 14 mos. apart. Until he was a teenager we were together most of the time. After that he was at our grandmother Satcher’s. Her name was Martha and they called her Mattie. We called her Bar Ba, that being the first name Jack could say and he was the first grandchild. Jack’s name was Ernest Bland Satcher,3rd., after our Dad, E.B. and our granddaddy.
Thanks for all the wonderful b-day wishes . And QM the beautiful card which I received by my b-day.
Love all of you,
MOM
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Scaramastra, I kind of like Wessy. What’s your middle name?
diddy, thanks for stopping by. She is one in a million, isn’t she. I like Elise, too. A beautiful name.
MOM, hope dinner was good and so glad you got the card on time. I guess it made it after all. I had my fingers crossed. And glad your birthday was a mellow one. I thought of you all that day and am glad I caught you home to check in by phone.
I can’t believe I forgot the piece about Amelia being in the family tree when I wrote this piece. My memory is getting increasingly less snappy, shall we say. Long nights this week and last have kept me up all hours. More rest in store next week. Here’s to many more birthdays to come!
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QM, I’ll have to tell my grandmother you said so…she hates it!
My middle name is Sara. Nothing special, but kind of different for a middle since it’s usually a first. I always wished it was my first though, since I feel like my first name is so…I don’t know, rough around the edges. Too many consonant clusters too close together or something, I don’t know. I always wanted an ‘L’ in my name.
‘Sara’ is after my great-grandmother. I don’t believe I ever met her, and I don’t know very much about her or my great-grandfather other than that they were ‘coal-mining folk’.
My great-grandfather, whose name was DeWitt Henry (first and middle) was killed in a mining accident; they found only his fingers clinging for dear life at the side of a mine shaft, never to find the rest of his body.
My great-grandmother used to leave a generous amount of money on the kitchen table, in hope that any burglar would just take the money and go rather than her ransack her home or harm her family. Pretty wild, but makes sense, no?
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Scaramastra, yes, do tell her. I think it’s kind of cool. I actually like Sara, too. There are a lot of Sara’s around, maybe because it’s a noble and solid name. AND how cool is that to be named after your great grandmother.
Hmmm. I never thought about the consonant clusters. Some names are softer than others or seem to flow. Mine’s kind of got hard sounds in it, at least the formal name. The family softens it with the “ie” at the end. 8)
That’s a sad story about your great grandfather. Wow. Did your great grandmother ever remarry after that?
Love the $$$ story. There is something about that way of thinking that really gets you going. It’s okay if they come into the house, but let them just take the money and leave us alone. It reminds me how everyone used to leave their doors open, too. Those days are gone — at least in the urban areas.
You sound like you have a family history with compelling stories. Have you started your memoir yet? 8)
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Happy Birthday, Amelia! My mother is 72 years old today. I called this morning and sang Happy Birthday. She said my sister made a cake. She’s going to my brother’s tonight for dinner. And we got her a fun present. 8)
Happy 72nd Birthday, Mom. I miss you! And am happy we were in Georgia a few weeks ago (LINK) for another year of fun and digging. This year was more relaxing though. It’s also fun to read this post again and see your photo when you were 4 years old. You look happy.
Also, Happy Birthday, Mr. Stripey Pants. He’s 12 years old today!
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