My earliest
memories of Hattie were those of having a new big sister. I think
she was eighteen or nineteen when she came to live with us in
Pensacola. I must have been five or six. She and I took to each other
right away. She spoiled me and, for a while, in my eyes she could
do no wrong.
She once
told my mother that I was "too pretty to whip". She later changed
her mind about that when
we started having our sibling fights.
In time, I
became her errand boy.( I wish I had a nickle for every time she sent
me to the store with a nickle to buy three cigarettes. You could by a
whole pack for twenty-five cents. But I guess a quarter was just too
much of an investment to make at one time for cigarettes.)
Hattie took
me to some of my first movies. We saw "Gone with the Wind" and
"Imitation of Life" together. Those were the days (late forties and
early
fifties) when movies were a dime for kids, a quarter for adults and two
dollars would buy enough popcorn, candy and sodas to make two people
sick.
A country
girl who came to the city and fell in love with night life, Hattie
could work hard all day, party hard all night, take a nap, then
start all over again. How well I remember many times overhearing her
say to one of her friends, after a night out, "we had a
ball". She liked cigarettes, beer, dancing and playing cards. She
had lots
of
friends and was well liked.
Hattie loved
to cook and you could taste the love in her food. Having worked as a
domestic in several
private homes and as a cook in hotels, restaurants
and schools, she knew her way around a kitchen.
What she had learned about cooking from mamma, Fannie Mae, Aunt Rosa
and others, she adapted
to her own style and taste and made each dish uniquely her own.
She did her share of eating too and in the early days b.d. (before
dentures), she liked to chew on bones,
especially chicken bones. She could make chicken bones look like saw
dust.
In her later years, Hattie became active in church and union activities. She served
faithfully as an usher
at Macedonia Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida for many years before
moving to Atlanta where she
served at other churches. Her union activities took her on many trips
throughout the country.
More than
anythng else, Hattie was known as "aunt Hattie". All the children
loved her and they knew that
she loved them. She was always nurturing and protective of
children, but she would spank some butt too
when necessary!
Hattie feared going to doctors. I think she was always afraid of
finding out something was wrong. Eventually
she went to a doctor and found out (or confirmed what she already knew)
that something was very wrong.
She lived quietly with pain and suffering for a long time and left us
on April 13, 2002.
Hattie feared many things. We used to laugh about her fears and
superstitions. But through it all, she
managed to live a pretty full life, despite her fears.
I'll always remember Hattie as my big sister. I learned a lot from her.
I miss her and love her still.
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