Mid-1930s: our family would drive to Meridian, MS, every summer for a week or so. We would stay at Grandmother Currie’s little brick house. She was a warm but rather nervous lady who worried a lot about Charles’ & my bowel habits. At least 2X/day to be healthy!
Side note on Grandmother Currie: while she was visiting us in Atlanta one year, I had a slight cold. She made a little cloth bag filled with camphor and hung it around my neck to cure me. I wore it to school and was embarrassed at the stares. The next day, on the way to school, I hung it on our mail box and then picked it up on my walk back home. Everybody was happy…Particularly me.
A 13 year black boy named Chris was a special friend of the Meridian Curries. Charles & I worshipped Chris. He had a 2-wheel cart he took us riding in; it was pulled by a goat! It was an amazing experience riding around Grandmother’s neighborhood in Chris’s goat cart. We looked forward to those rides more than anything before going to Meridian.
Then one spring, mother told us that Chris had died. We knew that he had a congenital heart problem but no idea what that meant. That left a hole in my heart. Chris was one of the nicest people I ever knew.
My father’s brother, Hector Currie, also lived in Meridian with his wife Rachel where they raised 4 children: Hector, Warner, Rodes and Rachel. Rachel, the youngest, was born in 1930, just like me, and is the only one left in 2023. I was secretly in love with Rachel but never told a soul…The 3 sons all got law degrees. Hector became a Rhodes Scholar and retired as a beloved law professor at Ole Miss. Warner became a successful lawyer in Atlanta. Rodes worked for the Federal Government in Washington, DC. Rachel married a salesman, loved horses, raised 3 sons and enjoyed living in Oxford, MS. And she still does.
Living in an apartment in the basement of the Hector Currie’s large home in Meridian were Uncle Sam & Aunt Rachel, a black couple who had been born into slavery… in the Currie family. After emancipation, they continued as house servants for the Curries until too old to work when Uncle “Hec” and Aunt Rachel built an apartment in their basement, where they retired. Yes, I knew folks who were born into slavery! Lovely, sweet couple.
Also in Meridian was the Duke family. My father’s sister Isabella had been married to James Haughey Duke. She had 3 daughters: Isabelle, Neville (Grandmother’s maiden name) & Ann, a year older than Charles. Aunt Isabelle divorced Mr. Duke (alcohol abuse) and later married Ed Baskin who was with her until he died. Aunt Isabelle died in.
Her daughter and my first cousin, Isabelle, married Robert Hinds and had a daughter Isabella with whom I am still close. She just lost her husband Richard Larson to a heart attack (5//2023) and lives in Wilmington, NC.
Ann’s fate was horrific. After a successful marriage to William Kahlmus (who had died from a heart attack) and a fine son and daughter, her lovely home in Meridian literally blew up from a natural gas explosion. A leaky ground pipe had filled the basement and the hot water heater pilot set off the explosion destroying the home and dear Ann.
My father’s youngest sister, Nancy, married Joe Robinson and moved to Jackson. After Joe died from a heart attack, Nancy moved to Washington, DC, where she ran a successful US Treasury program to sell War Bond to women. Nancy was the highest placed woman to ever have served in the Treasury Department. Nancy retired a few years later and loved hosting her nieces and nephews at her beautiful apartment in Washington. She was the beloved family Auntie Mame.
6/24/2023
Comments