On having grown up and reuniting, has been emotionally and spiritually rewarding. You stayed in my thought through the years, and earlier, when writing the words, Beautiful people made of beautiful experience and Their continuing traits of intelligence, fortitude, and depth of kindness are exemplary. You were in my thoughts.
I knew most of Mrs. Eunice Griffith’s children, grandchildren and some great-grandchildren, Mrs. Eunice was nearing 100. Before he passed away, I met Thomas Lee “Buddy and instantly liked him. Although knowing Buddy so briefly, I feel blessed to have met him.
I want to mention Louise. She was pretty, sweet and had a nice family. When Louise moved from Liberty, I did not see her as often as I saw Minnie, and her cousin, Betty Eunice. Betty was the daughter of Mrs. Jennie Elizabeth Sellers, Minnie’s aunt. Members of the family’s genuine good character continues.
There are many others not named among the following who are remembered and loved.
General Starks and his wife Kate, Mrs. Frankie Starks, the Fischer family, Mrs. Winnie Stokes, Miss Fannie George all added positivity to my life’s experience, as did Rhone Bass and his wife Willie Clare.
A friend mailed me her grandmother’s copy of the SMITHVILLE REVIEW, years after the project I was working on we completed. The paper contained an article that featured Mr. Robert Lee Griffith. The article was included in the booklet with respect and pride for his military service during WWII and for his impressive baseball career. As a young child, I saw Mr. Robert Lee getting off the bus in Liberty to visit his family once. I noticed his strong stature as he walked along the lane to their house, and the elegant tweed overcoat he was wearing. Members of the Griffith family continue to exhibit great deportment.
The one year, quire a crowd gathered at Phillips Chapel Church, for Mr. Robert Lee Griffith. I am glad to have numbered among those present to pay their last respects.
The pages are copies from a 1996-97 Bicentennial project that involved much work. The documentation became a four-inch thick record, involving radio interviews, placing large informative displays in various libraries, and schools. A large history display installed at our local courthouse, attending Naturalization Ceremonies in the United States District Court, Middle District of Tennessee Nashville Division, involvement with the Bicentennial Mall and WWII Memorial projects. In truth, I have no regrets. Beautiful people made a beautiful experience. Their continuing traits of intelligence, fortitude and depth of kindness are exemplary.
Many events pull us apart but never our hearts. We grow up, we attend school, we marry and our children are born. Through the years, as I visited Mrs. Eunice, I never forgot her guidance, so once when she told me “You don’t need to go there!” I did not go.
She was nearing the age 100 on my last visit with her at her daughter Minnie’s home. She was happy, smiling and I loved her long braid. Mother thought Minnie and Betty Eunice were very pretty. They were. Betty looked striking in her band uniform with the big brass instrument as she returned home from school. On cold day, sitting by her grandmother’s warm, glowing stove, Betty taught me the game Chinese checkers. I never won!
Although this is the fifty-eight year of our marriage, we remember our first car, a sharp looking 1955 maroon V8 Ford formerly owned by Mr. Billy Phillips.
My grandmother, Jennie, eventually solved the “missing salt mystery.” When Robert Lee Griffith, Jr was 12, and I age four, he saw me one day in our yard near a large flower container. “What are you doing Dinah?” he asked. I replied, “I am catching a bird.” William said, ”You will never catch a bird that way. You have to get some salt and put the salt on the bird’s tail.” My grandmother, Jennie, saw me go out the door with salt, but I never caught the bird.
The poem, Liberty…Sweet Liberty, between the lines include people and placed I shall always love.
Liberty…Sweet Liberty
(from the memory of a little dark-haired girl who wore pigtails)
How oft, I walk your pleasant trials of dancing leaves at dawn,
Where bluebirds near my window. From their next have long since flowr.
How oft I climb those wooded hills beneath a tinted sky,
And count the rocks, familiar still as fragile years waft by.
From fresh and lofty heights I view the bend in your creek below,
Blue herons there, I used to watch; on hastening wings did go.
And by a weathered old rock fence I pick the sweet wild rose,
While ‘neath the hills, the steeples still a solemn peace compose.
In silent depth I stand and gaze and visit for a while.
Liberty, dear retreat, through memory honeysuckle sweet
To the time as a child.
“Blue birds near my window” refers to a bluebird nest in an old fence post between our house and Mr. and Mrs. Sid Sims’ house. They were dear neighbors. My heart felt broken when Mr. Sid died. And, later we felt sad to hear Mrs. Mai has passed, while we were living out of state.
“How oft I climb those wooded hills. And count the rocks familiar still,” refers to a place near Tator Knob where Amasi Bass’ son, Rhome Bass lived with his wife Willie Clare. I climbed the hill often to visit with them. After Rhome passed, she made a decision to live in town. As a child, I often rode the bust to Nashville and my Aunt Lorene met me at the bus station. When I saw Willie Clare on the bus I moved to sit with her. After a minute or two, she sent me back to my seat…that hurt. In later years, I realized the reason… and it hurt more.
My Uncle Austin Inglis told me that he could bear the bitter cold of WWII Germany, as he remembered rocks on the hill where he hunted and visited.
“The steeples, still…” refers to my view of Liberty from that very dear hill. From above the Allen Bluff, the town of Liberty is just below. The hill Austin spoke of is straight across.
The Phillips Chapel Church folks are quite special as were all the folks of Liberty.
My mother surely loved Mrs. Inez Tubb Bass-Moore. I did, too. She came by when Mother died. I will always remember Mrs. Inez. Mothers instill love into our hearts.
Mrs. Pauline Griffith is a dear friend, too. She represented the Temperance Hall Community. My husband’s family is from there. I really enjoyed my visits with Mrs. Pauline, and visits with her family.
With a treasure of friendships kept in my heart, I acknowledge my appreciation, for the wonderful variety of God’s people, from which I learned each life lesson.
“As while the child remembers, those we love will never die.”
