Oral History or “Do you remember when…”

Mattie Shirley Harper (Big Ma) and Vera Harper Spencer

Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. Psalm 119:111

As I am growing older I find myself recalling people and my younger years. Although our way of life has improved over the years, the simple pleasures I enjoyed as a youngster seem to have gotten lost in the fast pace that most of us live. I was raised outside of Chicago, Illinois and enjoyed our four seasons but summer was the best because we were going to drive our big Pontiac down 65South to Alabama to visit Maw maw and our cousins. The preparations to drive down here would take about a week, through cleaning the car, washing and packing clothes, make a picnic lunch and deciding which book or toy to bring in the car. My mother was and is amazing, she would take four active children and managed to make it to Alabama with her sanity intact. Once we reached that red gravel road with the dust billowing behind us our summer would officially begin! We never missed a year and established loving relationships with cousins, aunts, uncles and Maw maw. I remember riding horses, playing with the cows, going on adventures in woods, playing games outside like tag, kick the can and hide & seek. We never felt like we were in the way because we were included in everything, good and bad.

We always came when the gardens were ripe for picking. My Uncle (great) Sam was a terrific gardener and would hoe and inspect his many gardens daily, after working at the car parts store. He would pick bushels of tomatoes, peas, green beans, corn, squash, and watermelons. Every evening we would gather on the huge cement screened in porch at my Maw maw’s house and everyone was given a pan and bag so we could peal, shell, snap, shuck and eat the produce that Uncle Sam primarily had pick. It was always after dinner and the daylight was fading into a velvety darkness that created a feeling of isolation and then the talking would begin. Maw maw, Aunt Martha, Great Aunt Mattie, and my mom would begin to reminisce about people who had passed. They would talk about family members and friends with love and a bit of “bless their hearts” as they talked about Great Aunt Matt’s long hair and how she would brush it until it shone, Uncle Felton driving up in his car with his trained chickens, Uncle Hilliard with his special chair and he always came to the house with a bag of goobers. They spoke about taking up the carpet in the front room (living room) of Uncle Joe and Aunt Johnnie’s, throwing corn meal on the floor and have a dance; apparently Great Uncle Joe was a fantastic dancer. Uncle Archie’s years spent out of the country traveling with Aunt Nell for work. Can you imagine if any of that could have been recorded? Listening to someone telling their story in their voice, be able experience them as a person rather than just a name? How great that would be!

We have this opportunity now and to some extent are actually doing this with videos and chats. But what about your life, the things you seen changed and experienced during your life time? When they are researching your life how precious would a recording be or at the least a written document about what you felt was important to you, what made you the individual you are. So, challenge yourself, the next time your grandchild comes over, a sister, aunt, uncle, parent or a friend, take five minutes and record a conversation with them. Save it. Once you do one it will become something you will want to do with others. Ok, I know it will be difficult so here are some topics. “I remember the first time I….” or “Do you remember when we met?” or “The most important person in life is/was…” You would be surprise how much you do have to say. Preserve your history for the generations to come.