The Aftermath

My Mamaw and Mother

Of course my mom was devastated! The police, the coroner, the neighbors who were their dear friends swarmed the house and my dad's body was taken away. My grandmother had moved to New Orleans to live with them and the only thing worse than losing the love of your life while 3 months pregnant with your child is having my Mamaw, who I ADORED, start wringing her hands and sobbing and crying her usual mantra whenever there was a tragedy “What are we going to do?! What are we going to do?!” And the strong woman who is my mother said her usual mantra whenever tragedy occurred “We are just going to do the best we can”. Their dear next door neighbors, I think their name was Chauvan, were there and Mr. Chauvan told my mother to write him a check for every dime they had in the bank. He would be at the bank's door at 9:00 AM the next morning to cash it before my dad's death was made public. It had something to do with Louisiana’s Napoleonic Code and had he not done that my mother would not have access to any of her money for a long time.

My mom honored my dad's premonistic wishes and took him back to Boise and buried him in the suit he had asked her to bury him in. My mother could not view his body as she did not want to remember him that way. A little back story here for just a sec, my dad was the baby of his family with four older sisters. And he was THEIR baby. My mom said it was like being at a black funeral with all of the squalling, falling out on the floor, What a sight! None of them were small women and, allegedly three were mean as yard dogs but then there was an easier, softer one who was very kind to my mother. I met one or two once or twice but I was a young child and don't remember them very well.

Again, South Central Bell in Jackson did not have a position for my mom to come back to right away. In fact I think it was February before they had a spot for her. She has told me of walking down Canal Street to catch the street car home with all the Christmas music playing and street decorations lit with her poor heart so very, very broken. Everyone else was full of Christmas merriment but her world was falling apart. She would repeat to herself the words from Isaiah 40:31 KJV-” But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Next was the job packing up to move back to Jackson. I'm sure my Mamaw was some help with that after coming out of her hand-wringing period. They came back to Jackson where my mom bought a small little house in a pleasant West Jackson neighborhood right behind Hardy Junior High School. Her crazy brother Tommy (we'll get to him later) taught her to drive the sky-blue Ford Fairlane she had bought. He would take her down to the back parking lot behind McRae's at Westland Plaza in the evenings and on Sunday afternoons when the lot was vacant and let her drive around, in circles probably. I would love to have that on video because by this time she was 7 months pregnant and barely fit behind the wheel!