CHILDHOOD MEMORIES OF NELDARA

 Neldara (Rose) Loudamy was born to Zella Rose in 1935 on the Rolls Place on Maddox Creek North of Nocona, Texas.  From the day she was born until the day she married, her  home and immediate family consisted of her mother (“Mama”), her grandmother Lillie (Jones) Rose (“Grandmama”), her uncle William Oliver Rose (“Uncle Bill”) and her aunt Ida (Rose) Bowers (“Aunt Ida”).  The two homes she lived in were first, the little house on Maddox Creek, and second, the large concrete structure originally built as Valley View School located across the street from the Valley View Baptist Church between Nocona and Spanish Fort, Texas.

I don’t have a lot of memories about the first house I lived in because I was only six years old when we moved.  I do remember that it was very small and what is known as a “shotgun” house. All the rooms were in a straight row.  There was no electricity or water. The lights were gas and were mounted on the wall.  The water was hauled in cans and buckets. Rainwater and was caught in tubs for bathing and washing clothes. I do remember a “dugout” cellar, which I hated to go to.

The only holiday I remember anything about at that house is the last Easter we were there. There were lots of people there and I remember a big Easter egg hunt in the pasture.

We moved to the “big” house when I was six.  We did have electricity and running water but no indoor toilet---which they did not get until after I was married.  And no telephone until then either!  We would get calls at the grocery store across the road.  The front of the house had two large 24-foot by 24-foot rooms, one which was used to store stuff.  The year that Barbara was born (Tula and Homer’s daughter) the other front room was used as home for the four of them.  I remember the furniture being arranged to divide the “rooms.”  After they moved, Uncle Bill started remodeling.  Their room was left for a living room and the other front room made into a bedroom and den (now another bedroom) and another bathroom and eventually, finally, a commode!!

Our house was always the family gathering place because Grandmama (Lillie Jones Rose) was there and there was lots of room.  Since I was the oldest granddaughter, and the first to take piano lesions, I thought we should always have a “program” to entertain everyone. So, I tried to teach all the cousins to be singers, actresses or actors---but it didn’t work—ha!

Our Christmas tree was always “made” on a frame that Uncle Bill made.  He drilled holes in it, and then trimmed all of the cedars around the house and we had a huge tree.  Most of the decorations were homemade. Everyone opened their gifts there.  What fun we had!!  We didn’t have enough sense to know we weren’t rich!!

Easter, Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving were always big too.  These gatherings soon slowed down after Grandmama died.

There are so many memories of Grandmama. She was one of the most faithful Christian women I have ever known. She had to be really sick to miss a church service.  She walked across the road and up the little hill with the help of one crutch and someone on the other side.  She sat in her rocking chair reading her Bible or crocheting or piecing quilts.  I remember when I wanted to learn to cook, Mama didn’t have the patience with me and Grandmama would say, “Zella! Get out and leave her alone or she will never learn.”  As you know, I turned out to be a pretty good cook.

 Grandmama died just after I graduated from high school.  I did not go on my senior trip because I was the only one she would take her medicine from. I never regretted it.

Uncle Bill!! He was tops!  I thought he could do everything.  I am sure I got in his way just trying to see what he was doing.  He taught me to enjoy fishing. He would even take my girlfriends with us to run trotlines.  But most of all, he taught me to love sports.  We listened to ballgames on the radio, then watched them on TV when it came.  He went to all the high school basketball and volleyball games --- at home and away.  He wouldn’t sit in the seats; he walked the sidelines “coaching” them.  Then he learned to enjoy football on TV. Everyone loved Uncle Bill!

Aunt Ida was always with us with the exception of a short period when I was very young. She was married for a short time, then she drove for an older lady for a while.  I have a doll quilt that she pieced and quilted when I was little.  It hangs on a bedroom wall, so I think of her often.  She always milked the cows and cared for the chickens.  I think she enjoyed gardening most of all.  She always had pretty flowers.  Good vegetables, too!  She made bouquets for the church all the time.  Best of all, she made the bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres for my wedding.

And Mama!!  She deserves the time she spends in that recliner and talking on the telephone now!!  I wish there was a way to know how many hours she spent making my clothes. When she didn’t have money to buy fabric, I got to go to the feed store and choose which feed sacks I wanted for a dress.  She would even cut her own patterns after seeing a picture of a dress. 

And how many hours she spent making costumes for not only me, but also others!! 

 She was my room mother all twelve years.  She made trips to ballgames, fairs and stock shows as a sponsor. My girlfriends liked her so much that she often spent Sunday afternoons riding around with us.

She designed and made my wedding dress---which cousin Patsy also got married in—and all of the attendants’ dresses.

 All of my family—Clyde and the boys and their spouses and the granddaughters all love Mama and Grandmama.

            The Loudamys and Zella celebrate Zella’s 90^th birthday in 2003

Front left to right:  Suzanne, Zella, Sarah

Standing left to right:  Wayne, Clyde, Neldara, Bethany, Tony, Kathy and Kevin