Short Stories
In 1948, Granddaddy Maulding ran for Tax Collector and carried every single vote in his district. Unfortunately, he died before he could take office.
My Grandmother Maulding (Eunice White's sister) went completely blind from severe diabetes. She also developed kidney disease. It had to be a truly painful existence, but she never once complained. She said, "I'll make it with the good Lords help!"
My Great Great Grandfather Camp pastored High Shoals Baptist Church for 45 years! He preached his last sermon at age 85 standing in the pulpit for 45 minutes.
In the 1960's, I heard my cousin, Kenneth, tell the story about one night he and Uncle Winston went hunting raccoons (or coons as we call them).
During the hunt, they heard something in the top of a tree and couldn't quite see if it was a coon, so one of the boys climbed to the top and said, "Awww! It's just an ole terrapin!"
They walked on a while before they stopped and looked at each other and one of them said, "How DID a terrapin get in the top of a tree?????"
I moved to Nashville in 1993, and I was invited to a church social at someone's house that sounded like a lot of fun. When I I arrived, walking up to a group of people in the yard, I had a bad feeling that I was in the wrong place. I hesitantly asked if they were also here for the church social. One of them said, "Oh no, honey!!!! This is Tennessee NOW Crossdressers Association! I gotta say, though, when I first saw you getting out of your car, I thought, 'Day-yum!!!! He did good!'
My best guess is this happened probably in the early to late 1940's. At a Star Of Bethlehem Church service, Grandmother played the piano for congregational singing. Uncle Albert would have been a young man at the time and was standing in for the song leader. During the next Church Conference, Elder Ernest Cohran stood and said, "I make a move that we elect Sister Eunice as piano player and Brother Albert as song leader until we can do better." Grandmother's good nature meant she saw the humor in that, so she laughed... and did every time she remembered it. (Contributed by Tim Davis)
Grandma Hix told me once when I turned 12 that I should always be a lady. She told me that, when she was a teacher, she had a fiancé. I was instantly hooked and begged her to tell me the story. It wasn't quite as romantic as I'd hoped. He asked her for a kiss before they married, and she broke up with him for the profound disrespect. Now, I believe Grandmother's story, but I also know she was trying to drive home a moral code. And ya know? It worked. Even though Grandma's story was old fashioned, I think I was smart enough to understand that there was great value in the morality she was trying to teach me. (Plus, I just loved her SO much, and she was my biggest fan and thought I hung the moon (as I'm sure she made all her grandkids feel!)
Does anybody else remember the name game and how we used to drive people crazy and then ourselves crazy singing that song all the time? "Beverly Beverly Po Peverly Banana Mana Fo Feverly BEVERLY!! Click HERE to see the 1966 video.
Ron Hudspeth was a lawyer turned journalist for the Atlanta Journal. Circa 1980 in his article, he talked about questions that haunted him. I wrote him a letter to respond. I don't remember all of the questions I answered, but I do remember a couple. Mr. Hudspeth's next column mentioned me and he included my letter in his article. Ron asked: "What is a dog thinking when he sees you naked?" ME: "Just goes to show you how polite dogs are. They never say a word!" Ron asked: "Why does the paper on an exam table always stick to your backside?" ME: "How else is the doctor going to get you to lie still?" Those are so stupid, but it was the first time I was ever published in a major newspaper. lol I kept a copy for years. 🙂 Probably the reason I thought of this at all is that Mr. Hudspeth passed away Feb 14, 2025. He was 82.
In 1952, Kitty Wells was hoping to make $125 from Decca for recording a demo. They released the song and by the Summer that year, "Honky Tonk Angels" had sold 800,000 copies. When she started touring, Uncle Norman was her piano player. He wasn't on the road for long. I think most women would feel as Aunt Geneva. He left Ms. Wells band but kept a piano that had "taps" on the keys so he always played "honky tonk" style. Actually, Uncle Winston is also a phenomenal honky tonk piano player. In all my life, I was only able to get him to play maybe twice. He could set the piano on fire!
Aunt Mattie was a very nervous person. It wrecked her life. 🙁 When Kirby was drafted in the 1960's, she was constantly worried that he'd be sent to Southeast Asia. When he called her to say he was being deployed immediately to Vietnam, his mother remained calm. Kirby was able to come home to say goodbye to his family before his tour of duty. When the time came, Uncle Nolis and Aunt Mattie dropped him off at ATL. On their way home, they stopped by our house to visit a minute. Aunt Mattie told Mother, "He's not going to Vietnam. God has assured me that he won't have to go." That scared Mother as she was afraid her sister-in-law was having an unhealthy break from reality. Mother said as gently as she could holding her hand, "Mattie, he's going. He's on the plane right now on his way." But nothing could convince Aunt Mattie of that. When Kirby's flight had a layover in San Diego, Kirby received new orders: He was staying in the United States and spent the rest of his tour in San Diego. Everyone was shocked! Except Aunt Mattie....
January, 1964, I was, as I often did, spending the night with Aunt Faye, Uncle Fred and my cousin, Jeffery. She and Uncle Fred started talking about the chicken and barbeque restaurant that had just opened in December at the soon-to-be-famous Big Chicken. In no time, Jeffery, Aunt Faye and I were in the car where Uncle Fred was waiting having warmed it up for us all to drive to Marietta. What I remember most is looking over the front bench seat to see what I imagined Las Vegas must look like at night. It was beautiful! I don't remember what we ordered or how good the food was. But I DO remember my family taking me with them to a BIG adventure for an 8-year old girl who never forgot it. I am very grateful for and cherish my family who loved me and wanted me around. Note: It was originally Johnny Reb's Chicken & BBQ, but in 1974, it became a KFC franchise.
My family was pretty religious in each their own way. Even though none of mt grandparents went to church, I knew they'd be okay at the Pearly Gates even though it worried me a little because I couldn't reconcile not going to church with being good with God. lol
Grandma Hix did used to call my Grandpa a sh*ta** AT LEAST once per visit (I'm pretty sure it was every day. Since Grandpa was a very stubborn Swede and an ex-moonshiner, I'm sure she was justified). I assumed God understood.
My Aunt Faye (who I NEVER saw angry one time in my whole life) would mutter her worst, "Well, I'll be John Brown!" That was acceptable as was Uncle Harold's occasional, "Good Ganny!"
The rest of us were relegated to using words and phrases like "Good gawdahmitey!" or "Carnsarnitt!" It's not hard to discern that these two actually were derivations of really bad phrases not allowed. Especially us kids. That was okay, though, because I'm sure nobody outside the South (and maybe our little community) even knew what carnsarnitt meant! How could anyone be offended? 🙂
When I was growing up, I loved having friends over to spend the night, so when I had kids, I made sure they had that same kind of frequent fun. I think their friends enjoyed coming over. This is about the time, circa 1980, I drove Jonathan, Stacy, Brandon, Felicia and Matthew to get pizza in a neighboring community. On the way back, Brandon said, "Where ARE we???" I said, "We're just leaving Mableton." Being behind me, he couldn't hear me well and asked two or three more times to repeat. Finally, Jonathan saved the day when he turned to the backseat and said very slowly, "We just left MAY-PULL-TOWN!" I thought that was so cute and never forgot it.
In the 1960's when we moved to West Strickland Street, it took us a while before passing trains became white noise that never woke us up. One night, my cousin, Diane Gray, was spending the night with Debbie. At some point the "right on time" late night train passed through shaking windows and sounding .. well... just like a freight train. Diane started screaming bloody murder. She was truly terrified thinking the world was coming to an end. It didn't occur to Debbie to warn her.
Aunt Hattie and Uncle Duck. They were part of our close-knit family (Mother's stepsister and brother-in-law). There are things I remember about Uncle Duck: he always had a cigar stogie between his lips. He always made us kids laugh. He was a good man. I don't know for sure how he got the nickname "Duck." If he wasn't called Duck, he was referred to as WB (Walter Baskin).
Both Mother's and Daddy's families lived so close to each other, it was easy to have big family dinners at each Grandma's house. It was every Sunday at one or the other's Grandmother's house. At Grandma Hix', it was always raucous laughter and hooting. A lot of joking and fun, good natured pranking. At Grandmother White's in the Summer, there were frequently kite flying, churning ice cream, cutting a watermelon retrieved from the patch, or a men's baseball game in Grandmother's big backyard. Note: I just looked it up on Google, and it is now a thing (back then it was unbelievable... almost like magic.) Good said it is a trick using buoyancy and leverage. Papa was a whiz at woodworking, so I'm guessing he learned this in his shop.
During the mid to late 1960's, almost every Saturday, Mother would drop me off at the South Cobb Roller Skating Rink. (I couldn't tell anybody because our Church frowned on that, but Mother said not to say anything to cause a stumbling block for someone else.) It was the best thing I got to do. I LOVED SKATING! Once, when I was about 15, a really cute guy skated up next to me and asked me to skate with him. Wow! I was so flattered! We locked hands and skated away. We talked a little until he said, "It took me forever to convince my wife to let me ask you to skate!" I didn't say a word. I just jerked my hand away and skated away as fast as I could. They left after that. What a jerk!!!! The managers sometimes called for Hokey Pokey which I never enjoyed and would sit out for a Coke. But that moron gave new meaning to hokey pokey!
When I was about 14, I woke up some time deep into the night and stumbled to the bathroom. It was so close, and I was so familiar with the house, I never turned on a light. Task completed, I stumbled back to bed. In the next few days, Daddy told me what was really going on that night. He'd heard an intruder IN THE HOUSE. He'd quietly gotten his pistol and walked near the bathroom and waited for what his next move should be. He'd already cocked the trigger just i case of an altercation. He said that when I went to the bathroom he had the gun pointed at the man's face (as best he could discern it being so dark). I walked right by him, hidden in the dark. Thank God, when I walked back to bed, he took off running out of the house. Disaster avoided!
It almost seems unbelievable now in 2025, but it is true: The most common location for a deceased family member's body was in the living room of the closest relative. In my world, it was rare to, pre-funeral services, visit a funeral home to pay respects.
In 1980, I was working at West Georgia College. We were moving to a house that wasn't ready, so we stayed with Mother and Daddy a bit. I was lying on the sofa one night, sick as a dog (probably getting the flu), hurting all over and planning to call in sick the next day. Four-year-old Brandon came over to me, put his little hand on my forehead and prayed, "God heal Mama, please, in Jesus' name. The End." Within half hour, I got up, feeling fine, went to work the next day, and from then to now, believe Brandon's prayer brought a miracle.
Ryan's Steakhouse came to Carrollton! It was the mid-1970's. Danny and I went to try it.
Frequently, our best friends, Debbie and Jimmy, went with us. Honestly? They were probably there, but this particular visit imprinted one permanent memory: THE FIRST TIME I EVER HAD CHEESECAKE! Good times.... Good times... All could imagine was warm, greasy cheddar cheese on a pie crust. BOY! Was I ever wrong!
Sometime in the 1940's, Winston and Harold were sound asleep when all of a sudden, Winston punched Harold and said, "There's A DOG in here!" Turns out it was Daddy. He'd sneaked in after a night of carousing, drunk and probably passed out, he was at the foot of the bed snoring.
Near the end of her life, Grandmother Hix was blind, crippled and just about deaf. Shortly after Stacy was born, she told Mother, "That baby is so sweet, but I'll never understand why they named her Sassy!" Till the day she died, Gran'maw called her Sassy.
"WHY did they name her MEDICINE???"
At Villa Rica COCOP, Danny and I were sitting together during service. Stacy was in Danny's lap, and she looked around, sighed, and said, "Awww Sh#t!" Danny stopped cursing around her after that.
Daryl was spending the night with Mother & Daddy and suddenly decided he wanted to go home. (He was really little.) Daddy got aggravated when they couldn't get him to change his mind. On the drive home, Daryl kept trying to make up by talking about anything and everything he could think of. Still, Daddy wouldn't say much. Daryl got quiet a few minutes and finally, said, "Grandpa! How come snakes don't got no ears?" Daddy started laughing and that was the end of his "mad spell."
They were about 6, in the back seat of my car, and Lisa was telling Stacy about a movie she'd seen. She said, "THEN he stabbed him in the chest with a knife and GUESS WHAT??? There wasn't a God or a Devil in there! Just BLOOD!"
As told by Mother: "Everyone was a Miss White's house one Sunday and Beverly went missing. I was scared to death she'd gotten in the road. After about an hour of looking everywhere, Miss White yelled, "I FOUND HER!" She was sound asleep in the middle of a pile of Winston's hound dogs."
She also insisted at 4 that she was old enough to drink "foffee."
When Stacy was about 5, she said she wanted to be a nurse when she grew up. I said, "That's great! You can be anything you want to be!". She looked at me skeptically and said, "Uh uh!!! I couldn't be a doctor!". I don't think she believed what I said after that... 🫣 When she was 12, she told me she wanted to be a psychologist.
When Brandon was about five he had the cutest little powder blue suit and print tie. He'd get Daddy's piano bench and pull it over so that the other cousins could be his congregation to listen to him do a sermon. Man! He could preach!
1994: Mother, Debbie, Corina and Rose came to visit me in Nashville. We were trying to find the famous Stockyard Restaurant. A man was walking down the street and I pulled over and asked mother to see if he could give us directions. Mother rolled down the window and said, "Excuse me! Can you tell me how to get to the stockade?"
1994: Mother, Debbie, Corina and Rose visited me in Nashville and we got to the night club for some live music. After teasing Mother we'd have to keep an eye on her since she was a man magnet, Rose couldn't stop laughing when we got out of the car, and Mother said, "C'mon, yall! We got to get BUSY!!!"
Circa 1964, David was playing with matches in the kitchen and set fire to the kitchen curtains. Lesson learned! 🤣 I don't remember anything about that except seeing those curtains swoosh immediately into flames. David? Would love the rest of that story. 🙂
Circa 1963, one weekend, Uncle Albert, Uncle Robert, and Daddy decided to swap houses. Within 48 hours, we had all moved based on that Friday night conversation at Grandmother's house. Robert took our house next to Grandmother White, we took Albert's house next to Grandmother Hix, and Albert took Robert's house. As far as I know, everybody was satisfied with the changes.
When I married in 1972, it was hard for me to buy tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, peaches, pears, blackberries, cherries and plums. All we had to do when I was growing up was walk out in the yard at either Grandmother's house and pick them! True story!
Danny was a hunter when I married him and I suspect still is. I decided I was going to share that hobby with him so, taking my hints 😁, he bought me a double barrel shotgun for Christmas. Within a couple of months, we had an in-home demonstration for the newest version of stainless steel cookware. I got the full set in exchange for a double barrel shotgun.
The first year Stacy was old enough to understand what Christmas was about, on Christmas morning, I called to her from the living room full of presents just waiting for her and yelled "Stacy! Stacy! Santa came!" No response. I yelled again, "Don't you want to see if Santa came???" Her reply? "He didn't." I will never in my life forget the look on her face when I finally convinced her to join us in the living room. She walked in, threw up both hands, eyes opened as wide as possible (she had the most adorable eyebrows!) and , "He DID!!!!! Santa came!" That year, I got Danny to take a pic of my leg and foot in red pj's and a black boot to make it look like he almost got a pic of Santa! It was magical to Stacy!
Daddy loved his grandchildren! Every single one of them! When I lived three or four houses away, I'd be sitting in the living room watching TV and all of a sudden I would see Daddy's motorcycle passing by with Brandon on the back. I hadn't even heard him pull in, much less seen Brandon hopping on the back.
Across from Aiken's Store, there was an encampment of REAL Romanian Gypsies, complete with painted wagons and tents. (It was behind Aiken's Laundromat that Mother used when her ringer washer was on the fritz.) Debbie used to scare me by telling me that Mother was taking me with her to the laundromat on Saturday to use me as a trade for something with a Gypsy woman.
Daddy was coming home with Papa, Harold, Winston and David when he saw something at the mailbox jump into the tall grass. It wa me. I barely remember it at 4 years old, but THAT I do remember: For some reason, after my bath, I put on some little gloves and went to get the mail. I forgot my clothes. SO embarrassing sitting in Papa's lap and the long driveway seemed even longer looking in the backseat seeing David, Winston and Harold snickering!
After eating Sunday dinner at Mother's, we were all sitting around in the living room talking. Wayne started sneezing when Danny asked simultaneously with Wayne falling over to give Debbie a kiss on the cheek, "Do you get like that very often?" Danny meant being sneezy, but Debbie didn't miss a beat about Wayne's smooch. She said, "Not often enough these days!" It was AT LEAST 10 minutes of laughing before anyone could speak again.
We absolutely thought it was gospel that, if you killed a snake, it didn't die until the Sun went down.
I loved being taken to Raymond's store a mile away during hot Summer days. Grandpa would carry me when I was 5 on his shoulders to visit Pauline and Raymond's store and get me a Coke! 5 cents in those days with 2 cents refundable on returning the glass bottles! (David probably still has the baseball glove he earned.)
"It seemed like Grandpa always had a motorcycle. But he pronounced it motor-siccle, like bicycle. To this day I have never heard anyone else call it a motor-sickle." -from Daryl
1960: Mother kept a jar of starch in the fridge for ironing. We also always had a jar of drinking water. One day, I drank from the starch jar. Daddy saw it and told me I was going to die. I started screaming, but he stooped, took my hands, and told me to calm down and go lie on the sofa because soon, I would start getting stiff.
Grandpa had a “preacher’s voice” that he always used when preaching. He looked so serious and he actually looked like he was mad when he was preaching, he had such a serious face.
So MANY times, when Grandpa's brother, Henry, would walk up the road to visit, I'd be playing Uncle Lyndon's player piano. They'd be trying to talk when Grandpa would turn to me and say, "I'LL GIVE YOU A NICKEL IF YOU STOP AND GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!" I never made him give me a nickel, but still he'd take me to the store to buy candy!
Grandpa Hix was a dairy farmer. When I was about 17, Grandmother gave me one of the old milk cans they'd had for decades. I LOVED it! I don't know what happened to it over the years, but what I wouldn't give if I still had it!
My kids did so many things that were SO adorable and sweet, I remember thinking, "I will never, for as long as I live, forget this!" Guess what? I didn't write them down, and I have forgotten so many thing.😭
Mother used to worry about Brandon when he played with Daryl. 🙂 Daryl wasn't afraid to try anything at least once! Brandon wanted to be like Daryl so he tried keeping up as best he could. Luckily, they both survived but the stories each could tell...!
One of Mother's best friends, Elsie Mae Golden, was on her death bed. Mother went to visit and while she was there, Elsie's face suddenly transformed into one of peace, comfort and joy. She told Mother, "Jesus just walked in to take me home!!!" Elsie passed within hours. If I remember correctly, she was in her 30's. It was because of her deaf mute son, Danny, that I learned sign language.
At Debbie's one day during a family dinner, I walked outside to smoke a cigarette. Wesley was sitting on the front step, and when I lit up, he said, "You know you're going to Hell for that, don't you?" I said something to the affect that yes, I knew that and that is EXACTLY why he should never try it! ---Only one of my favorite memories of this sweet boy!
A few years ago, I invited my bff, her hubby, brother, aunt and uncle to join me for 4 days at my sister's cabin close to Gatlinburg. We had the BEST time! While there, I was talking to Chere's uncle (who lives in AL), and somehow we started talking about family. He mentioned a relative named Sheila White (maiden name). Turns out, Chere's uncle and I are related! How cool is that!!!!
