Aunts and Uncles I Have Known and Some I Haven't

                    Aunts and Uncles I Have Known and Some I Haven't

                                           April Smith Hajjafar

Paternal; Children of David and Nancy Middleton Smith:

                                         Uncle Dale Smith;

Uncle Dale seems to have been a bit of a pioneering entrepreneur. He ran television cables for TV around Owsley County and the surrounding area years back, but that was before my time. He may have been the precursor to the cable company!

Uncle Dale was always a very slender man and in my mind, I cannot recall him without a head a silver hair. He loved to drink coffee syrup which is coffee with an endless number of spoonfuls of sugar stirred in. Uncle Dale liked to drink his coffee out of one of those open-handled Corelle coffee cups. I can picture him with a cigarette in his hand along with his coffee cup, drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette.

Uncle Dale was generally a quiet man. I don’t recall any boisterous retelling of stories or any loud guffaws of laughter when I was around Uncle Dale. Rather, I recall quiet smiles which sometimes turned into beautiful grins. I can remember how big his smile would get when Roxanna would sing and act out the Peanut Butter and Jelly song.

Uncle Dale often had bad headaches. Perhaps he suffered from migraines but I just recall them being called headaches. I can remember him lying on the couch with his head in Aunt Naomi’s lap. Aunt Naomi would massage his temples and head, trying to relieve his pain.

One thing that I really think of when I think about Uncle Dale was that he would squat like a baseball catcher for long periods of time. He could be standing around with a few folks talking and squat down, sitting on his heels forever and just keep on talking. He could’ve been a Johnny Bench!

                                  Aunt Hortense Smith Allen;

When I think of Aunt Hortense, I think of a rather quiet, low-key person. I don’t remember her getting really excited or angry about anything. She just seemed to quietly accept whatever circumstances occurred and tried to meet them to the best of her abilities.

When I think of Aunt Hortense, I think of a lady dressed in a cotton housedress with an apron moving around her kitchen cooking, cooking, cooking something delicious for anyone and everyone who came to the door. Her kitchen seemed like a 24-hour restaurant where you could show up at any time hungry and if you left still hungry, it had to be your own fault! She was a wondrous cook and reminds me of Grandma Smith in many ways.

Aunt Hortense also helped Uncle John in the garden. They always had a huge garden. Aunt Hortense knew how to can and she put up much produce from that huge garden. I remember a photo from our Quilt where Aunt Hortense is carrying a five-gallon bucket full of beautiful red tomatoes. I imagine that they ended up on the shelf in the garage as either canned tomatoes or tomato juice. She knew how to garden and she knew how to preserve what came from that garden.

Aunt Hortense liked to crochet too. There were multiple afghans over the backs of couches and chairs in her living room. She probably had them on beds and other places too. I don’t know if she ever made any other crocheted items but I remember those beautiful granny square afghans. Her granddaughter Deb has mentioned that Aunt Hortense had taught her how to crochet too so her love for crochet lives on.

I know that church was important to Aunt Hortense. I don’t know if her granddaughter Rachel knew that she wanted to do mission work when Aunt Hortense was alive, but I am sure that she is proud of her now.

                           Aunt Carmen Smith Fuller Meinzer

Aunt Carmen was tall and slender. At least, I think that she was tall. I wasn’t around her too often as an adult so lots of folks are tall to a child. Of course, Aunt Carmen was always very fashionably put together. I imagine that she was not a stranger to high heels and I remember a tall, poofy head of dark hair. Those may have added to create the illusion of height, but I think that she may have been taller than her sisters.

Aunt Carmen was always somehow different from my other aunts and uncles. She worked for the government and lived away up close to Washington DC much of the time. I can remember visiting with her when she lived in Winchester, KY. Her house had the fanciest furniture that I had ever seen. There were tall four-poster beds in the bedrooms. The living room had silky brocade sofa and chairs with carved, curved wooden legs. The coffee and end tables had carved wooden lyres holding the tops up. I think that the tops were made from marble. She had a big oval framed photo of Gpa with his brothers Clarence and George on the living room wall. Aunt Carmen’s house was fancy like she was. If our family had royalty, it would have probably been Aunt Carmen. She just seemed more complex or somethin’ than the rest of us.

                         Aunt Davilee Smith Sutherland Clark

When I think of Aunt Davilee I picture her with her head thrown back laughing; not a dainty teeheehee kind of laugh but a big belly-rumbling, soul-touching laugh. When I picture her, I can’t help but think of her laugh and smile!

Aunt Davilee was a straight-talking person…at least straight as she saw it. Her straight might differ somewhat from your own but you knew what her straight was. I loved that about her. Aunt Davilee was always wanting to give you something. Often, if you visited her, she would shove a case of pop into your hands for you to take with you. It didn’t matter if you didn’t drink pop, you might as well take the pop!

Aunt Davilee loved my husband Mohammad. She told me more than once that if I ever got tired of him I could send him to Ohio and she would take him in. Maybe she wasn’t giving away pop, maybe she was trading!

Aunt Davilee loved Cracker Barrel, maybe even more that Mohammad! She went there often and she would send Cracker Barrel gift cards for gifts for special occasions. I think that she was especially fond of the southern fried chicken. I think that Aunt Davilee loved country cooking but I don’t think that it was somethin’ that had ever rubbed off onto her.

I truly believe that if Aunt Davilee thought you needed it, she would think nothing of giving you the shirt off of her back. She was a generous person and I believe that she would happily run around topless if you needed her shirt!

I recall when we had a memorial service for Aunt Davilee at the family reunion. Her preacher got up and talked about her. He talked about how once after the church service, Aunt Davilee called him out to her car. She told him that she wanted to give him a new tie. She pulled out a tie to give to him and then she pulled out a few shirts and told him to pick one out because she wanted him to have a new shirt to go with his new tie. I guess that Aunt Davilee had a wardrobe in her back seat ready to pass out to folks. I reckon that you might end up taking a case of pop or a tie or even a shirt after seeing Aunt Davilee, but I reckon that what she was really passing out was love.

                                       Uncle Wallace Smith

Uncle Wallace is a very quiet man. I have never seen him get excited or angry. I have never seen him laugh like his sister Davilee but I have heard him give an amused chuckle. I love to hear Uncle Wallace talk. I can just imagine his voice in my head. I think that I have a recording somewhere on the Quilt with him talking. One day when my memory fails, I will be able to go there to listen to Uncle Wallace.

Uncle Wallace reminds me of his parents in some ways. He never seems to complain; he just sees what needs to be done and does it. Dad talks to Uncle Wallace on a regular basis and I will ask Dad how Uncle Wallace is doing. Dad will tell me that he says that he is doing fine; and then Dad says, “but he would say that even if he wasn’t”.

Uncle Wallace was Aunt Alpha’s caregiver for quite a while before she passed away. I don’t reckon that she could have had better care than what he gave her. I am sure that she was well aware of that too.

I don’t really know Uncle Wallace very well but I can tell you that he loves peanut butter fudge better than anyone that I know. Whenever I know that I am going to see Uncle Wallace, I will make a batch of peanut butter fudge to take to him. As soon as I had the container to him, he has the lid off and eats two or three pieces. He is like a duck on a June bug when it comes to peanut butter fudge. I love to be able to see him enjoy it. Dad tells me that when he and Uncle Wallace were young and still at home, they would walk up that steep hill behind the home place and walk over the ridge to get a pound of sugar to make fudge. That was an awful lot of work for fudge, but at least they burnt the calories to cover it!

                                 Uncle Gayle Edward Smith

Uncle Gayle was my mischievous rascal uncle. I remember once when I was a kid, he was kidding around trying to give me a calf pill. That pill was huge and I really believed that he was gonna make me take it. I remember crawling under the bed in the front room and scooting way back in the corner. I was so relieved when he finally laughed and told me he was just joking.

Uncle Gayle seemed to like to be out and about. Dad tells me that he traveled all over the county and the surrounding counties and he knew everyone. I reckon that this would come in handy to him when he became the person who checked tobacco bases to make sure that there wasn’t too much tobacco being grown. If there was too much, he would have to chop it down.

Uncle Gayle was a master gardener and he gardened faithfully by the signs. He grew the best gardens. I remember one year we stopped by to see him before we went on to the mountains for vacation. He had picked beans, corn, tomatoes… and when we were leaving, he loaded them into the van and sent them with us when we left. We ate so well the entire time we were in the mountains off of Uncle Gayle’s garden. He was a great gardener and a most generous one.

Uncle Gayle liked to hunt too. I recall Uncle Ronnie telling me about Uncle Gayle taking him and Joey coon hunting one time. I imagine that Uncle Gayle got a kick out of going hunting with Ronnie and Joey. Uncle Gayle liked hunting dogs too. I believe that he raised them and folks would come from miles around to purchase one of his dogs.

             Maternal; Children of Boyd and Rachel Allen Nolen:

                            Aunt Lola Ray Nolen Walton Gatliff

Aunt Lola and Uncle Clarence used to take care of an estate years back before Clarence died. Aunt Lola cleaned the mansion on the grounds and Uncle Clarence took care of the grounds. The grounds had black raspberry bushes and Aunt Lola made the absolutely best tasting jelly from those berries. She also grew a garden and canned much of its bounty. Aunt Lola invited us to the estate about three different summers for a family reunion. We had lots of fresh veggies out of her garden and many other delicious foods. Usually, we had a good turnout and thus lots of wonderful company. We had softball and badminton games. We even had bean-breakings where we all pitched in to break the green beans from her garden so she could can them. She brought us all together and we had such wonderful times!

After Uncle Clarence got sick and passed away, Aunt Lola moved to Fairfield where she lives now. Even on her little lot, up until a year or so ago, Aunt Lola had a garden spot where she grew green beans to can. I don’t even think that she cares for green beans but she grew them and canned them to give away. I was fortunate to receive some of her green beans and Mohammad loves Aunt Lola’s green beans. She breaks her beans between each bean. She says that Mamaw Nancy Jane had them break beans like that when she was young and that is the way she still does it. My husband calls them elegant and that is why he loves them so.

When I think of Aunt Lola, I think of outside. I think that Aunt Lola is in heaven when she is outside working in her flowers. As I said, she used to grow a garden, and her garden always did well, but since she has given that up she puts her love and efforts into her flowers and boy, does she have beautiful flowers! You can tell that they are well tended and well-loved! Her brother Olen says that she could throw seed onto concrete and get it to grow into a beautiful flower. I believe him.

                                  Aunt Fanny Nolen Sorkey

From as far back as I can remember Aunt Fanny made herself known, even from a distance. I remember as a child, packages would arrive through the mail from Aunt Fanny. I don’t recall what came for David but I recall a dress, purse, shoes, gloves… an entire outfit, head to toe, arriving through the mail for me. That wasn’t a one-time thing either.

Aunt Fanny went to the University of Transylvania and she had two roommates; Marilyn and Nancy. I remember one year Aunt Fanny brought a Barbie house for the few Barbies that I had. She and her roommates had taken a box about the size and shape of a Barbie townhome. They had put a “floor” in it to separate it into a living area downstairs and a bedroom upstairs. They had made furniture out of cardboard boxes or somethin’ and upholstered them with fabric. They cut out windows and hung tiny fabric curtains on them. I loooooved that Barbie house and I may have had the first Barbie townhome ever made!

Aunt Fanny has always sent packages through the mail or brought carloads of things when she visits. When Aunt Fanny likes something, like beanie babies, she wants everyone to be able to enjoy beanie babies. She has given infinite numbers of beanie babies to various family members. If a new ceramic knife comes out that she enjoys, she wants everyone to be able to enjoy it. We have tried to convince her over the years that she did not have to buy all of these things for us but Aunt Fanny is a Nolen and they are prone to do as they want.

Aunt Fanny lives in Georgia and we don’t get to see her very often, but we keep in touch over the phone, Facebook and we visit each other as possible.

                                       Uncle Billy Nolen

Uncle Billy died in an automobile accident when I was only three years old. Sadly, his death is the only thing that I recall about him. Dad, Mom, David and I were in Kentucky visiting my grandparents when the ice cream truck Uncle Billy was driving was involved in the accident and he was killed.

Gpa and Gma did not have a phone and so someone had called a neighbor with a phone. I can remember that neighbor coming to Gpa and Gma’s house to break the sad news to my mom. I guess that Mom cried and those tears must have burned the memory into my brain. I think that that is my earliest memory that I can clearly recall.

Mom has said that Gma and Gpa were probably very sad too. It seems that Uncle Billy had stayed with them for over a year one time and another time more briefly even before Mom and Dad had met. Uncle Ronnie has told me of him and Uncle Billy plotting to run away from the children's’ home more than once. Uncle Billy would always say that they could run to Gpa and Gma’s place on Anglin Branch. It must have been a sweet refuge for him.

Uncle Billy stayed with Uncle John and Aunt Hortense for a while after Grandma Rachel died and the siblings were separated. Cousin Glenna has told me that she remembers him loving to watch the Beverly Hillbillies and often going off to sit by himself.

I have heard that he could have a bit of a temper. When Uncle Billy thought someone was going to hurt one of his sisters, he picked up an ax and told the man to get into his car and leave and that is exactly what he did. I suppose that there had been no doubt that Uncle Billy would use that ax if he had to.

Billy was an Eagle Scout and he served in the Air Force for a time until a back injury sidelined his military career. He must have known how to work in wood because he made a cedar chest that he gave to Mom.

Mom has kept a small blue vinyl briefcase-sized suitcase over the years. That suitcase held mementos of Uncle Billy’s short life; photos of school friends and school life, a driving pass, social security card, membership card, a story about a black stallion that he had written for an assignment… If you would like to see those mementos of his short life, you can find those in the album Chain of Memories: Billy J Nolen.

                                   Uncle Ronnie Neil Nolen

Uncle Ronnie was Uncle Ronnie. He was about as stubborn as they come. If his mind was set, it wasn’t set in concrete, it was set in diamond!

His memory was better than anyone that I know. When Mom, Dad and I think of Uncle Ronnie’s memory, we smile. He remembered things that had happened even before he was born like he was there. I guess that he had heard some stories so often that he almost felt like he had really been there. I can understand that happening. Sometimes I wonder if the same thing has happened to me.

Uncle Ronnie could be rather exasperating. The last time I got to spend time with him he was still getting up and around with his walker. Folks would prepare food for him and leave it in his fridge. All he had to do was nuke and eat but he just wouldn’t do it. He had piles of uneaten meals in his fridge that he had not eaten. It wasn’t that he didn’t have an appetite, he just didn’t seem to want to bother with microwaving it to eat. Mom made biscuits and gravy and pork chops one morning and when I made him a plate and put it in front of him, he cleaned his plate and had seconds. It seems that he ate what was put in front of him but someone else needed to put it in front of him. He could go outside to smoke, but he couldn’t go into the kitchen for food. That was exasperating.

Dad got exasperated with Ronnie at least once years ago. Dad was putting new shingles on the house and Ronnie had come down to help him. Well, everyone was up early and everything was covered with dew. Dad had to go somewhere…maybe to take Mom to work? Before he left, he said, “Ron, I don’t want you climbing up on that ladder until I get home. There is dew and it will be slippery.” Welllllllll, Dad came home and Uncle Ronnie had tried to climb up on the roof but the ladder slipped on the wet deck and Uncle Ronnie came down on his foot breaking it.

When Cammy and I came to visit later, Uncle Ronnie jokingly told him that Mom had gotten mad at him and knocked him off of the ladder. Well, we kept visiting and when we got into the van to go pick up the girls from school, Cammy, who was about five, looked at me and very seriously asked. “Mommy, why would Grandma knock Uncle Ronnie off of the ladder?” I had to explain that Uncle Ronnie had been joking.

Uncle Ronnie knew a lot of family members and family was important to him. He had spent time with some family members that even Mom just knew by name. I could ask him if he knew so and so and he would think a minute and say, “I think that is one of Uncle So and So’s kids.” He would be right.

Uncle Ronnie didn’t mind to share stories. He told me more than once how he and Uncle Billy had plotted to run away from the children’s home to go down to Anglin Branch to stay with Grandpa and Grandma Smith. I don’t think that they ever made it. I seem to remember in a letter written by Uncle Billy that Uncle Ronnie had somehow leaked their plans and they were nabbed before they had even left.

Another story that Uncle Ronnie liked to tell was about once when he and Joey had gone to visit in Kentucky and Uncle Gayle agreed to take them coon hunting with himself and Philip, I believe. I have heard that same story either from Philip or Uncle Gayle, maybe both. It is interesting to hear a story from different perspectives. It sounded like they all had a great and memorable time and I think that it was a very fond memory for Uncle Ronnie.

The last time we visited with Uncle Ronnie, he gave me a pistol that had belonged to my Grandpa Boyd. He knew that I would cherish it since it had belonged to Grandpa. I don’t know how long Grandpa owned that pistol, but if he owned it when he was younger, I am certain that it would have some interesting tales to tell! It didn’t come with any bullets and Mom and Dad tell me that I don’t need to get any so I imagine that it’s story making days are over… But you never know!

In spite of Uncle Ronnie’s stubbornness and sometimes exasperating ways, I really believe that he would have done anything that he could have done for you if you needed it done and it was within his power to do it...well, maybe as long as it didn’t involve reheating food!

                            Uncle Olen Clarence (O C) Nolen

Uncle Olen is probably my most imaginative family member. He is all of the time coming up with out of this world stories. I just wish that I could get him to use his story-telling skills on our Family Quilt. Uncle Olen seems to thrive on making folks laugh and he has the best attitude of just about anyone I know.

Uncle Olen has come up with a theory that I have a magic carpet. Anytime the weather is screwy; Mom, Aunt Fanny, Aunt Lola and I have taken that magic carpet out for a ride and we are up there in the stratosphere somewhere wreaking havoc with the weather! If repeating something often enough makes it true, then I expect for Mom, Aunt Fanny, Aunt Lola and I to be out there floating through the stars on our magic carpet any day now! This story doesn’t have a chance of going away, it just gets more elaborate by the day!

When Uncle Olen was younger, he was really into basketball. He credits playing basketball with him not ending up in jail. His coach insisted that he do well in school and stay out of trouble if he wanted to play ball. Uncle Olen did want to play ball so he buckled down and did well. He became such a good ballplayer that University of Kentucky offered him a scholarship to play ball. Well, one of Uncle Olen’s classmates had enlisted in the military and he had died in Nam. Uncle Olen felt like he needed to enlist rather than go to UK. The Marines told him that they would send him to Officers Training School if he enlisted so he enlisted in the Marines. He fought in Nam and ended up injuring both of his legs from shrapnel from an exploding mine. He almost lost one of his legs; he didn’t but he still has pain and problems with his legs.

I asked Uncle Olen once if he ever regretted joining the Marines. They didn’t send him to Officers’ Training School like they had promised; they had shipped him to Nam where he was injured and couldn’t even really play pickup basketball anymore. I asked if that hadn’t made him bitter at all.

Uncle Olen told me that he had thought about how his life might have been different if he had stayed home and gone to UK. He said that he would have probably gone to school and become an accountant. He said he would have probably stayed in Kentucky or maybe Ohio. He said that fighting in Nam had been difficult and dangerous but he got to see several different parts of the world. He had been able to meet many different kinds of people; different races, different religions, different circumstances. He said that if he had gone to UK, he would have never been able to experience those things so he reckoned that he would do the same all over again.

Uncle Olen has become enamored of my little granddaughter Jooniebug. When he found out that Roxanna was pregnant and her due date was close to November 10^th, the Marine Corps' birthday, he was convinced that Jooniebug would be born on that date. Well, Jooniebug was born several days later, but Uncle Olen insists that the tenth is her real birthday. He says that she can celebrate two birthdays but the tenth is her REAL one! He says that she will grow up to be the first female Commandant of the Marine Corps. Any time that I talk to him, he asks how his Little Jarhead or the Commandant is doing.

Somehow, Uncle Olen and I seem to be very much alike in our ways of thinking. I was never around him that much, but we do think an awful lot alike. I think that this is a cause for concern to my dad. Sometimes I catch him shaking his head and hear him say, “Loretta, she is sounding more and more like O C every day!”

                                    Uncle Johnnie H Nolen

I was around Uncle Johnnie more than any of my aunts and uncles. He and Mom lived with Uncle Bug and Aunt Alta after their mother died and their Grandpa Boyd couldn’t keep all of the kids together. Until we moved to Tennessee when I was eight, I probably saw him on a nearly daily basis.

Uncle Johnnie worked up the street across Third Street at Estridge Market. Kookie and I would walk up the street to the market sometimes when he was working, and Uncle Johnnie would buy a pop and a bag of penny candy for me. Uncle Johnnie also worked at the donut place up around the corner on Third Street. Sometimes he would bring home a box of donuts on a weekend morning. Those were the best Donuts that I ever had. Aunt Donna says that he and his friends experimented with the recipe and at times added some beer to the batter. I don’t like beer, but Uncle Johnnie’s donuts were the best!

Uncle Johnnie has given us several sayings like “upstairs is better than downstairs’ after someone burps and “out is better than in” after someone toots. Uncle Johnnie used those sayings pretty often and now we use them on occasion too. It is funny the things that can bring to mind sweet memories!

Uncle Johnnie was just a loving and giving good ol’ country boy. He loved to garden and raised lots and lots of green beans, corn, tomatoes. He and Donna knew how to preserve them too. Once we were there when their corn had come in. Everyone was working in corn and when it got done Roxanna and Uncle Johnnie and Aunt Donna’s neighbor boy started eating corn. They both ate bowl after bowl of corn but I reckon they still had a little bit left to freeze! Roxanna and the neighbor boy are still the corn-eating champs!

Uncle Johnnie enjoyed woodworking too. He made chairs, swings, doll chairs. He made a little cradle for Roxanna. He did a great job and he enjoyed doing it. Unfortunately, Uncle Johnnie had lung problems and the things he enjoyed seemed to exacerbate his breathing problems. He had to give them up.

As Aunt Alta got older, Uncle Johnnie and Aunt Donna were there to help her when she needed help. I think that Uncle Johnnie helped till her garden and helped her with things like that. They would carry her to doctor’s appointments. Aunt Donna, Uncle Johnnie and I were there when Aunt Alta died. Uncle Johnnie told me that I had better call Mom and tell her but I told him that I didn’t think that I could. He called Mom for me.

When Uncle Johnnie died, I got an early morning call from Uncle Olen with the news. I told him that I would drive to Murfreesboro to tell Mom in person. That morning as I was just starting to drive down my road to leave for Mom and Dad’s, a turkey with its head-bobbing strut ambled across the road right in front of me. I had to laugh through my tears because I swear that turkey reminded me of Uncle Johnnie with his big belly strutting across the road! I live in the city of Nashville, Tennessee. Wildlife is not unheard of but it is a rather rare sight. I think that Uncle Johnnie was sending a sign that he was more okay than he had ever been and he is really still with us.

Uncle Johnnie and I shared a birthday so we were birthday buddies. We used to kind of have a race to see who could call the other first on our birthday. Uncle Johnnie usually won because he was an earlier riser than me and he was an hour ahead too. That first year without his birthday call was hard. I sent him a call up in Heaven. I think that he was so busy visiting with Jesus, his mammy, Granny, Aunt Alta and so many other family members that I may have actually been the first to call!

The Uncles and Aunts that I Never Knew:

Gpa and Gma Smith had four babies that died as infants; Paul, Glen, Wanda and Janie Joyce. Gpa and Gma Nolen had two babies that died as infants; Gerald Dale and Cecil. I never got to know them. Their siblings never really got to know them. They left few marks of even existing but they did exist and I wanted to acknowledge that they did. I can only imagine the wonderful families that they might have had, the beautiful cousins that I might have known.