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I was very fortunate to be able to spend the first eight years of my life knowing my great-grandmother Amanda Moore Allen. I knew her until her death when I was eight. Most folks called her Granny; family members, the neighborhood kids, friends…
When I picture Granny in my mind, I picture a rather robust, roly-polyish lady with gray hair pulled back in a bun wearing a simple housedress covered by an apron. I have seen pictures of her taken within a relatively short time of her death, and she doesn’t look robust at all; she looks rather fragile. Still, the Granny of my memories is the robust Granny.
“Fast” might seem to be a stretch of the imagination to associate with this elderly woman, but in my mind, she is the best kind of fast, fast thinking.
When my mother and her siblings were very young, Granny lived just over the hill from the Nolen family in rural Southeastern Kentucky. Granny was often around the family and on one cold winter day, Granny was there.
The Nolen home was a simple wooden structure. It was not insulated and cracks in the walls and between the floorboards allowed the chill of winter to seep into the home. There was no central heat and air back in those days. A fire was lit in the single open grate fireplace to warm the living area of the home. The young Nolen children were standing close to the grate to get warm. Young Fanny was backed up too close to the grate and her nightgown tail caught aflame. Granny saw this and quickly pushed Fanny to the floor rolling the flames out before they could do serious damage. It seems that Granny understood “stop, drop, and roll” as well as any fireman!
When my mother and her siblings were very young, Granny lived just over the hill from the Nolen family in rural Southeastern Kentucky. Granny was often around the family and on one cold winter day, Granny was there.
The Nolen home was a simple wooden structure. It was not insulated and cracks in the walls and between the floorboards allowed the chill of winter to seep into the home. There was no central heat and air back in those days. A fire was lit in the single open grate fireplace to warm the living area of the home. The young Nolen children were standing close to the grate to get warm. Young Fanny was backed up too close to the grate and her nightgown tail caught aflame. Granny saw this and quickly pushed Fanny to the floor rolling the flames out before they could do serious damage. It seems that Granny understood “stop, drop, and roll” as well as any fireman!
Later, Granny’s daughter Rachel Allen Nolen, would die, leaving the seven Nolen children, ranging in age from ten months to nine years of age, motherless. For a while, their daddy Boyd tried to keep the children together, but it soon became clear that would not be possible. Places were found for the children to live. Sisters, Lola and Fanny, and the three older boys, Billy, Ronnie, and Olen would go to the childrens’ home in Danville, Kentucky. Later, the boys would go to the children’s home in Louisville, Kentucky. Fanny and Lola went to a girls’ home in Midway. The oldest sibling, my mother Loretta, and the youngest, Johnnie went to live with Alta Allen Cantrell, Rachel’s sister’s family in Ohio.
Back: Granny Mandy Moore Allen, Loretta Nolen Smith, Alta Allen Cantrell, and Olen "Bug" Cantrell
I reckon the Nolen boys were a bit much for the Danville home to handle. They were sent back to Boyd, their daddy, and he was told that another home would have to be found for them. Granny was helping out her son-in-law, trying to keep an eye on them.
Ten-year-old Billy was chopping wood. His seven-year-old brother Olen began pestering him to give him the axe so he could chop wood. At first, Billy told him no, because he would chop off his foot. Olen kept insisting and finally Billy relented and gave him the axe. Well, the first swing Olen took, he struck his big toe, nearly cutting it off. Granny came running. She wrapped the wound in kerosene-soaked rags and sugar and tended it until the boys left for Louisville.
There in Louisville, the campus nurse sent Olen to the local hospital. The doctor unwrapped Olen’s foot and asked who had taken care of it. Olen told him that his Granny had. The doctor was surprised that It was healing so well. He told Olen that Granny’s quick actions had likely saved his toe, and maybe more.
Uncle Olen still has a scar across his big toe, but the toe is still there; his foot is still there, and he still lives. Pricking a toe on a briar led to blood poisoning and death for my young great-uncle Corbitt. Uncle Olen’s accident could have led to the same save for Granny’s quick thinking and actions.
On another occasion, Granny saved the life of my Uncle Johnnie. Uncle Johnnie was just a toddler. Somehow, he had gotten hold of a jawbreaker. As he toddled across the porch, he began to choke on the jawbreaker. Mom says that he was turning blue when Granny came running. Granny whipped up Johnnie by his feet to hang him upside down, and then she began thumping on his back. She kept thumping until the jawbreaker flew out of Johnnie’s mouth and rolled across the porch. Mom is certain that if it hadn’t been for Granny’s quick thinking and actions, little Johnnie would have choked to death. He had been turning blue before Granny took action.
Young Johnnie Nolen
Uncle Olen told me of another incident when it is possible that Granny had saved the life of my Cousin Dale. Dale is the son of Olen “Bug” and Alta Allen Cantrell. Alta had taken in Loretta and Johnnie Nolen when her sister Rachel had died. The other Nolen siblings would be picked up from Kentucky and brought to Ohio for holidays and during summer breaks. They would stay with Aunt Alta and other family members in the area. During this occasion, Fanny was staying with Aunt Alta.
Fanny’s brother Olen and Alta’s son Dale are about the same age and they could get into some mischief when they got together. On this occasion, the boys were around nine. Fanny was in the bathroom taking a bath. The boys decided that they were going to get a bucket of cold water and dump it on her while she was bathing. Well, they filled the bucket with cold water. They quietly entered the bathroom where Fanny, unawares, bathed behind the shower curtain.
The boys reached the bucket up over the curtain and dumped the cold water on Fanny. Olen says that they had barely got the bucket down when Fanny, madder than a wet hen and naked as a jaybird burst from the tub. After a brief moment of shock, the boys took off running. They ran out the back door and Fanny grabbed Granny’s butcher knife from the counter and ran right behind them. Olen said that Fanny was madder than he had ever seen her! As they ran around the house, Dale yelled to Olen, “We are really in trouble now!” Uncle Olen yelled back, “You mean you’re in trouble! I know that I can run faster than you!’’
The boys reached the bucket up over the curtain and dumped the cold water on Fanny. Olen says that they had barely got the bucket down when Fanny, madder than a wet hen and naked as a jaybird burst from the tub. After a brief moment of shock, the boys took off running. They ran out the back door and Fanny grabbed Granny’s butcher knife from the counter and ran right behind them. Olen said that Fanny was madder than he had ever seen her! As they ran around the house, Dale yelled to Olen, “We are really in trouble now!” Uncle Olen yelled back, “You mean you’re in trouble! I know that I can run faster than you!’’
Granny's butcher knife
So, there was my tiny Aunt Fanny, running outside, butt-naked brandishing Granny’s huge butcher knife, mad as could be, chasing two boys running for dear life. Olen says that they were on about the second lap around the house when Granny stepped out of the back door snagging Fanny up just as she ran around the corner, close on the heels of Dale and Olen. Olen is convinced that Granny had saved their lives, or at least Dale’s life!
Nolen children visiting Aunt Alta: Fanny Nolen, Kookie Cantrell, Ronnie Nolen, Olen Nolen, Johnnie Nolen, and Dale Cantrell on the end. Fanny and Dale are separated and she seems to be giving a chagrined Dale the side-eye. She may have just gotten out of the tub!
Fanny Nolen and Dale Cantrell must have buried the hatchet instead of the butcher knife!
Sadly, at least for her loved ones, Granny was fast in parting this life also. One day she called Mom and asked her if she could come take her to the doctor. Mom got my brother and I into the car and drove the short distance to Aunt Alta’s house where Granny lived. Mom took us to the neighbor, Mrs. Cecil’s house while she took Granny to the doctor. Mom asked Granny what was wrong. Granny told her that she thought she was dying. Mom asked her if she was afraid of dying and Granny replied, “No, Rett, I’m not afraid, I’m ready.”
Unfortunately, Granny was right. The doctor sent her to the hospital and there her heart stopped and they could not revive her. She was my sweet, wonderful Granny one moment, and in the blink of an eye she was gone. She was ready, but those she left behind were not.
