Sentimental Sunday: Mother the Stay at Home Mom

Mother was a “stay at home mom” before the term was coined by the younger generation of our day. She was the classic example of a stay at home mom. She was talented and gifted in the art of homemaking and gardening. Her duties were those of a wife who took seriously the job, caring for her family and nourishing them. Mother was a skillful seamstress. She made her daughters dresses, from those valuable flour sacks that she bought flour in. We girls wore dresses and we were dressed to look like ladies. Those sacks were especially hand picked by her. That was during the era when families went to the grocery store and bought large quantities of food that would last a month, or until their next trip to the grocers.  

The meals that we ate were prepared at the hands of Mother, and they were plentiful. The large meal for dinner, as the younger generation now calls lunch, was enough for two meals. The leftovers were left on the table, covered with a large white cloth, and the leftovers were eaten for supper. Rarely was food left over from the last meal of the day. This was a tradition in the family until she was in her late sixties. Even for family gatherings and holidays the food was covered with the white tablecloth and left on the large dining table at my parents' house. Traditions are with us for many years and are sometime difficult to let go of. 

Mother definitely had the art of cooking down perfectly, and she was a talented gardener, as well. In my child’s eyes it seems whatever she touched in her vegetable garden and flower garden grew and was healthy and flourished.

She was happy living on the farm, and was a farmer at heart. Mother died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 78, 28 February 1993 in Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana. She was born in Brookhaven, Lincoln County, Mississippi to Mary Lavenia “Venie” Ramsey and Christopher Columbus Coon. She was the youngest daughter of the couple.  

Alma Lavenia Coon Eley was the wife of Esters Eley, and they were the parents of eight children; two sons and six daughters. Only one of the eight children was born in a hospital. So, she knew what it was like to manage a household and family of ten. She was involved in the everyday activities of her family. Living on the farm was a life that kept the family busy and without boredom. There was always something to be done, and the days began at the crack of dawn.

Mother in her flower garden in 24 June 1982. She and daddy lived on the Chicken Farm in Sibley, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. She was gathering vegetables and looking over her flowers. Daddy was watching as we took the picture of his dear Alma. Mother is holding squash in her hand. Mother was sixty-nine years old when this picture was taken.