Grandma

How can you think of an angel without thinking of the most wonderful woman ever entered into our lives? That woman was a wife, mother, and grandmother to us all.

She was born to the parents of Willie Shield Spence and Ada Matthews Spence. She met and married William Washington (Buck) Malone. She gave birth to 9 children. Evelyn, Al, Myrtle, Myriel, Jean, Joan, Earl, Carl, and Jerry. Of these children she was blessed with 21 grandchildren.

Each of her children have their own memories of growing up on the farm , the place that grandma and granddaddy called home.

Most of the grandchildren spent some time at grandma's house. We all have our special moments. When I was a child I spent a lot of time with her. My favorite memories are on the front porch in the swing. We used to swing and shell peas and butterbeans. The conversations we had were so special that sometimes when I need a moment to calm down because of a stressful day, I can just close my eyes and think about the porch and swing, and I can see grandma there with me.

We all gained so much from her strong and calm words. If you needed advice, she would give it to you. You need not think about whether she was right or not you just took the advice and did what was right. As grandma always said "just do the right thing" and that advice always turned out to be right. Wasn't she a smart woman.

How many of you can remember coming into the kitchen and the first thing you did is to open up the bread tin on the table and get a dry biscuit. It may have been dry but wasn't it good?
How about before grandma got a cook stove, she had that old stove and she could fry bread on it. Oh my, how so good.

Remember when we had to go milk cows, feed chickens, and slop the hogs? The only thing my children know about pigs is bacon, ham and the movie "Babe". I bet all of the children remember pulling tobacco, milking cows, going outside to potty, working the fields, bringing water in the house, swimming in the pond, killing chickens, and sleeping together (usually wanting to get near grandma). Grandma always seemed to keep everything together . She was amazing.
Our family was blessed because her angel wings touched each and every heart that she came in touch with. I have always told my girls to follow your heart and always be honest. This is one of many things I learned from grandma and I want to be a good grandma to my grandchildren as my grandma was to me.

Being a grandmother for the first time changes your life. I saw Courtney Michelle Brown come into this world. I can only guess this was another angel sent here to spread love. Our hearts are so open to her and I want her to feel that I am a great grandmother as mine was to me.

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