The Queen Of Barlow Bend

I'm currently in the process of writing a book about my Great Grandmother. This is a little excerpt from the book.....

Thirty-eight years ago, my step Great Grandmother, Claudie Beasley Flinn left this world at the age of 87. She was the only Great Grandmother I ever had and anyone who ever knew her knew she was quite a character! She made us call her Claude instead of anything Grandmotherly.

All the good memories of her came back to me today.

I can still remember how excited I was to ride in the back seat of the VW with mom and dad to Barlow Bend Alabama to visit Claude. We'd turn off the road at Gainestown Alabama and head down the road until the pavement ended at the dusty red dirt road. To the right was Mr. Eddie Karr's store, where Claude used to work part time, and to the left and down road was the old wooden house with the screened in dog trot down the center. This is where Claude had lived all alone for many years after my Great Grandfather died in 1938.

Going to visit her while she was working at Mr. Karr's store was a treat! I can remember the old red Coke box and getting to reach in and get an ice cold bottled Coke. I used to love that certain cold, clean smell inside the ice box and then getting to pop the top off the bottle in the built in bottle opener on the front of the box. We would get a loaf of the freshest bread and wrap a slice around a red hot link sausage, take a seat in the deer skin covered chairs and have our feast! The visit with Mr. Karr and Claude was priceless.

When we would visit at her house, we always had a certain way of letting her know we had arrived. When we got out of the car, we would yell "whoopeeee!" and wait for her to sling open the screen door and yell "whoopeeee!" back to us! We would then enter the little fenced in yard, perfectly scraped clean of every single blade of grass, circle around the rose bed lined with big limestone rocks and get a big hug from Claude. Claude had electricity, butane gas for heat and cooking but no running water. And would not change a thing! I couldn't wait to get in the house to grab her water buckets and walk down the hill in the back to the spring to get water for her. We would bring in the buckets to her kitchen and get the big tin dipper to fill our glasses with best water ever as our reward. By the time we got back, she had prepared Sanka instant coffee for mom and dad. Mom used to say it was so strong, her spoon would stand straight up in it by itself. She would always have Stage Planks with the pink icing as our treat.

There are so many stories about the "toddies" she made from the alcohol all the hunters would bring her during hunting season. Or the jokes, some quite spicy, she used to tell that she had typed and neatly folded in that purse that never left her arm. Or the time at Sunday Homecoming, when she got up in the middle of the sermon and told the preacher she felt like singing a little song. I'm not sure if it was the Holy Spirit or one of those little toddies, but the preacher allowed her to take the pulpit in her green dress coat with the fur collar and she always made sure to let everyone know it was real mink. She turned to the pianist and said "Don't worry honey. You don't know this one." Her melody sounded like two cats fighting. Then she walked back to the pew and took her seat next to my family who at this time had almost slid completely from view in their seats.

I loved Ms. Claude and there will never be another! Thanks for allowing me to ramble my memories, my imagination, and the stories that were passed down to me.