Episode #46: Ruth Evelyn Wilson Black My Grandma

This story is more for historical purposes for those of my family, particularly for my sons and grandkids but is a story of my childhood and family.

For story context, Grandma Black was born almost 113 years ago, on June 26,1912. She was born a couple of months after the Titanic left England then two days later strike an iceberg and sank just two and a half hours later. In birth order of her grandchildren, I was the sixth. Her oldest son had two daughters older than me, Sherri and Brenda. Her younger son had a son named Kenny, and my mother had two children before me, Mike and Patty. Grandma was 45 years old when I was born in August 1957. Her father, Fred Walter Wilson was born in 1881 and died in 1949 at the age of 68. Her mother, Nancy Jane Monroe Wilson was born in 1880 and died in 1970 when she was 90 years old. I do have a few memories of my great grandmother but I was only 13 years old when she died and we did not see her very often when we went to OKC.

The photo below is the earliest picture that I have of her and was taken when she had married my Grandpa, Landis Howard Black which was on July 5, 1928, at the age of 17 years and 10 days old. Grandpa Black was born in 1911 and died in 1982. 

The picture below is Grandma, Grandpa and their oldest son, Bill Howard Black who was born within a few days of her 18th birthday. Uncle Bill was born July 21,1930 and died April 19, 2017 at the age of 86. The first time I saw this picture I thought Grandpa could easily pass for a gangster of the '30s. This photo was taken circa 1933.

The next photo below was taken with their 3 children, Bill, Kenneth Ray born July 27, 1934 and died August 10, 2018 at the age of 84, and Helen Louise (my mother) on September 5, 1935. This photo was taken circa 1937.

The family photo below was taken in 1948 and is the last one I have of Grandma standing, however I understand there is a picture of her standing at Bill and Betty's wedding in 1953, but not long after that. As life frequently happens, and my grandparents were no different, Grandpa divorced Grandma sometime between 1948 and 1951. Unfortunately none of my cousins or family knows the exact year. Grandpa was remarried on August 16, 1952 to Edith Evelyn Garner Wigley who was born in 1917 and died April 15, 2002. Edith was so very kind to us as kids and as I grew up and married in 1975 and started having my children in 1980, Edith always welcomed us into her home and treated us like her own. Grandma Black lived alone the rest of her life and never remarried. In this photo Grandma would be 36 years old and my mom was 13.

Grandma began feeling the effects of rheumatoid arthritis when she was in her late 20s and in less than ten years she would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. My earliest memories of her were when we would take a car drive trip from Irving to Oklahoma City for a weekend visit and stay with her in her small four room duplex where she lived. My folks would sleep on a fold out sleeper sofa, Danny and I got to sleep on a pallet made in the floor in her living room. I remember these weekend road trips starting around 1963.

The trip would take something over 4 hours to drive and part of it was on a two lane highway that would take us up through the Arbuckle Mountains since Interstate 35 was not a completed roadway yet and we would exit off just north of Ardmore for a portion of the trip on the two lane state highway 77. We would get back on I35 around Purcell and make it to OKC on the interstate.

 This Arbuckle Mountain range has an elevation of a little over 1400 ft above sea level so to call it a mountain is a bit of a stretch, but the two lane winding road up and down were scenic. When we would get behind a truck, we knew is was going to be a slow ride up to the top at Turner Falls which was a little over halfway to Grandma's house and is where we usually stopped for a break and look through the 'telescopes' at the surrounding area.

 I remember on at least one occasion around 1967 or 1968 I took a bus ride to from Irving to OKC and spent the week with Grandma. My folks and Danny drove up on the next weekend and I rode back with them and Danny stayed the week and rode the bus back. Keep in mind I would have been about 10 years old and Danny would have been about 8. I cannot even think about putting my kids on a bus at that age for a bus ride that would take over 5 hours with the required stops along the way. My how the times have changed.

Another of my favorite memories of Grandma Black was the love she had for the only pet she could possible manage and care for, a canary. She had a couple of them over the years and they were always a male, which are the singers. When I was a kid, I was always surprised how much a bird in a cage would sing, and hers were all great singers. They would be good company and companionship for her that took very little care and maintenance. Change the paper in the cage floor as needed and give them water and seed and they were good to go.

The photo below was taken in about 1966 with all the cousins at Uncle Ken Black's home. It was a houseful for sure that weekend. I remember all us kids slept, more like laughing and giggling all night in the backyard. Grandma was with us that evening as seen below. All of the adults on the back row (left to right: Mary, Betty, Bill, Ken, Grandma, my Dad) except for Aunt Mary, who was the blonde on the left, including her son and our cousin Steve on my right in the white tee shirt, are all gone now. The cousin group below was missing four; Kenny, Mike, Patty, and Robert. Grandma would have only been about 54 years old in this picture.

The photo below was taken in 1971 at Ken Black's home which I believe was in Piedmont, just outside of Oklahoma City. This is how I will always remember Grandma Black, a very small, fragile frame of a woman with terribly crippled hands, fingers, legs and feet. She would have been only 58 years old in this picture. It was terrible how this disease was on her.

Grandma lived alone with some accommodations made for her in the duplex where she lived such as extension handles on the sink faucets and long strings on light fixtures so she could reach them from her wheelchair. Her hands were so cripple, I do not know how she was able to even hold an ink pen, but she would write us letters every so often and send Christmas and birthday cards each year. She was completely dependent on the kindness and help of others for groceries and anything she needed outside her home, and there were many that loved her and would do for her until she could not manage. That is when she knew it was time for her to move into a rest home. Grandma died on September 18, 1974 at such a very young age of just 62 years old.

Her funeral service was on a Friday afternoon and I was 17 years old, a senior in high school and was playing my last year of football. My folks let me drive home that afternoon, taking Danny with me as he was a freshman in high school so we could get to the school before the bus left for the game against Aubrey that evening. We got beat that night, but I still managed to have my best game with almost 200 yards rushing. I remember I had two Strickland cousins that had graduated from Aubrey high school the year before and they were on their sideline, cheering me on every play. 

Grandma died just a few months before I met Carol Ann, and so many times I wished that they could have known each other. Grandma would have loved her, and I know Carol would have loved Grandma.

Grandma loved God for as long as I can remember and I believe I still have a Bible that she gave me as kid. She was such a kind and loving soul with a sweet genuine spirit and even today over 50 years later I still think of her and remember how she loved us all. 

Epilog-

After I published this story to my blog, my cousin Sherri sent me a few more pictures that I thought I would include here as a post script-

The following photo was taken sometime shortly after April 14, 1914 which was when Grandma's brother Jack Wilson was born in the Capitol Hill area of Oklahoma City. As noted above this would have been taken shortly after her second birthday.

The picture below is another picture of my Grandma Black as a young woman in the late 1920s. She was such a beautiful young woman.

The picture below is of Noah Monroe and Rebecca Perkins Monroe who was Grandma Black's grandparents. Noah died in 1910 and Rebecca died in 1902, Ruth never knew her grandparents.

Thanks Sherri!

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