Capture Your Stories
Holidays are a great foundation for rich family tales. 2020 has provided enough material for years of sharing the good times, bad times and those that make you say, “What The Heck?” Hope you will join me in treasuring this special season and CAPTURE YOUR STORIES. BY CHERIE BUCKER-WEBB
First, I wanna tell you about my mother, Dorothy. Dorothy
was the daughter of Pearl Emiline Johnson and Luther Elmore Johnson.
My beautiful mother Dorothy
The sun shown longer the day she was born. The stars twinkled brighter the night she was born. My Grandfather was in love with that green-eyed colored girl. My Grandmother declared that Gramps brought half of Van Buren, Arkansas, home to see her that day … much to my grandmother’s great displeasure. You see, my grandfather was a very outgoing man. My grandmother, not so much. And after seven children, she really had a little attitude. Dorothy was indeed a beautiful child, and my Grandfather talked about her all the time and her brothers and sisters just loved her like crazy and spoiled her rotten! Even when she was 70 years old, and would act up, they all just said in gentle, loving tones, “She’s the baby, we have to look after Dot.”
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Dot was sent to live with her sister LeoDell Vivian in Minidoka, Idaho, not far from the internment camp. You know, I’m thinking my grandmother really had some attitude about my momma. I mean, she sent her baby girl to live with her older sister in Idaho! Nanny contended it was because Aunt Dell was lonely-- but really? Aunt Dell had moved to Idaho because she had been sweptoff-her-feet-happy-in-love and married a wonderful railroad man with a good job. Of course, she hadn’t been to Minidoka before she married him. So yes, indeed, that little green-eyed colored girl went to elementary school in Minidoka. Before long, Aunt Dell ran across another handsome, single, Black man who also had a good job with the railroad based in Pocatello. She quickly wrote to her older sister, Florence Ellen Eugenia (I swear, I couldn’t make up these names), and told her to come quick! Aunt Ellen took the first train out of Van Buren. They
