Looking Back

Hayne Neisler recently shared information about Monica Bella Ullmann, later Broner, a noted Bauhaus trained textile designer, who worked at the Margrace Mill from 1950 – 1953.

Berlin, Germany is a long trip to take to find this connection to Kings Mountain, but Ullmann’s collection of woven textile fabrics from the early 1950’s at the Margrace Mill are currently displayed at the famous Bauhaus Archive Museum. Ullman attended the Bauhaus from 1929 to 1931.

Upon her death in 1993, Ullmann willed her collection of textile art and designs to the Bauhaus Museum. In this collection are over sixty textile patterns and designs she created at the Margrace Mill. Many of these fabrics are currently being displayed in a special exhibit in the Bauhaus Archive Museum in Berlin containing the most extensive collection of Bauhaus art, textiles, and furniture in the world.

queen corn?” So, if you know anyone growing silver queen corn, point them in the direction of Tamra Moody so she can save them a spot at the farmers’ market this weekend.

My favorite childhood summer activities were playing tag with friends and family as the evening light began to fade, and the fireflies dotted the fields around my parents’ house. We played Red Rover, Tag, and Mother May I. Kids today don’t know most of those games, but we sure wore them out during the summertime. We would play from after dinner until dark and never seemed to notice the heat. Ah, to be a kid again.

When I was 12, or there about, my cousins came to visit from Wisconsin. They stayed a full week and we got to go to Deal Street

Park to swim every afternoon. At that time, mom let us walk the few blocks from Gantt Street to Deal Street, via Baker Street. It was important because Mom hadn’t allowed us to do that before. The pool was always packed with so many kids. It had two diving boards, a low dive, and a high dive. To swim in the deeper end of the pool and use the diving board, you had to pass a swim test. It took me a while to pass the test, but I finally did it. I enjoyed using the low board mostly and was never motivated to use the high board. Mostly older kids did, and I admired them for their abilities and their style.

My fondest summer memories were spent sitting with my siblings in the yard, laughing and talking about what I don’t remember. And it really doesn’t matter. I just remember the laughter. We found humor in everything and laughed so hard our sides would ache.

Sometimes Daddy would make chocolate malts, with a gallon of milk, a half-gallon of ice cream, and Carnation powdered Malted Milk. We absolutely loved it. I just remember sitting there with them, feeling the love of family, laughing, and savoring that moment.

Momma and Daddy are gone now, but I suspect they sit in Heaven, reminiscing about all of us kids sipping those chocolate malts and laughing as we sat in the yard and the evening light faded into darkness and the fireflies came out.