July 4th my mother in law Grace Stewart passed away at the age of 101. She had been living with us for the past 5 years. This is her story.
I was born October 29, 1913 at home on a farm in Pickens County, South Carolina.
My father, Logan Phillips, was 28 years old and my mother, Rachel was 29 years old. They were farmers at the time. I don’t know where they got my name Cleo Grace Stewart but I liked “Grace” okay didn’t care too much for “Cleo”.
I had one older sister, Ruth, and three younger brothers Bill, Donald and George. We had a cat but she lived outside.
We moved to town, Taccoa, GA when I was 4 years old. My Father started working at the Textile Mill and later on the Railroad.
I remember playing in sand a lot. My sister and I buried our dolls and that night it rained and washed away the mounds of sand that marked the graves so we had a lot of sand to move before we found our soggy dolls.
Our outside games were; Hide and Seek, Hopscotch and Jump Rope. Inside we played with dolls, paper dolls and crayons.
We did not have Preschool, but my sister, Ruth, was one year ahead of me so she taught first grade to me. It was a public school in Taccoa, GA. We walked about 2 miles to school. We walked home for lunch or on a rainy day we took biscuit and ham. If we had a nickel maybe we could have a hot dog. Mama always had some cake to pack too. I was too shy to go into music and a poor loser for sports. We played some ball at recess. I was very happy at school because Ruth had told me so much about it. I loved, respected and remember all of my teachers. My report cards were good. My parents and Grandmother were proud.
We believed in Santa Claus although he was very poor; he always had something left for us after visiting all the other families. Easter meant a new dress and shoes. We did not have Birthday parties but did have a neighborhood Easter egg hunt.
My favorite foods were corn bread, garden vegetables and country- cured ham. Mama’s chocolate layer cake was my favorite dessert. We went to church every Sunday and Bible School in the summer.
We all had chores such as washing dishes taking care of the cow, bringing in fire wood but we did it together and laughed a lot.
When I was 12 I would take hot lunch to my uncle for five cents and I bought thread for my sewing projects.
When I was 16 I picked cotton all day for five days and earned $5.00.
When I was 17 we moved to Easley, S.C. I got a job in the Textile plant (Alice Mfg). I worked 55 hours per week for $5.60. I could buy a dress for $1.98 and stockings for $.39.
I accepted Jesus into my heart as a young girl but was always too shy to go to the front in church. I was baptized at Park Street Baptist Church in Easley, SC.
I bought my Singer sewing machine in 1932 from a salesman that came to the door every Friday to collect payment of $.50. I have made the family clothing, baby clothes, quilts, doll clothes and did lots of mending on that machine. I also made bridesmaids dresses and Mary Ellen’s wedding dress. The sewing machine has been used all my life. Ligon her husband removed the Treadle and added an electric motor shortly after 1950.
Ligon Stewart & Grace Phillips were married on October 14, 1934, in Pickens, SC, 15 days before my 21st birthday.
Our first home was 2 rooms in the home of a widow with 5 children, with whom we shared one bathroom.
Harold was born November 5, 1935, Easley, SC the landlady told me she had not rented to a baby and did not want to hear him cry. So I held him so much it is a wonder he ever learned to crawl.
When Harold was 8 months old we moved to Slater, SC. We rented two rooms upstairs with bathroom privileges except this time we got a bonus. A nice little walk.
At last we moved to Easley into a 4-room house. When Harold was 14 months old he had Pneumonia and then Asthma.
Mary Ellen was born February 26, 1938 in Easley, SC. When Mary Ellen was two years old Ligon had Rheumatic fever leaving him with Arthritis. The next two years were hard, we moved several times to run from Harold’s allergies. Ligon was baptized at Marietta Baptist Church. Mary Ellen told the neighbors “Daddy took a bath at church but I didn’t because I wasn’t dirty.”
We Moved to Panama City, Florida March 1943, to work at the Shipyard.
Linda was born June 7, 1943 Panama City, FL. Mary Ellen made a doll out of her. She played with her constantly and on the first day of First Grade she told the teacher she would not be back because she had a baby at home to play with and besides she could not read so why go to school.
Louise was born October 29, 1945 Panama City, FL sharing Grace’s birthday – Mary Ellen told her neighbor that Mother got a baby girl and red roses for her birthday.
World War II was over in August 1945 and men were being laid off at the shipyard. When Ligon was out of work we went back to South Carolina and he got a job and house in Greenville. After 3 years we realized Harold could not live in South Carolina.
Harold and I traveled to Arizona by train on November 14, 1949; leaving the 3 girls with Ligon in SC. After arriving at the Phoenix train station I bought a newspaper then walked to a hotel. Looking at the classified ads I found a live in housekeeping job. Harold’s health improved in the dry Arizona climate. Ligon sold the house and bought a car leaving for Arizona January 1, 1950. Louise was four years old and was not the best kid to travel with but they arrived in Phoenix on the 5th day of January 1950.
Ligon got a job at Reynolds Metals March 1950 where he worked until he retired in 1974. We bought a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house on Piedmont Road at the foot of South Mountain, where we lived the next 25 years.
Harold did a lot of mountain climbing and just enjoyed being healthy.
We sold our home on Piedmont Road in 1974 and moved north to El Caminito Dr. to be closer to First Southern Baptist Church.
NOTE: Grace was a faithful member there for 41 years before she joined Laveen Baptist Church January 2014. Grace loved her Savior Jesus Christ, her church and her pastors.
Grace loved reading her Bible. She quoted it often to her children even after they were grown. She finished reading all the way through the Bible, the FOURTH TIME at age 100.
We have always enjoyed Christmas with the family. As the children married, we started having a progressive dinner and later cut it down to one or two houses with so many babies to buckle up. The highlight of the party was our program using all the talent we could put together. (Grandkids) Cris and Rusty on trumpet. On the flute we had (Daughters) Mary Ellen, Linda, (Grandkids) Debbie, Christy and Linda Stewart. One Christmas, Linda and Debbie on flute, (Grandkids) Robert on drums, and Christy on the tambourine playing Little Drummer Boy. It was great! Once (Daughter)Louise played piano John played the guitar, (Grandkids) Scott on the violin with Jeff and Bill joining in to sing Silent Night. Sometimes, when we were at Mary Ellen’s we had piano and organ with all the instruments and everyone singing. Now with the great grand children that are not into music, we still enjoy singing and lighting candles, and going out to sing Christmas carols for the neighbors.
The tradition of gathering the family together on Christmas Eve began in 1954. There would be food, fun and always concluded with the Christmas Story, lighting the candles and singing.
At Christmas time 1996, Grace had fallen and broken her hip. The hospital permitted the family to use the activity room to have the family Christmas party. PLUS, they allowed us to go caroling in the halls for all the other patients to hear.
Bits and Pieces
Driving Experience:
Grace had not learned to drive until 1968 at the age of 55.
She wrote:
Must not forget the 68 Oldsmobile. “The other member of our family”. I learned to drive it in 1968 and sold it 1994.
Robert & Debbie went with me to Food City every week but only one at a time. They kept up with whose turn it was and promptly showed up ready to go. Debbie made her shopping list. It always took 2 lines to write “marshmallows.”
All the school nurses knew me. Every time someone got a bad stomachache at school they knew the green Olds would be there soon.
Jeff didn’t care for the slow pace. He asked if I were saving gas by going slow or could the car even go fast. One day I picked him up at school and had to drive through the flooded streets. He said
“Grandma, why don’t you say “Oh! My word”. Guess I said that more than I realized.
Professional Career:
Grace began her professional career in 1982 at the age of 69. She took phone order and kept the financial records for Melba’s (Daughter in Law) large Mary Kay business. She liked to be called a “professional assistant – bookkeeper”. She used neither a computer nor calculator and always insisted on having balanced books. Grace retired at age 99 after 30 years on the job.
Grace’s family includes 8 Children and Spouses, 21 Grand Children, 24 Great Grand Children and 3 Great Great Grand Children.
What a beautiful memorial to an amazing women. Times were hard then but she with the strength of our Lord made a good life for herself and her family and knew the true meaning of sacrifice. She will be missed but is still here in the eyes of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. What a blessing to share her life, thank you,
What a great page! I love this! I can so hear her telling her story – I’m so glad you captured it. I think I have a tape recording of her when I visited AZ many years ago. Gosh – my mom and I were always SO amazed at her memory. She was so smart – I loved it! She was so proud of her bookkeeping skills and being able to help out the business. She was so proud of her whole family – always mentioning them when I talked to her or in a note. I loved getting a birthday card from her each year along with a picture – I will dearly miss that. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with her in Arizona, but, one memory that is still very vivid – not long after Ligon had passed, we were chatting on the phone. She was so sad and missed him so much, she began to sob on the phone. Anyone could tell that she loved him so much! I was so worried about her, but, I believe that the love and care from the rest of the family really gave her strength and kept her with us many years. BTW – one of my twin girls was given Grace as a middle name – so we will continue to think of her for many years.