W.M. & Mary Louise

My maternal grandparents married April 20, 1950.  Today would be their 61st anniversary.  My Mamaw Matheny died May 4 of last year, so their 60th was the last anniversary they celebrated.

The photo below was taken on their wedding day & appeared in the paper (I'm guessing the Bastrop Daily Enterprise) in 2000 in celebration of their 50th anniversary:

I am their 4th grandchild & Reagan is their 4th great grandchild.

Below, Mamaw holding me as an infant:

Mamaw & Papaw with Jessa & I at one of my dance recitals 

(yes, I know the outfit is awesome):

Papaw & I on my wedding day:

Papaw holding Reagan:

They were quite a pair.  Mamaw was a fantastic cook, which worked out nicely since Papaw can eat.  He can eat what's on his plate, & if you're having trouble with what's on yours, well he can eat that too.  When I was young & we were all together for holidays, Mamaw made each grandkid their own small serving of her chocolate pie.  I now realize that was probably to spare us the spectacle of the 'adults' descending like vultures on the larger pie (or a certain aunt who will remain nameless hiding the remainder of the pie until she could eat it later, unobserved).

I last saw Mamaw on May 1 of last year.  I knew I was pregnant but hadn't told anyone but Trey (& he didn't believe me, so it was pretty much my secret).  I knew it was the last time I would see her, & for a pregnant woman I was remarkably calm.  These final stanzas of Amazing Grace came to mind as I drove home from Bastrop (ok I probably sang aloud to myself in my car).  I like them because they offer hope for all involved, the dying & those left behind:

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail

And mortal life shall cease

I shall possess within the veil

A life of joy and peace

When we've been there ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we first begun

It can be said that my Papaw is the sweetest man on earth.  He has outlived two sisters, three brothers, one granddaughter, & his wife of 60 years.  He lived through the depression & can remember where he was on VE Day (standing on the corner of 42nd & Broadway).  He is, I imagine, feeling a bit lost these days as he awaits many sweet reunions.

I simply have to post the lyrics to Precious Memories; it's my Papaw's favorite:

Precious memories, unseen angels

Sent from somewhere to my soul

How they linger ever near me

And the sacred past unfolds

Precious memories, how they linger

How they ever flood my soul

In the stillness of the midnight

Precious sacred scenes unfold

Precious father, loving mother

Fly across the lonely years

And old home scenes of my childhood

In fond memory appear

In the stillness of the midnight

Echoes from the past I hear

Old time singing, gladness bringing

From that lovely land somewhere

As I travel on life's pathway

Know not what the years may hold

As I ponder, hope grows fonder

Precious memories flood my soul

It can make you weep, but like it says, As I ponder, hope grows fonder . . . 

  

AZ