Sunday, July 02, 2006

MVB Party for our family's MVP, Part I

Her eminence asked me about the Mitral Valve Birthday Party, so here goes.

You have read references to my cousin Libby in the blog. If God only allows one good thing to happen to you for the rest of your lives, and you get to choose what it is, meeting Libby and becoming a part of her extended family should rank pretty high up there on your list. Libby was one of the sisters I didn't have but SHOULD have. She is the only child of my mother's sister Florence.

Here's the kind of person Florence was: she didn't have a middle name, so when people asked her what her whole name was, she would say, "Florence Ann Rebecca Tincher". (You might notice that two of my children also have the names Ann and Rebecca.) I never got to meet Florence, since she died before I was born. She had rheumatic fever as a child and had a weak heart. That didn't stop her from being a wild, fun-loving person. We have pictures of her where she has this great, free-spirit, beautiful smile on her face. (My daughter Ann bears an uncanny resemblance to her.) Florence was several years older than Mom, old enough that Mom was her bratty little sister. Mom said she used to love to dress up in Florence's clothes (and get in trouble for it). Mom also remembered going to Nashville with Florence on a bus to see the Grand Ole Opry. Mom said she hated the Opry--but sometimes now I wonder if she really did.

Florence married Herb Bynum. I have no details of their romance or early married life, but I bet Libby does. All I know about Herbie was that he had red hair, he was a barber, and he had tuberculosis. At the time that he got sick with TB, the accepted treatment was isolation in the Waverly Hills TB sanitorium in Louisville, so Herb went there, leaving Florence and baby Libby with my granny, Florence's mom. Herb died way young, maybe when Libby was around six years old.

Florence made a living for Libby and herself, and helped to support my Granny, with whom they lived. My mom also lived there at the time. Florence Ann Rebecca worked really hard, maybe at Steiden's Grocery, a hat factory, seems like a dry goods store (think Dillard's, you young folks). One day two or three days before Christmas, when Libby was still a little thing (maybe about 8 or 9), Florence came home from work and told Granny that she thought she'd lie down for a while. When she hadn't awakened after a couple of hours, someone checked on her and found she had died. Too early a loss of one of the world's great people, in my opinion.

All this knowledge to get to the place where Libby was an orphan at the ripe old age of 10. How that affected her life is the subject of a future post.

Love to all, and God bless.

22 comments:

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment!

Lydia said...

Yes, Me,too!! ANd how cool to hear another new thing--I didn't know my name had any other recognition then the wife of Isaac. Thanks, Mom. I would've imagined Florence to be as wonderful as you made her out to be without even reading this blog because Libby is so wonderful.

ann said...

I agree with Sippy. And I wonder if she named herself "ann" after her bratty little sister, or if Granny chose Ann over Anna partially because of her. What was wrong with her...how did she die?

ann said...

Mom, I just checked out your profile for the first time. Have I ever seen "immitation of life?" I don't remember it. Also, it looks like your blog doesn't even show links at all...did you remove them? someone else might have to help mommy with her links, because I only know how to replace the ones that come with the blogger template.

i'm sorry i didn't even think to try to help you with links while we were home this weekend! it occured to me last night that I could have.

Becca said...

This is all really interesting! Especially since I'm pretty sure I've met Libby and Dexter, although it was a long time ago.

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

I'm going to start singing if we don't hear more of the story soon...

love ya bunches!

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

Hello Mudder. Hello Fadder.
There's nothing new here, on E-Blogger!
Tooz used to write lots, we liked her stories.
But now she's stopped and it all seems so very boring!


Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase post! Or as a little Kluth would say, "pease post!" But don't post with peas. That could get messy!

Becca said...

There once was a woman named Tooz
Who readily posted her news
One day she was gone
But the comments went on
Till her readers eventually snoozed.

Peas porridge hot
Peas porridge cold
Peas porridge on a blog
Five days old.

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

LOL Becca! Hey, you stole my job! "I like it, I like it, I like it!" (That reminds me. I'm going to Wally World tonight to buy The Muppet Show Season 1 on DVD. I must have it!!!!!)

ann said...

maybe she's sitting there in shock drooling with her jaw to her belly button that i actually thought of something nice to say about her two days in a row.

Becca said...

Maybe, who knows!

Hey, Jenn--Mahna mahna!

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

Doot doo de doo doo...

Mahna mahna!

(faobutch - is that a toy store for Western fans?)

Becca said...

Doot doo doo doo!

Mahna mahna!

ann said...

Tooooooooooooooz

Anonymous said...

TTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

ann said...

Toot toot toooooooooooooozzzzz

Jenn-Jenn, the Mother Hen said...

I pooted on your blog. You haven't posted anything new in almost a week!

ann said...

twooooooooooooowooooooowoooozie!

ann said...

I talked to momma on the phone, and she says she just needs some rest after a long weekend and a busy week, and hasn't felt like blogging. You know how it goes. Especially since she has dial up. But you can keep singing.

rewky

Anonymous said...

i pooted

Anonymous said...

i like it when people poot on me

Anonymous said...

Look here, ladies and gentlemen, this blog is out of AW, so don't be pooting anymore around here!