This month’s post is dedicated to my most precious, forever young, Aunt Rosie who I have the pleasure of spending a lot of quality time with at Lake Broward. Her 89th birthday is a very special day and I wanted to honor her by posting this month’s blog all about HER! She allowed me to come stay in her lovely home, video record her memories over the years, and scan pictures to include with her autobiography. I’ve typed these videos (with her final editing) for you all to read and enjoy! So many new things I’ve learned about one of my most favorite people on Earth! I hope you all enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed creating it with our sweet Aunt Rosie. I love you so very much Aunt Rosie and I wish you a beautiful blessed 89th birthday! Cheers to YOU!
I was born on September 14, 1929 as a little preemie in our house on Bowden. Mama was very pregnant with me and I think I had about 4 or 5 weeks to go. The reason I was born early is because Mama slipped and fell on the porch and that caused the birth to start. I think Aunt Daisy Lee was there and Dr. Tyler delivered me. Unfortunately, Grandma Baxter and Aunt Gertie had gone to town shopping, so Grandma missed my birth. I was so tiny, the doctor didn’t even know if I was going to live or not. I never knew how much I weighed because Dr. Tyler had no scales to weigh me. I can’t think of the name of the little cotton diapers, but Mama would put me in the middle of that and take the four corners up around me. Mama says that she thinks Aunt Gertie took Grandma Baxter into town on purpose. Mama named me Rose after Grandma Baxter’s mother and Mary after Grandma Baxter. I remember once I was unhappy and I told Mama “I wish I were dead” and Mama said “Don’t you ever say that! After what we went through to keep you alive.” – So I never said that again. I remained very happy.
My earliest memory is living at the Bowden house with my sister Billie way out in the country, but I don’t know how long we lived there. Uncle Van visited often and the times I remember I was very young, but loved his hugs. He had this surge material suit which was kind of sticky. I would hug him and smell his particular tobacco that he smoked in his pipe that he ordered from somewhere. He had this certain smell about him and was such a jolly man who thought everything was so funny. He loved to tease me and got me into trouble a couple times. He told me in his accent “drink from the faucet Rosie” and I’d drink and of course got wet all over. I’d go into the house and Mama would be mad, but this is what he loved to do. He would chuckle and think it was funny. He used to say something like, “That you haven’t a name. It’s only yourself to blame. I shall call you ‘Awkins. Now isn’t Ms. ‘Awkins a very pretty name” and I didn’t know who Ms. ‘Awkins was!
We moved to a two-story house on Fleet Street in Jacksonville. We had neighbors next door named Lizzy, Eleanor and Elliott (later called David) Brandt. Lizzy was my very dearest friend (dated and married to Ray Crawford). I dated him before Lizzy, he had the cutest convertible. She now lives in Coral Springs and we kept in touch for a long time. I’ve called her several times, but did not get an answer. To entertain ourselves, we would play in our big garage. We didn’t know how to go to the bathroom like a boy does, so we would get in each corner of the garage and see who could squirt it the furthest. I know Billie and Betty can attest to this because it would be Eleanor, Lizzy and I. Elliot wasn’t a part of that. There was so much to do with our friends.
Then we moved to 1544 Sheridan Street in Jacksonville. We remained very good friends with Eleanor and Lizzy and would go back and forth on the dirt road with sand spurs picking at our feet to visit. Betty babysat us quite a bit and I can feel for her right now, because I’m sure it was not a lot of fun. Aunt Gertie and Mama had to go and have their day off, so Betty stayed with Billie and me and I think Peggy might have been born at that time too. Betty was a big boss and I ran away from her many a times. After I hit Billie on the head with a clock, Betty got kind of mad. I don’t know if Billie even remembers that. Daddy had a beautiful garden and had all sorts of things during the bad times in those days to share with other families. I would run through that garden with Betty right behind me. Poor Betty, God love her. Billie and I were close in age and good friends unless she was friendly with Betty. If she was friendly with Betty, then I was by myself. When we got a little older, we would start having plays down at Mrs. Brandt’s. Betty and Eleanor would make the costumes and we would charge a penny or a nickel for the show. We would make enough money for each of us to get a dime to go down to a theatre in Jacksonville, the Florida Theatre (I think) to watch a movie with a penny left over to buy candy. During this period, we would sneak Aunt Gertie’s cigarette butts and we would walk along our street after dark smoking our cigarettes. They tasted terrible, but we thought we were so grown up Our neighbor saw us trying to smoke these long things that grew on trees and he would laugh at that, but I don’t think he ever told Mama and Daddy. One time Daddy said, “I know my kids would never smoke cigarettes.” He probably knew we did, but we would get that look and we would say “Daddy, no, we don’t smoke”. Eleanor, Lizzy, Billie, Betty and I would go hunt wild violets out in the field and get them in little bunches and go down to Hendricks Avenue and try to sell them for 5 cents a bunch or 10 cents a bunch. Of all the people to stop one time, it was Mrs. Dupont in her big limousine. Daddy found out about it and the stomping of the foot came down. He said, “I will not have my kids looking like urchins out on the street selling flowers”, but you know at that time you would have been glad your kids were trying to make money. Daddy was so proud and he made a good salary with the railroad. We’d gather up in one of the automobiles and go to the beach and we’d have to come home with gritty bathing suits. On the way down to the beach, Mama would always have fruit or something for us. One time, I was eating an apple and ate it all the way down to the two ends and seeds in the middle. I always sat behind Daddy so I said “Daddy, I just can’t finish this apple. Would you finish it for me?” and I handed that to him and all he saw was core and seeds sitting there but thought it was so funny.
Betty, Billie and I would go up to the James Farm in Georgia for a few weeks at Uncle Bert’s to spend time with our Georgia cousins. We had a blast and would have to work by stringing tobacco. If anybody knows about tobacco, it was sticky in your hands and we could never get the sticky off. We had a lot of glorious fun with our cousins, Uncle Bert, and Aunt Rosie. They had about 13 or 14 kids, but not all of them were born at that time. I remember Cary being the youngest one at that time. She always had delicious food on the table and I don’t know where we all slept, but we probably slept 5 in a bed or on something. Those were very happy times. I vaguely remember meeting Grandma and Grandpa James in Georgia. Grandma Amy James came to visit us one time and I remember her being the sweetest, gentlest lady and she just adored Mama (like everybody did). We also had an “Aunt and Uncle” that lived in Atlanta, GA by the name of Aunt Lillian and Uncle Henry Thompson (Mama D’s childhood friend). Aunt Gertie and Mama would make us tons of clothes so we would look really nice to go visit them in Atlanta. Uncle Henry loved to ride his motorcycle. We would follow him down to the beach as he rode on his motorcycle with his feet up on the seat while we were scared half to death. It’s a wonder he didn’t get killed!
Grandma Baxter was my very dear person in my life, just like Aunt Gertie. We loved for Aunt Gertie to come and visit us. She would drive up in her convertible with fur around her shoulders and bring little George. Little George was so happy to see us, he’d jump up and down and then fall on the floor. Aunt Gertie would take Betty, Billie and I to see a movie over at the Florida Theatre. Thrilled to death, we would go to the movie and after the movie we’d walk down to catch the bus. We’d always pass a drug store and as dutiful kids we were taught never to ask for anything, but Aunt Gertie would always say “How about an ice cream soda?”. That was a big thrill and she’d go in and sit on the stolls at the counter, buy us an ice cream soda ever time we’d go to the movie. Aunt Gertie was always a pal to all of us. She was a very, very dear friend and Aunt. Grandpa Baxter, Grandma Baxter’s husband came over many times to visit us. He and Grandma did not live together at that time. I remember Grandpa putting a dime in Mike’s, our first born, hand for good luck.
Daddy knew that Uncle Van was very important in all of our lives and he was always welcome in our home. We didn’t realize it until many years later that Uncle Van was part of our family. One time while we were living on Sheridan Street, Uncle Van wanted to buy Mama and Daddy a beautiful home on Pottsburg Creek. Uncle Van wanted us to go out and look at the house. Billie and I were the two that went with Mama and Daddy. What a mansion it was to us kids! Billie and I even picked out our bedroom in this gorgeous two-story house. Well, Daddy being the proud provider of his family man of the house, he would not let Uncle Van buy us that house.
Sometimes we would do something and Mama would say “you wait until your dad comes home“, well, I don’t remember what we did so bad, but Daddy would tell us to go out and get a switch or he’d get a switch. He’d say “get out in the garage”, but he hated to spank us kids. I remember I would always say, “Daddy, please spank me first” since I didn’t want to hear Betty and Billie yelling. But I didn’t realize the switch was brand new then, so I got some good wacks out of it and of course Billie always had to be last and by then the little stick would be in shreds. I never did learn to say I’d be last. I just wanted to get it over with and, didn’t want to hear the crying. Those were spankings that we got, but he hated every minute of it. At dinner sometimes we’d be fussing and Daddy would stand up and say “I’m going to get a stick and you kids better behave yourself”. He’d stomp out there to get a stick, set it by the door to the kitchen and of course we were trembling (not really). The next night or sometime later, we’d be fussing and he’d say, “where is that stick?”. In the meantime, we had thrown the darn thing away since we didn’t want to be spanked. I know this sounds like Daddy was a bad man, but he wasn’t. He was one of the sweetest people that you would ever meet. Daddy and I were the best of friends and I just love my Daddy so much.
For my schooling years, I went to Flagler Elementary on Flagler Avenue (more on this: Kendall and I moved to an apartment on Flagler Avenue after we were married, our second little place). We had to ride the bus to school and we would pick up other kids along the way. There was the cutest guy wearing knickers and always very well dressed, didn’t realize that was the story of my life. He was Kendall that we picked up at his mom’s house. Had to be since he was always so well dressed. I was in first grade and he might have been in fourth or fifth grade at that time. I still think that was Kendall that I had fallen in love with when he was still just a little boy. Then after that we went to Catholic School which was Assumption off Naldo Avenue. I had one teacher for fourth grade that was a very sweet girl – Sister Collumkill. I’ll never forget, she and I got along so well. I don’t want to talk much about the following years since we had a teacher that was not a very understanding person. I was in seventh grade and Billie was in eighth grade, but we were in the same classroom. Billie sat on one side of the classroom and I was on the other side with that mean teacher. Billie and I were so proud that Mama and Daddy had given us some jodhpurs for Christmas. I don’t know if you know what jodhpurs are, but it’s what riding people used to wear with the baggy sides. We wore our coats to school since we were freezing, but that teacher would not let us take our coats off all day long (we weren’t supposed to show that we had pants on) and the room was heated. I attended Assumption until seventh grade.
During World War II, Daddy had a chance to go work in Miami since all this was a center where service people were being shipped down to Miami for departure. Daddy and Uncle Vincent worked for the Florida East Coast Railroad and they needed people down in Miami to help with the troops servicing the trains. Richard had just been born and Daddy moved down to Miami for a little while and then Aunt Gertie came to stay with us while Mama went down to find us a house. I could hardly wait for our family to be together again. When we first moved to Miami, we moved into a house on 26th Street and it was a very small place. Mama knew we needed a larger home, so they found this huge house (Mrs. Hahn – a real sweet lady) in the Northeast off 27th Street with many bedrooms and a building in the back that was rented out.There was also an apartment that friends of Daddy (that also worked for the railroad) named the Johnson’s lived.When we moved down there, I went into Robert E. Lee Junior High School for eighth grade. I had the best math teacher and got to take algebra. I’m not good at math, but for some reason algebra just clicked with me. I was always the one that found fun things to do. Mama and Daddy had gone off and Billie and I had the idea to push each other around on a footstool. Well, I was pushing Billie and it tore the rug. We hurried up and moved the dining room table to cover the rug. Mama knew about it and came into my room while I was laying on the bed. She was blessing me out and I was pretending I was asleep, but she knew dang well that I wasn’t asleep. I didn’t mean to do it, but we were just having fun. Another story living in this house is when we came home from school and brother Richard was all wrapped up in gauze. Mama was holding him (Butch, name at that time) and all three of us were balling our eyes out. That was our very sweet little baby brother that had pulled a hot (I think) coffee pot from the stove.
Then we moved in with Aunt Gertie on 777 Northwest 28th Street. Once we moved to Aunt Gertie’s, we started going to Miami Edison High School. Betty, Billie and I went to school there and I loved that school. We could go across the street and have lunch. Some guys would ask me out for dates and I would say yes, but then I’d tell them “I can’t go this weekend“. I went to basketball games and would catch the bus back home. For some reason, I missed my bus and would have to walk home or the police would bring me home. We lived in Miami for three years and I got a job working at a hosiery store. I’d see the girls in the service wearing their cute little uniforms and think to myself I’ll go join the service since it was so exciting. I’d sell them stockings, but we couldn’t get the good thin stockings because it was during the war. I also worked at a drug store as a soda person. I enjoyed working down in Miami. I remember dating a sailor and he was so much fun. The paperboy we had and his date somehow connected and we would all go out together. One time we went to the movie and when we came out the streets were full of people yelling, screaming, beeping horns. Come to find out, it was the end of the European War in May. We didn’t know what in the world was going on and the paperboy said “why don’t we go ride to the beach”. He and his girlfriend went down to the beach and my date and I sat in the car and talked. Finally they came back and we went home. Who was sitting out on the porch with a broomstick? My Mama! She heard over the radio the war was over and she didn’t know where in the world we were and it was probably midnight when we got home. She got on to that poor paperboy “what are you doing keeping my daughter out”, but it wasn’t him… the four of us were just having fun. Daddy’s job ran out and he moved back to Jacksonville and I still have his letter that he wrote me (and mom also) since I’d write to him. Several things happened while we were living in Miami. I had a wonderful school year down there and met a lot of nice friends. One friend in particular I met in the 10th grade was named Beverlee Hensey. Her dad worked with the race horses that would go north in the summer and down to Miami in the winter. She was one of my very, dearest friends. She had a figure like Betty Grable, but nobody will remember Betty Grable. Beverlee and I would be friends during the school year at Miami Edison High School when she was living in Miami and then she would go up north in the summer and return for school in the fall. She and I would walk to each other’s houses since I lived on 28th and she lived on 21st Street. She had many boyfriends because she was so beautiful! A couple of days before we were getting ready to leave Miami, I found out from another school friend that Beverlee had not been to school for a couple of days. They said Beverlee was in the hospital, so I begged Mama to go see her at Jackson Memorial Hospital. I probably could have walked there, but we were getting ready to leave, packing, and just a lot going on. Mama said “Rosie, I’d love to take you, but we just don’t have the time.” We moved back to Jacksonville and after about two weeks I received 3 letters. One letter was from Billie (she stayed down in Miami to finish her school year, but I wanted to get home) saying “Rosie, I hate to tell you this, but Beverlee Hensey passed away”. The other letters were from friends telling me the same thing. I cried and I could not quit since it was like losing a sister, that’s how close we were. Our neighbor Mrs. Nickerson who lived next door to us was a sweet, Christian gentle lady. I think Mama must have gone over there since Mama could not console me. Mrs. Nickerson came over and sat in the bedroom with me since I could not stop crying. Mama felt bad and said “Rosie, I wish to goodness I had taken the time so you could have visited Beverlee before we left”. Mrs. Nickerson sat with me, prayed, talked with me and said, “life is here and then it’s gone”. She was a very caring woman and I loved her for her kindness. I still had tears up and down since it was just so devastating. Unfortunately, I had no address to write the mom, dad, and brother who I also knew very well. That was one of my sad memories of leaving Miami since I didn’t get to see Beverlee again.
While still in Miami, Jimmy Deitz, Bobo Arnow, Bo Beckwith (Landon’s cheer leaders), and Billy Clark (basketball player) all came down for a basketball game. We all got connected since Jimmy knew our family and we invited them over. In Jacksonville, we were friends with a family by the name of Deitz (Gertrude Deitz was Betty’s friend and Jimmy Deitz was the son that I think Billie had a crush on. Well, Bobo Arnow (Maurice Arnow) was my very first love, and began writing each other. Bobo Arnow was still going to Landon High School since he had the rest of the year to finish. When we moved back to Jacksonville, Bobo and I started dating. He asked me to attend his prom. He had many friends and we went to parties at friend’s houses and some of the dates we would all gather together and go over to the train station. We would pretend like somebody was saying goodbye, so we could all kiss each other. I got to the point where I didn’t want to go out with Bobo anymore, so I made Billie go out with him. I found out he moved out to Arizona due to his dad’s health and I never heard from him again. Billie and I had many dates and we even dated the same guy. So if I wasn’t available, Billie was available. Bo Beckwith’s dad owned the sheet metal shop that I ended up working at as his secretary much later when I was married with two kids.
Going to Landon High School, I wasn’t very happy there because I was new. All of the friends that I had known before we moved to Miami had gone to different places. I decided to sign up for this course that you could go to school for half the day and go to work the other half of the day. I started working at Peninsula Insurance Company and continued working there after I graduated and into meeting Kendall. Billie was dating Elmer Parkin and after all the dates from different guys, I just never could find one that I care that much about. In 1948, Elmer kept saying, “Rosie, I’ve got someone I want you to meet” and I said, “okay, okay”. Elmer finally brought Kendall over and I looked outside and saw that cute little creme colored coupe. Elmer and Kendall grew up together since they only lived a block away from each other. Kendall lived on Davidson and the very next street was Emerson, where Elmer lived with his brother Gordy and sister Prissy. Elmer & Billie and Kendall & I would go on double dates to a nightclub called Mannings. Kendall and I had been dating for a month and he hadn’t even kissed me yet. Elmer would tease Kendall about kissing me, but I think Kendall was afraid I wouldn’t date him anymore if he got too amorous. On one particular night, it was really cool outside, and we went to Mannings. Elmer and Billie had gone inside for a while and Elmer came out and knocked on the window while Kendall and I were in the middle of a smooch. Kendall and I got serious after that and dated for over a year when he gave me an engagement ring. I was in love with Kendall, but I was not ready for all of that yet. It was too much for me and I felt like I was suffocating, so I gave him back his ring. I called Aunt Gertie and asked if I could come down to visit. I told my employer I had to take some time off and went to stay with Aunt Gertie for a while. In the meantime, Kendall would come over and talk to Mama saying, “what can I do? I have to get my girl back.” Mama told him, “if you want her bad enough, go down there to get her and bring her home.” Kendall came down a couple times and then sent a telegram which said, “I’m going over to the University of Florida game to stay with Elmer and Billie (they were living over there going to school) and wondering if you’d like to go with me.” I took a bus back up to Jacksonville and that began the whole romance over again. Kendall would come over for dinner with our large family from time to time. Kendall would eat slowly compared to our fast eating family, and we’d have to all wait at the table until he finished.
Within a year Kendall proposed again, but he did not give me back the engagement ring until the day of our wedding and he put that engagement ring back on my hand. We had a wonderful wedding at Mama and Daddy’s house on June 9, 1950 at 6:00pm. I was 20 years old and Kendall was about 24 years old. I wanted to get married by a priest, but there were certain little things that got in the way to prevent it from happening. Kendall called his pastor, Rev Cathcart and he agreed to come to our house and marry us. After the wedding we met up with our very dearest friends Betty and Clyde Stewart (we called him Stew) at a drive in and yacked and yacked. I called Mama and said, “Mama, I want to come home” (I was just teasing) and she said, “No you’re not! You’re married!” We went off on our honeymoon and had a wonderful honeymoon on about $50. Our hotel rooms were sometimes $4 a night. Can you believe a hotel room was $4 a night? Well, that was back in 1950. We went to White Springs and Rainbow Springs on our honeymoon. When we got back to Jacksonville, Kendall was working for Hajoca Corporation and I was working for Peninsula Insurance Company. Grandma Baxter was visiting Aunt Gertie out in San Diego, CA and offered her place to us to live while she was away. We lived at Grandma Baxter’s house off Orlando Circle for the first 2 to 3 months of marriage. Grandma’s house didn’t have toilet facilities or a shower. We had to take cold showers out on the back porch and put a curtain up since Aunt Daisy Lee and Uncle Vincent lived next door. The backyard was private with a yard that went down to the creek. There was an outhouse about 40 miles down the road (kidding) and we would use a slop jar during the night. After we moved, Uncle John built Grandma a bathroom in her house.
To be continued……
Happy Birthday Rosie…Kenny thank you for the stories of life in these blogs. Your father would indeed be so very proud of you!
AWESOME!!!!! Thank you Rosie and Jennye for this. It was so interesting to read. Also the pictures were great.
Love to “The House of James”,
Warren
What a wonderful recollection Rosie has of her past life. So very true, that while there wasn’t a lot of money, their was a lot of love. Looking forward to the next posting. Thanks, Jennye
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