Nezzie at age 78.

Courtesy Photo

Nezzie at age 21.

Susan J. Bowen

My mother, Nezzie, was born in a farmhouse in Banks County, Ga., on July 4, 1930. She was the seventh of 10 children. She had six brothers and three sisters.

Her father, Sandy, was a sharecropper, raising mostly corn and cotton. Her mother, Mary, planted vegetables to feed the family. Home-canned vegetables such as beans, corn and tomatoes sustained them throughout the winter, along with chicken and hog meat. She remembers chasing chickens in the farmyard to catch one for supper. After the bird was cooked, each child was given a specific part to eat. Her part was always the thigh.

She also remembers when they had cheese. Since they rarely could afford it, each child was given a portion and allowed to choose whether to eat it all at once or save some for later. Nezzie liked to save hers.

It was the Great Depression and money was scarce. Bills were paid with the crops. The floor of the old farmhouse where they lived had cracks, and chickens could be seen underneath the house through those cracks. Nezzie remembers being awakened one night by a rat playing in her hair.

Each day she rode a school bus with her siblings. She finished the tenth grade, but then being needed at home to help with the farm work prevented her from going any farther with her formal schooling. Her love for books and reading helped round out her education over the years.

When Nezzie was 11, World War II broke out. She watched three of her older brothers go off to fight overseas. One brother was exempted because of health reasons, but was killed in 1946 in a farming accident. Another brother went to Japan after the war. All of her brothers returned safely from the war, with only minor injuries.

Religion was a part of life on the farm. Nezzie's mother, Mary, was a Christian and would read to the children out of the family Bible. As small children, Nezzie and her siblings walked to a Baptist church a few miles from their home. Nezzie's father drank alcohol often before becoming a Christian in 1946. He later became a lay preacher.

Nezzie became a Christian the same year her father did. Later, the family started attending the Church of God, and Nezzie remains a member of that denomination to this day. In fact, church is where she met her husband, in 1951.

Nezzie married James in 1953. James was in the Army and went AWOL (absent without leave) to marry Nezzie. As a result, he had to serve an extra 30 days in the Army. After his discharge in April 1955, the couple moved to his hometown -- Anderson. Over the next 10 years, four children would be born: Elizabeth; Wanda; James, Jr. and me.

Nezzie spent all of her adult working life laboring in factories for nominal pay. Her first job, in 1948, was at a garment factory. She was 18 and she earned 40 cents an hour.

When she married and moved to South Carolina, she became a stay-at-home mom until 1960. Then she took a job in another garment factory. Ten years later, she went to work at a sewing machine plant and stayed there until her retirement in 1992.

Her four children grew up and married; all had children, making Nezzie the grandmother of nine. She also now has three great-grandchildren, all living within a short driving distance from her.

Nezzie expresses particular fondness for 10-year-old Sierra, my daughter and the youngest grandchild. Since my divorce, I've depended on my parents a great deal to keep Sierra for me while I work and attend school. This has created a special bond between them. Sierra has a great deal of affection for both Nezzie and James.

When I ask my mother about the most significant people in her life, Nezzie replies that she always admired her mother and loved her very much. Her mother passed away in 1981, at the age of 86.

Nezzie didn’t visit her mother very often in the last years of her life and she has regrets about that.It was difficult to make time for visits, with raising children and working full-time.

Another significant person in Nezzie’s life was her older brother, Curtis. He lived in Michigan before passing away last December, at the age of 87. Before his death, they talked by phone weekly. They weren’t always that close, but in the last few years they reconnected. When I asked her about that, Nezzie again expressed regrets about the lost years.

The most significant events in her life include her salvation experience at the age of 16. Of course, she also said that the births of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were some of the best times.

When I asked Nezzie about the worst time of her life, she paused for a few moments. Finally, she remarked that the deaths of her mother and father were hard. Although she has lost six brothers, the accidental death a few years ago of her older sister, Nell, was really difficult, she added.

Despite those hardships, Nezzie said she has had a good life and couldn't think of anything she would change. She speaks with fondness of her growing-up years, with no hint of complaint or self-pity.

When I asked what the future may hold for her, she chuckled.

“At my age,” she said, “It's just one day at a time.”

Nezzie and James have been married 55 years now and still live independently in their own home. They live comfortably on their modest fixed income. They enjoy their family and various church functions. Nezzie has come a long way from her humble beginnings on a Georgia farm.

When I look back over my own childhood, what I remember most about my mother was her stoicism. I never saw her get discouraged or depressed. Although times weren't always easy, she (and my dad) worked hard and never complained.

I've always attributed that work ethic to growing up as she did during the Great Depression. She learned early in life not to take even the smallest blessings for granted. That is one lesson I learned from her and hope to pass on to my daughter, as well.

Over the years, I’ve watched -- sometimes with sadness -- as my mom grows older. Her white hair shows little sign of the black shade it used to be. Her lined face shows years of hard work and laughter.

Having just celebrated her 78th birthday, she enjoys good health. Oh, she experiences the occasional aches and pains of arthritis, and she's had surgery to remove cataracts from both eyes. But she's still active and loves mowing her lawn and planting flowers, although her arthritis has curtailed those activities somewhat.

I'm proud that our family heritage includes my mother, the sharecropper's daughter. Everyone should be so lucky.