M is for my Mama

I really miss my Mama who went to be with the Lord August the 7th, 2002. Martha Katherine Flood Langley, born in Edgecombe County, NC December 19th, 1920. Her life was filled with raising 3 children, keeping our home in order and helping my dad in the little country store he purchased from his dad after doing really well in a poker game in the store one evening. This was before he married my mom but wanted to document that. I really don't think she minded helping out at the store but when dad had to go somewhere she wasn't as happy with the situation. She especially hated the smell of gasoline which sold for 29 cents back then. I can remember her telling a customer (because you also had to pump it for them) that she was out of gas so she didn't have to smell it. Mama didn't have a drivers license so one day she wanted to visit her mother and dad couldn't leave the store so he hired Dick Sills, a very nice black taxi operator in Nashville to take us over there. He patiently waited in the yard while we visited. Can you see that happening today? I can't. While I was in Viet Nam dad acquired a store in Rocky Mount and also a house there. When I came home on leave I saw it for the first time. This time the store was not the friendly, sit a spell country store but a downtown version that was about half beer and wine. Not the environment that my mama enjoyed. When my dad died it was time for "BIG" changes for my mom. She had to get her drivers license and actually get a job for the first time in her life. She went to work for Fawn Plastics, a company that manufactured dash parts for automobiles. She advanced quickly and really loved her position there. She always regretted leaving school in the 8th grade and before retiring she went to Nash Community College and got her GED and received it in cap & gown. I was sooooooo proud of her that evening. After retiring she had a lot of time on her hands and spent a lot of it making her rounds visiting my family and my two sisters. I still remember you so strongly when I am getting baked spaghetti at K & W Cafeteria, chicken strips at Bojangles or watching Price is Right with Bob Barker. She was an amazing lady and a big part of who Odie, Marie & Linda are today.