Clips From The Past. . .the way we were!
    The Luke C. & Victoria Tedder Family

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MARY JEAN TEDDER SCOTT' stories. . .

I LEARNED NOT TO CURSE

  I was in the fourth grade at Margaret Hearne School. Our family lived on Academy Street at that time. Some new neighbors had moved to our street a couple of doors down from us and they had a young girl who went to my school, and she started walking to school with me.

Seated: Mary Jean Tedder Scott and Yvonne Tedder Bass. Standing: John Leegins, “Bud” Tedder, Bobby Benson, Rufus Hawley

Well, neither my mama and daddy or none of my family ever said ugly words or curse words. We were taught the Bible and went to church, and I never knew what a curse word was or sounded like. Anyway, this neighborhood girl cursed a lot; I mean like about every other word.

At school, I sat directly in front of another neighbor which was a boy. At some point, he decided to reach up and jerk my hair, and I turned around and called him a “SOB” (I didn’t use the abbreviation, either). I had forgotten all about it, but when I got home, my daddy called me in and asked me about it and whipped me for saying an ugly word (a curse word).

I never knew who told him, and I didn’t know I had said something ugly - didn’t know what a curse word was, BUT, I certainly found out what it was that day!

MA’S CHICKENS

Mama and Pop raised a few chickens when we lived on Academy Street. It was pretty tough getting them grown enough to eat because wharf rats or something would get to them and eat them at night.

One day, Mama bought a bunch of “little biddies” and put them in a brooder in the back yard. The next morning she went to feed them, and they were all gone - no sign of a biddie. She said that a rat or possum got them. The times she had good luck getting chickens grown enough to eat, we would kill two or three.

I usually wrung their necks off and let them flip and flop until they died. Then, Mama and one of my sisters would dip them in a pot of boiling water, pluck their feathers, clean and cut them up - all ready to eat. Talking about gooooood chicken! They weren’t full of fat pockets like they are today, and had a better flavor, too.

ROOSTER WITH HIS HEAD CHOPPED OFF

  I remember one day we were going to have rooster stew, so we caught the big rooster and proceeded to kill it. One of my sisters held the rooster while I stretched its neck across a piece of wood, took the hatchet and chopped his head off - (or at least I thought it was off).

Mary Jean, Eddie Guy, Jr., and Patsy Tedder taken in 1948 when Mary Jean spent vacation with her cousins in Perrypoint, Md.

Click photo for larger image.

The rooster started flopping around, got up and took off across the yard with his head hanging down and blood a-flying! He ran all around our yard and went into our neighbor’s yard. My brother, Manzy, finally cornered him up under our house. Didn’t think we’d ever catch him. We finally did, though, and finished chopping his head off; and we had “rooster stew” for supper.

MY FIRST CAR

I bought my first car, a black ‘49 Ford with whitewall tires. Mama and Mansy went with me to Clinton to pick it up. It was dark when we started back home. I was driving. I was a young teenager and could see pretty good. I got behind a slow moving vehicle and started to pass this vehicle, when, all of a sudden, I saw two headlights coming toward me in the left lane.

I didn’t have time to get back behind the vehicle I was passing, so I took to the left shoulder. As I drove over to the left shoulder of the road, I lost control of my car.

My hands left the steering wheel, but my car stayed on the left shoulder as the on-coming car went by. My car immediately left the shoulder, got back onto the road and into the right travel lane, straightened up, and kept traveling.

At that point, I took the steering wheel, took control, and kept driving. I had no control of my car until it got back on the road.

You talk about a miracle! There was a hand on the steering wheel - God’s Hand - not mine. It still amazes me today when I think about this, even though I was never afraid. Of course, Mama was stressed out over the whole episode and she wanted me to let Mansy drive the rest of the way home, and I obliged.

THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE

I remember going to Ocean View, Virginia on my ‘49 Ford Coupe. Several of my friends went with me. Among them, as I recollect, was Sylvia Briley, Linda Edwards, Billie Baker, and Lois Watts…(I could be wrong, but these are the ones I usually hung around with).

Anyway, we were enjoying our trip and were walking around the place. We looked up at the giant roller coaster there. Lois wanted to ride it and asked if someone would ride it with her, but no one had the courage to do so. Lois asked me if I would ride with her. I saw how huge and dangerous it looked, and I said “No”. She kept begging and I kept saying “No”! This went on for about an hour and finally, I gave in.

So we boarded the big roller coaster, fastened the bar, and slowly the thing started moving off and kept getting up speed…faster and faster, jerking and snatching this way and that way. Then slowly it began an upward climb several hundred feet to the top, and all of a sudden it SHOT straight down…and then snatched us back and forth again. I thought my stomach had turned inside out. My eyes had closed, and we were going so fast, I could not open them, and my hands were clutched tightly to Lois’ arm. I was holding on for dear life. To say it mildly, I was scared nearly to death! I was praying, Lord, if I live to get off this thing, I promise I’ll never again ride a roller coaster, at least this one, as long as I live.

I was so glad to get off this thing, but Lois, mind you, came off it saying how much she enjoyed the ride and she wasn’t scared. Couldn’t believe it! She did leave with a souvenir of my fingerprints in her arm, though. What a time!

ROUND AND ROUND WE GO

I was a teenager and had gotten my drivers license. Pop had an old black Plymouth at the time. It was a smooth, good driving vehicle. For some reason, I borrowed it one day, and I don’t remember who all was riding with me, but I know Ethel was with me. I think my cousin, Dessie Dowdy was with us also, and probably Pig. She usually hung with me most everywhere I went…(Pig, that is).

Now, I was never a mean child, just loved to cut up sometime. So, I drove out to Maplewood Cemetery where the big monument is (this is a mound of dirt with a Confederate soldier on top). I drove around and around it several times right fast until they begged me to stop. That was so much fun, but it sure did scare my passengers! I don’t believe they thought it was too funny.

FLOATING OVER HILLS

If you think that going around the monument was fun, well, after I bought my own car, I would get some of my friends and Pig and go for a ride. (Yes! Christine, went along, too…she was my sidekick). Talk about moving on, that little black ‘49 Ford with white wall tires would really go! We went down 42 highway to Seven Hills Road. Well, there were actually seven hills on that road. After I turned onto that road, I got up a little speed, and then (floated) up and down, up and down these seven hills. As we rode over these hills, it felt like we were just floating. It would nearly take your breath, and the kids would just holler! You can believe one thing…the Lord’s hand was on our lives, especially poor foolish me! Can you imagine ME doing something like that now? No, and I can’t either. I can’t believe I ever did a thing like that! By the way, don’t you try to do it, because you can’t…the hills have been trimmed down and leveled off!

 

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