Soft-spoken, kind and very much a lady, Mrs. Velma Ford’s aged hands have touched a time and place in history that few people have experienced, remember or have only read about in novels or history books. She wears her salt and pepper hair in a beautiful, elegant updo and to look at her one would never surmise that she is approaching ninety-three years of age. Her lovely smile is always intact, and she is known as a praying, faithful lady to her God and a strong matriarch to her family.
Mrs. Velma – Aunt Velma, Mamaw Velma or Sister Velma, as she is known to many – drew her first breath of life in 1931. Herbert Hoover was President. The Empire State Building was just completed, the Star-Spangled Banner had newly become the U.S. Anthem and the Great Depression had begun to ease. The ball point pen had recently come into existence and neither FM radio nor stereo records had been thought, of must less invented. Times were simple and people lived simple lives providing for themselves and their families with any means available.
She was born at home, not in a hospital – as many her age were – in Nickel, Louisiana. Her young parents, Woodie and Mamie, welcomed their firstborn child into a loving family where she would be joined by six brothers and six sisters over the upcoming years. Today, her memories are cherished, her mind is sharp and her lifetime of experiences are worth sharing for others to consider and enjoy.
Mrs. Velma came from a generation that lived before the advent of electricity or other modern conveniences that grace families and homes today. Her family eventually settled into Catahoula Parish in the Harrisonburg area where such life was common. She remembers starting school and how she and some of her siblings would spend the day at the schoolhouse only to come home and do their homework by the light of a coal oil lamp. There were no water systems or electric water wells to speak of, so they drew water from a cistern well or a nearby spring transporting it for drinking water and to large tubs for baths and cleaning. There was no air conditioning or even window fans to keep the house and its inhabitants cool, they just learned to live with the heat and humidity.
“We had a big pot that we used to wash clothes. We’d let the clothes boil ‘til we thought they were clean,” she explained, “then we’d take them out with a paddle.”
The clothes were then moved into another large tub of water to rinse, and afterward hung out to dry in the fresh air and bright sunshine. Clothing was limited in those days and families didn’t just rush to the mall or a popular department store to shop. Most clothing was handsewn and if purchased, a few items per person sufficed.
The family grew their own vegetables in the garden and everyone, including the children, worked in the family garden to ensure the food supply. Cooking was accomplished on a huge wooden stove that was fueled by firewood the family cut or gathered. A nearby smokehouse was the only means of preserving meat for future family meals and the meat was raised not purchased.
“We always had food on the table because we grew our own vegetables and raised our own meat,” she remembered. “We smoked our beef in the smokehouse.”
Smokehouses were small, intact buildings, with dirt floors wherein fresh hogs or beef were cured with salt and then hung weeks at a time. The slow smoldering smoke would draw the moisture from the meat, and it would be kept safe from spoil and animals. The result was dried, long-lasting smoke flavored meat which would last for many family meals to come. The meat could be stored in the smokehouse sometimes for a year or more.
“Before we had ice, the ice man came around and put a block of ice in our ice box,” Mrs. Velma fondly recalled. “We had a big table and Mother would sit at one end and Daddy at the other end. We did not talk at the table,” as per the adage that children are to be seen and not heard – a far cry from today’s standards of family meals and conversations at mealtimes.
The Poole family lived in a log house that had three bedrooms: one for Mrs. Velma’s parents, one for the seven girls and another for the six boys with one bed in each room. How did they manage? The best way they could.
God was at the center of life back then, as He still is today for this faithful mother, grandmother and great, great grandmother. She recounted when she was seventeen years of age, her parents heard about a tent revival under the ministry of Brother John Campbell being held close to their home. They all loaded up on a flatbed truck and headed off to the meetings to worship God with their friends and neighbors. Tent revivals were common in those days. The nights were hot and filled with mosquitoes, and the tents were open to the night air. Music was often a string guitar, and the songs were limited to three or four chords, but God was in the place, worship was authentic, and the preached Word was anointed. People were saved and lives were changed.
She recalls graduating high school in 1949 and the family packing up and moving to the Aimwell community. There she met the love of her life and future husband, J.W. Ford, in a church service. They soon married and that marriage lasted 58 wonderful years. The Ford family never quit attending that church. They had three children of their own: JoAnn, Dale and Karen Ann, whom they raised in church. Her husband passed away more than a decade ago, but Mrs. Velma can still be found sitting faithfully on the same church pews she sat on when he sat beside her those many years ago.
To put it into perspective, Mrs. Velma Ford has lived through twenty-one presidencies. She was born in a time when women were expected to become wives, mothers and homemakers. She became that and more, driving a bus for the LaSalle Parish School System from which she retired. She has raised a family and lived to see great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. She is one of only 4.7 percent of the population living today that is over ninety years old. She has loved God and loved her family. Her life is a living, breathing history and she can share the past because she’s been there; and now, she is enjoying the gift of today with thankfulness. She is spry, sharp as a tack and a matriarch of her family and faith. Her ninety-two years of wisdom are a book for all to read and learn that life is a gift to be cherished and appreciated. She is a memoir who is being well-written and lovingly read by family and all who are privileged to know her.
