Remembering

September is a month of celebration in our family. Over fifty percent of our birthdays fall in the month of September. Today is my great grandmother Lutie Kidd's birthday. She is my maternal grandmother's mother and my chief story angel. My third manuscript, FAIRHOPE, fired my interest in Lutie's birthplace, the tiny town north of Dallas, Texas called Bells. You can find it on the web at www.bellstexas.com. I recommend visiting the history page if you are into old photos and interesting stories of the Old West.

What began as a quest to learn more about the woman who left this earth at the early age of twenty-eight, has led me to a wealth of family history that now feeds my stories. I started with nothing but a handful of photographs, faces with few names, passed to me by my aunt.

Lutie was the beauty of the family, the oldest of three girls, I have yet to discover how her husband, a native of Henry County Tennessee, came to be in Texas, but they were married in 1902 by the same preacher who married her mother and father. Two years later, they moved to Georgia, then from there to Alabama. The birth of each child, entered in the family bible by my great grandfather, documents the family's path from town to town. My great grandfather's impeccable script never faltered until he had to record Lutie's death Christmas Eve 1912. There is a hastily scratched out entry before the accurate date was recorded. For me, a hopeless romantic, his simple error tells a story. I'm sure theirs was a love match. You can find pictures of Lutie on my bio page at www.lorellemarinello.com/bio.php. The couple pictured third from the top was taken about the time of my great grandparents wedding.

Though Grandparents Day has already passed this month, I'd like to encourage you all to remember your grandparents. So much of who we are comes from them.

posted by Lorelle @ 10:24 AM