Mama and Mr. Loren were acquainted with Claude (my daddy) and Ms. Nellie, I think they
Actually knew each other better than being acquainted, because I remember being told they would actually go camping or socializing at times with each other (both couples that is) so their combining families only made the best sense.
One day I had to take my car to town to have some repairs done to it.
I of course took it to a garage I was familiar with.
I had known Claude, the owner of the shop since before Loren and I were married. He and his wife lived in the same community Loren did.
Claude and Nellie in front, Granddaddy Roscoe behind them
Claude and Nellie were married January the first, [nineteen] thirty-three.
We were all good friends, but when the war started Claude moved to Savannah to work in the shipyard, as he was a good welder. He made good wages and although he and Nellie had three children, he managed to save a good sum of money and when the work began to be slack he moved back to Claxton and bought the garage he is still operating.
[Daddy owned and operated that garage until about 1972, when he semi-retired and let my older Brother Robbie take over running it]
While my car was being repaired Claude and I talked about old times. Not long after they moved back to Claxton Claude bought an old two-story house formally owned by a doctor, who had retired and moved to Florida.
He spent lots on the house remodeling and furnishing it, but before he had finished the upstairs, the house burned.
As he did not expect this to happen he did not have much insurance on it. What he had spent was almost a total loss. They rented another house and bought more furniture. During this time Nellie was pregnant and the doctor said she could not have the baby by normal birth. When the time came for the baby to be born he carried her to the hospital where their second boy was born.
There was complications and Nellie died just eleven days later. She died February the twenty second nineteen forty six.
The day I had my car repaired Claude told me all this and said he was very lonely. He asked if he could come to see me that night and I told him he could.
We sat and talked until very late.
We found we had lots in common; we both like to camp out, fish, hunt and we both like to travel. Neither Loren nor Nellie liked to do any of these things.
Claude brought the three older children to visit me on several occasions and finally they were spending most of their time with me.
We dated six weeks and were married
We, the children and I, had planned to see a picture that was showing in Claxton one night and Claude agreed to come take us. We were ready when he arrived, but my two boys and Claude’s boy Robbie did not want to go so I left them with Gus and his wife.
After we left them Claude handed me an envelope and told me to look at it and see what I thought. When I looked he asked me if I was ready and I told him yes.
It was a marriage license.
He had called the Justice Of The Peace before he left home and told him we would be there.
We were married with our four girls as witnesses.
After we were married Claude moved his furniture to my home. We were very happy and so much in love it did not seem possible.
We knew we were taking on a big responsibility, but we were young and in love so we thought we could make things work out right, and maybe we could have if we had moved far enough away from all the in-laws on Loren’s and Nellie’s side of the family.
In the meantime Claude had taken the Kaiser and Frazer Dealership. These were new cars to the public and hard to sell at first, then everybody seemed to want one. The trouble was Claude did not be careful enough who he sold them to and soon he was loosing so much on them he had to go out of business.
In fact, he was broke.
During this time I became pregnant and had a little girl, Linda. Claude was disappointed because he did not want any more children, but I was happy as I felt this was the final bond of love for us.
As the children grew older they began to give us trouble.
L-R Robbie, Claudelle and Sylvia
Daddy's three older children by his first marriage with Ms. Nellie, had never really accepted my Mama as theirs; especially the two oldest, both daughters.
They had been fairly 'well to do' city dwellers, and in the span of a few months, the lost their
Home, and their Mother, and had to move to a FARM and begin to do CHORES the whole Idea of which was repugnant to them. This resentment continued to fester, and even today is a problem with my family. The two oldest of those children from prior marriages are now 83 and 84 yrs old.
"Love Came Twice"
Chapter Three
by
Jerry E Smith
©1/21/2018
