My Mom

My Mom

Letha Mae (Smith) Campbell
Born: April 14, 1932
Died: December 3, 1990
Age: 58

Dear Liliyah:

So, what can I tell you about my Mother....your Great Grandmother.  This could be a long post, because I spent so much time with her.  My mother's heritage is English and some German.  She would always refer to her German heritage as "Pennsylvania Dutch".  I looked that up once and it's the term for those German descendants who lived in Pennsylvania.  Maybe some of her ancestors came from there.

As a little girl, Letha came from a very poor family and grew up with 9 brothers and sisters.  Her nickname was "Duck".  She had green eyes and natural curly reddish blond hair.  I don't have many photos of her, but here is one with her sister, Ruth.  My Mom is on the left.

Although very poor, my mother seemed to have a very happy childhood. She could tell me so many stories about her life as a kid that would make me laugh.  The 10 siblings all seemed to have fun together.  Living in that house with my Granny and Pappy must have been fun. They were always laughing and clowning around; and my mother and all of her siblings were the same way. They loved to laugh.

When Letha was 16, she quit school and went to work to help the family.  All of the Smith children had to work as soon as they were old enough. My Mom, and her two sisters, Ruth and Edith, found jobs working on a dairy farm in the town of Clarendon. The farm happened to be Alfred and Irene's farm (my other set of grandparents).  This is where my Mom (Letha) met my Dad (Everett).  AND, Edith and Ruth also met their future husbands, Gerald and Frank. It wasn't too long before these three sisters - Letha, Ruth, and Edith, married three brothers - Everett, Frank and Gerald.  The children of these three families all look very much alike because they have the same grandparents on both sides. In fact, many photos of me when I was little are mistaken for one of my cousins, Merri Kay.  She is Edith's daughter, but we look like we could be twins.

Growing up in a poor household with 9 children, created many hardships for Granny and Pappy. They couldn't always provide their children with the proper food and clothing needed. When Letha and her brothers and sisters were young, they often went to school barefoot and wearing the same outfit for several days in a row. When Everett began dating Letha, he bought her a coat for Christmas. It was her very first coat; and she cherished it more than any other gift she had ever received. Winters are very brutal in Western New York, and I was surprised that my mother walked to school during the winter months with no coat.

As I grew up, I could understand why my mother was always so appreciative of every single thing she owned.  She would get excited about the simplest gifts. I never worried about pleasing my mother with birthday or Christmas presents. No matter what I got her, she always smiled wide, hugged me, and cherished her gifts. One thing I learned from my mother was to cherish everything you have and engage in every moment you are with those you love. She certainly did that....always.

My mom and dad got married on April 24, 1950. This is a photo of them leaving for their honeymoon.

My Mom was only 18 years old here. It was common back then to get married at a very young age. It was also very common to start having children right away.  My mom had many, many miscarriages. She had lots of trouble getting pregnant and carrying a child to full term.  On May 15, 1952, she finally gave birth to a little baby girl and they named her Ellen. However, Ellen was not a healthy baby. She had something called spina bifida; and the doctors also suspected that Ellen was blind.  I'm not sure how old Ellen was when she died, but I do know she was less than 3 months old. My dad said that Mom picked her up one day and noticed that Ellen was shaking and her skin was bluish. As Letha began to panic, Everett took her and held her until she took her last breath.  Back then, there was no cure for Ellen's illnesses.  I know my parents were so hurt when they lost Ellen. They had tried so hard and wanted more than anything to have a child.  

After the pain of losing Ellen began to subside, they decided to try again. My mother had many more miscarriages; until finally the doctors feared for her health and said that she would never be able to have a healthy child. So my parents put in their application to adopt a baby. At the time they put in for adoption, my mother decided to go into the hospital and have her tubes tied so that she could never get pregnant again. She no longer wanted to go through the pain of continuing to lose babies. Unfortunately when she went into the hospital to have her surgery, the doctors discovered that she was once again pregnant. There was no such thing as doing abortions back then; so the doctors seny Letha home to wait for her to miscarry this baby. Once she would miscarry, they would then do the surgery.

Letha carried this child for the entire 9 months and finally went into labor. When Letha and Everett arrived at the hospital, they were fully expecting to have either a still born baby or very sickly child like Ellen. They had no hopes of having children of their own. To spare my mother lots of emotional pain, the doctors put her to sleep immediately after she birthed the baby.

Then, on August 30, 1954, ....the first of three miracles happened for Letha and Everett. 

When Letha woke up from delivering the baby she found Everett standing by her bedside.  

With a solemn face Letha asked, "What was it?".  

Everett replied, "It's a girl; and it's alive!"

Letha then asked, "What's wrong with her?"

Everett replied, "They can't seem to find anything!"

Moments later they brought this 9 pound, 11 ounce screaming baby into Letha's room.  She immediately ripped off the baby blankets, checking every inch to make sure this baby was really alive and well. She counted fingers and toes, checked the ears, eyes, nose....you name it, Letha was checking it.  As she continued to search, she slowly began to realize that she had a healthy little baby in her arms, and a huge smile began to appear. Your Great Grandfather, Everett, told this story many times, and I never saw him tell it without shedding tears of joy. I can imagine it must have been the happiest place in the world at that moment. 

So, Everett and Letha had their first child. They didn't even have names picked out. This little girl went for a couple days without a name, until the family was getting ready to leave the hospital. While packing up their baby bundle to head for home, they heard a song playing over the sound system in the hospital called "I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair."  That is how your Nana got her name.  Except, Everett chose the French spelling....Jeanne (with no "i").

After a few more miscarriages, Letha gave birth to a baby boy on June 26, 1956, and they named him Danny. Two years after that on June 20, 1958 they were surprised with another healthy little girl and named her Judy.

Here is a picture of Jeanne, Danny, and Judy when they were little.  This was taken in 1959, so Jeanne (your Nana) was 5, Danny was 3, and Judy was 1.

Letha chose to stay home and raise her three children. She had a few small jobs from time to time, but I always remember my mom being home for us. In the summer months, Letha became a Lifeguard and a swimming instructor at a nearby quarry. She was one of the best swimmers I've ever seen. She couldn't swim fast, but her form and style were beautiful. Mom and I were in several mother/daughter swimming races when I was little. We collected many trophies. For a few years, she also worked for some of the nearby farms picking cherries or apples in the fall. When I became old enough I worked with her, along with my brother, Danny. I actually hated picking the cherries. Mom and I would come home and try to make some kind of sense with our hair, as it would be full of cherry juice.

I remember for a brief time that my Mom was a waitress in a restaurant in the town of Albion. I remember it being a lonely time for us because every Friday and Saturday night, Mom was working. Dad would take us to the restaurant for a fish fry on Fridays so that we could see our mother. We all missed her and she finally quit, which made us all happy.

As me and my brother and sister grew older and had lives of our own, Mom took a job in the school cafeteria serving lunches to the elementary kids. Your Daddy and Aunt Abby benefited from this when they were going to school because their Grandma could sneak them a little extra cookie or container of chocolate milk. It was definitely a benefit for me that my mother worked in the same school that my own two children went to. It was another set of eyes to help watch them.

Letha also had a few interesting hobbies. She collected salt and pepper shakers. I would guess that she had over 1500 pair. She kept them in two china cabinets in the kitchen. Once a year she would put a pair of socks over my hands, spray them with pledge, and make me dust them....one by one! I actually enjoyed doing this because I got to re-visit all of the different pairs of salt and pepper shakers that she had. I have a few antique sets that I kept for myself when Mom died. One is a pair of coffee pots; and the other pair are little stoves. Someday when I am gone, I'm sure you will find them packed away someplace. My sister took the rest of the collection.

Letha also loved to crochet, and made many beautiful pieces. She once made me a white sweater that I had for a long time. I wish I could have kept that sweater forever, but it finally wore out. I loved wearing it.

Letha and Everett were members of a square dance club, and they were very good. Mom loved to dance and would sometimes put music on and get her three kids dancing around the house. She was great with all kinds of music and dance steps.

Liliyah, your Great Grandmother would have loved you to pieces. I wish she would have had the pleasure of holding you when you were born. Unfortunately, at age 58, Letha passed away due to heart failure. She knew something was wrong and went to the doctor for some tests. They tried to do open heart surgery and fix her heart, but she waited much too long to get medical attention. She survived the surgery for 14 days and finally took her last breath. Your Daddy was 8 years old when she died. I remember taking your Daddy into the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital to see his Grandma for the last time. She was covered with tubes and wires. Dusty took her hand and kissed every spot where there was a needle poking into her skin. He was trying to fix her boo boos.

Your Daddy gets his sense of humor from his Grandmother Letha.  She was the funniest person on this earth; and had a very positive outlook on life.  She appreciated the little things, loved everybody; and no matter how bad things got, she could always say something funny to break the ice and make you laugh again.  To this day, whenever someone starts talking about Letha, they come up with some funny story about her and we all start laughing.  I will post some of these funny stories in some other blogs.

Love.....Nana