John Henry (J.H.) and Lula Cole

J.H. Cole chartered two banks in Alma, Arkansas. He was a tall, robust, wise, intelligent and handsome farmer and an influential business man, and I called him ‘Grandpa’. He was the patriarch of the Cole family of 10 children. Lonnie was the oldest followed by Lorena, Willy, Flosine (Mama), Lera, Bryan, Barbara, Tom, Daisy and J.P.

I have only a few personal memories that I will mention. The first one is that when we went to church at Mountain Grove Grandpa would lead the singing and sometimes he would do the preaching. After church we all would go to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house for a big dinner that Grandma and the women would prepare. Aunt Lorena made ice cream in ice trays in the little squares and serve it in little yellow bowls. That was the first ice cream I ever had. It was a real treat.

In the afternoon the adults would gather around the organ, that Daisy would play, and sing their hearts out. That was the beginning of me wanting my kids to sing. While the adults sang we kids would be with Grandpa by his big black trunk that always smelled like Juicy Fruit gum when he opened it. He would give us kids a stick of gum and a candy kiss or two if we would say a memory verse from the Bible or sing a song.

Aunt Lorena sewed a lot. She made Pat and me dresses, probably out of flour sacks. She had some empty spools that the thread came on. She gave them to Pat and me to go outside and make little roads around the roots of an old black walnut tree. Under and around them was where we rolled our spools as cars.

At the side of the area where cars would park was a big deep cellar that was used to store different vegetables like potatoes, onions, turnips, carrots, beets, canned vegetables and sausage (more about sausage later). Going down into the cellar was a little scary. It was dark and slanted downward and was really deep. The farther down we went, the colder it got. The roof was made of sheet iron and in the dry season apple slices were spread out on it to dry and store to use for making fried apple pies and other things.

In the very cold winter weather the family would gather for what is called ‘hog killin’ time. The men would fill the big black wash pot with water and build a fire under it so the water would boil. Then they would put the scalding water into a huge oil drum that was slanted in the ground. That was so they could put the hog in it to make scraping the hair off of it easier. The hog was put on a long table where the hair was scraped off and then the meat was cut up into sections. The hams, ribs and sides of bacon were prepared (rubbed with salt) and hung in the smoke house to cure for later use. Long strips were cut to grind into sausage meat. The bony pieces and skin were put in the black wash pot to cook into cracklins. The oil from that was used to cover the sausage patties that the women fried and put into quart jars. These were taken to put on the shelves in the cellar where it was cold (like the refrigerator) for later use.

While I don’t have many memories of Grandma Cole I know she was always in the kitchen preparing meals and organizing the ‘goings on’ in the big house. After Grandpa died, she and Aunt Lorena had a brick house built in town. Since Grandma was in a wheelchair at that time, they made sure the house was wheelchair accessible. Living in town made it more convenient and safer for them.

No matter what the occasion, it was always fun and exciting to be at Grandma & Grandpa Cole’s big house.