Good Night, Sue -- Chapter 6

Susie was a little mommy.  It may have been that she had little sisters (and she got another one when she was nine years old -- Sandy).  Or it just may have been the way God made her, to care for the small, the weak, or just anyone who needed loving.  Each night, before Susie went to bed, she put all her dolls and toys to bed as well.  Even if they were just on the floor, or on a chair, she couldn't bear the thought of them going through the night feeling cold.  So she would cover them all up -- and be sure to get their feet nice and covered (because it's the worst to have cold feet while you are sleeping).  If she didn't have enough blankets for them all, she'd use spare pieces of fabric or clothes.  Once everyone was all tucked in, Susie could rest easy.

She was also very creative.  Sometimes a little girl cannot fall asleep right away at night, even if she is actually tired.  Sometimes she would be the only one having trouble falling asleep, and she would play this game while she waited.  She would pretend that she was a queen, and the bed was her throne, and the whole bedcovers were her royal robes.  They spread out from her in a wide, lovely flow, just like a queen's long gown should fill her throne room.  This worked especially well when she was sleeping at her grandmother's house, in a big big bed with old fashioned bedcovers.  Those worked very nicely with a stately touch that a queen's robe needed.  She would lie very still so the dress would not get messed up, and imagine her throne room full of courtiers, and entertainers until she got sleepy enough to drift off. . .

Years later, when Sue was a mommy, she was still big on tucking her children into bed.  Gretchen and Anna would call "Mommy, will you come tuck us?" if they had been in bed very long without her coming upstairs.  And if there were any fears related with sleeping, she had creative ideas for how to overcome those keep-you-awakers.  For instance, when Gretchen was afraid of housefires, her mommy told her that their cat Peaches, who always slept on the end of their bed was their own little fire alarm, and that was all the assurance she needed.  She told all her girls the idea of pretending to be a queen, and it was a fun game for them to try as well.  Read here for more ways Emily was helped by her mommy when she had a hard time sleeping.

Linking up with Mommy's Piggy Tales (and for those of you who are interested, also finishing my YAY posts this weekend:  getting engaged and married!)

At the grocery store -- Chapter 5

When Susie's mother took her girls shopping at the grocery store, sometimes she would let them have a special treat.  When they first went into the store, Mother would give them each a box of animal crackers to hold while they were in the store.  The little red box decorated like a circus train car would hold their fancy so Mother could do her shopping in peace.  Of course, Susie and her sisters were only allowed to keep the box of crackers to eat if they were good in the store.  One can only imagine how devastating it would be to have your crackers put back on the shelf when your sisters were allowed to keep theirs.  Susie greatly treasured holding her own little box of animal crackers.  She loved how it rattled with the promise of the menagerie of animals it held inside.  She was always sure to be good and helpful to Mother so that that little box of crackers was hers to keep!  And then! How fun to open the little red box and discover the assortment you had!  You could trade your elephants for your sister's lions, if you wished (lions are the best, of course).

Susie must have learned loads about taking your children grocery shopping, for when she grew up and became a mother, she always took her children along with her.  From a young age, they were given tasks in the store to help with, and by the time they were in late elementary school, they could divide up her list, and take 3 separate carts around the store to cut the shopping trip down by quite a bit!  Sue always took the produce and dairy sections, her son Nathan took the frozen, and Gretchen and Anna went together through the grocery sections.  They had seen their mother choose sizes and brands so often, that they knew just what she would want them to get!  And instead of animal crackers, they liked to choose Hostess fruit pies -- chocolate for Nathan, cherry for Gretchen and lemon for Anna.  And they liked those just as much as Susie liked her animal crackers.




 

Classic Susie Stories -- Chapter 4

 

Like many little children, Susie sometimes did not want to obey her mother and daddy.  One time, she had a harder time obeying than usual -- and what transpired will always be known as:

The Popsicle Stick Story

Susie was eating a yummy Popsicle, and when she was finished, she did not want to throw it away in the garbage can, so she just set it on the edge of Mother's table.  

"Throw your stick away," Daddy told her.

"No." Susie dared to say, and she even dared to smack the stick so it would fall onto the floor.

Daddy leaned over and picked it up and put it back on the table. "Throw it away," he repeated.

She knocked it down again and still refused.

Daddy was a firm disciplinarian.  He swatted her bottom.

She cried, but refused to pick up her stick and throw it away.

  

Over and over, Daddy would pick it up, and she would knock it down, and she would get another swat.  Finally, after a rather long battle, Susie caved.  She could tell that Daddy would win, no matter how long the battle raged.  She weepingly carried her stick to the trash and threw it in.  


"Now look at that," Daddy said, "You hurt my hand because you wouldn't throw it away."

Susie looked at him with a totally serious face and said "Not as much as you hurt my tail!"

Sometimes Susie could be a little bit dramatic, as all little girls can be.  She did not like getting hurt, not one little bit!  Here is a story that illustrates what might happen if a dramatic moment got the better of her. . . 

The Apple Peel Story

Mother was sitting by the kitchen table, peeling a bright red apple.  She had the amazing talent of being able to peel an apple in one, long, spiraling peel.  This time, she must have broke off a bit of that long peel, which fell to the floor.

Susie came into the kitchen with bare feet.  As soon as she ran by the table, she stepped on the small bit of apple peel, which stuck to the bottom of her foot.  Not too long later, she happened to notice the bright red spot on the sole of her foot.

Immediately she ran shrieking through the house: "I'm BLEEEDIN', I'm BLEEDIN'!!!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.  It never dawned on her that she could not feel any pain in her foot.  She just knew what she saw.  "I'm BLEEDIN'!!" she wailed to her mother, who, upon examining the foot, removed the piece of apple peel and held it up for Susie to see.

"It's just a bit of apple peel." was the calm explanation.

Maybe Susie felt a bit silly then.  But she probably felt better if her Mother let her eat some of that long, spirally apple peel. 

Susie's Early Childhood Days

 Marching off to her kindergarten class, Susie wore a button pinned to her sweater that said "I Like Ike".  She must have gotten the button from her mother, since her daddy voted Democrat, and probably did not like Ike.  Nonetheless, it is a pretty funny thing for a little girl to wear a campaign button to school!  She attended Hartwell school in Cincinnati, which was built in 1923, and was partially destroyed by a tornado in 1969.

When Susie was a little girl, her mother sang her this song in the bathtub.  This song is about your pruney fingers and toes, and how the water makes them all wrinkled:

"No matter how young a prune may be, he's always full of wrinkles!

A baby prune is like his dad, but he's not wrinkled quite so bad.

We have wrinkles on our face; a prune has wrinkles everyplace!

No matter how young a prune may be, he's always full of wrinkles!"

When she was very young, her mother used to bounce her on her knee and chant this little song:

"This is the way a lady rides, hobble-dee-hoy, hobble-dee-hoy." 

faster: "This is the way the gentlemen ride, hobble-dee-hoy, hobble-dee-hoy!"

very fast: "This is the way the Indians ride, hobble-dee-hoy, hobble-dee-hoy!!"

And you almost fell off the knee by the time you got to the Indians riding.

 

Susie probably learned the words to all of Mother's songs so well because they were sung over and over to several children.  When Susie was 5, she got a new baby sister, Donna!  Now there were three girlies in Susie's family.  And she was the biggest sister, which of course, is very important.

Susie, Katie, and Mother holding Donna

When Susie grew up and became Sue, she was just like the little girl in the "I Like Ike" button.  She never missed an opportunity to vote, and made election night a big party for her family.  The night she had her stroke, that eventually took her life, the doctors asked her several questions to see what she could remember.  They asked her who the president was, and she couldn't remember his name.  "I can't remember," she said, "But I know I didn't vote for him.  He's too liberal."  Even in that condition, she could remember exactly where she stood politically, which was pretty amusing to her family.

For several years, Sue worked at the polls for several elections -- long, sometimes dull days of handing out ballots, and then collecting and protecting the counted ballots to ensure the voting was done without mistakes.  I am sure that she did not think her task was boring, because it was important.  She was dedicated to her community and her country.  She really was "All American Sue".

Susie's Big Move

For the first three years of her life, Susie lived on the farm with her parents, near to family and close friends, and so Susie grew up surrounded by cousins.  As evidenced by the plethora of her baby pictures in an era where a family camera was not a common household item, she had plenty of attention from her family.

This picture says Baby Sue with Johnny (who was a cousin)

When Susie was three years old, her family moved north, to the bright lights and hustle and bustle of the big city:  Cincinnati, Ohio.  As was common in the post-WWII era where men returned from war with new skills and experiences, Susie's daddy had gotten a job working for General Electric in the city. He was quick at learning how things worked, and how to fix things.  Cities were booming at this point in America, offering G.I.s better opportunities for advancement and careers than a rural life did. So when Daddy went off to work in the city, Susie settled into a new life in a new house with Mother and her new baby sister Kay.  

Crosley Field in the early 1950's

Mother liked to listen to baseball games on the radio as she did housework, since this was before television sets invaded every household.  Several times a season, Crosley Field would have a "Ladies Day", where female fans could be admitted for a lower ticket price. Mother would dress in a nice dress, gloves and hat, and take the bus with a friend down to the ballpark to watch the game.  She always referred to the ballpark as "Crosley Fiel' ".  It is funny to note that while Mother loved sports, Daddy never took an interest.  In fact, even after they had a television in their home, Mother would still listen to the games on the radio in the kitchen because Daddy was not interested in watching them on T.V.  Susie inherited her mother's love for baseball (and football, and other sports), as well as her zesty cheering for the home team. 

Having a little sister no doubt changed Susie's world more than moving from the farm to the city.  Suddenly there was a new person to share Mother and Daddy with.  But also, there was a new sister to play with and have for a friend!  Sue cherished her relationship with her sister Katie her whole life long.  They shared a bedroom, sat up many nights talking late after dates, and one day they married guys who were good friends.

Katie and Susie with their grandparents whom they called "Papa and Mama"

Amazing that God gave Sue lots of daughters when she grew up.  Some people "get girls" and she was one of those people!  She was always someone to notice your stylish pair of shoes, or your cute new hairstyle. She taught her children how important being friends was, that no matter where you lived, or what new situation you walked into, you would have your siblings to be your friends.  

A fun late '60's picture of Sue and her sisters -- she is in the middle in the blue skirt and wild top

All American Sue is Born -- Chapter One

Helen and Curtis Wilkinson were fascinating people.  Curtis persuaded Helen to elope when she was just 15 years old, shortly before he had to report for active duty in Europe.  While he was learning to jump out of airplanes alongside the bravest men in the world, Helen was at home, singing and playing her guitar with her father and sister Mildred to earn gas ration cards.  He saw the Eiffel Tower and other sights in Europe, and she helped with the tobacco crop in rural Kentucky.

When Curtis returned home to Liberty Kentucky, it was not long before the two became three.   Helen was at home in their one room home on the farm when she went into labor.  In that rural area, it was common for a woman to give birth at home rather than in a hospital.  Helen was 19 years old when she had her first child -- a tiny baby girl.  It was June 20th, 1947.

They named their precious girl Bonita Sue.  Bonita is Spanish for pretty, but she was never called by that name.  To them, she was always "Susie", and a sweet Susie she was indeed.

One can just imagine Helen holding her precious child on a hot, still summer night.  Perhaps she thought her daughter looked like her handsome husband, Curtis.  Perhaps she counted her little fingers and toes, and hummed soft little lullabies.  Perhaps she planned all the adorable little outfits she would sew for her girl, and take her around to show to all her family and friends.  Perhaps she looked down the road at the years ahead and the myriad of conversations she and Susie would have.  She would be her forever friend . . . 

Changing her first baby in a perfect little nursery

I cannot say for sure what Helen felt or thought at the sight of her child, but knowing Sue as I did, and seeing her as a mother, I imagine that she must have been mothered by someone who loved her very dearly.  For you see, when Susie grew up, she wanted to be a mother so very much, and waited to become one for a very long time.  When the Lord finally answered her prayers for a child, and then again, and again and again, those children were loved as the most precious gifts she could have ever received.  Sue was a new mother at 29, and endured natural childbirth and inducement when she had her last baby at age 45.  Babies were a part of Sue's world her whole life long -- before she had her own, she and her husband would borrow other people's babies to hang out with, and after hers all became teenagers, she adopted the whole church nursery as her extra grandchildren.  Of course it is easy to love sweet and cute children, but for Sue, she loved them all, even those who were harder to love.

And she loved to hear the news of someone getting a baby.  Whether it was a young mom finding out she was pregnant for the first time, or a woman who had long been unable to have children adopting a little one, Sue would share in their joy just as if it were her own.  She once gave a silver spoon to a friend who had never had a child when she found out she was expecting.  "Your baby deserves to be born with a silver spoon in it's mouth" she told her.  That baby was taken to heaven before she ever saw this world, and I now have that precious silver spoon in my baby's room.  

Sue Wilkinson was certainly not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she had the love of her young parents. . . and was rich indeed.  

Do you know. . .

Do you know this little girl?

She's the kind of girl that you would love to have as a friend.  And I'm sure she would have been your friend as well, for when I knew her, she never met a stranger.  She was  lots of fun and knew how to shuffle cards perfectly with a fluttery-snap finish.  If you didn't know how, she'd be happy to teach you to play "rummy".

Here are some other things about her:

She loved to read.

She was the oldest sister in a family of 5 kids.

She called her parents "Mother" and "Daddy" her whole life.

She was in lots of plays.

She became a teacher and a mommy when she grew up.  And she was really good at both jobs. 

She was really quite the classic "All-American Girl"

Her parents and sisters called her "Susie", but most of her grown up friends called her "Sue".

You'd probably know who she is better by this picture:  

Announcing my new blog series "All-American Sue" about the youth of my mother, Sue Benzing.  Be sure to check back every Thursday for a new chapter in her life!  This will be a 12-week series, taking breaks on the holidays.  Come back and learn about:

Susie's southern roots

The apple-peel story

The Popsicle stick story

Her bedtime "routine"

Plus lots of great pictures and much more!!

Please pray for me as I work on this project that I will write something worth keeping to honor my mom!