Today's story is about one of those people. Her name was Ella Jay McSwain Love. She wrote her memory in my little girl heart so deep that it still shines there and makes me smile when I think of her.
Ella Jay's parents were Elisha and Mary Bell McSwain, my Great-Uncle Elisha and Great-Aunt Mary. They lived way out in the country in the Antioch Community, which in reality is only a few miles from my childhood home, but to a little girl it was a very great distance to travel and those trips always smelled of adventure!
Part of the adventure was you never knew if the people you were going to see would be home. Almost no one in our small town had telephones back then, so people would just show up to visit you or you'd show up to visit them. Visitors were exciting and almost always made for happy afternoons.
We would all pile in the car (no seat belts back then) and off we'd go of a Sunday afternoon with all the windows rolled down to get the breeze. Daddy would always drive, flicking his cigarette ashes out of the triangle shaped side car window, and Mama would ride shotgun with my baby sister on her lap leaving the rest of us to fight for space in the back.
Uncle Elisha would almost always be sitting on his porch and you could see him from a great distance away as the road was straight and clear up to his door, which is rare in that hilly country. We'd be on the look-out for him the minute we made the turn, and, sure enough, there he'd sit. Big as life!
He'd throw up his hand in greeting, as we pulled in the drive and parked the car. Daddy would always take off his hat, out of respect for his elders, as he approached Uncle Elisha on the porch.
We'd all clamor over and Aunt Mary would appear and shoo us into the living room or kitchen so Daddy and Uncle Elisha could "hear themselves think" and talk without interruptions.
We were a LOUD and happy bunch. It is true.
Ella Jay was almost always there with her sons Forest and Leroy.
Now. My genealogist cousins (There are many.) are scratching their heads and pulling up ancestry.com to figure out how Elisha McSwain was my uncle, so I'll just tell all of you right quick.
Uncle Elisha was my great-uncle because he married my great-aunt.
Aunt Mary was my paternal Grandma's half-sister by blood, but I didn't know that until I was grown. A child sees people through the eyes of love and never questions blood until taught to do so, but, once grown, I discovered that my Great-Grandpa Bell remarried when his first wife died and had another family with his second wife. Grandma was a "first family" child and Aunt Mary was a "second family" child, but if you asked them, they'd simply tell you they were sisters. That is as it should be, if you ask me.
Half a sister?! Bah! No such thing.
Now that I have the genealogists in the family at least a little bit satisfied, I'll tell you about Ella Jay.
For years I never knew that Uncle Elisha and Aunt Mary were Ella Jay's parents. She seemed too young and happy to have parents so old. I was shocked when I eventually learned that Ella was only seven years younger than my Mama. Ella looked so young! Back then she could have passed for her sons' older sister instead of their Mama,
Maybe it was her attitude that made her seem so young. Ella was always smiling and happy, and she always wore bright red lipstick! I thought she was prettier than a movie star.
I'm pretty sure we generally saw her on a Sunday afternoon after church, which is why she always looked so pretty, but, then again, with that dark hair and pretty face, she probably would have been beautiful wearing a gunny sack.
My favorite memories of Ella Jay are those afternoons when she would help me play the piano.
Uncle Elisha and Aunt Mary had an old piano in their hallway. I used to beg to play it, but Daddy usually said, "No." If Ella Jay was around she would give Daddy that smile and he'd shake his head and say, "Okay," and Ella and I would end up sitting down together at the piano and she'd teach me to play little tunes. She was always so patient and kind with me. I don't think she ever really knew how much that meant, but it meant the world to me and I never forgot her kindness.
Ella Jay had two sons, Forest and Leroy. They would be there too, but they were 5 and 8 years older than me, so they usually ignored me and played with my brother, Gene, who was between their ages.
I thought Forest and Leroy were dreamy when I was about 4 years old before I went through the "Boys? YUCK!" stage in elementary school. But Daddy said I couldn't look at them like that because they were my cousins. I remember whining, "But everybody is my cousin!!!"
This was pretty true in my world back then and Daddy didn't have much of an argument against that statement. He would just laugh and shake his head. We really do have a LOT of cousins.
Everyone I've mention to you this morning, except for me, have all passed away now. But in my mind, they live. I can see them so clearly. Standing there in their 1950s clothes. Young and smiling. Happy days.
Yes. They live in my mind and now they'll live in yours! Especially Ella Jay. Forever young. 😗 With red lipstick.
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