So many memories. Mommy was very nice about letting our pets come in the house. I also remember Mom’s friends who came over for coffee. Mom was very hospitable and everyone came over for coffee and a good chat at our dining room table. We had many home delivery services in those days because most moms were home and often without a car. So, the milk man came in from time to time. The cleaners sent Don Don the cleaning Man who let us dance on his feet. My favorite was the bread man. He had a kind of box that opened up in the back and had a whole long drawer of glazed donuts. Being mommy, she would-n’t dream of buying one of the donuts. So we’d ask the bread man if we could lick the wrappers of the wax paper that had held the donuts and he’d gladly share with us. Mommy had her coffee pots going a couple of times a day and I enjoyed the lovely way she would wake me up when I was in high school. She’d bring me a nice fresh steaming cup of coffee with cream and sugar into my room and set it down on my desk. My friends at school were always jealous about that. I remember that Mommy and Daddy always made us stand for inspection before heading to church. Believe me, she could spot ear dirt from across the room. Neck dirt too. Mommy always fostered imaginative play. I remember thinking that I could actually dig to China. I believed that Big John and Sparkey from a radio show were real and it was a sad day when Mommy told me that Sparkey was really just a puppet and no she wasn’t going to crank up the car and take me to the Country Club Center to meet with them. I have a million precious memories of a mom who worked hard all the time, though she had time to read to us, tuck us in for years and take to church. It doesn’t get much better than that.
— Jeanne Yallalee Ingalls
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