Growing Up In Williamsport, Ohio

Mama
 
My mother, Virginia Elizabeth (Skaggs) Francis was born on July 29, 1908 to Isaac and Sebra “Frances” Fyffe Skaggs. She was the only one of her family born in Ohio. Her siblings were all born in Kentucky. She was a second cousin to Ricky Skaggs through the Fyffes and Lesters and also related through the Skaggs. As a matter of fact, after Isaac and Frances died, Ricky’s grandfather bought the property where they lived. My mother’s parents are buried on the top of a hill there in O’Bryan Cemetery.
 
My mother was in the eleventh grade when her father urged her to marry Bert Francis who lived nearby. He said that Bert was crazy about her. She wanted to finish school but in those days, it was hard for parents to support their families so she married Bert on December 1, 1926.
 
My mother was very intelligent and loved school. She took Latin and could sing “Te Cano Patria” (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) in Latin. I always knew the song from her singing it. She also could spell everything and when she got old and had difficulty speaking, if people didn’t understand her, she spelled the words.
 
I have always thought that music and art talent are inherited. My mother was an artist. She was always cutting papers, making patterns, sewing and writing poems. She was also the world’s best cook. My younger sister Betty and I stood in the doorway from the living room to the kitchen watching her cook. We also would stand there saying, “We’re bored. What can we do?” She would hand us a piece of paper to go entertain ourselves.
 
We called my mother Mama and my father Daddy. When I got older, I was sort of embarrassed to call them that. One day when my brother Bob was at their house, he unabashedly called her Mama. I figured if a big, respected man like Bob could call his mother Mama, so could I. Consequently, I will call them Mama and Daddy from time to time in these writings.
 
The thing that impressed me most about Mama was her honesty. Her family had been swept up with the Mormon movement when it went through Kentucky. Though she was never a Mormon, I don’t know if that influenced her, but I do know that she never lied.
 
When I say that, I think of Lucy and Ethel on the “I Love Lucy” TV sitcom. They decided to tell the truth which got them in so much trouble. That was not the case with my mother. She always figured out a way to tell the truth without alienating anybody.
 
My mother was a phlegmatic, laid back person but she was the disciplinarian in our family. My Dad never got involved with that unless it was something serious. In that case he went along with whatever my mother said. She kept a two-foot tree branch switch on top of the oven on the kitchen stove. She didn’t use it much because it was always a visible deterrent for Betty and me. But then again, we were good kids….written with tongue in cheek. : ) 

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2019
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck