It’s finally done! For over a year, I have been collecting old photos, listening to old stories and studying the family tree all in an effort to make a book commemorating my late grandmother, Virginia Tate Webber.
When she died in February 2007, not only did all of her children come to the funeral, but all 13 of her grandchildren and a few of the great-grandchildren as well. And they came from California, Florida, Alabama and the Carolinas. She obviously had meant a lot to all of us and she would have loved nothing more than having us all together again.
It was the day of her funeral that my dad and two aunts approached me about putting together a book about her life. It was a fun challenge and the book begins with the earliest photo we have of her as a child and progresses through her meeting my grandfather, JE Webber, through her life as a mother and as a grandmother
Here are a few excerpts from the book:
My dad and I found a box of old letter written between my grandmother and grandfather from before they were married. I love how the address on the envelope is just “Mr. Jimmy Webber, Hickory, NC”
My grandmother had a wonderful tradition of taking a family photo on every wedding anniversary and putting those photos in what was deemed “The Anniversary Book”. Here’s a page from the 40′s.
We still have my grandmother’s house and various cousins and family members stay there when visiting Hickory. It’s kind of like a living museum where you can step back in time and still smell the memories.
Speaking of smelling memories, her lemon buttermilk pound cake is a classic and makes an excellent birthday cake.
I’ve posted these next two photos on here before, but I wanted to show them again as they got such great response and have inspired me to continue the theme. The last time I was in Hickory, I took my lights and continued to photograph things from my grandmother’s kitchen.
I’d like to put together a show of photos from her kitchen, which really thrived in the 50′s. She was one of those women who never threw anything away and found ways to recycle before the term was invented. So stay tuned, more photos from the kitchen to come!
