Remembering my granny

August 05, 2008 10:25 am

— Killing time while remembering from whence I came ... The new Dixie Cafe opened recently and we had a marvelous lunch there. Aside from the food being excellently prepared, I got to meet a new friend. Cathy O’Kelly was our server and she regaled us with some of her childhood memories.
What is so wonderful about hearing these stories is how they can take you back to a time in your own life. Cathy was brought up at the Texas Pythian Home out on East Bankhead. When my grandfather passed away in the mid to late ’50s, he left my granny and three girls at home in Cooke County. Granny got a job at the Pythian Home as the girl’s matron. That means she was in charge of about 20 to 25 girls that had no mother or father to take care of them.
Cathy told me her story of how she came to live at the Pythian Home and how my granny had been the best thing in her life. She told me some things I had discovered for myself years ago.
Granny Hott was about the best mom in the world. She could be as firm as anything, but she also had a way about her that let you know how loved you were. Granny made sure that you knew how to work, how to play and especially how to worship.
I know that times were much simpler back in those days and we didn’t have to worry about nearly as many things as we do today, but I think a return to those simpler times of raising kids might be just the thing America needs.
Cathy realized it was the fact Granny cared about the values those kids grew up knowing. She knew when Granny had to discipline her for doing something wrong, it wasn’t because she wanted to inflict pain, it was because she loved those girls and wanted them to grow up to be the mother they are today. She knew it would not always be easy to cope with what life brought you, but if you had someone sitting there on those steps with you for three nights in a row, more than likely that lady would stick with through almost anything.
In the real world there are very few like Granny Hott who cared enough about how those girls turned out. She was proud of almost every one of the girls she helped along the way. If you could ask her today about the special times she shared with them, I would bet she could call each one by name and tell you an interesting story about something that happened to them out at the Pythian Home.
It is because of people like Cathy O’Kelly that I know there were people out there who liked it hott way before I came along and started sharing these thoughts with you.
It is because of the legacy that has been left by my grandparents and the one that will be left by my dad I can proudly say I have liked it more than hott for years and years.
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Butch Hott is a guest columnist. He can be reached at butch_hott@excite.com. Columns submitted to The Weatherford Democrat by guest writers reflect the opinions of the writer and in no way reflect the beliefs or opinions of The Weatherford Democrat.