Flora was my grandmother and the third child born to Abraham Bud Casteel and Nancy Jane (Goode) Casteel. Grandmother died a little over five years before my birth but I often was told by my mother, Allene Rose, that Flora was a very loving mother, faithful wife, and an extremely good woman. She married James (Jim) Bascom Rose on December 16, 1908 and she and Jim raised five girls and one boy, which was to be my father, J.B. Rose Jr. She had another girl, her oldest one, to die at 4 years old of illness and the only other son to die at birth as a twin to daughter Gladys. Their children were a testament to the values instilled in them by their parents because they all went on to be honorable and outstanding citizens within their respective communities.
Some of the information here is taken from the book "An Alabama Rose Garden" by Lynn Parham, who is my first cousin and family historian. You can find more information concerning the Rose and Casteel families on his website.
---------------------------------------
The following is from Lynn's book.
Flora laughed a lot. Her kids liked to sit in her lap. They all remembered how much her belly shook when she laughed. All the kids worked in the field, but Flora almost never went. She did the cooking for the family. They would find Flora on the porch in the rocking chair. The dinner would be on the table. She was always the family cook and sometimes on Sunday there would be as many as 40 people to eat, mostly relatives and church friends.
Flora had found a spring near where they used to live by the river. It was also close to the road. She loved the water out of that spring. Whenever they went that way to visit she would always carry her gallon jug and fill it. The waters of "Gum Springs" had healing powers, or at least her grown children always accused her of believing that.
One of Flora's few shortcomings was that she was a pushover whenever someone would come by wanting to buy something. Scavengers for scrap metal were common then. They would come by, paying a small fee for anything containing iron. Flora was always more than willing to help. One day she sold the old horse drawn mowing machine that Jim had abandoned over in an unused part of their field. Jim did not miss it until one day he tried to find it, hoping to get a part for his newer machine. He had intended to keep it as a source of repair parts.
Flora and her sisters dipped snuff, which was quite common during that period. Jim, unfortunately, disliked it immensely. One day an irritated Jim asked sarcastically of Lyda, sister of Flora, where she got her ring. The snuff she dipped had made a ring around her mouth. As it turned out, Lyda had put on Flora's wedding ring. Lyda replied that the ring was Flora's, expressing surprise that he had noticed his wife's wedding ring on her finger.
The family remembers that Papa always had good clothes to wear, to church and other social gatherings. None of them remember Mama ever having many nice dresses to wear. It seems strange since she was always considered a very strong willed person. Part of the problem is that she always considered other people before she did herself and of course she wanted her husband to look nice.
Two weeks before daughter Mildred Parham and her family planned to move from Arkansas to Alabama they received news that Flora had a stroke. The news was delivered by the preacher where Mildred and her kids went to church at Naylor, not far from Holland, Arkansas. It was after dark but the family quickly gathered up what we could and headed to Alabama. They arrived early in the morning but were met by Ellie's husband, Walter Turner. The sad look on his face told them that Flora was dead. She was 64 years old and she was buried at Dement cemetery. Her stoke had come late in the evening as she was milking cows. They carried her into the house on a quilt. She died soon thereafter on November 27, 1950.
------------------------------------
My brother Wayne Rose gave me this account of his early childhood rememberance of Grandmother Rose.
I was a small child, about 4 years old. It was in the month of November, 1950. I vaguely remember that I was in a house filled mostly with adults. It was my Grandmother Flora and Papa Jim Rose's house next to ours. My older brother Mike was there also. He was about a year and a half older than me. The focus of most of the people there was toward the room to the right of the living room at the front of the house, before entering the kitchen area. There was some small talk but I remember mostly a sense of sadness. Dad collected Mike and me and ushered us into the room. The bed and other furniture had been removed probably because I have no remembrance of any object except a very long, very large dark box with flowers around it and people looking down into it. Dad was behind us with his hands on our backs gently pushing us along toward the box lying on some sort of pedestal. I remember not knowing why, but I didn't want to go up to the large box., but with Dad's urging, on I went. I remember the sad smiles from the other adults around and their quiet talk. They were probably my Aunt's and their immediate relatives. Dad then lifted me up and I saw my Grandmother lying there. She looked asleep but somehow different. This was my first remembrance of the loss of a close relative and ,at that time, I didn't comprehend that Grandmother was dead but I sensed something was terribly wrong. Dad held me there to look at her and I don't remember him giving an explanation about why Grandmother was lying in that box. After a few minutes he put me back down and I left the room. My sense is that Mother explained later that Grandmother had died. That is the strongest impression that I have of my paternal Grandmother. The other remembrances are even vaguer.
The most humorous one tends to stick with a person. I was sitting on the ground crying. It was a warm sunny day. Grandmother was standing looking down at me. My Mother comes up and asks what is wrong. They both bend over to get a closer look and notice ants coming out of my underwear or diapers, I don't remember which. I was sitting in an ant bed.
--------------------------------------
By Dale Lone Elk Casteel
Aunt Flora Rose was my Dad Alburn Casteel's sister. She was married to Uncle Jim James Bascom Rose. They Lived in the next house up from us on Highway 72 in the Coxey Community. This was during my growing up years, so I would spend a lot of time at their home.
I remember one time we were picking cotton for Uncle Jim in one of his fields. My brother Jimmy and I started throwing green cotton bolls at each other. The more we hit each other the madder we became. Jimmy hit me pretty hard one time so I picked up a rock and hit him upside the head. He began bleeding and Aunt Flora jerked a cotton stalk up and wore me out. She thought she was my mama if my mom was not around.
Every spring when mama tried to give me a dose of caster oil I would run up my Aunt Flora's house and crawl as far back under her house as I could get. It would take two or three people to pull me out and get me back down to our house. Usually these people were my sister and brother and one of my Aunt's. My mom would be waiting on the porch with the caster oil bottle in one hand and a switch in the other. I always got a dose of this horrible oil and a whipping at the same time. Aunt Flora thought this was more fun than going to the county fair! Some of her biggest thrills were seeing me get in trouble.
One day Uncle Jim was going fishing and Aunt Flora asked him to cut some wood for the cook stove before he left. He eased on off without cutting the wood. After about a half of a day on the river he came home tired and hungry. He came in the back door to the kitchen. Lying on the eating table was his axe. When Uncle Jim saw the axe resting on the table he yell out, "what is this?" Aunt Flora yelled back, "it's an axe and when you cut some wood I'll cook you something to eat!"
There was another time that Uncle Jim got mad about something she had cooked because he wanted something different. He took the skillet and slung it out the back door into the yard and walked out of the house. Later that day he came in expecting something to eat. Aunt Flora told him she couldn't cook because she didn't have a skillet. So Uncle Jim had to go outside in the yard to get the skillet and then had to wash it before she would cook anything for him.
Somethimes Aunt Flora would lower a gallon of milk down in the well with a rope to keep it cool. One day I was there when she pulled a gallon out and it had a spot of something in it. She got a spoon and dipped it out and asked me to taste it to find out what it was. I said no, but she kept telling me to taste it. I finally did and she began laughing. I believe that she knew what it was all along. It was a piece of lye soap and she just wanted to have a little fun with me.
Aunt Flora whistled a lot. Anytime she was doing things around the house she was whistling a tune. She was a very jolly and happy person. She was good to all people and was loved by everyone in the community. I will always treasure all the fond memories that I have of her and my Uncle Jim. They helped to make my life a joy too.
My brother Jimmy and I were in the National Gaurd Unit in Athens, Al in August 1950. We were called into active service in the military then. We were in basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky when we received word that our Aunt Flora had a stoke and had passed away. We were issued passes to come home for the funeral. This was a very sad time for me and Jimmy. We were around her so much that she just seemed like another mom to us. Her passing was a great loss in our lives. Things were never quite the same anymore after that. I missed her for many years.
Some of the information here is taken from the book "An Alabama Rose Garden" by Lynn Parham, who is my first cousin and family historian. You can find more information concerning the Rose and Casteel families on his website.
---------------------------------------
The following is from Lynn's book.
Flora laughed a lot. Her kids liked to sit in her lap. They all remembered how much her belly shook when she laughed. All the kids worked in the field, but Flora almost never went. She did the cooking for the family. They would find Flora on the porch in the rocking chair. The dinner would be on the table. She was always the family cook and sometimes on Sunday there would be as many as 40 people to eat, mostly relatives and church friends.
Flora had found a spring near where they used to live by the river. It was also close to the road. She loved the water out of that spring. Whenever they went that way to visit she would always carry her gallon jug and fill it. The waters of "Gum Springs" had healing powers, or at least her grown children always accused her of believing that.
One of Flora's few shortcomings was that she was a pushover whenever someone would come by wanting to buy something. Scavengers for scrap metal were common then. They would come by, paying a small fee for anything containing iron. Flora was always more than willing to help. One day she sold the old horse drawn mowing machine that Jim had abandoned over in an unused part of their field. Jim did not miss it until one day he tried to find it, hoping to get a part for his newer machine. He had intended to keep it as a source of repair parts.
Flora and her sisters dipped snuff, which was quite common during that period. Jim, unfortunately, disliked it immensely. One day an irritated Jim asked sarcastically of Lyda, sister of Flora, where she got her ring. The snuff she dipped had made a ring around her mouth. As it turned out, Lyda had put on Flora's wedding ring. Lyda replied that the ring was Flora's, expressing surprise that he had noticed his wife's wedding ring on her finger.
The family remembers that Papa always had good clothes to wear, to church and other social gatherings. None of them remember Mama ever having many nice dresses to wear. It seems strange since she was always considered a very strong willed person. Part of the problem is that she always considered other people before she did herself and of course she wanted her husband to look nice.
Two weeks before daughter Mildred Parham and her family planned to move from Arkansas to Alabama they received news that Flora had a stroke. The news was delivered by the preacher where Mildred and her kids went to church at Naylor, not far from Holland, Arkansas. It was after dark but the family quickly gathered up what we could and headed to Alabama. They arrived early in the morning but were met by Ellie's husband, Walter Turner. The sad look on his face told them that Flora was dead. She was 64 years old and she was buried at Dement cemetery. Her stoke had come late in the evening as she was milking cows. They carried her into the house on a quilt. She died soon thereafter on November 27, 1950.
------------------------------------
My brother Wayne Rose gave me this account of his early childhood rememberance of Grandmother Rose.
I was a small child, about 4 years old. It was in the month of November, 1950. I vaguely remember that I was in a house filled mostly with adults. It was my Grandmother Flora and Papa Jim Rose's house next to ours. My older brother Mike was there also. He was about a year and a half older than me. The focus of most of the people there was toward the room to the right of the living room at the front of the house, before entering the kitchen area. There was some small talk but I remember mostly a sense of sadness. Dad collected Mike and me and ushered us into the room. The bed and other furniture had been removed probably because I have no remembrance of any object except a very long, very large dark box with flowers around it and people looking down into it. Dad was behind us with his hands on our backs gently pushing us along toward the box lying on some sort of pedestal. I remember not knowing why, but I didn't want to go up to the large box., but with Dad's urging, on I went. I remember the sad smiles from the other adults around and their quiet talk. They were probably my Aunt's and their immediate relatives. Dad then lifted me up and I saw my Grandmother lying there. She looked asleep but somehow different. This was my first remembrance of the loss of a close relative and ,at that time, I didn't comprehend that Grandmother was dead but I sensed something was terribly wrong. Dad held me there to look at her and I don't remember him giving an explanation about why Grandmother was lying in that box. After a few minutes he put me back down and I left the room. My sense is that Mother explained later that Grandmother had died. That is the strongest impression that I have of my paternal Grandmother. The other remembrances are even vaguer.
The most humorous one tends to stick with a person. I was sitting on the ground crying. It was a warm sunny day. Grandmother was standing looking down at me. My Mother comes up and asks what is wrong. They both bend over to get a closer look and notice ants coming out of my underwear or diapers, I don't remember which. I was sitting in an ant bed.
--------------------------------------
By Dale Lone Elk Casteel
Aunt Flora Rose was my Dad Alburn Casteel's sister. She was married to Uncle Jim James Bascom Rose. They Lived in the next house up from us on Highway 72 in the Coxey Community. This was during my growing up years, so I would spend a lot of time at their home.
I remember one time we were picking cotton for Uncle Jim in one of his fields. My brother Jimmy and I started throwing green cotton bolls at each other. The more we hit each other the madder we became. Jimmy hit me pretty hard one time so I picked up a rock and hit him upside the head. He began bleeding and Aunt Flora jerked a cotton stalk up and wore me out. She thought she was my mama if my mom was not around.
Every spring when mama tried to give me a dose of caster oil I would run up my Aunt Flora's house and crawl as far back under her house as I could get. It would take two or three people to pull me out and get me back down to our house. Usually these people were my sister and brother and one of my Aunt's. My mom would be waiting on the porch with the caster oil bottle in one hand and a switch in the other. I always got a dose of this horrible oil and a whipping at the same time. Aunt Flora thought this was more fun than going to the county fair! Some of her biggest thrills were seeing me get in trouble.
One day Uncle Jim was going fishing and Aunt Flora asked him to cut some wood for the cook stove before he left. He eased on off without cutting the wood. After about a half of a day on the river he came home tired and hungry. He came in the back door to the kitchen. Lying on the eating table was his axe. When Uncle Jim saw the axe resting on the table he yell out, "what is this?" Aunt Flora yelled back, "it's an axe and when you cut some wood I'll cook you something to eat!"
There was another time that Uncle Jim got mad about something she had cooked because he wanted something different. He took the skillet and slung it out the back door into the yard and walked out of the house. Later that day he came in expecting something to eat. Aunt Flora told him she couldn't cook because she didn't have a skillet. So Uncle Jim had to go outside in the yard to get the skillet and then had to wash it before she would cook anything for him.
Somethimes Aunt Flora would lower a gallon of milk down in the well with a rope to keep it cool. One day I was there when she pulled a gallon out and it had a spot of something in it. She got a spoon and dipped it out and asked me to taste it to find out what it was. I said no, but she kept telling me to taste it. I finally did and she began laughing. I believe that she knew what it was all along. It was a piece of lye soap and she just wanted to have a little fun with me.
Aunt Flora whistled a lot. Anytime she was doing things around the house she was whistling a tune. She was a very jolly and happy person. She was good to all people and was loved by everyone in the community. I will always treasure all the fond memories that I have of her and my Uncle Jim. They helped to make my life a joy too.
My brother Jimmy and I were in the National Gaurd Unit in Athens, Al in August 1950. We were called into active service in the military then. We were in basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky when we received word that our Aunt Flora had a stoke and had passed away. We were issued passes to come home for the funeral. This was a very sad time for me and Jimmy. We were around her so much that she just seemed like another mom to us. Her passing was a great loss in our lives. Things were never quite the same anymore after that. I missed her for many years.
Flora was my grandmother and the third child born to Abraham Bud Casteel and Nancy Jane (Goode) Casteel. Grandmother died a little over five years before my birth but I often was told by my mother, Allene Rose, that Flora was a very loving mother, faithful wife, and an extremely good woman. She married James (Jim) Bascom Rose on December 16, 1908 and she and Jim raised five girls and one boy, which was to be my father, J.B. Rose Jr. She had another girl, her oldest one, to die at 4 years old of illness and the only other son to die at birth as a twin to daughter Gladys. Their children were a testament to the values instilled in them by their parents because they all went on to be honorable and outstanding citizens within their respective communities.
Some of the information here is taken from the book "An Alabama Rose Garden" by Lynn Parham, who is my first cousin and family historian. You can find more information concerning the Rose and Casteel families on his website.
---------------------------------------
The following is from Lynn's book.
Flora laughed a lot. Her kids liked to sit in her lap. They all remembered how much her belly shook when she laughed. All the kids worked in the field, but Flora almost never went. She did the cooking for the family. They would find Flora on the porch in the rocking chair. The dinner would be on the table. She was always the family cook and sometimes on Sunday there would be as many as 40 people to eat, mostly relatives and church friends.
Flora had found a spring near where they used to live by the river. It was also close to the road. She loved the water out of that spring. Whenever they went that way to visit she would always carry her gallon jug and fill it. The waters of "Gum Springs" had healing powers, or at least her grown children always accused her of believing that.
One of Flora's few shortcomings was that she was a pushover whenever someone would come by wanting to buy something. Scavengers for scrap metal were common then. They would come by, paying a small fee for anything containing iron. Flora was always more than willing to help. One day she sold the old horse drawn mowing machine that Jim had abandoned over in an unused part of their field. Jim did not miss it until one day he tried to find it, hoping to get a part for his newer machine. He had intended to keep it as a source of repair parts.
Flora and her sisters dipped snuff, which was quite common during that period. Jim, unfortunately, disliked it immensely. One day an irritated Jim asked sarcastically of Lyda, sister of Flora, where she got her ring. The snuff she dipped had made a ring around her mouth. As it turned out, Lyda had put on Flora's wedding ring. Lyda replied that the ring was Flora's, expressing surprise that he had noticed his wife's wedding ring on her finger.
The family remembers that Papa always had good clothes to wear, to church and other social gatherings. None of them remember Mama ever having many nice dresses to wear. It seems strange since she was always considered a very strong willed person. Part of the problem is that she always considered other people before she did herself and of course she wanted her husband to look nice.
Two weeks before daughter Mildred Parham and her family planned to move from Arkansas to Alabama they received news that Flora had a stroke. The news was delivered by the preacher where Mildred and her kids went to church at Naylor, not far from Holland, Arkansas. It was after dark but the family quickly gathered up what we could and headed to Alabama. They arrived early in the morning but were met by Ellie's husband, Walter Turner. The sad look on his face told them that Flora was dead. She was 64 years old and she was buried at Dement cemetery. Her stoke had come late in the evening as she was milking cows. They carried her into the house on a quilt. She died soon thereafter on November 27, 1950.
------------------------------------
My brother Wayne Rose gave me this account of his early childhood rememberance of Grandmother Rose.
I was a small child, about 4 years old. It was in the month of November, 1950. I vaguely remember that I was in a house filled mostly with adults. It was my Grandmother Flora and Papa Jim Rose's house next to ours. My older brother Mike was there also. He was about a year and a half older than me. The focus of most of the people there was toward the room to the right of the living room at the front of the house, before entering the kitchen area. There was some small talk but I remember mostly a sense of sadness. Dad collected Mike and me and ushered us into the room. The bed and other furniture had been removed probably because I have no remembrance of any object except a very long, very large dark box with flowers around it and people looking down into it. Dad was behind us with his hands on our backs gently pushing us along toward the box lying on some sort of pedestal. I remember not knowing why, but I didn't want to go up to the large box., but with Dad's urging, on I went. I remember the sad smiles from the other adults around and their quiet talk. They were probably my Aunt's and their immediate relatives. Dad then lifted me up and I saw my Grandmother lying there. She looked asleep but somehow different. This was my first remembrance of the loss of a close relative and ,at that time, I didn't comprehend that Grandmother was dead but I sensed something was terribly wrong. Dad held me there to look at her and I don't remember him giving an explanation about why Grandmother was lying in that box. After a few minutes he put me back down and I left the room. My sense is that Mother explained later that Grandmother had died. That is the strongest impression that I have of my paternal Grandmother. The other remembrances are even vaguer.
The most humorous one tends to stick with a person. I was sitting on the ground crying. It was a warm sunny day. Grandmother was standing looking down at me. My Mother comes up and asks what is wrong. They both bend over to get a closer look and notice ants coming out of my underwear or diapers, I don't remember which. I was sitting in an ant bed.
--------------------------------------
By Dale Lone Elk Casteel
Aunt Flora Rose was my Dad Alburn Casteel's sister. She was married to Uncle Jim James Bascom Rose. They Lived in the next house up from us on Highway 72 in the Coxey Community. This was during my growing up years, so I would spend a lot of time at their home.
I remember one time we were picking cotton for Uncle Jim in one of his fields. My brother Jimmy and I started throwing green cotton bolls at each other. The more we hit each other the madder we became. Jimmy hit me pretty hard one time so I picked up a rock and hit him upside the head. He began bleeding and Aunt Flora jerked a cotton stalk up and wore me out. She thought she was my mama if my mom was not around.
Every spring when mama tried to give me a dose of caster oil I would run up my Aunt Flora's house and crawl as far back under her house as I could get. It would take two or three people to pull me out and get me back down to our house. Usually these people were my sister and brother and one of my Aunt's. My mom would be waiting on the porch with the caster oil bottle in one hand and a switch in the other. I always got a dose of this horrible oil and a whipping at the same time. Aunt Flora thought this was more fun than going to the county fair! Some of her biggest thrills were seeing me get in trouble.
One day Uncle Jim was going fishing and Aunt Flora asked him to cut some wood for the cook stove before he left. He eased on off without cutting the wood. After about a half of a day on the river he came home tired and hungry. He came in the back door to the kitchen. Lying on the eating table was his axe. When Uncle Jim saw the axe resting on the table he yell out, "what is this?" Aunt Flora yelled back, "it's an axe and when you cut some wood I'll cook you something to eat!"
There was another time that Uncle Jim got mad about something she had cooked because he wanted something different. He took the skillet and slung it out the back door into the yard and walked out of the house. Later that day he came in expecting something to eat. Aunt Flora told him she couldn't cook because she didn't have a skillet. So Uncle Jim had to go outside in the yard to get the skillet and then had to wash it before she would cook anything for him.
Somethimes Aunt Flora would lower a gallon of milk down in the well with a rope to keep it cool. One day I was there when she pulled a gallon out and it had a spot of something in it. She got a spoon and dipped it out and asked me to taste it to find out what it was. I said no, but she kept telling me to taste it. I finally did and she began laughing. I believe that she knew what it was all along. It was a piece of lye soap and she just wanted to have a little fun with me.
Aunt Flora whistled a lot. Anytime she was doing things around the house she was whistling a tune. She was a very jolly and happy person. She was good to all people and was loved by everyone in the community. I will always treasure all the fond memories that I have of her and my Uncle Jim. They helped to make my life a joy too.
My brother Jimmy and I were in the National Gaurd Unit in Athens, Al in August 1950. We were called into active service in the military then. We were in basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky when we received word that our Aunt Flora had a stoke and had passed away. We were issued passes to come home for the funeral. This was a very sad time for me and Jimmy. We were around her so much that she just seemed like another mom to us. Her passing was a great loss in our lives. Things were never quite the same anymore after that. I missed her for many years.
Some of the information here is taken from the book "An Alabama Rose Garden" by Lynn Parham, who is my first cousin and family historian. You can find more information concerning the Rose and Casteel families on his website.
---------------------------------------
The following is from Lynn's book.
Flora laughed a lot. Her kids liked to sit in her lap. They all remembered how much her belly shook when she laughed. All the kids worked in the field, but Flora almost never went. She did the cooking for the family. They would find Flora on the porch in the rocking chair. The dinner would be on the table. She was always the family cook and sometimes on Sunday there would be as many as 40 people to eat, mostly relatives and church friends.
Flora had found a spring near where they used to live by the river. It was also close to the road. She loved the water out of that spring. Whenever they went that way to visit she would always carry her gallon jug and fill it. The waters of "Gum Springs" had healing powers, or at least her grown children always accused her of believing that.
One of Flora's few shortcomings was that she was a pushover whenever someone would come by wanting to buy something. Scavengers for scrap metal were common then. They would come by, paying a small fee for anything containing iron. Flora was always more than willing to help. One day she sold the old horse drawn mowing machine that Jim had abandoned over in an unused part of their field. Jim did not miss it until one day he tried to find it, hoping to get a part for his newer machine. He had intended to keep it as a source of repair parts.
Flora and her sisters dipped snuff, which was quite common during that period. Jim, unfortunately, disliked it immensely. One day an irritated Jim asked sarcastically of Lyda, sister of Flora, where she got her ring. The snuff she dipped had made a ring around her mouth. As it turned out, Lyda had put on Flora's wedding ring. Lyda replied that the ring was Flora's, expressing surprise that he had noticed his wife's wedding ring on her finger.
The family remembers that Papa always had good clothes to wear, to church and other social gatherings. None of them remember Mama ever having many nice dresses to wear. It seems strange since she was always considered a very strong willed person. Part of the problem is that she always considered other people before she did herself and of course she wanted her husband to look nice.
Two weeks before daughter Mildred Parham and her family planned to move from Arkansas to Alabama they received news that Flora had a stroke. The news was delivered by the preacher where Mildred and her kids went to church at Naylor, not far from Holland, Arkansas. It was after dark but the family quickly gathered up what we could and headed to Alabama. They arrived early in the morning but were met by Ellie's husband, Walter Turner. The sad look on his face told them that Flora was dead. She was 64 years old and she was buried at Dement cemetery. Her stoke had come late in the evening as she was milking cows. They carried her into the house on a quilt. She died soon thereafter on November 27, 1950.
------------------------------------
My brother Wayne Rose gave me this account of his early childhood rememberance of Grandmother Rose.
I was a small child, about 4 years old. It was in the month of November, 1950. I vaguely remember that I was in a house filled mostly with adults. It was my Grandmother Flora and Papa Jim Rose's house next to ours. My older brother Mike was there also. He was about a year and a half older than me. The focus of most of the people there was toward the room to the right of the living room at the front of the house, before entering the kitchen area. There was some small talk but I remember mostly a sense of sadness. Dad collected Mike and me and ushered us into the room. The bed and other furniture had been removed probably because I have no remembrance of any object except a very long, very large dark box with flowers around it and people looking down into it. Dad was behind us with his hands on our backs gently pushing us along toward the box lying on some sort of pedestal. I remember not knowing why, but I didn't want to go up to the large box., but with Dad's urging, on I went. I remember the sad smiles from the other adults around and their quiet talk. They were probably my Aunt's and their immediate relatives. Dad then lifted me up and I saw my Grandmother lying there. She looked asleep but somehow different. This was my first remembrance of the loss of a close relative and ,at that time, I didn't comprehend that Grandmother was dead but I sensed something was terribly wrong. Dad held me there to look at her and I don't remember him giving an explanation about why Grandmother was lying in that box. After a few minutes he put me back down and I left the room. My sense is that Mother explained later that Grandmother had died. That is the strongest impression that I have of my paternal Grandmother. The other remembrances are even vaguer.
The most humorous one tends to stick with a person. I was sitting on the ground crying. It was a warm sunny day. Grandmother was standing looking down at me. My Mother comes up and asks what is wrong. They both bend over to get a closer look and notice ants coming out of my underwear or diapers, I don't remember which. I was sitting in an ant bed.
--------------------------------------
By Dale Lone Elk Casteel
Aunt Flora Rose was my Dad Alburn Casteel's sister. She was married to Uncle Jim James Bascom Rose. They Lived in the next house up from us on Highway 72 in the Coxey Community. This was during my growing up years, so I would spend a lot of time at their home.
I remember one time we were picking cotton for Uncle Jim in one of his fields. My brother Jimmy and I started throwing green cotton bolls at each other. The more we hit each other the madder we became. Jimmy hit me pretty hard one time so I picked up a rock and hit him upside the head. He began bleeding and Aunt Flora jerked a cotton stalk up and wore me out. She thought she was my mama if my mom was not around.
Every spring when mama tried to give me a dose of caster oil I would run up my Aunt Flora's house and crawl as far back under her house as I could get. It would take two or three people to pull me out and get me back down to our house. Usually these people were my sister and brother and one of my Aunt's. My mom would be waiting on the porch with the caster oil bottle in one hand and a switch in the other. I always got a dose of this horrible oil and a whipping at the same time. Aunt Flora thought this was more fun than going to the county fair! Some of her biggest thrills were seeing me get in trouble.
One day Uncle Jim was going fishing and Aunt Flora asked him to cut some wood for the cook stove before he left. He eased on off without cutting the wood. After about a half of a day on the river he came home tired and hungry. He came in the back door to the kitchen. Lying on the eating table was his axe. When Uncle Jim saw the axe resting on the table he yell out, "what is this?" Aunt Flora yelled back, "it's an axe and when you cut some wood I'll cook you something to eat!"
There was another time that Uncle Jim got mad about something she had cooked because he wanted something different. He took the skillet and slung it out the back door into the yard and walked out of the house. Later that day he came in expecting something to eat. Aunt Flora told him she couldn't cook because she didn't have a skillet. So Uncle Jim had to go outside in the yard to get the skillet and then had to wash it before she would cook anything for him.
Somethimes Aunt Flora would lower a gallon of milk down in the well with a rope to keep it cool. One day I was there when she pulled a gallon out and it had a spot of something in it. She got a spoon and dipped it out and asked me to taste it to find out what it was. I said no, but she kept telling me to taste it. I finally did and she began laughing. I believe that she knew what it was all along. It was a piece of lye soap and she just wanted to have a little fun with me.
Aunt Flora whistled a lot. Anytime she was doing things around the house she was whistling a tune. She was a very jolly and happy person. She was good to all people and was loved by everyone in the community. I will always treasure all the fond memories that I have of her and my Uncle Jim. They helped to make my life a joy too.
My brother Jimmy and I were in the National Gaurd Unit in Athens, Al in August 1950. We were called into active service in the military then. We were in basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky when we received word that our Aunt Flora had a stoke and had passed away. We were issued passes to come home for the funeral. This was a very sad time for me and Jimmy. We were around her so much that she just seemed like another mom to us. Her passing was a great loss in our lives. Things were never quite the same anymore after that. I missed her for many years.
