Life Then and Now
By Creola Willett

My home is in Mississippi, Pike County. My grandparents raised four children. My parents separated when my baby brother was in diapers. Growing up, we went to a small school that had two rooms from first grade to eighth grade and two or four teachers. We did not have all the things children have today. Our grandfather would alarm the clock at four in the morning. You dress, clean your room, fix breakfast and all come to the table and bless the food that God gave us. Grandfather raised all his food. We worked hard but our grandparents knew how to manage. We had to wear boy's shoes and cotton stockings. The color of the stockings were brown. They kept us warm from the cold. In early 1936 and 1937 or 1938, we didn�t have a lunchroom. We had to take our lunch in bags or a bucket or whatever you had to wrap sandwiches with. We didn�t have a bake shop to make bread. Grandmother would make biscuits or cornbread or flapjacks, we now call them pancakes. School ended in March so farmers could make their crops for their family. They were called truck farmers because they sold vegetables to get money to live on.

They didn�t have jobs where we lived in the country. When I grew up, then I could go out and get a job. The first job I work on was in Franklinton. I went and lived with my auntie so I could send the money home for them to live on. The company name was Canning and Package. Back in the 30�s and 40�s I can remember stamps for shoes, sugar, flour, and if you ran out, you would have to wait until the next time. When I was about 18 years old, I went to live with my grandmother�s cousin and got a job at Wayne�s Bakery in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I met my husband and had four children. In 1954 we got married. I worked at a school cafeteria for awhile and got a job at Exxon Cafeteria. I worked there for 37 years until I retired. My daughter was working at Beechwood Elementary and she knew I liked to be doing something with my life. She asked me would I like to work with the Foster Grandparent Program.

I heard on the radio about Operation Upgrade (in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and thought it would make my life better to go back to school. Since then, I have been going to improve my learning, since all my children are grown now. I can think of myself. At church I was ashamed to read Sunday school lessons or Bible school and missions. Now I am not ashamed to ask someone, what is this word. I learned to look up words in a dictionary. I have not forgotten how I was raised. It is still in me to get up early in the morning and I am now 70 years old. When I was growing up in the country home, in my heart I thought my grandparents were rough on us. But they knew life better than me. When I go places, I don�t have much money to buy everything I need. So I pray to the Lord to teach me how to save and do craft work to be an all around person and get through life.

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