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That was the last time I saw her alive. She passed on later that day. Her body was placed in a beautiful casket in the living room and people came from near and far to pay their last respects. She was so beautiful in her casket. All the sickness and strain seemed to have disappeared. Everyone brought food, which was set up in the kitchen for all to share.
Two days later a service was held in the local church and we all attended. There was no segregation at a funeral. We all sat with Mr. G. on the front pew and all of Mrs. G?s family sat on the other side.
Mrs. G. was laid to rest in the family plot and a few days later a truck arrived with a large headstone. It covered space for two graves and on one side it said: Maty Beth Gregory, beloved wife and mother 1896 - 1932. On the other side was Johnny B. Gregory, husband and father 1892-.
A few weeks later some men arrived and built a large iron fence around the entire plot of ground. It somehow made the place so serene. There were cedar trees amidst the grave sites and somehow they looked beautiful yet strange with their knarled limbs.
For the next few months time seemed to stand still. Everybody was grieving. By this time the depression had reached our neighborhood and hardly a day went by that someone was wanting a free meal or some other kind of help. Mr. G. made sure no one left our place hungry.
One day Mr. G. said he had heard a couple that lived nearby had lost their farm. He immediately went to see them and upon returning told me I would be moving into the big house with him and that Jack and Mary and their new baby, who was just a little older than William, would be moving into the shack Uncle Willie and I had shared for so long.
The next day we took the truck, loaded all their belongings and brought them to our place. Most of their belongings were stacked outside the shack and we covered them with a large tarpaulin. Mr. G. could always use extra help on the farm and Mary would be a great help to Aunt Minnie with William.
Many people during the depression began to barter because of the shortage of cash and Mr. G. showed he too knew how to take advantage of the situation. He made arrangements with a local saw mill to clear about ten acres he had not been farming with the understanding that he would be given enough lumber to build a house.
When the crops were all in we began working on a new house for Zack. With Zack, Roy, Jack and Mr. G. working full time and me helping when not in school the house came up quickly. By the spring it was finished. Zack, Betty, Roy and Rosa moved into the new house and Jack and Mary moved into Zack?s former house. Then we started making some very needed repairs to the house that Jack and Mary had moved into. Everybody was happy. Then Mr. G. and I went to Zack?s and sat on the front porch. He pulled out a paper and gave it to Zack. He had prepared a deed to the house and one acre of land and signed it over to Zack and Betty. They were so excited.
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