GRANDMA'S HANDS

Have you ever heard the song “Grandma’s Hands” by Bill Withers? As I listened to this melody, I was reminded of my paternal grandmother, Rubye  Poole Johnson (1912-2002). My grandma’s hands could cook delicious meals and create beautiful clothes. She used her hands, although worn with time, to share her gifts of cooking and sewing with her family and friends.

Grandma Rubye was a fabulous cook, who ruled her kitchen. She was an excellent homemaker to her husband and three sons: Charles, Carl, and Eric. She also raised her five nephews: Jasper, Richard, Andrew, Nathaniel and George.  All had very hearty appetites! My dad, Charles, said that his mother was one of the best cooks that he knew. One of my grandmother’s signature dishes was her famous, melt-in-your mouth, golden brown, homemade rolls. If you visited her house on roll making day, the heavenly aroma of homemade baked rolls would slap you lovingly in your face and you could not wait to eat a hot, fluffy, buttery roll!  Her youngest son, Eric said that he would love Sunday dinners because they would always have “mama’s rolls”.  Her middle son, Carl, remembers helping his mother assemble all the ingredients for “roll making day”. The job of her eldest son, Charles, was to grease the large pans with lard so that the rolls would not stick. Needless to say grandma’s rolls were very memorable and left a lasting impression on those who experienced the delight of them. Unfortunately, grandma did not write her recipe down and her sons were too busy eating the rolls to remember how she made them and what ingredients she used. I guess we will have to use trial and error until we get her recipe right! Grandma was definitely a “master chef” in her kitchen and all her family and friends knew it.

Another one of Grandma’s God given gifts was that she was a fantastic seamstress. One of her dreams. when she got married. was to have her own tailor shop. Yes, she was that good! Unfortunately, that dream did not come to pass, but that did not stop her. I remember in her house she had a sewing room. This room was located just off of the kitchen and was also used as a bedroom. In her sewing room, there was a table with a black, old time Singer sewing machine and around it were lots of spools of  industrial thread in various colors and sizes. This room was where all the “Magic” happened. She would make tailored suits and dresses for her friends and family. My dad said that he always admired the fact that his mother could turn a piece of fabric into something beautiful. He remembers that his mother made him a Gold corduroy car coat with a hood made out of fabric purchased from Jackmann’s Fabric Store on Locust Street in downtown St. Louis.  My dad loved his coat because there was none other like it. A family friend said that Mrs. Johnson, helped her mother finish a sewing project that she had started and also made a pants suit for her.  She taught my dad how to sew and anyone else who desired to learn.

The story goes that Grandpa, Charles Johnson, met Rubye working in a tailoring shop in Anniston, Alabama during his training for WWII. He had brought his uniform to the shop to be altered. Grandma’s motto was” if you had the ability to alter it, you could make it”. She was talking about sewing, but little did they both know that this fateful meeting would alter their lives forever and make such a difference in the lives of many.

GRANDMA’S HANDS COOKED. GRANDMA’S HANDS SEWED, GRANDMA’S HANDS TOUCHED.