Down at the bottom of Kedron hill, less than a half mile from our place, there was a very small house sitting on a few acres of land. An older couple, Mr. John and Mrs. Sukey Sears, lived there. Ms. Sukey’s brother, Fred, lived with them. My experience with those three dates back to around 1952, a time of the earliest of my memories. I would have been two or three years old going on four. Ms. Sukey and Mr. John never had any children, and as far as I know Mr. Fred had never been married. I didn't know at the time, but they were very poor.
I mention them and the fact that they were poor because they were generous people. They were generous with their love. Mr. John and Mr. Fred would walk up to our store just to see if they could take me home with them. I went to their house many times. They were like grandparents to me. I called Ms. Sukey, Aunt Sukey, although she was not related to us. Aunt Sukey was always tickled to death when I came to visit. She was missing several teeth, and most of the time she was nursing a dip of snuff. Believe it or not her smile lit up the room. Aunt Sukey radiated with an aura of love.She called me honey, but I think she called everybody honey. She said it in a way that you believed you were her honey!
I loved going to see Aunt Sukey. She cooked on a big wood stove. They had a Jersey cow named Old Bess. I loved watching Aunt Sukey tenderly milk old Bess. I remember the gentle way she spoke to Bess while milking her. Aunt Sukey used that milk to make the most delicious butter. She sat on the front porch, and made her butter in a butter churn. Of course I would want to help churn the butter, and Aunt Sukey would let me place my tiny hands on hers, and all the while i was thinking that I was doing all the work. Every time I went to her house I would say, “Aunt Sukey, cow butter and crackers!” At two or three years old none of those words came out very clearly. I think crackers was sounded with k’s and and no initial r's. There was nothing I liked better than those white kakkers and cow butter.
She would take me to the hen house and gather eggs. Mr. John and Mr. Fred would take me to look at the pigs, and sometimes we would walk out to the garden to check out all the vegetables they raised. That was about all they had; no car, truck, or tractor, no television, telephone, and I'm not even sure if they had electricity. Mr. Fred and Mr. John walked to our store to buy Aunt Sukey's snuff, and their tobacco. They would buy flour and cornmeal, some sugar, and I guess the few other commodities they were not able to raise themselves. They lived the simple life, and as far as I could tell, they were the happiest, most content people I ever knew.
One thing I'm sure of is they made a little boy feel extremely special and very loved. They provided me with these sweet memories, three dear people who were who they were, living life one day at a time, willing to give whatever they had to make others feel loved. I sure wish I had some of that cow butter on white crackers. Wouldn't it be wonderful if that was all it would take to satisfy us today -- the simple life with cow butter and white kakkers! It doesn't get any butter,...er better than that.
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