My Father and Mother

My Mother and Father are pictured to the left. They were united in holy matrimony on Wednesday, April 27th, 1921 and out of their marriage of 48 years came forth 7 sons and 2 daughters.

Henry Jennings Leeth was born on Wednesday, March 13th, 1901 and passed away on Monday, July 14th, 1975 having lived 74 years and 182 days. He is now in the presence of his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Hazel Rosetta (Penwell) Leeth was born on Friday, May 12th, 1905 and passed away on Friday, March 20th, 1970 having lived 64 years and 314 days.She is now in the presence of her Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ also.

MY FATHER

            My father was a strong, silent type. He never said anything until he had something to say and when he said it, you knew he meant it. I can remember the one and only sex-talk he had with my brother and me. He simply said, "If you get a girl in the family-way, you're gonna marry her." That's all he said but that's all he had to say. He didn't use the word 'Pregnant' because folk just didn'...t use that word back then. My brother and I knew we better treat any girl just like we would treat our mother or we would suffer the wrath of our father, and we sure didn't want that. He didn't have to tell us about sex or send us to some sex-education class because he knew life would teach us that just as it had all the generations before us.
           My father's word was his bond and I can't remember him ever breaking his word. He made a vow with God that he would never work on Sunday neither would he buy or sell on Sunday. The Great Depression came a few years before I was born but I can remember him telling us about it. There were no government programs and folk just had to make-do the best they could. He was a paper-hanger by trade and he bargained to hang paper on two large rooms for a rich lady. It was common back then to hang paper on both the walls and the ceilings. He bargained to supply and hang the paper on those two large rooms for 50 cents. He said it took him two days and the paper cost him 30 cents. He made a whopping 20 cents for two full days of labor and he was glad to get it.
           He finally got a job with a man who had several paper-hangers working for him and they had a doctor's office to hang paper on. He said the weekend rolled around that the boss told them they would have to work Saturday to finish up. He wanted to get the office done before Monday morning when the doctor would be seeing patients. He said they all agreed to work Saturday but they didn't get done that day. The boss said they would have to work Sunday. Times were hard and everyone needed the money but my father remembered his vow to God. He told the boss, " I won't be here tomorrow; I'll be in church and besides I don't work on Sundays." The boss threw a fit and said, "Anyone who doesn't work tomorrow will be fired and doesn't need to come Monday"
           Monday rolled around and my father took the boss at his word and didn't go to work. The boss called and asked my father, "Where are you at?" My father replied, "You said any man who didn't work Sunday would be fired and didn't need to come to work today." The boss said a few curse words and then said, "Oh forget about what I said. I need paper-hangers. Come on to work."
           My father stood his ground and kept his word to God. I respected him more than I ever had after I heard that story.
God blessed him and there never was a time when there wasn't any food on the table.

My Mother

I don't believe my mother ever had a store-bought dress. She made all her clothes and most of her children's clothes. After most of us kids had left home Dad bought her a new washer and dryer. He happened to go down in the basement one day and he saw she had never used them; she was washing with her old wringer washer.

"Hazel, what are you doing?" my father asked. "I bought you that new washer and dryer to save you work and here you are using that old washer."

"Oh, it just doesn't get the clothes clean like my old washer does," she answered.

"Well, what about the dryer? You haven't used it either."

"Clothes just don't smell as good as they do when I hang them on the line," she answered.

I don't remember my mother ever buying any new furniture. When the couch would get worn out she would go to a sale or auction and pick out a used one. She was used to doing without and it came natural for her. From the time she was born until the day she died she never cut her hair. She believed and practiced that a woman's long hair was their glory, just like the Bible says. She never had much of this world's goods, but oh my! Her face shined with the glory of God. What she had in her heart money just could not buy. She said her children were her treasure. But what most people did not see was Mom's bank account in heaven. She deposited in that bank all her life and now she is making withdrawals from an account that cannot be over-drawn. She showed us children how to get home. It seems even now I can hear her hollar, "Come on home now, it's supper time. I'll be there Mom.

Happy Mother's Day