Louise Mize Curry

November 14, 1910 to July 4, 1992

 Louise Mize Curry ( November 14, 1910- July 4, 1992 ) was the 5th child of George

Mize(October 6, 1876 - May 22, 1964 ) and Drusilla Estella Hanes Mize (March 31, 1881-

August 30, 1962 ).  She was born in Lexington, NC. 

Most of my prompts for this blog are based on the little notebooks I recorded growing up and memories.  Looking at the Gift from Grandparents  book again after 30 years some of the questions are really silly and the answers way too brief.  Questions such as did you fight with your

brothers and sisters?  Is one particular question that comes to mind.  If you knew my Grandma and her siblings you would think it was a silly question too.  In case you wonder about that the answer is NO!  In fact Grandma said she shared a bed with Aunt Mary until Mary married, then Aunt Lillie.  There were seven total sisters and they were all very close.  She said Mary was the one all the siblings looked up to.  Mary said that once Edith (Deed) wrote in her High School year book something to the tune of, "when you said to not do anything you wouldn't I think you caused me to miss out on a whole bunch of fun!"

Mary was the oldest sister and a worthy role model and I intend to add stories about all of my Grandmother’s siblings.

I was told that some of the children were nicknamed while growing up (perhaps this is more of a Southern thing considering all of my children and pets have numerous nicknames).  Grandma’s nickname was “Ease”.  Her Grandfather gave her that nickname.  Anyone who knew Grandma would agree that is such a suitable nickname for her because in every way she really was an easy person to love and know.

Grandma said that they all shared clothes growing up.  In those days the ladies and

girls always wore dresses.  Grandma and her Sisters were quite stylish for the day.  I

have a photo of Mary and Grandma wearing "knickers" and men's ties on a trip to Pilot

Mountain.  Knowing what I know now about standard of dress in the 1920's that was

pretty progressive for a family of girls.  Grandma said that was one of the fads that she

remembers the most "knickers" (clothes fad). The sisters were treated all the equal of

the brothers having been taught right from wrong but not conservative on the silly

things that did not matter.  On one question about punishment Grandma told me that

her Mother just gave them tiny little licks (Unfortunately, I did not write down what with).  She said

that all the siblings would laugh afterward because the spankings never hurt.  In fact

when i asked her about the naughtiest thing she ever did it was cutting holes in a new

 dress.  She said she thought she was making pretty designs.  Grandma really was a

good little girl if she thought that was bad.    

 The Mize siblings were all well educated. As children they went to happy Hill School all

 except for Aunt Deed.  The high school they attended was Lexington.  Most all of the 11

 children graduated from high school.  The oldest son Uncle Joe even went to college

 and my Grandmother was very proud of his accomplishments.  Grandma graduated

 from high school at Lexington Senior High, in Lexington, NC.  She actually completed the 12^th grade (this information would perhaps seem necessary since at one time there was a practice of 8^th grade graduations.  I still have her class ring, year book, and diploma.  The class ring has an interesting story.  Originally it had a red stone.  Grandma let Aunt Edith (Deed) wear her class ring to work one day.  Deed lost the stone (while at work)so the ring is just a gold ring with no stone in it.  

Grandma always received good grades in school.  She said her favorite subjects were French and spelling.  Her least favorite subject was civics (government).  For transportation they walked to school when they were in elementary .. Grandma said they rode in a car when they went to high school. 

 When asked if she ever played hooky from school she told me this story.  Once while in high

 school, she said, they went to see Al Jolson in a movie called Sonny Boy. I found out later that this would have been in 1927 and the movie was actually called The Jazz Singer.  It featured the song "Sonny Boy".

 One of the most special memories I have of Grandma are her reading to me out of a Bible story book.  I

 still have the book which belongs to a set of encyclopedias that Uncle Jim bought. 

 Grandma taught a Sunday School class at Maple Grove Church of the Brethren for

 years.  I had the opportunity to be in her class. 

Career wise the entire family was industrious. Grandmas Father George scooped sand out of Swearing Creek.  One of Grandma's jobs was keeping books for his business.  He paid her a penny from his business for every load hauled.  Earlier in Grandma's life her Father grew cotton.  When people came to harvest the cotton the girls would watch their children. After Grandma married Grandpa both of them worked at the silk mill in Lexington.  Aunt Edith (Deed) worked there too.  Both my Grandparents had stories about the silk mill and all the times good and bad they had there.  She said growing up some of her regular chores were cooking and washing dishes.  

She truly spent most every day of her life in the kitchen.  Most of my memories of Grandma were working in

 the kitchen with her.  Grandma always kept a garden and put away food by canning and freezing.  She always had cucumbers and tomatoes to can her own tomatoes mostly for vegetable soup and goulash (which she always referred to simply as "macaroni and tomatoes" (with macaroni, tomato, and beef burger or stewed beef which she usually cooked in the pressure cooker).  Those were two of my favorite

 dishes.  Yet, Grandma was such a good cook it is difficult to say now that I liked some things she cooked more than others.  She did can really wonderful pickles in the Summer as well.  I have a lot of items that she used on a daily basis in her kitchen that I still use everyday to cook.  They remind me of her and cheer me as I work.  Grandma said she always wanted to be a nurse when she grew up.  She never necame a nurse

but instead she became a wonderful wife, mother, and grandmother.

Aunt Drusilla told me, her Mother, my Great Grandma Drusilla always sang in the kitchen and that Louise sounded the most like her.  I remember Grandma singing well. We always sang hymns and Sunday School songs but I do remember Grandma singing "The Bismark" (Johnny Horton) one day.  That intrigued me because that was a song I had never heard before.

As far as games that they played as children she said that her dad like to play I spy. Other games they played were hopscotch, ring around the roses, and hide and seek. Dolls were her favorite toys.  She said that her very first present was a doll. When askedif they got to stay up this late if they wanted to and watch TV of course she replied that they did not have TV.  However,  they were allowed to stay up as late as they wanted.  I imagine that was not too late because that generation worked hard and  know theywent to bed tired at night. 

When they were children they often walked to town.  The family lived on West Center Street Extension, which was not far from downtown Lexington.  The transportation options back then for my family were walking, wagons, and cars.  As far as the topic ofmoney and what they spend it on she said that you could buy a lot for a quarter back then.  They would go to the store and buy soda but I also know that they liked to go to the movies as well.

Grandma told me that the house they lived in was a two story and had six rooms. When asked if she had her own room she said that they all shared the same rooms. I'm sure that the girls slept in the girls rooms and the boys slept in the boys rooms. There were thirteen total people living at the house.  

As far as appliances went for cooking they used a wood stove.  Washing clothes was acomplished with a tin tub and washboard.  For light at night they used oil lamps.  To heat the house they heated with a fireplace and a woodstove. For the holidays grandma said that they always had a dinner and everything was good

especially the light rolls.  She said that they did make cookies when she was growing up and molasses cookies were always her favorite.  I remember when I was a child we would visit Aunt Lillie and she always made the best sugar cookies.  

Answers for Holiday Questions...

For Christmas presents they were given candy, apples and oranges.  Grandma said they got this other than birthdays when they perhaps got a doll.  For our Christmas gift Grandma always

 gave us each a silver dollar every year.  She collected them throughout the year in a glass jar bear "piggy bank".  For the Christmas tree as children they always made their own ornaments.  When I was growing up I always helped grandma put up the artificial Christmas tree and decorate it. Some years we would put up the artificial tree and some years grandpa would go out and get a cedar tree for a live Christmas tree.  When

asked if Santa ever came to her house, the answer was "yes" they believed in Santa and Santa visited their house.  For Valentine's Day they always made Valentines cards in school.  The Easter Bunny came and they had egg hunts when they were growing up. They did not have a picnic on the 4th of July at least not that she could remember butthey had fire crackers and sparklers  (she said especially the sparklers).  For Halloween

grandma said that they used to dress up and sometimes they would have parties.When asked if she was ever frightened of ghosts or witches is she said no.

When asked if her family went on vacation the reply was no.  When asked, did they ever go fishing or swimming?  The answer was yes they swam in Swearing Creek and they fished there too. When asked what her favorite trip was she said that she enjoyed the time that my dad, their youngest son, drove them to Pennsylvania.  That was also the longest distance that she had ever been on a trip.  Grandma and Grandpa always like to go on wagon trains.  Grandma always packed the food and to me that was a memorable and important part of the trip.  When I was hungry even her sandwiches were some of the best tasting food I ever had in my life

Introduction

Introduction

Sometime in the '80's I mail ordered a couple of little books.  They were called A Gift of

Memories from Grandma.  During the evenings at Grandpa and Grandma Curry's we

would sit and talk.  One evening when my Grandparents were both sitting in the living

room (as they often did) I sat down to ask them questions from the books and write

their replies down.  I've had those books with me all these years stored with writing I have put together about the Curry’s and Hilton’s as well as information of Tom's family.  I’ve been telling my Mother for years that I wanted to write stories about my family to share.  I credit my grandmother’s sister Aunt Drusilla with getting me started on this.  She really wanted some stories printed about the Mize family.  That finally convinced me just to write stories out to print for her.  I decided (after talking with a friend) that the best way to “publish” so the family can read as I edit is to start a blog.  Most of the cousins in the “Mize” family have internet so I thought it was a fabulous idea.

The idea of being able to edit is important because my stories are never edited well enough to share unless I have someone read and alert me to errors.  I imagine that this story (or any other I complete) will never be “finished” as far as I am concerned.  This story will probably continue indefinitely.  The memories keep coming in and I feel it would never be complete for that reason alone.  Another reason is that I have SO many questions that I wish I had asked my Grandmother and the story will always be incomplete in that aspect.  When I print this off to share with Drusilla, Dad, and my Uncle Sid (as well as my cousins) I know that they will reminisce and add to the story.  Also, I feel that my writing can always be improved in general.  Computers and internet are wonderful for a person like me who plans on making perpetual corrections.  My hope is that my whole family will enjoy this and I can write in more detail about all of the sisters and brothers.