A Daughters Tribute and Memories of her Mother
Helen Louise Gruner Johnson
One hundred years ago August 29, 2008 Benjamin and Ellen Gruner gave birth to their
sixth child, Helen Louise., in Winfield, Alabama. The house, which contained secret
passage ways, was built by Benjamin Gruner for the expanding family.
Mother's favorite pastime was finding a shady tree under which to read one of her
treasured books. She was able to escape into wonderful worlds, experiencing unlimited
adventures. Blocking out the rest of the world, mother was totally oblivious to anything
occurring around her, including when her mother would call out to her to have her help
clean the house or to assist with preparing dinner. One time, she was so absorbed in a
book, a snake crawled over her bare feet, turned around, and crawled back over her feet.
Mom did not realize it until a friend who observed the snake. Her great love of reading
was passed on to her granddaughter, Dr. Deborah Gordon. I inherited the love of going
bare foot.
At age fifteen, she met a handsome man, William Sterling Johnson, who would become her
husband one year later. Bill, as everyone called him, was born and raised in Birmingham,
Alabama. He recalled the first time he saw Mother, as she was walking down won of the
many hills in Birmingham. He thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. They
married on February 24, 1925. Dad was twenty-one and Mom was only sixteen. The legal
age to marry in Alabama was eighteen, so Dad placed a piece of paper, with the number
eighteen printed on it, into Mom's shoe. That way when the minister asked if Mom was
over eighteen, she could truthfully say, "Yes!" After the wedding, Mom slipped the
ring off of her finger, before entering the house. It was one month before she
finally got the nerve to confess to her Mother that she and Dad had married.
Mom and Dad had four children, William Sterling Jr., Helen Louise (who lived one hour),
James Richard and Virginia Carolyn. Mom, Dad, Bill, Jr. and Jim survived the Great
Depression. With Mom's resourcefulness and tenacity, they rented a house large enough
for the four of them, Mom's mother, two of her brothers, Phillip and Robert, and Robert's
wife Nell. Dad worked at the Ford Motor Company, Uncle Bob and Aunt Nell took care of
the garden, Grandmother and Mom canned the food and Uncle Phil took care of the
maintenance of the old house. All worked together to survive an extremely difficult
event in life.
Enduring these difficult times resulted in creating a wonderfully compassionate person.
Mom would listen to anyone's problems and give them her sage advice as to how to handle
difficult situations. Nothing was too terrible that you couldn't talk to her. Each
time was an opportunity for her to share her love and understanding to others. Sometimes
she would just look at you and ask, "What do you think Christ would do?" This profound
question would always cause one to stop and think outside the box.
Mom taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, worked as Dad's secretary in his
business, became a Worthy Matron in the Eastern Star, with Dad at her side as Worthy
Patron and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She also attended
Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama taking classes in genealogy.
Every vacation that we took to visit family in Alabama, found us tromping through
wooded areas rife with poison ivy, poison oak and stinging nettle to find an old
cemetery, where Mom would search relentlessly to find the grave of an ancestor. It
was a passion that she enjoyed the last thirty years of her life. She not only wanted
to know what relation the person was, but also the life of the ancestor.
Her sense of humor allowed her to enjoy life. One vacation, Dad, Mom and I stopped
for lunch, only to have the waitress spill a glass of ice water in Mom's lap. Mom was
very gracious, putting the chagrined waitress at ease. That night, about 200 miles
down the road, we were eating dinner and as luck would have it, the waitress spilled
a glass of water in Mom's lap. Mom just laughed and said that it was a good thing
she was wearing a wash-and-wear dress.
Mom was slow to anger, but had a temper. Dad always said that people did not realize
that when they pushed her too far, they had a tiger by the tail. As a child, I can
remember wishing she would just spank me instead of giving me a lecture.
After Dad died in 1973, Mom was never quite the same. She found it more and more
difficult to laugh and to enjoy life as she once had. After all she lost the love
of her life, her friend and confident. Dad passed away eight days after their 48th
wedding anniversary.
After my second husband, Robert Richters and I moved to Pensacola, Florida in Aril
1989, Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. When she could no longer live by herself,
she agreed to move to Pensacola to live with us. Rick had the ability to make her
laugh and Mom said he made he feel like a princess.
Rick and Mom loved to make bets on football games, baseball games, etc. However,
Rick would only bet a nickel – not a penny more. So Mom had her nickels lined up
on the table by her chair, ready to bet on dime's notice. One day I said to her
that Rick reminded me so much of Dad. Mom looked at me and said, "More than you
know!"
After five months of sharing our home, Mom was finally admitted into Azalea Trace
Nursing Home, where she could receive the care she needed. She was admitted on my
birthday, February 14, 1990 and passed ten days later on February 24, on what would
have been her and Dad's 65th wedding anniversary.
She was buried by Dad at KP Cemetery in Russellville, Alabama. I lost my Mother,
my friend and my confident. To this day I wish I could pick up the phone to call
her when something special happens or whenever I just need to talk. She is truly
missed, but will always continue to live on in my heart.
Written by "Ginger" G-75-64
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 9:40 AM
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