Aurora Bell

If we don’t remember our grandparents and capture some of our memories of them, they may be lost forever. Here are some memories of my maternal grandmother.

Aurora Bell

 

Aurora Bell was my maternal grandmother. When I first remember her, she was living in a shot gun house In Phillips, Texas. The house was the shape of a rectangle about 25 feet wide by about 70 feet long. The long thin shape became known as a shotgun house. My grandfather Roy was a large man and he worked for Phillips as a crane operator which had made him somewhat hard of hearing over the years. Aurora Bell had a benign tumor surgically removed from her spine before I was born and had some permanent damage to her back so she used a Walker to get around. It didn’t slow her down much because she cooked all the meals and kept the house herself. I remember staying with them once when I was about 5 years old. She had cooked a meal and we were eating at the table when I ripped a loud burp. My grandfather reached over and thumped me on the head with his finger and told me that that was not good manners. It hurt really bad so after that I was a perfect gentleman. For sometime after my grandfather Roy died, Aurora Bell lived in the shotgun house alone.

 

Her children, including my Mom,  eventually went together and bought her a house directly across the street from us on Stark Street which they fixed up with special features for her. Her soft easy chair was next to the front door for easy access. They hung a large plastic rope with knots in it from the ceiling so she could pull up from her chair. Her bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom were just off the den where she sat. From about the eighth grade until I graduated high school, I would go over and visit her nearly every day. She told me stories about her life that I really enjoyed listening to and I teased her a lot. She was old school and she was a little prejudice towards blacks, so I told her I had a black girlfriend and I wanted to bring her over to meet her. She never did get comfortable with that arrangement.

 

Many times when I would visit her she would put both hands on the chair and push her butt off of the chair and rip a really loud fart and she would always say….”More room outside than in.” And then I would say….Granny that one burned my nostrils it smelled so bad.” And she would just laugh. She was still cooking her meals, but my Mom brought her a plate over when she cooked. I went off to college and then moved to Borger when I graduated from college, but I would still go by and see her occasionally.

 

Later she had some medical problems and had to be moved into an assisted living facility in Borger. When I was 29, I took my future wife Pam by to see her. The first thing she said was…. “I thought you were going to marry a black girl.” I told her I decided on this one instead and she seemed really happy. She wanted to sit in the chair so I lifted her to the chair and I told her Pam and I were engaged. She wanted to see the ring, so Pam showed her the promise ring and she said…”.Why you cheap thing, I can barely see the stone.” I explained she would get a better one when we got married and she seemed Ok about that. We talked for a while and I put her back in her bed and said good bye. That was the last time I saw her.

 

The entire time I knew her she always wore a dress. I never saw her in pants or shorts. All the time I knew her she had braided hair with the braids rolled around the top of her head. She went to church every Sunday in her den with the televised church services. Nearly every time I saw her she was crocheting something. She counted her stitches by pushing her lips out a little so her lips constantly moved in and out kind of like a fish. We still have a lot of things she crocheted. She was quite a little lady.

 

My brother lived in her house in Phillips for a while after he graduated college, and then my Dad moved that house and his to Fritch, Texas and put them together as one and bricked the out side and made a really nice place out of them. There were a lot of memories in my Mom and Dads house. We finally sold the house in Fritch in 2002 after my Mom and Dad passed away, but we kept the memories.

                 Aurora Bell about the time she got married to Roy.

Aurora Bell and Roy at Phillips, Texas. Some of the Shotgun houses are visible in the background.

Aurora Bell with her son, Norman, her grandson Mike, and her great grandaughter In the house on Stark Street

Thanks for reading Aurora Bell,

Hawg Jaw Bill