Happy Birthday, Mother!
August 12, 1919, MARIAN WEAVER PETERS was born to Arlie Anderson Weaver and Ira Beatrice Crumley Weaver. She's my mother! Mother was the third daughter for this family and lived in the Weaver home in Bristol. She would remain the youngest for five years. She eventually graduated from Bluff City, TN High School where she played women's basketball. She married my father, Martin Joseph Peters, in July, 1937; and I was born in 1943. By this time they had a home which was built on the Peters farm. She would carry me in the clothes basket and walk to my grandparents' home a mile away to do her laundry. Finally, they built a cinder block building behind our home and she had her laundry facility in there. Mother kept a metal box in her closet where she saved for a car. Of course, it never became sizable enough, since something always happened which required the savings. Our house had a coal furnace with a large grate in the middle of the hallway floor. Mother would sit around the edges in her chenille bathrobe and read magazines. Once, she burned her robe as she sat there!
My early memories of my mother are many. She played with me often, as my next sibling wasn't to be born until 1953. We cooked. We studied the stars. We caught fireflies. We made lemonade for those who were farming nearby. My mother sewed all my clothes and would work into late hours to complete something for me--often made from feed sacks when I was young. We went to church--Silver Grove, Weaver's, Beeler's, and we were charter members of Faith Lutheran on the Weaver Pike. I know Beeler's had a blue Parish School Hymnal, Weaver's a black one, and don't remember the others. She taught me to read and write my alphabet which allowed me to begin school at Weaver School in second grade.
During the summer months, we would boat and fish at South Holston Lake. My dad and his friend, Robert Witcher, actually constructed six fishing boats one winter and rented them out at a boat dock on the lake. Mother would make pimento cheese sandwiches and individual chocolate pies for our picnics in the boat. Loved that pie.
Dad worked as a carpenter and would come home around 5 each day. Mother always made certain she had "cleaned up" and looked nice when he arrived. During the day she would sew, clean, get dinner ready; and, in the summer, she would work in the garden and can food for winter. She worked in Bristol at a shoe store and once at Sears Catalog desk.
In 1953, my sister Jeanne was born. Then in 1956, we moved to Ohio so that my dad could find work. We moved into the lower floor of a house in Hamilton, Ohio. It was a little small, but my mother didn't seem to mind. The elderly ladies who lived upstairs built a two family house on the empty lot next door, and we moved into one apartment. It was new and a beautiful home. My mother spent the first few months making draperies and decorating. The first draperies she made for the living/dining room had a pattern which did not match when she hung them the first time. She cried and took them apart.
In 1958 she gave us another little sister, Marta; and in 1961, my brother, David. Mother was very busy at that time. She worked outside the home now and then. She cleaned for the ladies next door and saved her money to get things for us kids. One thing she bought me was a mouton (lamb) short jacket (which I still have) to wear to dances, etc. She often made my dresses for the dances, as well. She made most of my skirts for school and clothes for my sisters. We were members of Zion Lutheran Church in Hamilton. She taught Sunday School there.
In 1966, Mother and Dad moved to a home outside Oxford, Ohio, on Seven Mile Creek. That was a great place for the little kids to grow up! Only bad when the creek rose out of its banks now and then. Mother worked in town sometimes. She complained that gas had gone to 50 cents a gallon.
My parents eventually moved to Indian Lake in Ohio. From there, they moved to Brownsville, IN. My dad wanted to live on his own land until he died. Following his death, my mother moved back to TN, then back to IN. She lived with my sister, Marta, in Liberty at the time of her death. Following several strokes, she had not known us for some time. Marta took such good care of her.
When I think of my mother, Marian Weaver Peters, I know she was first a Weaver, then a Lutheran, then a Tennessean. She even talked of changing her name back to Weaver at one time. She did very well moving other places but never forgot her roots. I miss her delicious coconut cake, chocolate pies, and her giving nature.
Thinking of more about my mother. She and I took several road trips together after she lived in IN and while she was still well. First one was to Florida where she swam in the ocean for the first time. Then we went to New England--CT, Maine. She loved Acadia National Park. We saw moose and elk there. Finally, when she was 74 we traveled to CA--we were gone 4 weeks. She saw places she had never been. In Arizona, she said, "This must be what Zane Grey was talking about!" She loved San Francisco with all its diversity. Loved Yellowstone National Park and each and every place we stopped. On the way into Yellowstone, it snowed (June). Beautiful! We stayed in a cabin at Grand Canyon where there was no heat and it was 35 degrees. Slept in our sleeping bags and did fine. We went to ElPaso to visit her sister, Thelma. It was 112 degrees there! So we had ALL types of weather! She had always wanted to travel as long as I can remember.
My early memories of my mother are many. She played with me often, as my next sibling wasn't to be born until 1953. We cooked. We studied the stars. We caught fireflies. We made lemonade for those who were farming nearby. My mother sewed all my clothes and would work into late hours to complete something for me--often made from feed sacks when I was young. We went to church--Silver Grove, Weaver's, Beeler's, and we were charter members of Faith Lutheran on the Weaver Pike. I know Beeler's had a blue Parish School Hymnal, Weaver's a black one, and don't remember the others. She taught me to read and write my alphabet which allowed me to begin school at Weaver School in second grade.
During the summer months, we would boat and fish at South Holston Lake. My dad and his friend, Robert Witcher, actually constructed six fishing boats one winter and rented them out at a boat dock on the lake. Mother would make pimento cheese sandwiches and individual chocolate pies for our picnics in the boat. Loved that pie.
Dad worked as a carpenter and would come home around 5 each day. Mother always made certain she had "cleaned up" and looked nice when he arrived. During the day she would sew, clean, get dinner ready; and, in the summer, she would work in the garden and can food for winter. She worked in Bristol at a shoe store and once at Sears Catalog desk.
In 1953, my sister Jeanne was born. Then in 1956, we moved to Ohio so that my dad could find work. We moved into the lower floor of a house in Hamilton, Ohio. It was a little small, but my mother didn't seem to mind. The elderly ladies who lived upstairs built a two family house on the empty lot next door, and we moved into one apartment. It was new and a beautiful home. My mother spent the first few months making draperies and decorating. The first draperies she made for the living/dining room had a pattern which did not match when she hung them the first time. She cried and took them apart.
In 1958 she gave us another little sister, Marta; and in 1961, my brother, David. Mother was very busy at that time. She worked outside the home now and then. She cleaned for the ladies next door and saved her money to get things for us kids. One thing she bought me was a mouton (lamb) short jacket (which I still have) to wear to dances, etc. She often made my dresses for the dances, as well. She made most of my skirts for school and clothes for my sisters. We were members of Zion Lutheran Church in Hamilton. She taught Sunday School there.
In 1966, Mother and Dad moved to a home outside Oxford, Ohio, on Seven Mile Creek. That was a great place for the little kids to grow up! Only bad when the creek rose out of its banks now and then. Mother worked in town sometimes. She complained that gas had gone to 50 cents a gallon.
My parents eventually moved to Indian Lake in Ohio. From there, they moved to Brownsville, IN. My dad wanted to live on his own land until he died. Following his death, my mother moved back to TN, then back to IN. She lived with my sister, Marta, in Liberty at the time of her death. Following several strokes, she had not known us for some time. Marta took such good care of her.
When I think of my mother, Marian Weaver Peters, I know she was first a Weaver, then a Lutheran, then a Tennessean. She even talked of changing her name back to Weaver at one time. She did very well moving other places but never forgot her roots. I miss her delicious coconut cake, chocolate pies, and her giving nature.
Thinking of more about my mother. She and I took several road trips together after she lived in IN and while she was still well. First one was to Florida where she swam in the ocean for the first time. Then we went to New England--CT, Maine. She loved Acadia National Park. We saw moose and elk there. Finally, when she was 74 we traveled to CA--we were gone 4 weeks. She saw places she had never been. In Arizona, she said, "This must be what Zane Grey was talking about!" She loved San Francisco with all its diversity. Loved Yellowstone National Park and each and every place we stopped. On the way into Yellowstone, it snowed (June). Beautiful! We stayed in a cabin at Grand Canyon where there was no heat and it was 35 degrees. Slept in our sleeping bags and did fine. We went to ElPaso to visit her sister, Thelma. It was 112 degrees there! So we had ALL types of weather! She had always wanted to travel as long as I can remember.
