Page 33 - DAPHNE HART - MY MAMA STORY (AUDIO VERSION)

Children knew nothing back in those days. Nobody told us anything.
We were barely seen, but definitely not heard.

I believe my mother died from hard work and stress. The doctors said
that she had a growth in her stomach. If they cut it, she would die. They

didn’t cut it—and she still died.

My mother had two brothers, Joshua and Oscar, who were in the United
States, and a sister, Mable, by her father, who I was told lived in

England. Now, her father did not marry her mother. I never met him or
any member of that family. I had no clue who was who—just empty

and void. I only heard of them but never really met them until years

later, because they never came around.

I also believe she had twin brothers, Jacob and Joseph, and two sisters,

Aunt Lue and Aunt Lil, by her mother. Then I met—when I had just
come to Berryhill—a few of them. A child was never sure who was a

real uncle or aunty. Very old men were called "Uncle," women were

"Aunty," but nobody told me anything, and I couldn’t ask any
questions. The older folks were called "Grandma" or "Grandpa." So, as

a child, I didn’t know who was a real family member.

And so it remained all my life.

There was this very old couple we called Grandma Dine and Papa
Wille. Everybody called them that. I was never sure who they were.

She could have been my grandmother.

Guess I’ll never know.
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