Saturday 20th October 2018
Vi is staying with us (Glenn and Judy Bray) in La Lucia, Umhlangs for ten days whilst John and Brenda Holmes are at the game reserve.
Meal time memories:
Win had a gun you know...
She would shoot anyone who threatened.
Win's husband was a hunter.
He would go and hunt and bring the animal for Win to butcher.
Her daughter Dawn was called "Niddy."
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Memories of a Fortune Teller's Predictions and TB
Vi's friends were enthralled with a fortune teller in Johannesburg.
"Come along with us! She'll tell your fortune!"
Vi was sceptical, but curious.
She went along.
The fortune teller told her "Your name is Violet."
"How do you know that?!" exclaimed Vi.
"I see a little old lady in the corner holding some violets."
(Vi said that was her Aunt Vi)
The fortune teller also told her
"You will marry a man that has been married before."
"That won't happen!" said Vi
"I see a place with little thorn trees. You'll live there for 20 years."
"You will contract a disease that will take you away from your family."
"That will never happen!" responded Vi.
"And, you know.. I married a man who had been married before...
"And I lived in Northern Rhodesia for 20 years...
"And I got TB... I was sent away to a clinic (in South Africa.)
"Doctor Overdorf treated me.
"When I was cured he said to me
"You can go home. And - if I were you, I would fly."
"I did! Eddie (brother) saw me off and Dennis met me at the airport."
"I was so thankful to think my sister (Alice) had been caring for my children."
"Alice brought Glenn and Brenda to the house and left on a family outing.
"I said to Brenda (about 16 months) "I am your Mommy,"
"Who you call your Mommy is my sister."
Brenda said "Go 'way lady!"
'How did that feel to you?" (Judy Bray)
"Like a slap in the face!"
"And Glenn?" (Judy)
"He (about about 3 1/2 years old) stood in the doorway and looked at me..."
""What's the matter?" I said to him."
""Are you really my Mommy?" he said."
"When Alice came back Brenda just wanted her! I said "She can go with you... but tomorrow I will come and fetch her - you tell her I am her mother."
"Glenn was OK to stay with me."
"In the morning I went and fetched Brenda and took her home. Alice must have told her..."
"Come along with us! She'll tell your fortune!"
Vi was sceptical, but curious.
She went along.
The fortune teller told her "Your name is Violet."
"How do you know that?!" exclaimed Vi.
"I see a little old lady in the corner holding some violets."
(Vi said that was her Aunt Vi)
The fortune teller also told her
"You will marry a man that has been married before."
"That won't happen!" said Vi
"I see a place with little thorn trees. You'll live there for 20 years."
"You will contract a disease that will take you away from your family."
"That will never happen!" responded Vi.
"And, you know.. I married a man who had been married before...
"And I lived in Northern Rhodesia for 20 years...
"And I got TB... I was sent away to a clinic (in South Africa.)
"Doctor Overdorf treated me.
"When I was cured he said to me
"You can go home. And - if I were you, I would fly."
"I did! Eddie (brother) saw me off and Dennis met me at the airport."
"I was so thankful to think my sister (Alice) had been caring for my children."
"Alice brought Glenn and Brenda to the house and left on a family outing.
"I said to Brenda (about 16 months) "I am your Mommy,"
"Who you call your Mommy is my sister."
Brenda said "Go 'way lady!"
'How did that feel to you?" (Judy Bray)
"Like a slap in the face!"
"And Glenn?" (Judy)
"He (about about 3 1/2 years old) stood in the doorway and looked at me..."
""What's the matter?" I said to him."
""Are you really my Mommy?" he said."
"When Alice came back Brenda just wanted her! I said "She can go with you... but tomorrow I will come and fetch her - you tell her I am her mother."
"Glenn was OK to stay with me."
"In the morning I went and fetched Brenda and took her home. Alice must have told her..."
Memories - Saturday 20th October 2018
Vi is staying with us for ten days whilst John and Brenda go to the game reserve with John's brother Sam and wife Rene.
In the quiet of our peaceful life, and around the supper table she started talking about 'long ago.'
"Dad's (William Henry Clarke) mother (Martha Letitia Miles) had a very hard life. Her husband (Thomas Henry Clarke) divorced her when she went blind. He went off and married someone else. Dad's father was a hateful, cruel person. No one wanted her (my grandmother)...
When Vi was about 15 she was visiting the house where her grandmother lived... she heard moaning from the back room. When she asked what that was, the person said "Your grandmother. Your Dad's father brought her to me to take care of. I put her in the outside room." said one who too her (not sure who.) Vi went out to see her. She found her uncared for. She went to her father (William Henry Clarke) and said "You had better do something about your Mother! She is dying there in the outside room. She has no covering."
Martha Letitia Miles's father (William Perkins Miles) used to tie her with a piece of cotton to the table when he went out. If the cotton was broken when he got back he would thrash her."
"When we went to the family reunion" (organised by Vi's nieces Emily (Jonker) and Jennifer Stonehouse) (their Mother Emily Jane Clarke was Vi's sister) "I saw a picture of him there with his walking stick. I thought to myself 'If I could get that stick I'd hit you with it for being so cruel to my grandmother."
Another memory...
"My Dad (William Henry Clarke) is buried in the same grave as his mother (Martha Letitia Miles)." in the old Krugersdorp Cemetery."
"My parents were poor but they were very good parents."
(William Henry Clarke and Emily Jane Smith)
"So they did not carry on that cruel legacy?"
No they did not."
In the quiet of our peaceful life, and around the supper table she started talking about 'long ago.'
"Dad's (William Henry Clarke) mother (Martha Letitia Miles) had a very hard life. Her husband (Thomas Henry Clarke) divorced her when she went blind. He went off and married someone else. Dad's father was a hateful, cruel person. No one wanted her (my grandmother)...
When Vi was about 15 she was visiting the house where her grandmother lived... she heard moaning from the back room. When she asked what that was, the person said "Your grandmother. Your Dad's father brought her to me to take care of. I put her in the outside room." said one who too her (not sure who.) Vi went out to see her. She found her uncared for. She went to her father (William Henry Clarke) and said "You had better do something about your Mother! She is dying there in the outside room. She has no covering."
Martha Letitia Miles's father (William Perkins Miles) used to tie her with a piece of cotton to the table when he went out. If the cotton was broken when he got back he would thrash her."
"When we went to the family reunion" (organised by Vi's nieces Emily (Jonker) and Jennifer Stonehouse) (their Mother Emily Jane Clarke was Vi's sister) "I saw a picture of him there with his walking stick. I thought to myself 'If I could get that stick I'd hit you with it for being so cruel to my grandmother."
Another memory...
"My Dad (William Henry Clarke) is buried in the same grave as his mother (Martha Letitia Miles)." in the old Krugersdorp Cemetery."
"My parents were poor but they were very good parents."
(William Henry Clarke and Emily Jane Smith)
"So they did not carry on that cruel legacy?"
No they did not."
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