The Deep Roots: Part Two

(Pictured Right: Bobbie Sue Waxler, Wink & Jean Ann Rush, Anita Deckleman, Chris Rush, Tami Gatewood, Winston & Wanda Rush, Dottie Rush-Whitten, Clyde & Laverne Rush, and Larry Gatewood.)
God created the family unit as a foundational example of His love for us. With our family, we will not be alone here on earth, and one day we will be with our Heavenly Father. So, the family is such an important part of God's grand design. His purposes and plans for us are filled with His guiding hands as He is the Good Shepherd, and we are just like sheep. But when we go astray, He is looking for us, and with the use of His rod and His staff, He safely guides us home. He leads us to where we all are right now.

I Love to Tell Their Story... (Part Two)

For my grandparents it has been a long journey. Grover Clyde Rush was born on June 22, 1923, and Nellie Laverne Rush was born on July 25, 1925. For them, growing up in the "Roaring 20s" near Bay Village, Arkansas, there little was very little to "roar" about. Most of the south consisted of poor farmers and sharecropper families that lived off the land. During these days after the Great Depression, the economy showed very little growth and hope for their near future. Clyde grew up in this rural part of the state, but was afforded some amenities that many others did not have. His family lived only about 90 ft. from Bay Village School. He had to work in cotton fields at an early age, but at the age of 14 he got a job picking roots out of newly dug ditches for $12.50/month. With this money, which was very good at the time, Clyde was afforded opportunities to go into town and socialize and to have some things that others did not have.

Laverne was not so lucky. Growing up as a Deckleman and with 4 brothers and 3 sisters, Laverne and family struggled as most poor families did that were from "the country." Their basic mode of transportation was their own feet. They walked many miles barefooted. They lived four miles from Bay Village School. Early mornings, long days, and hard economic times limited their educations and its progress. Shoes would be bought once a year for each sibling using their "cotton picking money". They ordered them from Sears & Roebuck in Memphis, Tennessee, and they were kept even if they were sent the wrong size and were too small. Times were tough.
Laverne loved going to school. Her eyes lit up as she talked about it. One of her most embarrassing, yet humorous, memories is of her school's sixth grade spelling bee. Being shy, but smart, she was always very competitive during these exercises which occurred in front of her classmates. But, on this one particular day of memory, she was given the easy word "shirt." Smiling and exuding an extra amount of confidence, she quickly spoke the letters. Unfortunately, she left out a very important letter- "R". Sufficient to say, laughter erupted, and when she realized her mistake, Laverne turned beet red. This story is a mainstay classic in our family still today.
With her education cut short to the eighth grade, Laverne set her sights on work. Laborious routines of cotton picking was grueling and difficult, but this was their only way of life, and the only way they knew how to survive. Agnes, her mother and my great grandmother, would be just as involved. For example, she would feed her children and husband breakfast, clean up, and then usually bring a baby out to the field on a quilt and help pick cotton until lunch. Then she would go prepare the food and bring it all out to them for a quick break before the hard work would begin again and continue in this ongoing cycle of long days and short nights. But, this was survival. This was normal.
Like most children growing up in "the country," Laverne had her dreams. She yearned for an escape, a way out, and a better life. Dreams were long shots, but everyone had them. Perhaps this dream of hers was about to come true when, at the age of 16, she came to the "mecca" known as Harrisburg, Arkansas. On this particular day she went into the local hangout for all the young men and women. Pollyanna's was a soda shop/ drugstore in the town where anybody that was somebody came to rub shoulders, gossip, and just to meet other people in the area. This particular day was very special. This is the day when she met Clyde.

Next: Hope for a future...