“Saint Anne of David’s house and line, was the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus according to apocryphal Christian and Islamic tradition.” Wikipedia
Margaret Ann was Jimmy’s cousin, almost 10 years older than he was, being the daughter of Eulis and Margaret Ballard Marshall. This means that Margaret Ann’s mother and Jimmy’s mother were sisters. I have heard stories about Aunt Maggie for years.
I am sure though that Jimmy and Margaret Ann were raised around each other. They knew each other too well, and they liked each other too much. When my mother-in-law died, Margaret Ann was the one who stepped in and tried to teach me how to cook green beans, and put up beans and tomatoes. I said she tried, I didn’t say she succeeded. So it began that I would get our garden to her and she would put it up. Even though we paid her to do that, we didn’t pay her enough. I’m sure in her life she did lots of things like that and never asked for much in return. That was probably a lot like Mary’s mother, Saint Anne. She would have done, and never expected much in return.
I specifically remember one year I took the kids wagon and filled it with tomatoes and took it to Margaret Ann. She called me two days later with cases of tomatoes canned. Oh, they were so good in chili.
When I was put on bed rest, while I was pregnant with Katie, it was Margaret Ann who would come into my home on a weekly basis and clean. She would spend hours on my stove. I remember her complaining about how dirty our stove got and she didn’t know if she would be able to get it clean the next time. I told her not to worry about the stove, it wasn’t worth the effort, but she worked herself to death on getting that stove clean. I remember my mother’s sister was always intent on keeping her stove clean. She would just dig into the grooves on the stove to get every last piece of crud out. I’ll bet Mary’s mother had an immaculate stove.
I remember through the years any time that Jimmy needed help in setting tobacco that Margaret Ann was the first one he would call. If he needed help in getting his tobacco stripped out he would call her. This was back before we had Mexicans working with us. I used to walk into the stripping room when it was Jimmy and Cannonball and Margaret Ann and they were gossiping and telling stories. They were all cousins and probably all raised together, although Cannonball and Margaret Ann were older than Jimmy. I know that they loved him though because they would do anything he asked. And he probably didn’t pay them until he sold his tobacco. I’m sure that didn’t bother them. They knew that if Jimmy had the money then they had the money.
And the thing of it was she was always smiling. She was one of the most pleasant women I ever knew. She would smile while she was grumbling too. Every time she complained about my stove she would smile and giggle but I got her point. I should have made more of an effort in keeping that stove clean before she got there. Then she would have found something else to work herself to death on.
I do remember that sometimes Jimmy would have Margaret Ann’s boys come and help him cut tobacco. They were about the same age as Jimmy’s nephews. They were good workers, but I’ll bet that Margaret Ann could work circles around them. That’s just the way she was. She was always moving, always onto the next thing.
I do know that Margaret Ann was a mother. She had probably been a mother most of her life. She was one of the older girls and that was always the job given to the older girls, to take care of her little brothers and sisters. And she was one of those mothers who took care of things, and worried about her kids, and took care of her kids as long as she was able. She didn’t ask for anything much. I think she just liked to be around them. I think she just wanted to be a little part of their life. Again, she was probably a lot like Saint Anne. Saint Anne was a mother first, and took on that role as all the mothers of her time did. Margaret Ann would tell you that she didn’t do anything special. But you can take a look at her grown children and realize that she had to have done something special, to get them to where they are today.
And when the grandchildren came, I do know that Margaret Ann was eaten up with them. If they needed to be babysat she was first in line to do that. I’m sure Saint Anne did that as well. If she needed to babysit the Baby Jesus, she wouldn’t have had to be asked twice.
We don’t hear a lot about the life of Saint Anne, and for the last many years we haven’t heard a lot about Margaret Ann. Her body held out a lot longer than her memory and even though we thought about her from time to time, we had to do the remembering for both of us. I thought a lot of Margaret Ann. And you really can’t think about Jesus or his mother without considering Saint Anne, because they wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for her.
Enjoy your reward Margaret Ann, you have most certainly earned it, in so many ways.