Cordella (Pullum) Lane (abt. 1888 - 1981)

I adored my great grandmother and great grandfather. I wept and wept when each of them died, but I had more time to enjoy company with my great grandmother. I always asked her about growing up and she told me she traveled in a covered wagon across the Mississippi to southern Missouri. She and my Grandmother, Juanita took great pride in being southern ladies and southern cooks. They gardened, canned foods, quilted, sewed and ate jam on toast putting a bit of jam on with a spoon That bite of toast right before taking the bite. I spent hours visiting and talking with my great grandmother and she knew how much I loved her. Even as I write this the good memories bring tears to my eyes. I am so proud to have a heritage of strong women as mentors and role models before me.

In her entire life, she never cut her hair. I saw her take it down for me many times and it went to her knees. It was very thin when she was old and she wrapped it up in a tiny bun in the back. Her other children were also attentive to her and took her to church every Sunday. They were very conservative in dress, but loved the up-doo hair styles and fancier shoes. They wore a lot of hats and even gloves in the 60’s too.

After her husband passed, she moved from living a corner’s throw across the street from Jaunita to living in a small trailer on a lot behind Jaunita’s home. Though Cordia, called Cordie cooked some, her daughter took care of her needs. My great grandmother loved pork, especially fried chops. She always joined us at Grandma’s for family dinners and I always went to get her. Each time we went through the same discussion...She would say, oh you you want me over there, I’m old, and I always said you are going and I will carry you if I have to and she always came. In later years my grandma said she’d call and say Mom, I’ll come get you and she would say, No Susan will get me.

She made the most beautiful quilts. Her skill and love of stitching quilts by hand was passed along to her loving devoted daughter, Jaunita, who was given the nick name Peg as a child because she was skinny as a peg rail.

She loved white corn cakes and ate it everyday. She made them in a small cast iron skillet and like them on the sweet side with butter and a little jam.