Black History Month: Cathy's Creative Corner - Aunt Kate
It was a summer day in the late 1970s. I recall standing in the lobby of Wachovia Bank waiting for the next available teller. I was there on an errand for my great-aunt Kate.
“How may I help you?” the teller smilingly asked as I approached her window.
“Yes, I would like to cash this check.” I handed her the check and my identification.
“Wow, there are a lot of Katherines on this check,” she said whimsically. “Carrying the name on through the family?”
“You can say that!” I giggled. “But those two Katherines, the check writer and payee, are my mother’s aunt and cousin. I’m named after my father’s mother, Catherine with a C.”
“I noticed the spelling change. Now it makes sense. Have a nice day, Ms. Catherine with a C.”
As I scurried on my way, I smiled at the thought that none of us goes by K/Catherine. We’re Kat, Kate and Cathy.
While driving to Aunt Kate’s house, I tried to prepare myself for the next few hours. My mom happily… (let me stress that again) happily passed the responsibility of taking her aunt to the grocery store to me. The company where she worked started requiring some overtime on Saturdays and since I could drive …. Viola! I was the answer to her prayer! I say that to say this, my aunt Kate was a handful. She never married, she had no kids, she was used to having her way and she was brash and blunt. It takes a special kind of person to deal with someone like that. I became that special person. Not only did I become that person, I came to enjoy my time with her. I just had listen and learn what NOT to say.
On our outings to the grocery stores and pharmacy, I learned Aunt Kate was the eldest of eight children. They lived in rural Linwood. She and one of her sisters were responsible for taking the cow out to pasture when needed. One day, her sister decided to take along a book to read, which gave Kate the impression the younger sibling wasn’t doing anything. So she clonked her sister upside the head with a metal stob (a stake used for anchoring the cow in the pasture). The sister was knocked out! Kate’s only regret was the fact she then had to carry her sister back to the house and lead the cow all by herself. Being an attractive woman in her old age, it came as no surprise that she had been engaged once. He either said or did something Kate didn’t like and she met him at the door with a shotgun on his next visit. I reiterate, she never married. So when Aunt Kate had to go to A&P, Winn Dixie and Conrad-Hinkle because each one had something cheaper than the other, I’d think back on these two expressions of anger and go along with it. It only cost me a few dollars in gas.
I loved the stories she told about her work experiences. Aunt Kate came up in the era of maids and butlers and cooks and nannies. Blacks migrated to the northern states hoping to land one of those type jobs with a wealthy family. My great-aunt hit the jackpot. She was a live-in nanny and housekeeper for a family who were heirs to the Montgomery Ward franchise. They not only had a house up north but two in North Carolina, Greensboro and another in the mountains. She told of how she and the other servants worked hard all week but could enjoy themselves on the weekends. I have her photo album with pictures of her partying and playing golf. Back then, everyone dressed to impress. By the looks of those outfits, they could’ve been the heirs to the company.
Aunt Kate smiled a lot and was not so hardcore when she spoke of the Wards or the other workers. She spoke lovingly of them as one does when speaking of family. She prided herself on having more control over the youngest child than the mother. Mrs. Ward often came to report that young Eleanor was not doing what she was told. “Tell her to do it, Kate. She’s not listening to me!” For the life of me, I only heard her call her friends by their names once and that was because I asked. Other than that, she always referred to them as Cook and Butler, their occupations. I guess they called her Nanny.
I know Aunt Kate left an imprint on the Ward family’s heart. She left their employ to return home to care for her aging father. She was also getting on up in age. He passed 15 years before her. Every year after leaving the Wards’ employment, she could rely on receiving three cards with a check during the year - Christmas, her birthday and Mother’s Day. The Wards must’ve enjoyed that “tough” love.
