Here’s a short piece that my mother wrote about her mother whose birthday would be today:

Mary Eugenia Thomas Stewart, b. 1907
One sound in particular that I remember is that of my mother playing the piano and singing. She usually did this when she felt no one else was around, because even though she had the voice of an angel (or what I feel an angel would sound like), I’ve never known her to try to elicit applause or special recognition for the bountiful talents that she possessed. To go along with these extraordinary gifts that God endowed her with, was the fact that her love for music landed her a job as public school music teacher, which she held for many years.

Not only did her love for music endear her to her students but to adults as well. Many times when her friends would have a musical engagement, they would come to the house and ask my mother if she would assist them at the event where they performed. On more than one occasion a man by the name of Russell Cothran would spend an afternoon playing his violin while my mother accompanied him on the piano. Now, Russell lived and breathed for the sole purpose of playing that violin! At least, it seemed that way to the rest of us. Needless to say, he was a violinist personified! I often thought when I was much older, that he chose my mom to complement the music he reveled in because she never faltered in rising to the occasion, no matter how difficult the music was that he presented to her.

The fact that I deemed my mother as one who would not admit defeat easily was ingrained in me at an early age, and it enabled me to try harder against my surmounting difficulties because of her steadfastness.

Anyway, that is what I thought of immediately when you asked me to describe a “sound” from my childhood. I can’t think of any better one than that !

The musical talent skipped a couple of generations. Although my mother and I can both carry a tune, Eldest Daughter and some of the other urchins inherited the real musical ability, either from my grandmother or from Engineer Husband’s mother who was also an accomplished pianist. My favorite memory of my Mema is this one I posted a few weeks ago:

I used to spend the night with my Mema every Friday night. We watched The Jack Benny Show and ate pink beans (pork and beans) and hamburger patties. Every Friday.