Tuesday, August 2, 2016 – Cordelia Robeline Laird Faust and Mary Rose Duckworth Duffey

Tuesday, August 2, 2016 – Cordelia Robeline Laird Faust and Mary Rose Duckworth Duffey

You probably recognize my name somewhere in the two names above. Those two lovely women were my grandmothers. I am happy to carry the fine Southern tradition of being named after grandparents.

You might have seen the meme (it’s a picture) on FaceBook that says “99% of a child’s awesomeness comes from their grandmother.” I am not a grandmother, but I am pretty awesome and what I know of my grandmothers, they were pretty awesome too.

Unfortunately none of us knew Cordelia as she would be taken from the Faust family at age 36.  Here is one of the few photographs of Cordelia. Notice the eyes. I have them. Smokey Horn had them and one of the other cousins – maybe Jerry – has them.

However, many were fortunate to know Mamaw Duffey or Aunt Rose as she lived to a grand age of 86 (I think).

The rest of me appears to be Mamaw Duffey. Tall, thin (thank you Lord), and armed with “the Duckworth tongue.” The Duckworth women (and there were five of them if you count Old Mama) were known for their, shall we say family leadership? I believe my grandfather referred to them as “ramrods.” Every woman in my family has the Duckworth gene – we can take you down with words so acerbic you will not know what hit you. We can tell you go to Hell in such a way that you are looking forward to the trip.

I have no conclusions other than I was blessed to have some awesome grandmothers. I hope you did too and I know there are many awesome grandmothers out there.