FanStory.com - Lucille's Storyby BethShelby

Mattie Lucille Lay was born in October of 1914 in Newton, Mississippi. It was a home birth in a large house in the country. She deserves a place in my genealogy record because she was my mother. Her mother named her Mattie for one of her own sisters, but she'd not made up her mind on a second name. The doctor who delivered her suggested Lucille. That became the name she always used. She was the last of my grandmother’s four children and the last of my grandfather’s thirteen children. It was the second marriage for both of my grandparents.

Grandma’s first husband, who worked as a constable, had been killed by a bicycle thief shortly after the birth of her first child. Not long after his death, she learned she was pregnant again. With two babies to raise and no means of support, she remarried a widower with eleven children by his first wife. It was a marriage of convenience for both of them. Robert was a good man, and he treated Annie well. His first wife had only been dead six months when the marriage took place, but my grandmother had waited two years.

My grandmother, Annie, gave birth to her first child with my grandfather, Robert Lay, three years after they married. Lucille’s brother, Newman, was four when she was born. Newman was her only whole sibling, but counting her Mom’s first two children, she had thirteen half brothers and sisters. Some had already married and left home. There were six boys and two girls still living at home and the older children often visited bringing their own children. Keeping house and cooking for such a large family didn’t give my grandmother much time to spend with her new baby.

Newman being the youngest boy was grandma’s most difficult child. He loved to tease Lucille and when she cried, he blamed her for causing the problem. The older half-brothers and sister did a bit of spoiling and liked to buy toys and other clothes for their baby sister. I have a picture of Mom when she was around four wearing an Indian costume complete with bow and arrows, that one of the sisters bought for her.

Lucille’s older half-brothers, the Lay boys, were inclined to drink liquor and even resorted to making their own. At one point, they amused themselves by offering sips to Lucille. I can’t imagine her actually liking the strong liquid. She was repulsed by it when she was older. She probably relished the attention and was pleased her actions amused them. She adored all of her siblings. By being a willing participant, she consumed enough liquor to make her drunk enough to stagger. The boys were forced to enlist the help of a horrified sister to keep her out of sight long enough to get her sober, so their step-mother wouldn’t learn what they had done.

The house where she grew up stood high off the ground and had a long hallway running through it. It was a noisy place with so many children living there. Grandma had a player piano, and Lucille learned to play the notes as well as pedal fast enough to make the player part knock out the popular tunes of the day. Player pianos were powered by foot treadles, like old sewing machines, that pumped air through the machine. It was “programmed” by a paper roll with up to 88 holes — one for each key. When air went through a hole, it caused a small pneumatic device to strike a particular key.

The older children taught her the latest dance steps which happened to be the Charleston. The family were members of a local Baptist church and Lucille took a lot of interest in religious activities. The school she attended was a two room country school where grades were grouped. The school only went through eighth grade. After completing the last year, the kids were bussed to a larger high school in town.

Lucille’s older half-brother, Eugene, from grandma’s first marriage had gone into the Navy and after the service was living in Detroit. When Lucille was 14, Eugene took her back to Detroit with him for a visit. He told her he wanted her to move to Detroit after high school and he would pay for her college education. He set up and funded a bank account so she could write checks for clothes and other needs she might have.

Lucille was attractive and popular with guys in school. Since Lucille had half-siblings who were already grown and married when she was born, she was the aunt of people who were older than she was. One of these was Lewis Simmons, three years her senior, who was the son of her half-sister Nanny. The man Nanny had married happen to be the uncle of another young man who was destined to play a big part in her life.

She might have met Glover, who was five years her senior, through Lewis or she might have been introduced to him through a friend. He was a clerk at one of the stores in town. Her mother had been waited on by him while shopping and she informed her daughter she'd met a very polite and nice-looking young man, and he would be a good one for Lucille to ‘set her cap’ for. This was an old-fashioned saying meaning, he’d make a good husband. He owned a car and seemed to have a career in retail ahead of him. He and Lucille begin dating when she was in tenth grade. They double dated with friends. Glover, who would later become my dad, was popular and well-liked. Lucille had just completed her junior year, when Glover asked her to marry him.

Her plan had been to finish the final year and move to Detroit for college. At this point, Lucille had a dilemma because Eugene, who’d promised to pay her way through college had married a Canadian girl and now they had a child on the way. Lucille didn’t feel it would be right to take his money when he was now supporting a family. Still, she badly wanted to graduate from high school.

Glover had been told by his boss he was looking at the possibility of buying a store in Knoxville and having him manage it. He used this tactic as well to persuade Lucille. Ever since she'd driven through the state on the way to Detroit with her bother, she thought it was a state where she would love to live. Her mother encouraged her to go ahead with the marriage. Finally, she agreed to marry him as long as it could be kept secret until she graduated. Glover agreed. The couple went to a nearby town and were married by a Justice of the Peace. The marriage was consummated in the back seat of Glover's Model T Ford.

Before the month was over, any plans they had for keeping the marriage a secret fell apart. The local newspaper published a list of all the marriage licenses issued during the month. News travels fast in a small town. Everyone they knew was talking about it and offering congratulations. Since the secret was out and Glover's job in Knoxville didn't happen, Lucille gave up on finishing her senior year and agreed to move in with her new husband.

To be continued...