Happy Birthday to my Grandma, Rennie Amanda Tucker Fisher

 

 

Once upon a time, way back on December 3rd, 1904, in the small hamlet of Funston, a community just a stones throw from Moultrie, Georgia, the Reverend Ansel P. Tucker, pastor of Bridge Creek Baptist Church, awaited the birth of his  seventh of eight children. His Wife -Mary Josephine (Sellers), sometime during this day delivered the new daughter by traditional means--at home. She would be named Rennie Amanda.

Rennie Amanda Tucker grew up, raised in a fine southern Baptist home, and one day while on the streets of Moultrie, walked by a man (she had never seen before) who loudly proclaimed to the other fellows he was standing with, "I'm going to marry that girl one day.." She immediately thought him crazy (He was, but that's another story).

It just so happened that the crazy mans prediction was spot on. Rennie Amanda and this crazy man (his name was George ) got married, and just a couple of years later gave birth to a son. The son grew up, got married, and his wife bore him three kids, one of whom would be named "George". 

He was referred to as "Little George" so as to distinguish himself from his Grandfather. Little George was born premature, and spent some time in an incubator. Rennie, the new Grandmother, held vigil outside the maternity ward there at the hospital in Albany, Georgia, and one day another lady, peering into the nursery, commented within earshot of new Grandmother Rennie that the one little baby looked like a "wet rat"---an accurate description if the truth be told--and while there are no witnesses to what transpired immediately afterwards, the Fisher family legend has recorded this incident as possibly the only time in her entire life that new Grandmother Rennie may have forgotten she was a preachers daughter and a fine Southern Christian lady. Her Son later said "That's as close as I ever came to seeing My Momma whip someone's ass!"
 

Little George absolutely worshipped his new Grandmother Rennie, who by now was just called "Grandma"...Little George spent nearly every weekend of his young life at her house, loving every minute of his time there. Upon seeing his parents car pull into the driveway to take him back home, he would cry. He sooned learned, however, that when he became too sick to go to school, he would be sent usually to two places--the doctor’s office and his Grandmas--so George was sick----a lot. His parents KNEW, as little George did, that he would get well faster at Grandmas house. There was something in the water. On one occasion, Little George contracted the mumps and each time his jaws began to hurt he would run into his Grandmas arms so she could hug the pain away.

It worked.

So did the fried chicken she made him, and the pound cakes, where he was allowed to lick the spoon--because he was a wormy little kid who would have lived off of bread and milk if left to his own devices, and wormy little kids should naturally be allowed to lick the spoon—unless, of course, they were sick from the measles, and Grandma just “happened” to show up with an entire bowlful of batter.

As time passed, Little George stopped being a sickly little runt, and became a ‘mostly’ normal young man. He still visited his Grandmas house often, and even took his dates there before taking them home to meet his own parents.

Eventually, his Grandma passed away. Little George, by now not so little anymore, felt as though his best friend in the world had died. In fact, she had.

George eventually came to understand that precious memories, like that song goes, linger. One day George would get married and have a little girl. He would give her his Grandmas’ middle name, Amanda.

George still thinks about his Grandma twice a day. When he is awake and when he is asleep. He thinks about her so much that even TODAY, her BIRTHDAY, won’t be much different than yesterday or tomorrow.

George is even a grandparent himself, even though everyone knows he isn’t nearly old enough for that type of job. He hopes to be just half as good a Grandpa as he had a Grandma. He thinks his Grandma would be pleased to know that he learned from the best.