Ethleen

This is Ty and Mary's Great Grandmother Ethleen Tingle. I have been meaning to blog specifically about her for a while now. Today, Mary and I picked her up and drove to Fayettville for a tea party. I decided to pick her brain and asked her all kinds of questions. It was a lot of fun discovering new things about her and I wanted to post them on the blog so that Ty and Mary would know all about her one day.

Ethleen was born in 1917. She just turned 92 in June. She was the tenth child of twelve. However, baby #11 was still born. She had two sisters and eight brothers, the oldest of which was 18 and married when she was born. They lived on 300 acres in Henry county and her father was a farmer. Sadly, when she was just ten years old she watched her father die of a heart attack. He was only 54. After the death of her father, her mother used the trees on their 300 acres to sale wood to nearby towns. They survived off the sales of their wood and the vegetables that they grew. In her own words, "We were poor, but so were our neighbors. We didn't know any better."

In 1938 Ethleen married James Tingle. She was 21 and he was 24. In 1942 James Rabun Tingle was born (Neil's dad) and eleven months later James went to war. He wouldn't return for over two years. However, his son knew exactly who he was when he arrived home because Ethleen had shown him pictures everyday that he was away. In 1947 Warren Tingle was born. Ethleen, James, and the boys lived in Henry county and in 1962 bought the house that Ethleen still lives in today for $4,100.00! Their monthly payment was $50.00. The first car they bought cost $400 and she could buy her boys a piece of candy for one penny. The cost of a trip to the movies and a popcorn was one nickle.

A few weeks ago I drove by Ethleen's house and she was outside scrubbing her barn. I often will drive by and she'll be out in her yard picking up sticks. Neil told me that she still gets out in her barn, on nice days, and rides a stationary bike. She cooks all of her food and will gladly cook anyone else food if she hears they need it. She taught herself how to crochet two years ago and will now make anyone a blanket if they are in the hospital or are expecting a baby. She quilted blankets for both Ty and Mary and they are things that I will always cherish. She even made my sister a blanket when she was pregnant with Lucas and Ellen and mailed them to North Carolina!

I can't imagine what she has seen in her lifetime. I can't imagine what it must have been like to literally watch your father die and then as the years went on to watch your mother, husband, and every single sibling pass away.

Before Neil and I got married I called her "Mrs. Tingle". The day that we got married she called me to tell me congratulations. I said, "Thank you Mrs. Tingle" and she said "Oh no! I'm Grandmother now!" I've called her Grandmother eversince.