Aunt Jean, ahh, one of my
favorites!!! I love Aunt Jean. She came to Charlotte to take care of her
ailing Uncle George Lefler. Not long after she had "packed up" her
stuff and moved here, ole Uncle George passed away. So, there sat Aunt Jean,
in a new city, alone with nothing to do. So, I asked her to help me with my
cleaning business. She was eager to do so since she "loved to clean
things". The few years that followed that were some of the best years of
my life. Jean and I became very close, working together everyday. She became a
great inspiration to me. I could not imagine living the kind of life she
had lead, not to mention the fact that she had bore 13 children, and still be such a
energetic fun loving person. Work was not work while I was working with Aunt
Jean. We had so much fun together. I looked forward to going to work
everyday just to be able to talk and laugh with her. She is 25 years
older than I am, but she could run circles around me with that
"cleaning". One of the funniest stories I have about her is that one
day while cleaning at a customer's house, the lady needed to run a quick
errand. Well, her 2 year old daughter was taking a nap and she didn't want to
wake her. I told the lassie to "go ahead, we will watch after
her". This was a very cautious mother and said "Do you know what to
do if she wakes up?" I replied, "Yes, I have 3 children, and Aunt
Jean had 13". She said "THIRTEEN??? Were you
Catholic?" To that Aunt Jean replied, "No, I was just
ignorant" I thought we would roll on the floor laughing. I
have many stories about Aunt Jean, too many to tell. We went to Charleston,
S.C. once and had a ball. I think that Aunt Jean had a little too much Conaq
at one stop we made, cause she surely was having a "great" time on the
beach that evening. She taught me many things that I will cherish
forever. One being stamina. No matter how hard life is, you can keep
going. She has endured more than any of us ever will. One is the loss of
her daughter, Mary. We were working one day, matter-of-fact, changing the
linen on a customer's bed, when Jean caught her beautiful mother's ring on the
spread. One of her stones fell out. She said "Peggy, one of my
children's stones fell out of my ring". We searched the carpet and spread
for the stone, and finally found it. I asked her jokingly, "Jean, who's
birthstone is it?" She replied, "Mary's". It was not two
days after that we learned that Mary had developed cancer. I shudder everytime
I think about that occasion. It seemed to me like a sign to Jean that she
needed to leave Charlotte and go to Manchester to take care of her beloved Mary.
She went to Manchester and stayed with Mary taking care of her till Mary
died. Aunt Jean - WHAT A WOMAN. To Jean: "I Love You"
Aunt Jean, ahh, one of my
favorites!!! I love Aunt Jean. She came to Charlotte to take care of her
ailing Uncle George Lefler. Not long after she had "packed up" her
stuff and moved here, ole Uncle George passed away. So, there sat Aunt Jean,
in a new city, alone with nothing to do. So, I asked her to help me with my
cleaning business. She was eager to do so since she "loved to clean
things". The few years that followed that were some of the best years of
my life. Jean and I became very close, working together everyday. She became a
great inspiration to me. I could not imagine living the kind of life she
had lead, not to mention the fact that she had bore 13 children, and still be such a
energetic fun loving person. Work was not work while I was working with Aunt
Jean. We had so much fun together. I looked forward to going to work
everyday just to be able to talk and laugh with her. She is 25 years
older than I am, but she could run circles around me with that
"cleaning". One of the funniest stories I have about her is that one
day while cleaning at a customer's house, the lady needed to run a quick
errand. Well, her 2 year old daughter was taking a nap and she didn't want to
wake her. I told the lassie to "go ahead, we will watch after
her". This was a very cautious mother and said "Do you know what to
do if she wakes up?" I replied, "Yes, I have 3 children, and Aunt
Jean had 13". She said "THIRTEEN??? Were you
Catholic?" To that Aunt Jean replied, "No, I was just
ignorant" I thought we would roll on the floor laughing. I
have many stories about Aunt Jean, too many to tell. We went to Charleston,
S.C. once and had a ball. I think that Aunt Jean had a little too much Conaq
at one stop we made, cause she surely was having a "great" time on the
beach that evening. She taught me many things that I will cherish
forever. One being stamina. No matter how hard life is, you can keep
going. She has endured more than any of us ever will. One is the loss of
her daughter, Mary. We were working one day, matter-of-fact, changing the
linen on a customer's bed, when Jean caught her beautiful mother's ring on the
spread. One of her stones fell out. She said "Peggy, one of my
children's stones fell out of my ring". We searched the carpet and spread
for the stone, and finally found it. I asked her jokingly, "Jean, who's
birthstone is it?" She replied, "Mary's". It was not two
days after that we learned that Mary had developed cancer. I shudder everytime
I think about that occasion. It seemed to me like a sign to Jean that she
needed to leave Charlotte and go to Manchester to take care of her beloved Mary.
She went to Manchester and stayed with Mary taking care of her till Mary
died. Aunt Jean - WHAT A WOMAN. To Jean: "I Love You"