My Heroes - F. Kate Adcock Alford

This particular Hero happens to be my Mother. It took me a long time to get my perspective right to be able to recognize what my Mother had done that she deserved to be viewed as a Hero.

Like most people of my generation, and probably many others, I did not come to this mindset in time to gather detailed information from my Mother while she was available to answer my questions. I had not even formulated the questions before she passed over, so I missed a great opportunity. From what I do know, I can assure you that my Mother was an individual and somewhat of a feminist before there was such a term defined.

Neither of my parents were formally educated past third or fourth grade level, but they were extremely smart in the common sense and street-smart sense. They both could do anything they set their minds to and they set them to a great variety of activities. Whatever my Father decided to get into, my Mother jumped right in and participated. That included everything from growing most of our food in gardens wrestled from the packed red clay of Alabama, and for a short time Georgia, or buying or bartering vegetables and meat from others in the community, to gaining access to what was then called "commodities" at that time. I am sure, although I have no proof, that my Father gained access to the black market during the time of "rationing" during WWII (I have stamp books from that period that show the kinds of items that were rationed, including sugar). I am also sure that my Mother bartered all of the above with friends and neighbors to avoid having anything "go bad" because we had something we couldn't use fast enough. Neither of them were writers so there are no records of the many ways they worked their magic to raise a house full of children and have them all turn out relatively well. Sadly, most of the people who benefited from this effort have passed over already and I failed to ask them questions as well.

The point I am trying to make is that my Mother was a true partner in the Alford Enterprise, she was not just a housewife in a traditional position in a family. Looking back on the environment I see it as a small business with both of them at the helm, both making major decisions and "negotiating" resolution of differences. Their personal relationship is a whole other story to be told at another time.

In addition to participating in the family "business'', both my parents worked in the "cotton mill" in Langdale AL which was owned by The West Point Manufacturing Company, now morphed into some other conglomeration through a series of sell-offs, mergers and buy-outs.

Kate Alford was a spinner in the Spinning Department of the Langdale Mill for most of her life. This meant she was on her feet the entire time she worked every day. In the beginning she would have worked a shift each day that began at 7 AM and ended at 3 PM. I have no idea how they managed break and meal times but there was no union so I am sure it was at the discretion of the company. Kate was a smoker so she would have taken a smoke break and smoked on any meal break as well. There are a few rare pictures of the group who worked together during that time.

When the family was suddenly increased due to the death of Kate's sister and the "taking in" of her sister's children, Kate started working double shifts to make more money to feed and clothe the group. This meant she would begin her work day at 7 AM and end it at 11 PM for as many days as she could get the work.

As far as I know, there was never any complaining about working such long days nor about the extra responsibility of taking care of such a large group. There was just continuous adjustments to accommodate everybody in the house hold. The size of the household would fluctuate because some of the children were going away to nursing or business school to further their education or coming to stay because the marriages were in trouble or any of the other normal things that happen in families.

Although there were only two children in the original Alford family, the number could fluctuate to as many as eight to ten, depending on the circumstances. The basic core kind of settled to five children for most of the time. Everyone was given responsibilities and one of them was to take care of me because I was only five at the time the family grew.

I never knew that we might not be very well off. There was always plenty of food on the table and there was very little talk about what it took to make that happen. I do know that I wore "hand-me-down" clothes for most of my life until I was the last child left at home. This did not happen until I was in high school.

I honestly do not know how my Mother managed to keep meals cooked, clothes clean or any of the other chores of keeping a household going that fall to the woman to do. At the same time she also managed to teach us all personal integrity, morals and ethics as well as Southern manners. She also insisted that we all attend the various meetings at the Langdale Baptist Church. I have always understood that she was a "hard-shelled" Baptist but I have never really known why I know that or what it actually means.

The lasting lessons that we all learned from being part of that family was that each of us could do anything we wanted to do. We were taught to be strong and independent and those lessons were taught to both male and female within that environment.

Thank you Mama, I hope you are enjoying your life on the other side. I look forward to discussing all this with you when next we meet.