Valentine's Day this year will mark 120 years since the birth of my maternal grandmother's sister, Alice, born 18 months after Grandma. My mother dearly loved Alice and spent countless hours working and having fun with her aunt. Even at 97, Mother recalls precious times they had together (This originally posted on February 9, 2014).
On February 14, 1902, in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma Territory, Alice Vertle Rainey was born to Mary Rosetta and William Marion Rainey. She already had two older sisters, Daisy Dean and Gladys Vivian along with one older brother, Lewis Elbert, and one deceased sister, Della.
When just a young child, Alice contracted measles, and complications from this disease caused a permanent visual impairment and skin irregularities. Seemingly, even though she could read large print and could write with larger letters, her education was limited due to her limited vision. |
| Left to right - Emma Maryann Rainey, Eugene Robert Rainey, & Alice Vertle Rainey. In the forefront is Ethel Robinson, a family friend. (Thanks to Lou Brock for restoring this photograph.) |
Alice loved a good laugh, joking, and teasing, but as the above recollection reveals, she had the quick temper and tongue known to be present in the Rainey DNA! During an incredibly bitter cold snap, she was milking a cow, shivering in the frigid temperature and battling the howling wind when her father, a known prankster and joker, advised off-handedly to her, “Why don’t you get behind that barbed wire fence to warm up?” No disrespect was intended, but Alice retorted to him using words that women in the early 20th century were never to use.
 |
| Alice Rainey in her teens. |
William Marion Rainey died in August of 1931. My grandma and Alice were impacted by the death of their beloved father. Perhaps for the first time, the two of them faced their own mortality. Because of this, they were both converted under Brother Stalling’s preaching at the Belford Sunday School in September of that same year and then were baptized. The word converted in that day and time meant that Alice and Gladys, my maternal grandmother, recognized they were sinners on a wrong path and asked Jesus to convert or change their lives enabling them to walk in His way.
Alice’s youngest sister, Emma became a young widow and was alone without her adoring husband, facing providing for herself. She accepted a position of responsibility in the Government Printing Office in Washington, D. C. Emma had many suitors from bankers to railroad conductors to other men of prominence from many walks of life. Alice took great delight in teasing her sophisticated sister about these high-class, big city men.
Alice died on July 8, 1951, in the Pawnee Hospital following a diagnosis of stomach cancer. Mother recalls the void her death left in the Rainey family, especially for her grandmother, Rosa, age 81, with whom Alice had lived all her life.
I have heard from family members who knew and loved Alice how spirited and fun loving she was. She loved children, and they responded to her. My mother spent much time with her and never heard her complain about her blindness or use it as an excuse for being unable to attempt and accomplish a task. Over sixty years ago, Alice died before reaching the age of 50. Yet her life stands as a life to be patterned, with an absence of grumbling but a commitment to bring happiness and love to others.
Valentine’s Day, Alice’s birthday, is all about love and giving love to others. Alice Vertle Rainey stands as a “Sweetheart” of expressing love, never seeking to receive love in return, but just loving others with all her heart.
Alice’s youngest sister, Emma became a young widow and was alone without her adoring husband, facing providing for herself. She accepted a position of responsibility in the Government Printing Office in Washington, D. C. Emma had many suitors from bankers to railroad conductors to other men of prominence from many walks of life. Alice took great delight in teasing her sophisticated sister about these high-class, big city men.
Alice died on July 8, 1951, in the Pawnee Hospital following a diagnosis of stomach cancer. Mother recalls the void her death left in the Rainey family, especially for her grandmother, Rosa, age 81, with whom Alice had lived all her life.
I have heard from family members who knew and loved Alice how spirited and fun loving she was. She loved children, and they responded to her. My mother spent much time with her and never heard her complain about her blindness or use it as an excuse for being unable to attempt and accomplish a task. Over sixty years ago, Alice died before reaching the age of 50. Yet her life stands as a life to be patterned, with an absence of grumbling but a commitment to bring happiness and love to others.
Valentine’s Day, Alice’s birthday, is all about love and giving love to others. Alice Vertle Rainey stands as a “Sweetheart” of expressing love, never seeking to receive love in return, but just loving others with all her heart.
 |
| Alice Rainey visiting with Edmund Gates, Jr. in the yard of the Rainey home. |
No comments :
Post a Comment