A Simpler Time

  My paternal grandmother, Sally Lee Allen Head, known as Mama Head, was born in 1886 and died in 1955. My paternal grandfather, John William Head, known as "Billy" or Daddy Head or Papa Head, was born in 1886 and died in 1976. They were born into and grew up in a pioneer era and lived to see a rapidly changing world. By mid-century, theirs was a way of life that would soon be gone forever. They and their children had made it through the hard times of the Great Depression and the sacrifice of World War II. The battle-scarred sons and son-in-laws had all come home. They were old-time country folk, thankful and humble, living a simple way of life, independent and self-sufficient. Most of their food was raised or grown on the lots behind their old house. Mama Head raised chickens for the dinner table, as well as a calf to butcher now and then. She milked the cows for butter, cream, and milk to go with the biscuits made from scratch, spread with homemade plum or wild grape jelly or peach preserves. The Head family raised and killed their own hogs for bacon, ham, and pork chops, saving the rendered lard for cooking, baking, and homemade lye soap. Whatever was not eaten right away from the bounty of the big garden and the fruit trees was canned. They bought only what was absolutely necessary at the store....coffee, tea, sugar, salt, pepper, seeds for planting.... those things they could not grow or make themselves. A loaf of Jones Fine Bread or a bottle of Dr. Pepper were considered a real treat. They made most of their own clothes and beautiful patchwork quilts. They were a close-knit family, gathering around the radio to listen to "The Shadow", "Fibber McGee and Molly", "The Lone Ranger", and "The Hit Parade". No matter how much work she had to do, Mama Head never missed an episode of the soap opera, "Ma Perkins", on the radio.  Papa Head was a Master Gardener.  Their families had grown roses and watermelons as their farm crops in Tyler, Texas. The Heads came to Waco in 1914. Papa Head worked 42 years for the City of Waco, helping run Cameron Park. He retired in 1957. He was sent to the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago to see the famous Rose Garden, then designed one like it for Cameron Park.  The old house where the Heads lived was at 2224 N. 4th Street, just down  the street from the Park entrance on Herring Avenue.  Their children and grandchildren grew up in the Park, playing, fishing, and swimming in the Brazos River and Cold Springs.  It was a simpler time than today. Life was lived at a slower pace. By the 1950's, that simple way of life was fading away. Modern times, a new faster-paced era of conveniences and new technology, had begun. The story of Mama Head and Papa Head is the story of that simpler time in American history.