Mamoo Estes Home in Haines City, Florida

The first seven or eight years of my life, my grandmother and granddaddy Estes lived in a big two story home in Haines City, Florida. She and granddaddy let us stay with them alot on the weekends and in the summer time. It was always a big treat. They had a maid that also cooked and a yardman. The maid's name was Mary and she wore a white uniform. When we had a meal, Grandmother would ring her little bell and Mary would come to the dining room and serve us. There were several fun things about Mamoo Estes home. She had a little library with lots of good books. And everynight that we were there, at bed time, we could go into the library and pick a book for her to read to us in our bedroom. She would sit in her rocking chair and read to us. She never said she was too tired. It was neat. She would buy a new book for us to find each time we came. Up stairs there was a laundry shoot to the basement for you to throw your dirty clothes and towels for Mary to wash. There was a basket at the bottom to catch things. We considered jumping down it, but thought better of it. The stairs were neat too. They had this nice wooden waxed banister. We could slid down it from upstairs and drop off at the bottom.

The scary room was the attic. It was on the third floor and used for storage and Granddaddy's rowing machine for exercise. There was this big swinging light bulb to light the place and it cast all kinds of shadows. I wouldn't dare go up there without Mamoo. But there was a real special place in the attic, she had a big old wooden trunk. One day, she said she would show us what was inside, but we had to be careful and not break it. So she lifted that big old lid and there was a lot of white tissue paper. So she picked up one and unwrapped it. There was the most beautiful white glass doll I had ever seen. She unwrapped three more and let us hold them for a little while. But she said they were very old and we couldn't just play with them. So, she wrapped them all back up and put them away. She promised we could visit the dolls another time. That was so neat. I dreamed about the dolls that night. I loved dolls as a little girl.

On the second floor, Grandmother had a bedroom and Granddaddy had another bedroom, even when I was very little. Her bedroom had a sunroom off it where Mamoo did her sewing and knitting. Sometimes, we would make Diane clothes. She could knit real good and knitted sweaters and stuff.

When we had dinner, she tried to teach us good manners. She would use china and a lot of silverware. She would use cloth napkins. We learned which fork to use for what, to always say please and thank you, put your napkin in your lap and keep one arm in your lap. She and Grandaddy would take us out to eat at some fancy place so we could practice our manners. One time she thought Diane and I needed to see what it was like to ride a train. We took a train trip our of Haines City to Tampa to see a Circus. When we got to Tampa, we got a Taxi and it took us to the fair ground. Afterward, we got the taxi again and then went back to the train station and came back to Haines City. That was my first and last train ride.

She was a neat Mamoo. I don't ever remember she getting mad at us or spanking us. That just isn't in my memory. Just good times. She would also take us to the park to play and sometimes shopping. She let us take Granddaddy's rowing machine seat with its rollers down to the sidewalk and roll down the sidewalk on it. Plus, she had tricycles for us. I never went to church with her. She was Catholic and I was Methodist. We had many big family dinners at her house. I have a few pictures at her Haines city home and a picture of the house. I'll have to look for them.