Saturday, June 05, 2004

Artelia Jeannette

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord and prove me. Try my mind and my heart.

There are a lot of people who frown up and catch an attitude whenever
someone corrects them or gives them a word of direction. I’m on the exact
opposite end of the spectrum; I actually look forward to correction. When I posted Thankya Laude, one of servinemup.com's readers sent me a note of correction and encouragement. This particular reader has a very special place in my heart, because she also happens to be my mother, who I love dearly.

I made the statement that of my 4 grandparents that attended my high school
graduation, none of them ever graduated from high school themselves, and my mother corrected me. Artelia Jeanette, has an amazing story of perserverance and determination that I would be wrong not to share.





My maternal grandmother, born Artelia Jeanette, spent most of her early childhood living in a sharecroppers house on the edge of a vast plantation l ess than 20 miles south of Little Rock, in a small town called Hensley, Arkansas. Although she was raised in the house of Elijah and Lacy Thompson, Elijah was not her biological father even though she assumed the Thompson surname. Artelia, or ‘Tee’ as so many called her, was a beautiful smooth light peanut butter complexion girl with long, full and pretty hair. She says that her stepfather, Elijah, treated her as nicely and loving as if she was his own child. Artelia was 9 years old when her






mother passed away, and her mother’s family took custody of her because
they didn’t feel it was proper for a young pretty girl to be raised in a
house with a grown man to whom she wasn’t biologically related. Subsequently, Tee was sent to a foster home facility and from there went to a school teacher's family. The problem with these foster parents, was that they didn't want Tee to attend school and learn, instead they wanted her to stay home and care for their small children. This denial of education was too much for her to bear, so she ended up going to another foster home facility in Magnolia, Ark., before she eventually ended up in the town of El Dorado, Ark She found a friend who also lived there and started attending Triumph the Church of God in Christ. It is at this church where she met the man who she would end up marrying, Sam Scott.





Sam was a handsome chocolate minister in the church and he had his own game
to him. When asked about their initial meeting and courtship, he had this to say,

“I wasn’t chasing after any women at the time, I didn’t have to, women were
chasing after me!” he said with a chuckle, but then a loving mist came over
his eyes and he smiled, ‘But once I laid eyes on Telia? I knew I had to get
to work!”

Their first meeting and many following weren’t as memorable in Telia’s mind.

“He was always running up to me, smiling in my face, I wasn’t even worried
about him, until one day when he touched my hand.”

You see, as beautiful as Artelia is, she was born with a predicament that
some might call abnormal. On one of her hands, she had 6 fingers. Not 6 full
fingers, but the one little stub of an almost finger that grew to the side
and at the base of her pinky finger. She often hid this 6th finger from
plain view, somewhat embarrassed and ashamed of this ‘birth defect’. But one
day, while at church, this tall dark and handsome minister, clutched her
hand in such a way that she could feel his hand rubbing against this 6th
finger. And as she was trying to withdraw her hand from his grasp, she
noticed that he wasn’t talking to her, he was actually praying for her hand
to be healed. And after he finished praying, and he released her hand, the
6th finger was no longer there.

“From that moment on, I knew that Sam was the man for me.”





Artelia had advanced as far as the 9th grade in school before she got
married and proceeded to birth and raise 12 children into this world. When
the youngest of the children began school, she went to night school and
earned her GED.





Did ya’ll hear that? A black woman from rural Arkansas who was
orphaned at 9 years of age, dropped out of school at the age of 13, got married, raised 12 black children in the Jim Crow south, with all of the pains and joys that go along with it, went back to night school as an adult grandmother and earned her GED=H.S. Diploma. True soldiers don’t give up until they go up, and that’s on the real.

Artelia, or ‘Big Mama’ as myself and the rest of her army of grandchildren
affectionately call her, has a way to warm your heart just by stroking gently on your head and looking at you with eyes of pure love and laughter. Big Mama really enjoys nice hats, good food, and good company. She’s funny, smart, wise and all the way real. You’ll never find a more kind and gentle soul. But don’t get her riled up though, because those of us that have seen her catch the spirit and pick up that tambourine and go into her dance of praise, know about the immense power that lies behind that soft smile and loving touch. Especially those that have gotten one of those Big Mama whuppings. She never had to ‘get’ me, but I’ve seen her work on some of my cousins before and I always knew I didn’t want ANY of that. Big Mama left all of her children with a grip. NOBODY could say that they didn't feel loved. A true prayer warrior. Big Mama would get down on her knees and pray for her children. Sometimes touching them and praying for them while they're asleep.

Big Mama was one of the first ones to expose and extort me toward the written word. She made sure we had books on the bookshelf to read. And a set of Encyclopedias. To go along with an endless amout of hugs and playful laughs.