CULLMAN, Ala. – President Beverly Wilkerson welcomed everyone to this month’s meeting of the Cullman County Historical Society at the North Alabama Agriplex. The guest speaker was Anita Whitlock, spoke about her book, “Strawberry Preserves and the Smoky Mountain Roads.”
Whitlock is a retired English teacher who turned to writing after retirement. She compiled her grandparents’ letters, songs, prayers and stories into her first book.
Her Grandma Hazel Coker was born in 1919 and grew up around the Decatur and Good Hope area. She married Ed Coker in 1937 after a memorable revival-night courtship story.
Whitlock said, “Grandma and her cousin Pansy were spending the night together at Grandma’s house. That evening the girls planned to attend revival at Good Hope Baptist Church. While at the revival, the girls saw two boys they knew. And the boys said, ‘Do you mind if we walk you home?’ They were giggly and silly and so excited so, the four of them set off. They didn’t think they were noticed at all; they hadn’t gone very far when they ran into trouble. Big Daddy and Big Mama pulled up in the wagon with younger brothers and sisters in tow. Without so much as looking at the boys, he told those girls to get in the wagon. Buddy they did.”
Whitlock said that a year later her grandmother would go on to marry that same boy, Ed Coker. The love story she told included struggles during the second World War, having to ration and Ed Coker having to go up to Tennessee for work on roads. She said, “Grandma would write to her sweet husband every little detail that happened like her feeding the kids, the kids got sick, she washed the quilts, she washed the dishes, just on and on.”
Grandma Hazel also saved every letter. Ed Coker told Hazel about the hardships and the loneliness of being away from home. She assured him that being away from him was not pleasant and also very lonely. While Ed was building roads Hazel took care of the household in her own ways like putting up crates of strawberries. Whitlock said, “So they were a young married couple, so much in love, and so many miles between them. Papa worked hard, grandma worked hard and the kids had to step up.”
Eventually, they raised enough money to buy a farm of their own in Good Hope. Ed Coker made
$30 a month; that’s only about $566 in today’s money.
Pre-World War II, Hazel Coker wrote on the back of letters from the Agriculture Department, informing her husband that fertilizer would be rationed. She made sure to tell her husband about everything going on at the farm. Whitlock said she loved that her grandmother saved that part of history. Her grandfather also wrote home sending lists of things to buy like a hog for $2.50 and hair bows for the girls.
Whitlock told the audience, “Here’s what I want to encourage you to do… if mother, Amanda and I weren’t here telling grandma’s story, where would it be? It would be lost; nobody would know about that love, that connection, that long-distance relationship that turned into something really good.”
Whitlock encouraged everyone to write down family history. “Your words are going to be read by generations down the road.”
The guest for the next meeting will be Thomas Messersmith who will be speaking on the history of Oktoberfest. The next meeting will be held Sept. 27, at 2p.m.
Anita Whitlock and Grandma Hazel Coker (Emily McMunn/The Cullman Tribune)
Grandpa Ed Coker (Emily McMunn/The Cullman Tribune)
Grandpa Ed Coker feeding bears in Tennessee (Emily McMunn/The Cullman Tribune)
