Grandmother Zada Arnold Jones

MY GRANDMOTHER - ZADA ARNOLD JONES
By Virginia Lea Montgomery Billingsley

Cheryl and Nancy, you may remember your maternal great-grandmother, my Grandmother Zada Arnold Jones. I know that most of the older cousins also remember her. For the benefit of the younger family members: she had the bearing of a queen, a tall, handsome gentlewoman with correct posture and a stern manner, but who was never condescending. Her blue eyes had laughter lines; her countenance bore an expression of one who was pure, with no evidence of guile.

My grandmother was known as a lady who gave no quarter, an icon who lived by Biblical Truth. She was, indeed, an outstanding person, one of, seemingly, noble descent.

She wore her dark brown hair in a coiled braid, or bun, when I was very young and first knew her. The coil was attractively pinned at the nape of her neck. "Stylish" is a word that comes to mind in describing her appearance.

I have long thought of her, greatly admiring her persona, trying to imagine her as a young woman. Of course, our grandparents were not always elderly, but there are few pictures of her that I have had privilege to encounter. There was a picture in an album that my great-grandmother, Meta Arnold had, of Zada in her teens; she was in a very attractive, full-skirted summer dress, her hair softly curled and hanging shoulder-length. I was struck by the thought of how much my 5th sister, Pat, looked like her as a teenager.

There is another photograph somewhere, taken when she was still at Crosbyton, Texas, when a young woman about 32. She was standing by her piano (a dark-wood, upright grand) her hand resting lightly on the end of the music stand. She had on a dark, long-sleeved dress, her countenance serious, unsmiling - formal. It was the likeness of a proud, intelligent, mature, dignified, ageless lady. I will always revere that pose; it captured my grandmother's character.

Grandmother Zada fell in love with and married Claude Elzie Jones, my maternal Grandfather, when she was 23 and he was 20 years old. The wedding in the little Texas village of Nugent (near Abilene) was held at the Methodist Church. Most everyone attended because their families were both prominent in that area. There is a more complete story of their early life in my Mother's memoirs. Their first three children, Grady, Claude, and Zada Marguerite (my mother) were born on the Jones' family farm near Nugent, which Claude Elzie farmed with his Dad.

Sadly, my Grandfather was not a farmer, and they lost this foothold; the family farm was no more. Clause sought employment and started following the oil fields. My Grandmother, a loyal wife, followed him to Houston, then Galveston, and oil towns which included Ranger, Texas. They traveled by train and automobile in later years, but my Mother remembers Grandmother driving their horse and buggy to church.

There was also a time when they lived a Peacock, Texas (near Aspermont). That is where my Mother started to school when she was six years old. They only lived there a year, and the following year, Peacock was wiped out by a tornado that is still remembered.

Finally, the little family moved to Crosbyton, Texas. There, they made their home until Mother graduated from High School. Uncle Jack and Aunt Ruth Jones were both born at Crosbyton.

Finally, Grandmother, who became the family's main support, ran for office of County Treasurer. Some of the town's leaders came to her and told her that if she wanted to be elected, she would have to divorce her absentee husband. For this reason, she decided to divorce Claude Elzie; she was consequently elected County Treasurer. She served for two years and was defeated in the next election.

Grandmother was a devout Christian, and devoted churchgoer. She taught a Ladies Sunday School Class for sixty years, and was an accomplished church pianist from her teen years, throughout her 70's. A note in passing is that all of her sisters played the piano and were talented musicians. even in Grandmother's 80's, she played all the old familiar tunes of her youth. My sister Pat, and I learned some of them: "the Missouri Waltz", "Over The Waves", and "Hiawatha", are examples of the music of her day.

Much of what I remember about my Grandmother's early married life is what was told to me by my Mother from her recollections. She said Grandmother and Granddaddy Jones were very faun-loving and people-oriented. Mother remembers going to sleep in her upstairs bedroom, with young couples, friends of her parents, gathered around the piano in the downstairs parlor, when they lived in Galveston. Grandmother Zada played the lively tunes and the couples either sang, or danced to them.

A word about this piano: when I was about three years old and our family was living on the Sears Place west of Lubbock, Texas, Grandmother decided to disburse her furniture so that she and the younger children, Jack and Ruth, could leave Crosbyton and move to Weslaco a town in South Texas. My Mother and Dad received the lovely grand piano, as well as a blond oak dining table with two extension leaves and eight chairs (which Granddad Jones had purchased in Amarillo, Texas). They also received her blue breakfast table and four chairs, and three bedroom sets (beds, springs, mattresses and dresser and chest)...these are cherished pieces today, some of them gone, however. The piano had been purchased in Galveston. I truly believe that our receiving the piano when we did while we were very young, led to my sisters and me learning to play as we all did. The piano had a marvelous tone; my Dad and his brothers had a tuning wrench and kept it in perfect tune. It was a very expensive, heavy piano with the words "New York" in gold print on the keyboard lid....I am still deeply appreciative of that grand old piano that meant so much to my own life in growing up.

Sometimes I wonder if we would have been musicians if we'd not heard good music all our lives. I know that music education is important, but how much is intrinsic in our learning process?! I heard excellent violin music even before I was born, because my Dad and his brothers played the "Strad" violin almost every night of my childhood.

When my Grandmother had the full financial support of her five children, she taught piano and guitar, giving the lessons to children of her friends and peers in exchange for a small fee, or in the case of some, for milk, butter, and eggs.

Grandmother Zada was an excellent seamstress. In better years she had taken course in garment-making. The elite ladies of Crosbyton came to her for sewing their find gowns and Sunday frocks.

My sisters and I owe a debt of gratitude to our wonderful Grandmother, for she sewed our school dresses in late summer, for the coming fall semester of school. We went to class well-dressed in the latest styles, wearing warm wool dresses in the winter season, fresh colored spring dresses, and fluffy summer clothes: skirts, blouses and light, airy dresses. Oh, how we took her hard work and planning for granted! My Grandmother was generous to a fault, and wanted, so very much, for us to succeed. She did her part, by seeing to it we looked nice, always.

Grandmother and I kept a correspondence, by letter, going from the time I was 8 years old and started writing letters. I always wrote to thank her for the latest of her sewing creations. But, more than that, we discussed the latest fashions, what was doing on Broadway, and later, music, and news of the many other cousins, aunts and uncles. She was a wonderful source of history, and I wish I had written it all down, such interesting stories of her childhood, and her family.

Zada Jones could be described, if no other way, as "modern" - a person who kept up with the times. Her favorite expression was "they're doing that now!" She seemed to know what was going on all over the world, in particular, the Parisian styles of dress, the plays in London and New York, and trends everywhere in female dress. Her seamstress efforts revealed her passion for the latest styles. Once, she sewed a dress for the year's Orange Festival Queen, made of orange peels and blossoms. She sewed dresses for balls and other festive occasions.

She had a hat for every occasion. Especially in her later years, her hats were never stylish to be outlandish, but they exemplified her good taste and, most of all, they were downright beautiful! Mainly, they suited her personality, which could be described as "sparkling", "forthright", "aggressive" (but not to the extent of crude), "reserved", "proper", "witty", adroit", "perceptive", "intelligent", "talented", "classic", "introspective", "wise", "to the point".

Her hats would never be right for me, nor did I ever try one on! But, they were always "just right" for her, and made a statement about her that was astonishingly complimentary. Oh, how I admired her looks, in her hats!

Grandmother never forced her opinions on anyone. In fact, she always reserved them until asked. She sat back and did not venture into a conversation unless she was invited to express an opinion.

However, when she did speak, it was with a decisive air that brooked no disagreement. I usually remembered what she said, as it was always something I needed to know, whether I agreed or not. Most of the time my grandmother and I agreed, because I respected her opinion, and she seemed to want to know how I felt about things, or what I thought. Many of my opinions had not yet been formed, but I learned a great deal from Grandmother Jones - mainly because she was such an interesting lady, and because she had my interest at heart. I admired her a great deal because of her experience, and knowledge of things I had yet to learn. Yes, our interest were very diverse: I was deeply involved in farming with my father. Grandmother had "traveled" - to San Francisco, CA., and had seen the Golden Gate Bridge after it was christened in 1939. She had been to New York City, Oklahoma City and many other places. She had seen movies I'd never even heard of, and had seen the beautiful Baylor University campus where my Aunt Ruth received her bachelor's degree.

Grandmother loved to visit us on our various farms. She enjoyed the long, elaborate family dinners that she helped my mother prepare. Long before electricity came to our farm we would sit around "her" dining table, in the soft glow of kerosene lamps, our farm kitchen becoming a world forum open for wide discussion: our schools, our farm animals, the latest church news, how the war was going , books we had read, music we had heard.

Dinner consisted of piles of steak or chicken, creamed potatoes, salad of tomatoes and lettuce, green beans, and dessert of mincemeat pie, cream, or chocolate pie, or angel cake, sour cream chocolate cake, accompanied by cold, rich farm milk, or steaming coffee. The coffee pot was always on for friends and relative. Grandmother and Mother always had a cup with meals, and I occasionally joined them as young as fourteen....

Zada Jones was always abreast of current events and seemed to know where the present trends would lead. However she was not a fatalist, as we are prone to be. Neither was she an optimist. Somehow she took events in her stride and knew the outcome would be good. It usually was, for the word "fail", or "can't" was not in her vocabulary. We seemed to refrain from voicing a negative opinion in her presence. She was certain to respond with a pragmatic, if not brittle statement. "Life is full of difficulty, but we have to go on and do the best we know how" seemed to be her motto.

She never shirked from work and had no patience with unmade beds, or dishes left to be washed. "Everyone must work to make a neat house, and a happy environment" she believed. We children did keep our rooms clean, clothes hung up and toys in the toy box when she came to visit.

Grandmother had boundless energy and never seemed tired. She never spared herself when it came to difficult assignments, whether it was mopping the kitchen floor, or seeing that the mother goat was milked. She believed in schedules, and keeping them. The hardships in her own life made her a frugal person that wasted nothing, and that included "time". One thing about her I'll never forget is that she could out-walk me, when she was 68 and I was 32!

She walked everywhere daily, whether to the nearby store (when she lived the 30 years in Oklahoma City, OK.) or to the park in the small town of Lueders, Texas. As with my Granddaddy Montgomery, she never learned to drive. The few times she tried led to disaster....

As I mentioned, grandmother never shirked responsibility. As her own mother, my Great-grandmother Meta Arnold grew older and more feeble, Zada Jones rose to the occasion and elected to be her care-giver. In return, Grandmother's sisters, Aunt Edna Thomas, Aunt Ora Douthit, aunt Meta Tonroy, and Aunt Zoe Busby relinquished their inheritance of their mother's house in Lueders, to their sister Zada. This worked out for my Grandmother, who was tire of living in the hurricane zone of South Texas. While they were "hashing the situation over" Great-grandmother fell and broke her hip. this crisis precipitated Zada's move to her mother's home in Lueders, the ultimate push she needed to come. Her sons, Jack and Claude, helped her move to Lueders from Weslaco.

In the 1940's when my great-grandmother broker her hip, there were no remedies such as hip-joint replacement. Unfortunately, if one broke a hip, it was an assignment to the bed for the remainder of that person's life. Thus it was for Great-grandmother Meta, and my Grandmother Zada took care of her for the four remaining years of her life, until her death in 1947. It was difficult for Grandmother, because Meta became very senile toward the last and lost control of bodily functions. It was a slow death for both of them, but such were the times, and customs of that day - many languished that long, or longer, after breaking a hip, which is still a dread of old age, along with strokes and Alzheimer's. World War II brought new methods of dealing with broken bones, but America's economy was recovering from the war, and the elderly were the last to receive attention, as we welcomed the wounded of WWII home again. However, times were changing rapidly.

My grandmother came to visit us after her mother passed away. I was shocked at her appearance, because she was so very thin, Too, she was ill with a goiter in her neck which was choking her, from an overactive thyroid. This was treatable by surgery. She came to Lubbock for the operation to have it removed. Afterward she started regaining her health and her weight.

My Mother's three brothers, Jack, Claude, and Grady meanwhile, had made good in their construction business in Oklahoma City. they decided that Grandmother should sell her home in Lueders and move to OK city - to be near family.

Of course, Mother would have like for her to come be near us at Lubbock, or Tahoka, Texas, but we really had nothing much to offer her except our love, since we had been in a seven-year drought. Aunt Ruth had gone to Washington, D. C. at the start of WWII, so it remained for Grandmother to either stay at Lueders for the rest of her days, to be near her three sisters who lived there, or go to be near her sons in OK City. She finally chose the latter.

It was a very different life. Uncle Claude loved his Mother dearly, and wanted the best for her. He and his wife, Zula Mae, shopped for a house and found a neat three-bedroom, red brick house in a conservative neighborhood. (The oil boom was on in those days and OK City was a stylish town, "the place to be", as Grandmother would say. Her house was located near Trinity Baptist Church, another plus, for Grandmother served as Sunday School teacher and pianist there for nearly thirty years.

Grandmother furnished her "new" house with some keepsakes, a wooden rocker that belonged to her mother, and a porch swing for the newly painted white porch. She had lovely china and crystal for the dining room, and an antique round dining table she inherited from her Mother. There was a blue velveteen rocker that she enjoyed sitting in while watching television in the 1950's.

She wanted some of us to come up and be near her. Betty was graduated from Howard Payne U, and planning to teach; I was married after a year at Wayland Baptist College, and Jane wanted to study at an art Institute in Scottsdale, AZ after high school. But Ruth wanted a change. She elected to accept Grandmothers invitation to stay with her and attend Oklahoma University, the summer of 1950.

Ruth told me recently that OK City was full of service men attending summer school at the University. Uncle Jack's red convertible was put at Ruth's disposal to drive to class, and take Grandmother where she needed to go for her errands and church. Ruth said she started walking to class to avoid students wanting to ride with her in the convertible.

By the time Ruth had gone to be with Grandmother she had been dating Gideon A. Lawhon, a young man from Kentucky, who came to Arizona because of his asthma. He lived with a preacher friend in the Eloy first Baptist Church parsonage. Later, he moved out, after he got a job, and lived with the Horace Lamb family on their farm.

She dated "Gid", as we all fondly called him, through most of her Senior year in high school. She really missed him while adjusting to the fast life of OK City, and the summer spent away from home gave her time for thought about her future. She decided that college was out for the time being, and she came home to plan her wedding.

A brief word about Grandmother's aspiration for her daughter, Marguerite. They were extremely close and very bonded, due to the hardship of losing their husband and father. When Grandmother was forced to take over the financial responsibility of the family, she did so without complaint. And, in addition, she never uttered a negative work against her ex-husband, according to the family's comments. She merely did the practical thing, and went to work teaching music and sewing, to support her family. Mother's two older brothers, Grady and Claude, were in high school and did odd jobs to help out. It fell to Mother to take care of her younger siblings and run the household, doing cooking, cleaning, and errands. This was at the early age of nine. they, my Mother and Grandmother, were a team and they did what they had to do to keep the family together. Mother, being the middle child, and a girl, was the pivotal force of them all.

My Mother could have been successful at any pursuit, in New York City, or the other great cities of the world; she was so intelligent and talented. She maintained high grades in high school while working full time to help her mother in their home.

She excelled in the study of Latin, Greek, and Trigonometry, offered at her high school in those days. She was an eloquent speaker, but in those days she was also very shy. Naturally Grandmother wanted her to succeed in life. She offered to let her go to Wayland Baptist College at Plainview, for the best in Christian education. The last thing, I think, my Grandmother wanted for her lovely daughter was for her to get married.

My Mother had met my Daddy, James Reagan Montgomery while a Senior in High School. He was a very handsome, slim, dark-haired young man, with beautiful blue eyes. Besides that, he was an excellent musician; he and his brothers were much sought after to play at social gatherings and dances in the community near Crosbyton.

My Dad's sister, Linnie V. went to the First Baptist Church of Crosbyton where Grandmother and Marguerite attended. "Margie" as Dad always called her, and Linnie became fast friends.

Mother did go away to Wayland the fall of 1925, and after one (painful) year there, she came back, and got a job teaching school at a little school-house called Wake. That is where she met Vera Windor, the mother of Homer Williams, sister Betty's husband.

On June 15th, 1927, grandmother attended my parent's wedding and the rest is history. I am the oldest of nine children of Reagan and Marguerite Montgomery.

Mother became increasingly concerned about Grandmother after her three brothers moved from OK City to El Paso, Texas. She made several trips to see Grandmother, who was going blind and getting very forgetful. Neighbors were calling long-distance to Arizona to report that Grandmother was walking long distances, leaving burners on, and doors open.

Finally, Mother called on her brothers and sister Ruth, to help her. they came to meet her there and they bodily moved Grandmother out of her home there, a very sad time for all concerned, for Grandmother did want to stay in Oklahoma City, her home.

Mother brought her to Arizona where we could all help Grandmother. She rented a neat white house in Eloy for her, putting the main pieces of her furniture there. But as far as Grandmother was concerned, Eloy might as well have been Boothill, or Tombstone, since Eloy is about as far as one can be from OK City. But, Mother and Grandmother persevered, and she did adjust with the same resilience that was so evident all her life. Mother stayed with her most days, and we daughters helped as much as we could (with our own family chores to look after). Later had required round the clock nursing care, and Mother was fortunate to find good nurses for her. It was difficult especially after she suffered major strokes. She lived for several years afterward, and slipped away one day at Hoemako Hospital in Casa Grande.

Grandmother was laid to rest in Valley View Cemetery, Eloy. Ruth, her daughter is buried beside her there. And now, Mother and Daddy have joined them in repose.