Baby Sister’s Speech at Katy Depot
Click link below to read Baby Sister’s (Wilma Juanita Carr Rush) Speech on the installation of the model of the USS Carr at the Katy Depot. The date was May 21, 1994.
Category: Juanita Carr Rush
“NOT SO HARD, GOD!”
When Juanita Rush was pregnant with David Stephen, her firstborn, she came home to Checotah to be with family. Her husband, David Marrs Rush, was TDY (military-speak for Temporary Duty) or out to sea, or she just wanted to be with her mama. You have to remember, she was 18 years old when David was born!
At that time, Peggy Carr Dodd and her daughter, Nancy Lynn Dodd, now Milam, were staying with Mama Carr while Peggy’s husband, Harry Dodd, was serving in the Korean Conflict aboard the USS ESSEX (CV-9), an aircraft carrier (David Marrs Rush also served onboard the ESSEX, albeit as an Airedale, after Harry Dodd had rotated off). Harry Dodd had been recalled to active duty approximately September, 1950, after serving a few years immediately after the end of World War II.
David Stephen Rush was born April 13, 1952, so Juanita would have been in Oklahoma late March, early April when those lovely Oklahoma thunderstorms come sweeping down the plains, as it were. Nancy Dodd would have been about four years old, and was a quite lovely four year old, full of spunk, and faith, and compassion, and so forth. Apparently, Nancy had been told by her mother, Peggy, she did not have to be afraid of thunder because it was just God rearranging his furniture up in heaven. To those of us who remember wooden floors, rearranging furniture by sliding it on wooden floors could be a noisy experience. A thunderstorm brewed up one day and soon turned into a loud affair. The storm continued to build and the thunderclaps continued. After one particularly loud clap, Nancy stuck her head out the back door and hollered up to heaven, “Not so hard, God!”
Those of us who know and love Nancy recognize the complete faith that God heard her, and the complete assurance of a four-year-old girl that God would obey her!
Juanita remembers quite vividly the picture of little Nancy Dodd, with her long red-haired pig tails, leaning out the back door and looking up at the sky. She also remembers that Nancy would come and pat her on her belly, quite swollen at that time, and telling her that she did not have to be afraid when the baby came.
Ali Goes Home Early
Picture Tehran, Iran in the early 1970s. The Shah was still in power. The students had not yet taken 52 American citizens hostage at their own Embassy. While there was tension between Iranians and foreigners, it had not yet gotten to the point where it was unsafe for them to be there.
My father , David M. Rush, worked for an aerospace company who had sold helicopters to the Shah’s Air Force. He was assigned to set up a repair and maintenance program for those helicopters with the Iranian Air Force. Since it was to be a long assignment, my mother, Juanita Carr Rush, and the 3 boys still at home (Mike, Jeff and Mark) (more…)
Juanita’s Marriage Contract with Mama Carr
My mother, the infamous Juanita Carr Rush, wanted to get married before she finished high school. Now you young ‘uns don’t act shocked. Back in the day, folks married off early.
It was important to Mama Carr that Juanita finish high school. (more…)
Juanita Sings for Dinner!
The week-end before we were due to leave for Corpus Christi to celebrate Aunt Lucille’s 85th Birthday I received a call from Carolyn Lohn. She invited us to spend the night on the way down to break up the trip so to speak. She said she would feed us dinner when we got there and breakfast the next morning before we headed on to Corpus. (more…)
Gifts Remembered
There are several gifts that I clearly remember receiving from my Grandma Rush (Sister Juanita). That’s pretty good after 25 or 30 years and lots of getting and giving.
One was my very first grown up hat. It is (I still have it) a burgundy felt hat with a wide brim and it was part of my 13th (I think) birthday present along with a pair of black slacks and an ivory Gunne Sax blouse with lots of pearl buttons down the front. I’d have the blouse too because it was a classic but that was 50 pounds ago. I still remember how very grown-up and classy I felt in that outfit. The items were purchased on a shopping trip to the now-defunct, but then top-of-the-line, Boston Store.
While I don’t always agree with her particular line of thought on Christianity, another gift that she gave me (and still does) was to be a strong example of faith. I no longer have the book (I wish I did) that was full of one page stories for children to help them do daily readings long before Chicken Soup for the Soul came along. I do have a little box of Bible verses that she gave me. About the size of an index card, the box contains small cards that have Bible verses on one side and something to promote thought on the other. When I was growing up we periodically used it at dinner time. Now it sits in my bathroom where I will hopefully notice it every day and take a moment to explore some of the wisdom within.
As I was wondering this morning about ways to engage my 13 year-old daughter Bryanna in expanding her thinking, that box came to mind.
Keely West
The Quotable Juanita
My father passed away 5 years ago February 19th. He had a massive stroke back around 1996. He basically cheated death at that time, and my mother always referred to the ensuing years as “their bonus” years. And they were.
Even though he had been in poor health for many years it is still a shock when your partner of 50 plus years dies. My mother was cast adrift in her grief for a considerable period of time. But time is (more…)
Frankie and Johnnie
I am flooded with many, many happy childhood memories at Mama Carr’s house. There were always swarms of cousins, screams and laughter, heaps and heaps of good food, and “the Aunts” were everywhere.
Because there was no T.V., we children, entertained ourselves. Occasionally though, (more…)
Juanita Carr Rush’s Grave Experience
Yesterday, I went down to the Checotah cemetery to put flowers on our families’ graves. When I got to where Mama, Papa, Grandma Austin and Tommy are buried, I could see that there was a man sitting on Mama’s headstone. (more…)
A Brief and Incomplete Sketch of My Life
At approximately 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 14, 1933,
in a dilapidated farmhouse a few miles out in the country from Warner/Porum my 42 year old mother gave birth to me, her 11th child and ninth daughter. It had been six years since the birth of child number ten, my sister Peggy, and it had been both the assumption (because of Mama’s age) and the fervent hope of the whole family that there would be no more children. Needless to say, I was not exactly a welcome addition. (more…)