My grandmother, Lutie Emma English Boland, born April 8, 1898 in Franklin County, VA, is pictured here with my mom. She was a snappy dresser and expert seamstress.

She was can-do, strong, kind, serious, sometimes curt and not so quick to smile. She fried a fine chicken and would stink up the kitchen with creasy greens she made me hunt down in the yard. She loved soft shelled crabs and fish from the bay, corn on the cob, a good tomato and her people, flawed as they were.

She enjoyed shopping and lunching with my mom at the S&S Cafeteria, where I always chose Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

Lutie Emma English Boland © 2020, Ann Carter Richardson