Today, my mother, the venerable Miss Helen "Hotfingers" Greene
Hughes Prater, turned 91. I am happy to report that she hit the
floor running this morning. I have taken her shopping and
running errands all day and her little internal motor just keeps
purring away. She wears me out. She is a grand lady and can
hardly wait to get to S&D and visit with all the friends/river family
she loves so much and who make her life so happy. Thank you to
all of you who are such good friends to her.
Janie, I hope someone called Woody while we were out of town
with your entertainment lineup for S&D and that it is all arranged.
(Except Aida is no longer in my repertoire.) And I will settle for
nothing less than your Rochester bit. A couple of years ago Ann
Mallinson and I did a rather peppy rendition of Mr. Sandman.
That was back when Mom did her little concert in the banquet
room instead of the main lobby. I even did a little jitterbug with
Dale while Mom played some jazzy number. (THOSE days are
gone forever, believe me.) And I do understand a little bit about
the bittersweet feelings you have about being on the DQ. I too
remember the REALLY old days, when my little legs would climb
that interior steep ladder (now gone) up to the pilot house to be
with my Grandfather, whom I absolutely worshipped and miss to
this day. It bugs me everytime I walk by those forward rooms on
the sun deck with the curved windows that they have turned into
luxury rooms -- the starboard one was Grandma's and Grandpa's
room, and the port side room was your daddy's room. But I don't
have the forehead craddling painful memories that you have.
Sharon, I have been trying to catch up with all the postings over
the holidays that I have missed. I must ask you if you know my
sister-in-law Nancy Whitehead Prater and her family who are from
Union City. Her parents are Frank and Edna Whitehead and her
brother Harold Whitehead (who died just recently) and his wife
Vivian also are from Union City. I think Vivian owns the funeral
home there in town. Frank built most of the touristy structures at
Reelfoot Lake and is very proud of that. You are right -- as close
to the Mississippi as Nancy was growing up, she never thought of
her hometown as a river town. Now that she has married into this
family of river nuts, she has gone bonkers over the river, the
history, the boats, and, most of all, the terrific river people. And I
think she relates more to the Ohio R. now than the Mississippi --
it is just more accessible and permeates the towns on it. Sure
glad that you are posting now.
And a heart felt thank you to Kris for the story about the DQ and
the dam. Have heard about it for years, especially since it did cost
Lexie her job, but hearing your first hand account of it was
terrific.
Judy and Keith have more little river tidbits squirreled away than I
would have thought humanly possible. Just like my Grandfather
and Fred Way and CW Stoll. The next generation of river people,
folks. And no one spins a yarn better than Alan Bates. I'm so
glad that my mother has lived long enough to see that the love of
the river and river life is being perpetuated. I do not exaggerate
when I say that the joy Mom experiences when she is with river
people and on the boat is the best part of her life now and is what
keeps her going. We are looking forward to S&D!!! Love, Lil
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