~ IN MEMORY OF ~

James Willis and Sarah Jane (McDonald) Tucker*

Sitting on the left is Grandpaw Tucker and seated to his left is Grandmaw Tucker. Standing behind Grandpaw on the far left is Aunt "Ide," Rachel Louisa (Tucker) Patterson, their first-born and the namesake of both her grandmothers. "Ide" was a nickname shortened from Louisa, and Granny McKeehan** always called her "Sister Ide." On Aunt Ide's left is my great-grandmother, Margaret Elizabeth "Bessie" (Tucker) McKeehan**. The youngest daughter Sarah Jane "Sally" (Tucker) Patterson, named in honor of her mother, is standing on Grandmaw Tucker's left.

Both Bessie and Sally had identical oil-painted portraits in convex glass frames just like the black and white photo above. Granny's cherished portrait always sat on the left corner of her long, black dresser in the living room. It was inherited by her son, George McKeehan, and taken to his home in Lodi, CA. Aunt Sally's beloved portrait now belongs to her only child, Ada (Patterson) Watkins of Athens, TN. Many thanks to Cousin Ada for lending me her picture so that I could have this copy made!

As a very young child, I remember standing on my toes and holding to the edge of Granny's dresser to see this old photograph better. I was so young that my chin would not reach the top of the dresser no matter how much I stretched. "Who are those people in that picture, Granny?" I asked many times.

To which she always replied happily and pointed lovingly to each one, "That's my daddy, James Willis Tucker, seated in the chair, and this is my mother, Sarah Jane, sitting beside him. She was a McDonald. Behind Daddy is Sister Ide."

"But, Granny, why don't I ever see her? Why won't she come to visit you like Aunt Sally?" I once asked impetuously.

"Well, poor, old Sister Ide has passed away now. She's been gone a long time. This little one is your Aunt Sally."

"How come her hair is so yellow, Granny? I thought it was silver."

"It used to be very blonde. And, that's me standing behind Mother," she concluded.

"But, Granny, are you sure? That doesn't look like you," I questioned. To which, she chuckled softly, and her belly jiggled with laughter. She patiently repeated the identification for me many times during my childhood and until I was old enough to remember the names.

*paternal great-great-grandparents &
**paternal great-grandmother of Sandra (Nipper) Ratledge

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