{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"The News Journal","provider_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net","title":"A life remembered &ndash; The News Journal","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"3uPMR0ejnd\"><a href=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/a-life-remembered\/\">A life remembered<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/a-life-remembered\/embed\/#?secret=3uPMR0ejnd\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;A life remembered&#8221; &#8212; The News Journal\" data-secret=\"3uPMR0ejnd\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Bena-Mae-mug137.jpg","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":228,"description":"Mama would have enjoyed her funeral, and probably did, for who is to say? She would have been proud of the compliments she got from everyone who marveled at how beautiful she looked. Even during her last days, she was mindful of her appearance. \u201cIf I had known you were coming, I would have had my hair fixed,\u201d she told a nephew and his wife just days before she died. And she did look beautiful belying the one hundred and one plus years she spent upon this earth, looking at least three decades younger, \u201cShe can\u2019t possibly be that old,\u201d many people remarked upon seeing her for the last time. Even in death, she made a liar out of the calendar. Always a lover of people, she would have loved talking to everyone who came to celebrate her long life. Friends, neighbors, nieces, nephews, caregivers, each of them were an important fragment of a large montage of people with whom she shared so many joys and sorrows &#8211; the joys outweighing the sorrows by far as life has a way of softening the bad times as we grow older. The montage would not have been complete without our old friend and former storekeeper, Elsie Freeman. Elsie, along with her late husband, Herbert, ran the little neighborhood store where Mama traded. It was during the days when, \u201ca man\u2019s word was his bond\u201d and Elsie trusted her customers to pay by the week. Mama fed our large family out of the little store, allowing each of us to charge a nickel a day for pop or candy. Elsie kept a strict accounting of how much we spent and never let us go over that amount, no matter how hard we pleaded. When the Freemans closed the little store, we felt the heart of the neighborhood would stop beating. But it wasn\u2019t long before Mama opened an account with Cox\u2019s grocery on Main Street where she found the same neighborly trust. Each day she would order her groceries by the phone, which they delivered to her kitchen table, often pausing long enough for a friendly chat which she enjoyed. Freeman\u2019s Store and Cox\u2019s Grocery &#8230; important parts of the tableau that made up our life. She would have welcomed another old friend, Ruth Ola Carr, whose presence brought back the memory of our dear mother, Mary, and her father, John Smith. They lived out the street from us for many years, and like our family, was large in numbers. Each of them professed a talent for singing which one could hear at any given time when passing their house. Somehow the neighborhood seemed quieter when they moved away and we missed them. Then there were our close neighbors, the Alleys and Justices, good neighbors for more years than I can count -\u201dthe salt of the earth\u201d in anybody\u2019s book. Mr. Alley provided Mama with fresh produce from his garden each summer and if it was a good year, apples in the fall. R.L. Owens was there, representing his mother, Zelma, and his late father Lewis. The Owenses lived down the road from us for as long as I can remember, raising their family alongside ours in those hardscrabble times. Lewis ran the service station where Daddy bought all of his gas. He never trusted anyone but Lewis to the upkeep of every vehicle he ever owned. Nothing was ever put in writing, no contracts were ever signed. Just a handshake, that was all. It was an era of mutual trust and honesty that has sadly gone by the wayside. It was a good neighborhood to grow up in. To be continued&#8230;. &nbsp; Deviled Eggs Ingredients 6 hard boiled eggs 1\/4 cup mayonnaise 1 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish paprika 1\/3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1\/4 tsp. salt 1\/4 tsp. dry mustard Directions Slice eggs in half lengthwise and carefully remove yolks. Mash yolks with mayonnaise. Add remaining ingredients except paprika. Mix well and stuff egg whites with yoke mixture. Garnish with paprika. Enjoy!"}