My mom was blessed to be born into a two parent household. My grandparents cared for her and their other children. Her siblings were Effie, Clarence, Queen Victoria, Issac, Willie Mae, Curtis, Wesley Barnard, Harry, Benny, and Matthew Jackson. My mom loss two of her siblings and her father during her childhood. My mom's father drowned in a boating accident in 1928. Her sister, Queen died in 1926 from Thyphoid fever, and her brother, Wesley died in 1928 in an accidental shooting. I remember my mom telling me that she could still hear her mother screams in her mind after losing her husband and children. Unfortunatley, in those days counseling did not exist, so the surviving parents/siblings had to learn to cope without the assistance of those specializing in grief counseling  which are offered now. In those times, family and friends comforted those who were grief stricken by cooking, cleaning and caring for their children. My mother, also, remembers that while her mother was screaming, her neighbors were comforting her through those traumatic experiences.These experiences shaped the woman my mother became later in her life. She had a strong.fear of water and never liked to wade in the ocean. When I was a little girl, my parents always took me to the beach and my mom made sure that I did not go in the water past my ankles. She, also,took me to the doctor quickly whenever I became sick; she didn't rely much on over the counter medicine and wouldn't take any chances on my health. She, also, did not like guns and voiced her strong opinions whenever my dad would take his out to clean his gun. My dad owned a beautiful gun with an ivory handle which my mom promptly gave away shortly after he passed away.
 

My mother was born, Ollie Nina Jackson on August 19, 1919 in Statam, Barrow County Georiga to Samuel F. and Flowery Barnard Jackson. She was my grandparents youngest daughter and the knee baby in her family. She always went by Nina Marie when she was child, growing up and throughout most of her adulthood. She learned later in life about when she turned 62 and attempted to apply for Social Security Benefits. Since, people did not have birth certificates in the 1910's, individuals ages are confirmed by United States Census Records. To complicate matters the Social Security Administration could not find a record of her birth. So they conducted research in which they obtained her parents/siblings names. They called several weeks later to let her know that they found a baby named Ollie Nina with parents/siblings with the same names as her family. So,, my mom called her older sister to ask she knew anything about this. Her sister confirmed that my grandmother was going to name my mom, Nina Marie until a lady up the street from her told her she should put Ollie in front of it. She learned two interesting facts from these events: What her birth name was and her actual birthdate. The later is funny too. My mom, put her age back two years when she turned 30 to 28 and forgot about it. She used the birth year of 1921 for years. My dad and I thought this was so funny; we kept calling her Ollie which she did not appreciate at all. I remember that day just like it was yesterday when in fact it was over 30 years ago.