Strange Family Stage Play

I had the pleasure of talking with one of my cousins, who not only discovered her Strange roots, but wrote a stage play about our family legacies. 

Transcript

My great grandfather, Jesse Strange, was born a slave and freed when he was 13. His 12 children were born free, and referred to as "The First Freeborn Generation." In this podcast series, I interview Jesse Strange's descendants in order to document our stories. This is Strange Family Folklore.

I had the pleasure of talking with one of my cousins, who not only discovered her Strange roots, but wrote a stage play about our family legacies. 

Teresa Roberson  

Hey, Cousin Nita, thank you so much for agreeing to interview with me. Please introduce yourself to the audience. 

Nita  

Sure. My name is Zelphia Vanita Strange. The daughter of Olander and Novella Strange. Granddaughter of Floyd and Bea Strange and great granddaughter of Jesse and Lucy Strange. 

Teresa Roberson  

You are a very creative person. It's unfortunate that I don't use video. Your hair is art. I know you make hats. One of your recent creations, is that you wrote a Strange stage play, based on our family history. So, I'd really like to dive into that, because it's very rare that I get to talk to another artist who's related to me. 

Nita  

That makes me happy because I see you the same way. As an artist. So, I love speaking to you, hearing about what you're doing, listening to your podcast. I had not spent a lot of time with my family. The Strange family. My mom divorced my dad, and I spent some time with my dad. I lived in Martinsville with my grandmother. So, I got to see part of the Strange family, but at age 10, she had remarried, took me to Connecticut, and when my dad called on summers to come and get me, she said, "No." So, a lot of growing up time with my cousins, it didn't happen until maybe when my father died. Once he passed away, and I came to the funeral, I remember Uncle Herbert coming and getting me from the airport and taking me to his house and saying, "I want you to go downstairs in the basement. There's a lot of people waiting for you." Blew my mind. All the brothers and sisters were sitting downstairs, waiting for me. They embraced me with so much love, so much warmth, and told me my dad had always made sure that they knew Nita existed. Don't forget her. That blew my mind. I was just amazed. When I got the book and I read about our history, I was like, "Oh my gosh, look at us. This is absolutely incredible." How many years? Is it 83? 

Teresa Roberson  

No, we just celebrated the 84th. 

Nita  

Yes, it's coming on the 85th year. So, when they embraced me and I began embracing them and looking at our history, I felt like a different person. At our last family reunion, my brother, Universe, said, "Nita, I want you to write a play about the family." I thought the man was joking. So, I went home, didn't pay no attention to that. A month later, he calls me up. "How's the play going?" I said, "Oh my gosh. He meant it. He meant it. I'm supposed to write this play. Is he kidding me?" I picked up the book. I flipped through it. I was like, I have nowhere. I have no idea. Where am I supposed to start? What am I supposed to do? And then I get a call from Universe. "How's the play going?" And I'd say, "Oh, it's in the works." It wasn't really in the works. I was lost. I was absolutely lost. This man expects me to do this play. So, I kept praying and looking, praying, and looking, and then I think it was in December. It came to me.

Teresa Roberson  

December of last year? 

Nita  

December of last year, it came to me. It was like a dream. And that's how all my plays come. They just kind of whoosh out, you know? So, I attribute that to the Almighty. I didn't do it because I didn't know where to start. He gave me this idea to do a dream sequence. Well, how do I do that? I started calling Uncle Herbert. I started asking him different questions. So, I spent some time talking to Uncle Herbert on the phone, pulling information out of him, listening to him talk. Then it came to me: Uncle Herbert is going to be granddaddy. His wife is going to be grandmother. That's who they were modeled after. Those two people in the play. So, granddaddy and grandma had a daughter who lived in New York, and her daughter was growing wild. They lived in Harlem. She was like, 13 years old, and she did not know her family because she hadn't spent time with them. So, the daughter thought, "I'm taking you to mom and dad. I'm going to let them spend some time straightening you out. You need to be in Cascade around your cousins and around my mom and your dad." So, she drops her off. She is a sassy little something. Grandma is not letting her get away with anything. She comes home from school one day. She's got a report that she is not doing well in school. Her report card is C's and D's. Previously, grandma has received several calls from the teacher about her behavior. So, they're sitting at the kitchen table, Grandma is looking at a report card, shaking her head and saying, "This is not going to do. You are a Strange. We expect so much more from you." She proceeded to talk to her. The girl tried to talk back to her. Grandma had to put her in a place. "You don't talk to your elders like that. Hold up. You need to think before you speak." Granddaddy comes in. He wants to know what is going on. Grandma handed her the report card. He just looks at it. He goes, "Hmm, hmm, hmm." Then he looks at her and says, "If I asked you who you were, what would you tell me?" And all sassy like she said, "Well, I am the daughter of Marie Strange, and I live in Harlem on the East River Drive." Granddaddy looked at her and said, "Hmm. Uh-huh. Baby, there's so much more than that." He runs down her heritage, name by name, by name, by name, until we get to Great Granddaddy, Jesse and Lucy Strange. The girl's like, "Who are all those people?" Grandma says, "Those are the shoulders that you stand on. We must honor them for all they've gone through to bring us to this point." Granddaddy says, "Honey, go get the book. She needs to read the book that we have about our history." 

At this point, I’d run and grabbed my book about the Strange family and flashed it to the camera.

Yep, that's the one. The Strange family book. People researched and found all this information. 

Teresa Roberson  

As soon as you mentioned the book, Reflections of a Proud Strange family. All of us who do research and writing have the book. Every time I interview somebody, that is my reference book. There's also two calendars. Have you looked at the calendars to incorporate details? We don't just have a calendar. We have history, home remedies, inspirational sayings that are meaningful to our family in those calendars as well. The main character, Marie, she's fictional, or is she based... 

Nita  

No, she's fictional. The young teen is fictional. Her name is Sweet Pea. Those two characters are fictional, but they're the ones that spark the development of the information of who we all are. So, grandma takes the book and takes her to bed. She says her prayers. Grandma says, "Look, I'm going to put this on the desk. When you get up in the morning, I want you to read the book." She waits for grandma to get to the door. She said, "Could you leave the light on? I don't like to sleep in the dark." Grandma leaves the light on and shuts the door. Soon as she realizes grandma's downstairs, she gets out of bed, gets the book, and she opens it up. She runs to center stage. She's like, "Oh my gosh. Look at the information in this book. Look at this." She speaks about several different things. Grandma hears her and says, "Put that book down and get into bed." So she goes, and she gets in the bed with the book. Grandma says, "Put the book on the desk." She's like, "Oh my gosh, grandma can see through walls. Oh, I hope I get that, “The Vision.” Is that a Strange instinct?” She gets up, and she puts the book down. She lays down, and she turns her back to the audience in the bed. Smoke machine happens, and then a song from Sweet Honey in the Rock starts to play. The dead are not under the ground. They're in the breeze of the trees. They're in the rustling of the leaves. They're in the fire. They're all around. There's a dancer who dances to that. Once the dancer leaves, smoke cloud happens, and out walks four white men. They stand off to the right of the stage. There's an auctioneer there. Then Richard Dick Two comes out. 

Richard Dick II, also known as Richard Strange, along with his wife Lucinda, had three children: Jesse, David and Claiborne. The descendants of Jesse Strange have held a family reunion for 84 consecutive years on the combination of land that Richard Dick II both inherited and purchased.

Very humble, realizing that he's amongst white folks at an auction where he plans to buy land. They don't want him there, so he's careful not to bump into them, not to step on their toes, but to take position so that he can hear the auctioneer and not offend anybody with his presence. She rolls over and sees this and goes, "Oh my gosh, am I dreaming?" You proceed to hear the auctioneer getting ready to auction off land. But in the meantime, the white men are like, "What is he doing here? Oh, I heard he bought X amount of acres from X amount of so and so last month. Wonder where that negra get that money from. I don't know. Maybe he's running white lightning. You know how they are." So, they're conversing back and forth. Then the auctioneer gets ready. He pulls up this parcel of land. He begins at 200. The white man bids 200. He goes up and up. Other white men begin to bid until it gets to $400.  They look at each other. "That's a lot of money. I don't know about that." Richard Dick Two was waiting at that moment when they were having distress over the amount of money. That's when he raised his hand to bid. The auctioneer says, "Excuse me, negra, is you swatting flies? Richard Dick Two says, "No, sir, I'm not swatting flies. I just want you to know I'm raising my hand for that amount." The white man turned, and look at him, "What?" The richer white man tries to outbid Richard Dick Two until he realizes, “I’m not going up that high for that amount. The other white men, who didn’t have as much money, were waiting for him to bid on it and he can’t. So, Richard Dick Two ends up with that land. The auctioneer leaves. The white men leave. Richard Two is on his way to pay for the land that he just purchased. Sweet Pea jumps out of the bed and runs and says, "Excuse me. Excuse me. Are you Richard Dick? Are you my great, great, great."  He turns and he looks at the little girl. He's like, "Child, where you come from?"  "Well, I tell you.  See, I was born in New York, and I really don't understand how I got here, but, but..." He said, "Look, I ain't got time for all this. I got business attend to." She wants to ask him some questions about who he is and why he bought so much land. Eventually, he said to her, "Look, land is a legacy. It is better than money, because you pass it down from generation to generation to generation, and it increases in value." She's like, "Oh, well, what you going to do with all that land?" He says, "When family put their hands together to the plow, ain't nothing they can't accomplish. Now you go on, child, I got business tend to. I don't know where you came from, but it's late at night, and I don't want nothing to happen to you. Now, you go on where you need to be." She goes back to bed. He leaves. She turns over, lays down. Then you hear grandma.  "Get up, Bunny Rabbit. It's time to start hopping. It's time to get ready for school. Get up now." The next scene, she is downstairs. Grandma is cooking. She is giving granddaddy his coffee and his newspaper. She comes down, the plate is on the table, her orange juice is in a glass, they say grace. She looks up and she say, "Granddaddy, what does it mean to 'put your hand to the plow and ain't nothing you can't do'?" They stop and look at each other, granddaddy and grandma. Then, you hear the sound of a bus pulling up and the horn. She stands up, swallows her orange juice. "See you guys after school. Bye." Granddaddy and grandma look at each other. Grandma said, "I know you not thinking what I'm thinking." He said, "But where would she get that from? That phrase is not in the book. My daddy told me that phrase. He got it from his granddaddy, who got it from his Granddaddy. Where would she get that from?" Grandma looks at him and said, "Uh-huh. Don't even think she was talking to ghosts." There's another scene that shows that time has gone by. She is sitting at the table with grandma, and she's so excited because her paper got an A plus. The teacher asked her to read it in front of the class. Grandma said, "Well, what's it about?" "My great, great granddaddy." "What?" "You know, Richard Dick Two." Grandma just put the paper down. She didn't know what to do with that. Grandpa comes in, and she is so excited to share this to her Granddaddy. So, granddaddy looks at it, and all he sees is the A plus. Grandma said, "Read the paper." She's excited because she's having dreams about what's in that book. 

Teresa Roberson  

I like that I know the elements. You were away from your Cascade family from age 10 to, what age were you reconnected?

Nita  

About 28. 

Teresa Roberson  

Roughly 18 years of being away from the family. I also happen to know, because I read the paper, that you have a granddaughter who wrote about the family. 

Nita  

It was in a class. They wanted them to do research on ancestry and to make a family tree. She has always lived with the Hunter side of the family. That's my daughter's dad's people. She's always gone to their family reunion. She knows the cousins. She knows everything. She went to her first family reunion. It was after that she went back to school and had to do a lesson on her ancestry. She chose to learn about the Strange family. Now the thing about Joanna is that she will do her research. She will present whatever she's doing as a A-plus presentation. She read exactly what the teacher was looking for. That's how she worded her paper on the Strange family. When it was time to get the papers back and get them graded, the teacher held up hers and said, "This is what I'm looking for." It was her paper. He talked about how she created her family tree, how she spoke about the relatives. He said, "This is what I'm looking for. I'm using this as an example." 

Teresa Roberson  

She's now a college student and studying engineering, so that type of scientific mind and analysis and presentation. That's her personality. 

Nita  

It is. Right now, she's at Spelman. She loves it, and she's doing quite well.

Teresa Roberson  

That is fantastic. What do you need from the family to make this play happen? You want to present it during the family reunion, correct? 

Nita  

Yeah. I need about four to six males and maybe two females. Most of the play revolves around the grandmother, the grandfather, and Sweet Pea, and what Sweet Pea learns. There's a second dream sequence where the smoke machine starts and part of the music from Sweet Honey in the Rock starts. Grandpa Floyd comes out, and he doesn't understand where he is. He thought he was in the kitchen with Mama Bea, helping her cook and stuff. Then, he went in another room and here he is on stage looking at these people, trying to figure out who are these people and where am I? He's calling for Bea to come out and help him decipher this. Sweet Pea is sitting on her bed, watching this, because once granddaddy comes out, she wakes up and she sits crisscross applesauce, like a kindergartener, watching granddaddy come out, grandma come out. Mama Bea looks, and she said, "Well, ain't that the church we built over there? Then, we built that house over there. Ain't that our house? That's Herbert's house right there." "Wait a minute." She looks at the people. She says, "Them folks is looking a lot like us."  Granddaddy says, "I agree." She said, "These are our people. This is our family. Look at our family." As they're looking at the audience, Grandpa Floyd is like, "I gotta call brother so and so. He got to see this. We can't keep this to ourselves. One by one, the brothers come out, the sisters come out. They talk to each other and they talk to the audience. I don't want to give up too much. 

Teresa Roberson  

Have you cast the roles for the play?

Nita  

Granddaddy is being played by Cousin Pleas. Grandmother is being played by my niece, Lisa. Sweet Pea is being played by London, who is my great niece. Grandpa Floyd is being played by Universe. Richard Dick Two is being played by Mark. I don't have the play in front of me, but Renee is one of the sisters, and Tammy is one of the sisters. I spoke to Universe yesterday. He and I agreed that what we need to do right now is go ahead and start rehearsal with those main characters that I just listed. We'll do rehearsal on Zoom. Sometime next week, I will be sending out information through Tammy, and then she'll send the completed script. The script is completed, but I needed to add page numbers and put where the scenes are. You are in charge of sound effects. The young man that created the flag is the stage crew.

Our cousin, Nicholas Brown, won the Strange family flag contest during the 83th reunion. 

Teresa Roberson  

Nick will bring in his cousins. I mean, they're all cousins, but the cousins who helped him with field day.

Nita  

Yeah, he'll bring in those cousins. Universe will probably talk to them. That'll complete everything else. The people who have the most lines have already been cast. I'm just going to go ahead and start with them until we fill up everything else. I need a videographer. I want someone to record this. I need a photographer because I want pictures of the actors in the program so they can see who is doing what. 

Teresa Roberson  

Thank you for allowing me to do something where I don't have to memorize lines. 

Nita  

Yeah. I think I sent you the song. 

Teresa Roberson  

That Sweet Honey in the Rock song. 

Nita  

I chose that song because it speaks to how we see ancestors, how we see elders. It's important to realize that they are there. They are around. They did leave a blueprint. They are looking over us. The name "blueprint," that's interesting how that came about. I was talking to Universe about the book, and I said, "I think that our elders left us a blueprint, and we haven't been using it. We need to look at that and come back to that. We agreed on that because of the changing times and how things are in America right now. We need to start leaning on each other. Supplying each other's needs.  The play kind of brings that out. This is the blueprint that was left for us, and how we need to go back to it.

Teresa Roberson  

Your play doesn't dwell on the bootlegging side of the family, but it's interesting that bootlegging alcohol in a period of time when alcohol was illegal in the United States, I did not realize until I visited the NASCAR Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, that the first generation of NASCAR drivers were bootleggers. They were driving, running away from the police. I thought that was hilarious. I just thought, wow, some bootleggers, like the Kennedys, became politically powerful, and our bootlegging family, we just known as tobacco farmers. 

Nita  

I'll tell you something interesting. As a child, living with my grandparents in Leatherwood, my granddaddy was a bootlegger. 

This was Cousin Nita’s maternal grandfather, John “Betty” Hairston.

We had that red dirt road. From far off, you can see the dust flying when somebody was racing down the road. Somebody would be racing down the road and pull into the driveway. "The man is coming. The man is coming." I didn't know what that meant. My granddaddy would jump in his truck and take off. Speeding, going with them. Where were they going? I didn't know where they were going? They were going to get their still from where it was because the man had almost gotten to it. They needed to hide it again. I didn't know that. My granddaddy had a store. He built a store. It was the first one in the area. He was also selling liquor out of the store. It was liquor that he was making. People come in the store, and if you didn't know, he wasn't going to tell you. People who knew, were going to come and get it. The field next to the store, he turned into a baseball field. He was selling liquor there, too. They would be playing ball, and people come and get their drinks, and he'd have a grill out. He'd be selling food. He was bootlegging. 

Back to Cousin Nita’s paternal side of the family.

I had a chance to live with Mama Bea for a short period of time. I also had lived in North Carolina. I would drive from where I was to go visit Mama Bea. I remember driving and seeing fields and fields of flowers. I thought, "I'm gonna stop and get Mama Bea some flowers." I got all these beautiful flowers. I was so excited to bring them to her because she loved flowers. I showed up with all them flowers. I said, "Mama Bea, I'm plant these in your yard." I planted all them flowers, all around the tree that was in the yard, and then around the house. I planted all these flowers. Mama Bea was so proud. She went out there, and she was just beside herself to see all these flowers. Couple of days later, I hear Mama Bea screaming, "Lord, no, Herbert, no." I come running to the door. I'm like, "What's wrong?" She said, "He’s mowing down my flowers." I said, "You kidding me?" I went up to Uncle Herbert. I said, "What you doing?" He said, "I'm cutting the grass." I said, "But you cutting up flowers." He said, "They in my way." I said, "Uncle Herbert, show me how to cut the grass."  This is a story he tells everybody. I got up on that tractor and he showed me how to lift up and lower the mower that was cutting the grass. I said, "I'll finish it."

Teresa Roberson  

How old were you? 

Nita  

I was in my early 30s. I said, "Show me how to cut the grass, and how to start this tractor and stop this tractor." He showed me, and I got up there and finished it. That's the story he always wants to tell people. How I used the tractor to cut the grass. I was just trying to save them flowers.

Teresa Roberson  

I think it's hilarious because Mama Bea did not want mom to drive, but Mom was determined to drive. She started off with that tractor. I have a picture, speaking of Uncle Herbert, with his oldest son, Junior. I have a picture with us on a smaller tractor. Tractors kind of feature in our family. 

Nita  

They do. That's how usually the kids learn how to drive.

Teresa Roberson  

But I wasn't doing anything serious. I mean, I'm a suburbanite. I'm quite sure I was just on it to ride. Not to do any work. 

Nita  

Then the other favorite story of his is when I would show up, he would think I was Michelle, and when Michelle would show up, he would think Michelle was Nita. He was constantly confusing us. I remember one time, Michelle showed up, and because I was a little heavier than Michelle. Uncle Herbert said, "Nita, why are you so heavy? What's going on?" Michelle was offended that he thought that she was fat and that I was her. 

Teresa Roberson  

Well, y'all both look like Olander, so I can understand. 

Nita  

No. When I first came to the funeral, and I was downstairs. I saw Universe. I thought I was looking at myself. I couldn't get over it. I had these long locks. Universe had these long locks. He was wearing this bodacious hat. I was wearing this bodacious hat. He had an African cane. I had an African cane. I remember we were sitting at the counter, I think at Uncle Herbert's, somebody's house. I can't remember whose house it was. I remember sitting there and me and Universal were having conversation. Gladys, his mama, comes up, and she looks at both of us. she said, "Nita, I always thought there was something wrong with that boy. He was always talking about Black history. He was always talking about African history. He was always..." She listed all the stuff that he was always talking about, and then she looked at me and she said, "He just like you. He just like you." Got to me because he was. We hadn't even grown up together. We dress similarly. We talked about the same things. We were both creative. I was amazed that I had this brother that was so much like me. She just looked at it and shook her head. At one time, she got me alone, and she said, "I'm going to tell you something. when your daddy would get the kids in the summer, he couldn't get you. Not because he didn't want to. Your mama just wouldn't let you go. But we had a picture of you, and we kept it up on the shelf. When the kids would come, your daddy would point to that picture and say, 'That's your sister, Nita. Don't ever forget her.'" When I came to daddy's funeral, Universe took it upon himself. He was never going to forget me. I don't care where I was in the States, he would find me to see how I was doing. When he got ready to have a wedding, you know what he did? He didn't have a reception. He had a wedding in Las Vegas. He was at a resort, and he rented an apartment for the girls and apartment for the guys. He want all of us at his wedding, at his reception. So, we were all there. That's what he wanted.  All of us to be together like brothers and sisters. That was his gift to us and to himself and to his wife. I thought that was the most amazing thing. That that's what he wanted. He would call and say, "You got airfare? Let me know if you don't have airfare because I'm gonna make sure you got airfare." He meant it. 

Teresa Roberson  

That reminds me of the first time that we had a reunion or a meeting or something over zoom during COVID. I remember thinking, "Why is he going on about 'That's my sister, Nita.'"  He repeated it, and I was like, "Yeah, we know that's your sister, Nita." I did not realize that you guys lost about 20 years.I'm like, "if the Universe doesn't calm down," but now it makes sense.

Nita  

When I moved to Fayetteville, and I found out that Auntie lived in Fayetteville, I got in touch with her. 

The “auntie” in question is none other than my mother, Velma Mae Strange Roberson.

That was something different for me to have my father's people so close. I would go visit her.  We would be talking, and she'd say "That's just like Olander. You being just like Olander. Every time I go to her house, I gotta ask for directions. She said, "Just like your daddy. Can't remember nothing." I would listen to her, and it just amazed me. I would remember being with Mama Bea, I'm like, being with Auntie is like being with Mama Bea.  

Teresa Roberson  

She is Bea, Junior. 

Nita  

Yes. So, I was embraced by my auntie, and that just did something to me. I had never learned that before you get off the phone, you say, "I love you." I learned that from auntie. I remember your daddy calling me and telling me he needed to whup me. I said, "Why?" He said, "Because you don't stay in contact. You need to let us know how you doing. My daughters call every week. You can at least try that." That really hit me. I was like, “Oh, shoot." 

The funny thing about my father, Karl Wayne Roberson, threatening to whup anybody is that mom was the disciplinarian in the house. Dad’s hands were mostly for fixing things, mostly military planes and cars, yard work and grilling.

Teresa Roberson  

She doesn't know that I'm interviewing you this morning. You know why? 

Nita  

Why?

Teresa Roberson  

I cannot tell my mother, AKA Bea, Junior, that I take a day off. If she knows ahead of time, she will have my whole day planned for me. If I take a day off, that's because I have some things that I need to do. OK? That's not how she hears it. If anybody thinks somebody who's 85 doesn't have a sharp mind, be around my mother when she finds out that I have a day off. Her eyes will light up. "Oh, you can do dit-dit-dit..." You can't remember yesterday, but you can think that quickly about what you need done because you just found out that I have a day off. That is Beatrice Strange, right there. You could just walk in the door. She knew what she wanted you to do. I was coming to visit. Ah, you coming to work. I need someone to shuck corn, shell peas. Whatever needs to be done. You see that deep freezer right there? Open it, and it was just amazing. Mama Bea could tell you exactly where this thing that she wrapped up in the foil and whatever it's underneath the other thing. How do you remember what's in your deep freezer? She did, and I see it in my mother. 

Nita  

So, when I spent time with Mama Bea, she had a whole schedule of stuff for me to do. Charlie knew I was there, and he would come periodically. 

Charlie, also known as Olander Strange, Jr. is Nita’s oldest brother from a previous marriage.

He said, "I'm coming to check and make sure Mama Bea ain't working you to death." Because he knew. Let me tell you the story about Mama Bea. I'm with her, and she finds out that there's a sale somewhere. She wants me to drive her way over somewhere to get a sale. Daddy would say, "Ma, you using up all this gas to go way over there just to save a few pennies. You're not saving anything." No, she ain't listening. She wants to go there and there. Another story about Mama Bea is she would call her sisters. "What you cook? You cooked a ham? What you gonna do with that juice? Uh-huh, you're not gonna throw it away. I'm gonna send ‘Lander over there to pick it up." She'd get it and put it in her freezer and use it as seasoning. Then another time, I'm following her around in this chair, and I'm thinking, Mama Bea has some serious issues with walking and standing up, and she wants to go cherry picking. So, I'm thinking, we going to go cherry picking, and I'm going to be the one picking the cherries. We drive way up to wherever, to somebody's farm to get these cherries, and the guy got a flat bed. Don't you know, Mama Bea got out of her wheelchair, climbed up into the flatbed to pick cherries. I got in there too. When it was time to go, she said, "Now, don't you tell Floyd. Don't you tell him I got up in that flatbed. She'd have that wheelchair wheeling around the kitchen like she can't do much.

Teresa Roberson  

She did everything. The way she would lift those cast iron skillets. Those things, it took me both hands. She could lift it up one hand because she's been doing it for decades. Speaking of Mama Bea walking. She was cooking in that pressure cooker. Those old-school pressure cookers were dangerous. 

Nita  

They would explode. 

Teresa Roberson  

Yes. And a woman was coming through the door. Carla was in the kitchen with Mama Bea.

Carla Mae Roberson is one of my older sisters.

 She had something cooking in the pressure cooker. That thing exploded. Mama Bea got up out of her chair, ran from one end of the kitchen to the other. She's standing by that deep freezer. And the woman who was coming through the door was like, "Are you OK Miss Bea? She's like, "Lord, child, how did I get over here?" She said, "Miss Bea, you ran." And Carla's sitting at the table just laughing because she had never seen Mama Bea run before. That's one of Carla's favorite stories about Mama Bea That was Beatrice Strange. What a character in herself. 

Nita  

Oh, my goodness, incredible. I've enjoyed this. 

Teresa Roberson  

I will invite you another time to interview.