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Memories of Golde Dicks Markham (1996) Golde Markham Dicks 84/125

One day Eric brought an old black man home with him. He introduced “Uncle” Charlie

Moore who said he wanted to keep up our yard. Uncle Charlie said that he would get rid of
the yard’s weeds and sand spurs. Uncle Charlie was in his 80s then. He had been a slave up
in Georgia in his young days; he really didn’t know how old he was.

Uncle Charlie started right out calling me “Old ’Missy.” I would' have preferred that he
call me “Young Missy”—I was only 19 years old. Uncle Charlie told me he could' cook,
wash dishes, make beds, and clean house. Uncle Charlie said that he could plant a vegetable
and flower garden in the vacant lot behind our house. He said he could grow enough food on

that lot to feed all three of us—all he wanted for this work was just to eat with us.
We kept telling him we couldn’t pay him for his work, but he continued to say he
didn’t want money—just wanted something to eat. I already knew I had to go to work

myself. I got a job at J.C. Penney in 1928.1 helped mark the opening stock.
Uncle Charlie lived up to his word. He planted a few vegetables but since our parents
gave us vegetables, we didn’t need much. Instead, Uncle Charlie devoted his time to a
beautiful flower garden. He had beds of Easter lilies and so many rosebushes that he could

cut a “number three” zinc tub full of rosebuds every morning.
Uncle Charlie always used cow manure to fertilize his plants. Our friend, 'Mr. Houser,
who had a large dairy farm, let us get as much cow manure as we wanted'. Even though we

didn’t pay Uncle Charlie a salary, we gave him spending money.
Uncle Charlie did all the work he promised1 and was a real blessing to me. I would
come home from work so tired that I couldn’t eat, let alone cook. Uncle Charlie wasn’t the
best of cooks, but he could cook about as good as I could.

One morning Uncle Charlie didn’t show up. This was very unusual because he was
always at the house by sunrise. If it was raining, Eric picked him up. This particular day,
someone called Eric soon after he got to the store, telling him Uncle Charlie was bad sick.

Eric went to see him and realized he was very ill.
Eric got a black doctor to go see him. Doctors made house calls back then because
black people weren’t allowed in the hospital. This black doctor said there was nothing he

could do for Uncle Charlie. He said Uncle Charlie was probably about 100 years old. Eric
'hired a black man to take care of Uncle Charlie. I cooked the foods he liked and took his
meals .to him. He lived for about a week longer.

We knew that Uncle Charlie didn’t have any relatives. Eric owned a new suit that no
longer fit him so it was the perfect outfit to bury Uncle Charlie in. I took the suit, a shirt,
underwear, and socks down to the undertaker. Eric paid his funeral expenses.

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