Mrs. Lottie Merle Shoaf Pethel Known as "Wawa" to all of her Grandchildren
How do you start when trying to describe a person who has brought so much joy to your life and given you so many wonderful memories? My memories of my Grandmother, who by the way I called "Wawa" ( I was told that when I was a toddler I would say " wawa" for water and this is how my name for her got started, for she would bring me water) are so many I will try to just touch on a few. This lady was the light of my life, teaching me the beauty of a rose, the meaning of friendships, the importance of being honest and good and family, the necessity of forgiveness, the art of cooking, and the love of God.
Wawa grew up on a farm in North Carolina Atwell in Rowan Co. She was the youngest of six children. There were four other siblings born, but these did not live to see one year. She told me she would have to help with the chores inside and out. Her favorite chore was milking the cows. She and her siblings were extremely close, especially Polly, who visited often after my Grandparents moved to Greenville, until health no longer permitted this.
My grandparents lived at 103 Croft Street in Greenville and I always loved staying at their house. The the first grammer school (Stone Elementary) I attended was within walking distance of the house, so I would spend the night and walk to school from there. When I spent the night, Wawa would pack me a delicious lunch and since I hated the food they served at school, I loved having her do this for me. To this day when I smell wax paper, I think of her, for she always wrapped my sandwiches in wax paper. Since my Grandfather was gone a lot, working for Southern Railroad, I was able to spend the night with Wawa and on the mornings my Grandfather was due to arrive home, she would get up at 4:00 A.M. to prepare a huge breakfast for him and have it waiting for him with eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, home made biscuits, and a sliced tomato or cantaloupe. I would get up and eat with them and hear him discuss the trip and all the exciting things he experienced while on the rails.
There was a screened in porch on the side of their house with a glider sofa and several wicker rockers. We all loved sitting on the porch and would rock away the afternoon or evening and see how fast we could get the glider to go. On this porch Wawa had gorgeous geraniums in a wicker planter and other plants sitting around to make it feel cozy and all the openings had green wicker screens you could let down if the sun was shinning in. and we would sit on the porch for hours drinking her delicious ice tea with freshly picked mint from her garden and a slice of lemon and she would always serve us a snack or two. Back then no one had air conditioned homes, so to spend time on a screen porch, especially at night was the coolest place to be. For many years after my parents bought a TV, my grandparents did not have one and you know, not once did I or my brothers ever complain about not having TV at her house. It was the mystique of those hot summer nights, sipping an ice cold glass of tea and going back and forth on that wonderful glider sofa, that none of us ever gave television a thought.
Wawa was the best Grandmother one could ever hope to have. She was full of love and caring for everyone and always was there when you needed her. She loved her grandchildren and was always coming by to see us. Of course we always had Christmas dinner at her house and these were such special memories with the beautifully decorated house and the huge feast she would always prepare for our dinner.
I married at a very young age and Wawa is the one who taught me how to cook. I still, to this day, use her delicious pound cake, chess pie, chicken pie, and numerous other recipes. One of my favorites was the chess pies. I can remember when I was away at camp in the summers, she would bake me a shirt box full of chess pies and I would hide them in my locker, since you were not supposed to have food in the cabin. After the lights would go out at night I would take them out and share them with all my cabin mates. They were always the hit of the evening.
Wawa had a beautiful rose garden and seemed to have a magical green thumb for everything she planted. I have never mastered her gift of growing roses. Also in the back yard were three fig trees. From these she would make fig preserves; they were to die for. The ones I buy in stores today, do not compare to hers. She always would drive north of Greenville to the peach orchards in the summer to buy peaches, and would make pickled peaches with these. I have never been able to find any that compared to these either. The basement in their home was of dirt walls and I remember there was a pump down there to pump out the water when the basement would flood from heavy rains. I hated this dark and damp place and would never go down there-too spooky for me. Even though I would not go down to the basement I remember the delicious jars of vegetables and fruit this scary place housed.
Wawa was a devout Christian, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Greenville, SC. She belonged to the Agape Bible Class and was very involved in things going on with the church. She always told me to give 10% of my worth to the church and it would come back to me tenfold. She read her bible every night and I have this bible now, with notes written in the margins, indicating she wanted to come back and study this page more. She told me she had read the entire Bible three times.
Most of my memories of Wawa were after she retired from nursing. I remember a little of her working for the Health Department in Greenville, but she retired when I was very young. She told me many stories of her nursing days and what a great love she did have for her field.
Wawa's favorite pastime was playing bridge. She was a very competitive duplicate bridge player and played at least three times a week. She and my Grandfather had several couples who would all get together at each others homes on Saturday night and play bridge late into the night. She never would play bridge on Sunday. Her other love was baseball. Until I moved to Atlanta and got hooked on the Atlanta Braves, could I understand how anyone could stand sitting there and watching a baseball game. Now I am hooked and I think about her many times, wondering what she would say about this call or that.
In the mid 1950s Wawa developed breast cancer and ended up having both breast removed. We all thought this was it for her, but she bounced back and lived another 30 plus years. She never complained and seemed to have the faith to keep going, no matter what came her way.
After the passing of my Grandfather in 1975, she seemed to lose her love of life and started going down hill. I guess after spending over 50 years with someone, it does take the life out of you, and she missed my Grandfather so. They were sole mates and after his retirement, they did everything together, from grocery shopping, traveling, to getting up early on Saturday morning to get to the farmer's market in time to get the pick of the vegetables brought in that morning. They would take these two large wicker baskets to put their purchases in, and I have those in my kitchen today; many coats of paint later.
The last few years of Wawa's life were spent at the Presbyterian Home in Clinton, SC. At first she was in fairly good health and loved being there, meeting new people, finding old friends and discovering new bridge partners. Then she developed pneumonia, went into a coma and remained in that state for several years before passing on.
My memories of this wonderful lady will stay with me, help me through, and inspire me for the rest of my life, and after all these years, I still miss her deeply. I have many mementos throughout my house along with pictures to remind me daily of what a special person she was and how I need to try harder to become the kind of person my Grandmother was all of her days on earth.
Obituary for Mrs. Alva D. Pethel(Greenville News 12-30-1987), Greenville, SC
Mrs. Merle S. Pethel, formerly of Croft St., widow of Alva D. Pethel, died Monday, Dec. 28, 1987 after a lengthy illness.
Born in Rowan County, N.C., she was a daughter of the late Henry Ellis Shoaf and Sarah Miller Shoaf.
She was a retired registered nurse. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church and the French Huguenot Society.
Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Charles E. (Sara) Robinson, Jr, of Greenville, and a sister, Mary Shoaf of High Point, N.C.; 3 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.
Graveside services will be conducted Wednesday at 2 PM in Springwood Cemetery by Dr. Randolph Kowalski.
The family is at the home of her daughter, 16 Seminole Dr.
It is respectfully requested that flowers be omitted and memorials be made to the Presbyterian Home, Musgrove Street Extension, Clinton, S.C.29325
