The final page of Katie Wilson Meade’s narrative is brief:
There were no wharves or piers to land near, so the “big” boys jumped over-board and carried us in their arms. It was a lot of fun!
We were much freer out there because there was no jungle to breed wild animals. At “Big HILL” we hd to watch out for tarantulas, snakes, and big red ants right in the yard. Here it was entirely free of such things. This sounds like a dreadful place to live, but we didn’t feel so at the time.
Looking back on it seems much worse than when we were living through it.
Our Mother was always cheerful and gay and would play on the piano and sing hymns on Sunday afternoons, teaching us to love them and to sing in church.
She gave us a happy life until I was 12 years old — I suddenly grew up then, and helped care for the three “little” boys.
The last page of Katie Wilson Meade’s narrative ends abruptly — and curiously.
What I knew in the early days of Wilson family research was that Emmett and Katie’s mother, Elizabeth, died in Chipley, Florida, when Emmett was eight and Katie 12 — but that was all I knew. Katie’s narrative suggests Elizabeth was a loving, hands-on mother, someone who paid attention to details, but wasn’t a martinet. Elizabeth was the kind of mother who kept the family close, who knew the importance of faith to get through all kinds of situations — good, bad, tedious.
Make no mistake: Elizabeth had led a privileged life, but what wife would follow a husband into an untamed jungle if she wasn’t strong, if she didn’t have faith that bad times would work out if everyone pulled together, even if the move was something she was afraid of in some ways?
Katie says her father, Dr. Francis Wilson, was tough; Elizabeth was much the same, I’d wager.
And Katie indicates in her narrative that Elizabeth’s death was unexpected; impactful, not just to her, but to everyone.
I have no idea what Emmett thought or felt when it happened; Katie doesn’t indicate anything about what anyone else thought but herself — she had to toughen up, grow up suddenly. Likely Emmett felt the impact of his mother’s death sharply as well.
Next: Sudden death
jsmith532
Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus
Tell my story. 
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