“Once my family was going swimming in the bay. A man asked to take a picture of us for a dollar. Mama looked in her little purse to find one. My eyes were closed in the picture–I had measles and couldn’t see. Buddy was five, and I was seven. Wilma Olean was nine. Elsa Joyce was twelve.  Mama was thirty-six. A year after that, she was dead. Buddy and I would become ‘almost orphans’ in Fairhope. That picture is the cover of my book. 

My parents had six kids: Buddy and I were the youngest. We lived in a house close to Fly Creek in Fairhope. We walked down the dirt road through the swamps and vines, carrying water from the creek. Mama worked at the laundry during the week, but took us to the beach down the hill on weekends. Mama filled our lives with love and laughter.  She also helped the sick and the poor.

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. We were going to war, but Mama was pregnant again. In April, she woke up bleeding badly. She miscarried the baby. Mama died a few weeks later. She was only 37. 

Daddy sent Buddy and me to New Hope, Alabama to stay with our grandparents. We didn’t want to go, but we would get food and get to be with family. Soon, we were homesick and wanting to return to Fairhope. We didn’t have money, but packed our things into pillowcases and started walking down the road for the 400-mile journey. We didn’t tell anyone we were leaving. 

A little while later, our uncle picked us up on the side of the road, taking us to the Greyhound station and buying our tickets to Fairhope. Home. We stayed in the house our father rented in Fairhope. But Daddy was working in Mobile at Brookley Air Force Base and staying over there. He didn’t care about us and left us to look out for ourselves. I was nine. Buddy was seven. 

Buddy and I figured out how to get by, but it wasn’t easy. We considered suicide several times, even trying to get a bull to charge us. We thought about eating the ‘deadman’s fingers’ from the crabs we caught or taking Dad’s boat out farther than we could swim and jump in. The Lord stopped us, taking the thought from our brains. Buddy and I had each other. That’s how we survived. 

World War II was going on. Everyone had sons, husbands, and fathers in the fight. Those still living in Fairhope worked at Brookley Air Field building ships and airplanes. Why would anyone bother with two kids? We did a little work here and there, getting pennies, nickels and dimes. 

We got through every situation saying, ‘what would Mama do?’ It was as though she was telling us what to do and the best way to do it. Mama could do anything and everything. She read every medical book in the library. In another time, she would have been a doctor. Mama always told me to pray for what I need: courage and patience. It got me through. 

I’ve had two loves in my life. I met Bernie when I was 12 years old. He was older and told me he was going to marry me when I grew up. I said, ‘I’m not growing up, and I’m not marrying anybody.’ He waited for me to change my mind. I did. Marrying Bernie five years later was a gift of God. I had food, safety, and my own place to sleep. When Mama died, my life went from heaven to hell. After I married Bernie, it went from hell back to heaven again.

Bernie and I moved to Baltimore. I had all kinds of jobs. I modeled bras, nylon stockings, and clothing. I even modeled fur coats for Mano Swartz in Baltimore. Wearing fur coats with bare legs and bare feet was sensuous. I also went to nursing school. I became a nurse at the Baltimore City Hospital, using Mama’s teachings while caring for patients. 

Bernie and I bought this house in Fairhope, planning to move here after I retired. I had lived in this house with another family when I was fifteen. Back then, the area was just woods, trees, and vines. There was a cane field across the street; folks made fishing poles out of the cane. My little house is 114 years old–a reminder of what Fairhope used to be. Now, it’s surrounded by houses selling for a million dollars.

Bernie passed away. Two years later, I met Robert Saunders. He lived in Canada–I was the first woman he dated. Robert and I were together for 43 years, spending winters in Fairhope and summers in Canada. We had a wonderful life together until he died last year. 

When we were in Fairhope, I was a nurse at the Beverly assisted living home and worked at a preschool helping children. Later I washed laundry at the Holiday Inn. I liked that job better than anything; it gave me time to think about the book Buddy wanted me to write about our life together in Fairhope. Buddy died in 2010. 

I started writing down our stories about ten years ago. I wrote them by hand in five notebooks. Writing the book was healing–I understood Buddy and I were worth something. We took care of ourselves, got married, and had children. Some stories are still stuck in my head. I didn’t put them in the book, but I’m not writing another one. My hands are getting too shaky. I was 91 when the book came out; I’ll be 92 in May. 

I enjoy showing people that we grew up like our mother through God. I’ve been surprised by how many people are interested in our story. At my first book signing, I said, ‘I haven’t had this much attention since I fell out of my crib.’

Reading my book and reliving these memories is funny in some places and painful in others. I get to certain parts, and I tear up. All of my family is gone, but we’re together in the book. Mama put us there.”

Lila Marie Pennington Ryals

(Parts of Lila’s story were filled in with her book, ’What Would Mama Do?’  The book is available at Page & Palette in Fairhope or on Amazon.)

Family pictures on the family tree quilt Lila made.

Lila surrounded by pictures of her family.

These are photos from Lila’s first book signing at Page and Palette.