My Beall and Alexander Family

From Left: Barry Beall, a young boy, his mother Helen Alexander Beall, her father Roy Alexander, his son Harold Alexander holding his son Rodney Alexander. Front row: Inez, Harold's wife and Myrtice Walker Alexander, wife of Roy.

Barry Beall and Glenda Beall on back row
Paige Beall and her grandmother, Helen Alexander Beall

The photo was taken at the Alexander Reunion in Roopville, GA where Alexanders met each year at the home of Jimmie Lou Alexander Huff on a farm that had been in the Alexander family for decades. Barry's mother, Helen, was such a lovely lady. She was a supermom before the word was invented. She went to college in LaGrange, Georgia. She opened, with a friend, Helen Anne Dress Shop in Rockmart, GA, and worked there everyday while rearing two sons. She was active in her community and in her church. Helen loved her yard, she did her own maintenance right up into her eighties. She learned to water ski in her fifties and I, at 24 was so impressed by this woman who would become my mother-in-law. She adored her sons and her grandchildren and I think she loved me. I never went to see her that she didn't have something for me from her store. I was blessed with the best in Helen Beall.

Barry's father Hugh Beall was orphaned as a child and had only one sister, Mildred. They were separated and brought up by relatives. Barry was predeceased by his only brother, Richard, who was killed in a car accident. Richard is the father of Jon and Paige in the pictures on this page.

Aunt Jimmie Lou Alexander Huff and Barry Beall

 I was amazed when I first met Aunt Jimmie Lou Huff. I could hardly believe she was seventy-two years old at the time as she scampered back and forth from the porch outside to the kitchen, dressed in white shorts and spanking clean Keds. I commented to my husband, “Does she ever just walk?”

            He laughed. “Aunt Jimmie Lou never slows down.  She has more energy than anybody I know.”

            The photo of Barry with Aunt Jimmie Lou was taken the last time we saw her. She died at the age of 102.

2008, soon after Barry was diagnosed with Lymphoma, Jon Beall and his family came to visit.  Back row: Tammy and Jon Beall   Second Row: Kathlyn and Bryant Beall surround Barry in the chair on our deck.

Although I was intimidated by my mother-in-law, she was a kind and loving person who never intentionally made me feel inadequate. As a young, new wife, I had no confidence in myself and felt she must think I was not going to make Barry a good wife. But she and Hugh made me feel at  home when we went to visit. In later years she visited our home for holidays, and I had learned to cook by then. She seemed happy with me as a daughter-in-law. I miss her and my Beall family. I don't see them as much as I did but think of them often and have great memories of our times together. 

Music in Our Blood

HUGH BARRY BEALL and his mother, HELEN ALEXANDER BEALL

Helen Beall was the best mother-in-law anyone could have. She was smart, sweet and generous. She adored her son, Barry, and when I was with them, I felt that love that eventually spilled over to me. Helen and her friend Ann owned Helen Ann Dress shop. She enjoyed going to Market in Atlanta and bringing back dresses that were perfect for her customers. She would call and tell them what she had for them and they rushed down to the store in Rockmart, GA to purchase their special clothes. 

I never went to visit the Bealls that Helen didn't have some new clothes for me. She bought me underwear, pajamas, and finer clothes than I could afford on my teacher's salary. Of course, she had paid wholesale so they didn't cost her as much as they would have cost me in a retail store.

Helen was a graduate of La Grange College, the oldest private college in Georgia. She was the daughter of Roy and Myrtice Alexander, the couple I wrote about recently who brought movies to the rural community where there was no movie theater. Helen also played a musical instrument. Barry came by his love of music from her. She encouraged him to play in the band.
I was in awe of Helen because she could do everything, much like my friend, Mary Mike. She took care of her three boys, Barry, Richard and Hugh, and her business, as well as her house and yard. She cooked delicious meals, baked desserts that melted in my mouth. She loved to grow things and was an outdoor person. Like Mary Mike, Helen enjoyed mowing her grass. She appreciated the clean neat look after each swipe of her riding mower.

Helen and her husband, Hugh, had a place at the lake in their county. Barry and his father drove the boat and Helen water skied behind it. She was in her fifties when I met her and she blew me away with her energy and activities. 

My dear mother was much older than Helen and lived a completely different life style. Helen was closer in age to my sister, June. Barry loved to make his mother laugh. He made me laugh, too, and I miss that so much. I loved that he loved his mother so very much. Helen taught me that accepting is as important as giving. I learned that she enjoyed giving to us, and we should accept her gifts graciously. 

When I was young, I felt inadequate when around Helen. I was twenty-four when I married Barry. I just knew I could never be the wife Helen Beall was and wondered if Barry expected that of me. I worried that his mother might think I was not the kind of woman he should marry, but it was all in my mind. 

As years passed, Helen and I became closer and when she had surgery in her seventies, I stayed with her for a week. I thought I would be helping her, but she got up each morning and made breakfast for the two of us. About all I could do for her was keep her company, and I think she really appreciated that. She had no daughters and her son, Richard was divorced soon after Barry and I married. 

After we built our dream house in Albany, Georgia in 1975, Helen drove down and spent Christmas with us several years until she felt she couldn't make that long drive anymore. When I think of my blessings, Helen Marie Alexander Beall is one of the greatest.

1992 -- Barry Beall, dressed for church standing in our yard in Albany, Georgia. Barry was raised in the Baptist Church in Rockmart, GA. He sang there and his mother was a pillar of the church. But I had joined the Presbyterian Church and he did, too. He never went back to the Baptist church.

1995 - Barry, Glenda and Kodi, the Samoyed on the cover of Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins.

This was our first Christmas at our mountain house. We were so happy. Our dream had come true. We had moved to the beautiful mountains and we loved it.

The Singing Disciples of the United Methodist Church in Hayesville, NC

Barry is second from left on second row. Many of these wonderful voices are  silenced now. Some of Barry's happiest times were singing with this group of men. They were very good and their songs were not always serious hymns. They sang some rousing tunes that made the listeners want to clap their hands or pat their feet. Barry's dear friend, second from end on right side of back row, invited Barry to sing with the group although Barry was directing our choir at the Presbyterian Church. Later, the preacher of the Presbyterian church, second from right on the middle row, joined the Singing Disciples, too.

Barry formed his own band in high school. He played drums and trumpet and was the soloist. He was a voice major in college. Music was a major part of our lives. He played guitar, and I often heard him singing and strumming a guitar on our deck. He owned several guitars, a banjo and a mandolin. He could play enough piano that he impressed lots of mothers who bought Baldwins from him for their children when he was with Zoellner Music in Albany, Georgia.

Tonight I am watching and listening to Michael Buble' sing the wonderful classics I heard so often in my youth. He sings the songs Barry liked to sing. 
My husband was a terrific singer and the biggest fan of Frank Sinatra and music of that age, so I often listened to that music with lyrics written by experienced and talented song writers. The words made sense and the melodies crept into your mind, hung there until you found yourself singing along with the radio. So different from most of the music I hear today.

Listening to Michael Buble' I could feel myself slow dancing to the easy sounds, my head on Barry's shoulder and his arms around me. I have missed this music, but I learned I can ask Alexa to play Buble' on Apple music.

Ah, music. It brings back the best memories. Do you have special music that brings back good memories? I'd love to hear them.