Uncle Jay & The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

3 Apr 2000 - Uncle Jay And The Most Beautiful Gal In The World
My Mom reminded me this weekend about two stories of my Uncle Jay. Uncle Jay is married to my Mom’s Aunt. This aunt is one of my Grandmother’s sisters. In that family they all have nicknames. Grandmother was called Cootie. One of her brothers is called Golly. (Golly got that nickname because he would sit on his brothers and sisters holding them down until they said “golly”. That was considered a cuss word by their parents and they would get in trouble. ) There are several more nicknames in that family. But the sister that married Uncle Jay was called “Sis”. So his wife is Aunt Sis. LOL.

Uncle Jay and Aunt Sis have been married 50+ years. He is a Baptist “hell fire and brimstone” preacher. He grew up in the mountains of NC. He grew up very poor. Most people were poor in the NC Mountains 70 years ago, when he was a child. But Uncle Jay’s family was even poorer. This was probably due to the fact that his father was drunkard and never provided for the family. At one point in his childhood his only shirt got ruined. So he cut the collar area off of another shirt that was a rag but that had a pretty good collar. He put the collar on and then put his coat on. He went to school that day and just intended to wear the coat all day. At some point the teacher noticed that he was still in his coat. She told him to remove it. He of course didn’t want to and said he wanted to keep it on. But the teacher insisted. So in front of the whole class he had to remove his coat revealing the old shirt collar and nothing else. That happened 70+ years ago. He still remembers the embarrassment he felt, and I still cringe when I think about it.


So now here is a happier story about Uncle Jay. He, at almost eighty, is a striking man; a full head of white hair, a square jaw, dark skin. My Mom tells me that he was extremely handsome when he and Aunt Sis met. And everyone has a memory of how beautiful Aunt Sis was.
Uncle Jay was back from WWII. He was in his uniform. He was walking through town. Through the glass of the “Five and Dime” store he saw, in his words, “the most beautiful gal in the world.” He just had to meet her. He says that at that very moment he knew he would marry her. He stood out on the street for a while trying to think of a way to introduce himself. He claims he was very shy at the time. (I guess I believe him, but it is hard to imagine him as shy. For much longer than my lifetime he has been one of the most outspoken preachers I have ever heard.) After several minutes on that street corner he had a plan, he yanked a button off of his uniform. He went in the store and asked “the most beautiful gal in the world” where the needles and thread were kept. She sold him a needle and thread. He stood at her counter and sewed his button back on. They have been madly in love ever since.

As I said before they have been married for over 50 years now. And their life has not been easy. They have 4 biological children, and 3 adopted children. At times money was very tight. Sometimes their children caused trouble. They have had more than their share of sickness. There have been many times during the marriage that Aunt Sis would be ill and Uncle Jay would have to take care of her and do all the work around the house for months on end. But he still to this day says, “she is the most beautiful gal in the world.”