Goodbye to a Beautiful Smile

We have lost a family member, Marcella Freudenberg Matthis. I first met her when I was in high school and she married my older brother. She was working with a Photography Group visiting in our town. My brother was a good friend of the man who owned the Photo Shop where she had come to work.

That is when I came to know my first "real" Yankee. It was like a foreign language for me to hear her clear, clipped speech. I had only heard southern drawls around me up to that time. But she brought to our family a most engaging smile. That is what stands out to me, her smile. When she smiled and laughed you heard a quiet little chuckle. It was 1942 and America had just entered into World War II. She was a new war bride and when my brother went into the Air Force she went with him.

During the war I wrote letters to the service men that I knew. I also wrote to her brother, though I had never met him. He was a very handsome young man and it was a snail mail friendship. After the war ended this girl with the beautiful smile came to live in the mountains with her new husband. That is when I began to know her better. I learned she was a gourmet cook. My brother only cared about having a big pot of pinto beans and cornbread, which was not in her repertoire. So he went to his sister's home to satisfy his taste of the cooking of his childhood.

I enjoyed many of her elegant desserts when I was in their home visiting.

When it was time for her first baby to be born, she went back to her home in Illinois so her own mother could be there to assist her. I can understand that as I wanted my mother to be with me when my children were born.

As the years went by I saw less of her. There were the vacations times when all of my family gathered at Myrtle Beach. That is when I got to know my nieces and nephews better also. Our families grew and changed until we no longer were able to have these family visits. But there were occasions when we did visit, like the time her granddaughter was married. She was there in a beautiful dress to match her smile. That was the last time I saw her. She was living in Pikeville, Ky. in the home that she and my brother had bought years ago.

I am glad that the last time I saw her was for a happy occasion. We had been through sad times and good times, so it is good to remember the good times. She died in her home with two of her daughters by her side. That is something to be treasured, for them and for me. Though we will not see her smile again we do have memories and photographs to remind us of a gentle soul who always had a smile for everyone.