A little bit about my mother and father

John Sherman & Ethel Mae Rice 1960

 

I don’t think I have mentioned my Mama’s name. She was such a precious, caring person. She loved the church and did everything she could to help the church to grow.   I have always hoped to be like her. Her name was Ethel Mae Allen Rice.

 My dad’s name was Reverend John Sherman Rice and he preached many years in the mountains and in South Carolina.  I was so proud of him. 

Mama had someone make many pretty dresses for Deborah. She did other things for us too.

Our First Child is Born on April 12 1953

We had been married for six months and I thought I couldn’t get pregnant.  Back then if you didn’t get pregnant soon people thought something was wrong with you. So we were overjoyed when I did get pregnant. On April the 12, 1953, I had a beautiful little girl. We named her Deborah Jean after her daddy. Mama came to stay with me for a week and she said the first thing that I said was “What did Gene say?”. You know back then we never knew what our baby was going to be until it was born. But he was thrilled too.

The night before she was born Doris and J.D. Earley (the couple that we had our double wedding with) came to see us and brought their six month old little girl. She got pregnant on their honeymoon. I was glad to see them, but I was already in labor pains so I couldn’t enjoy their visit as much. I had cleaned house all day and made a chocolate cake. People used to say that would happen when you had worked so hard. Our precious baby girl weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces. I came home from Crow’s clinic the same day and mama stayed with me a week. She was always there for me. I wonder if I ever thanked her enough for all she did for us through the years. By the way we nicknamed Deborah “Tippietoe”. 

 

Pictured at right,  Deborah is a few months old, with Martha and Grandma Mattie Bell Franklin at the old homestead in Clifton SC  

Our double wedding on December 22, 1951

H. Eugene and Martha L Rice Franklin

We were very excited as we began getting ready for our wedding. Mama took me to Spartanburg, SC, and bought me a beautiful navy blue suit. Doris Howell also wore navy blue and we both wore white hats.  Gene and J.D. Early wore navy blue suits also. We had pictures made and had beautiful gladiolas and walked on white sheets. Gene’s pastor, Rev. Robert Shephard, married us and my sister, Louise Rice, was my maid of honor. Gene’s brother, Howard Franklin, was his best man. We had a scare on Friday night during the rehearsal. The person who was supposed to play the music at our wedding did not show up, so we had to find someone. We asked Miss Patricia Neal and she graciously consented to do it. Bobby Dean Hall sang “I Love you truly” and “The Lord’s Prayer”. They did very well and everything turned out wonderful. I need to add that our dad’s gave us away. We were on cloud nine and were in love.

J.D. and Doris Howell Early