Who is Mema and Why Does She Have a Rolodex?

Mema is my grandmother Frances Holland, and the rolodex is or was a collection of recipes that she gathered or kept over the many years of her adult life.  Not only being a mother, housewife, and cook, she also worked with my grandfather as his office manager and bookeeper.  Here is where the rolodex comes into the story. 

My Grandmother always had a typewriter.  When I was about nine or ten she and my grandfather retired and shut down their business.  When they did this they created at the time a novel idea "a home office".  In this home office she had at the time (1977-1978 time period) the top of the line Royal typewriters.  As a child me and my cousins were never allowed to touch it.  If you did she may end possibly losing a few fingers (just joking).

Anyway, she took all of recipes and began to type them on rolodex cards.  Over a period of time this rolodex was huge. All of her years of cooking and cooking wisdom was held in this rolodex.

As a child I was always fascinated at the elaborate meals that she would prepare.  We ate at her house every Sunday without fail.  These Sunday lunches were huge meals. No one left hungry, and no one ever thought the meal was bad.

In 2003 my Grandmother passed away and unfortunately she stopped cooking a few years prior to her death.  Fortunately, all that cooking knowledge was not lost because she had created the "rolodex".  When she passed away I had the opportunity to get the rolodex - it was like the ring in Lord of the Rings - "my precious".   However, soon "my precious" floated out of my posession and it ended up "missing".  The case of the missing rolodex is another blog story. 

In the winter of 2008 my sister-in-law Tabitha sent me a package.  It was the rolodex now copied into a notebook format.  However, it was the original cards copied.  I was thrilled that I had a copy of the original at least.

In July of this year my Grandfather passed away at the age of 98.  Going home I got to see my cousins some of which I had not seen since my grandmother's funeral in 2003.  It was a time to reconnnect and talk about the fond memories of eating at Mema and Papa's house.

A few weeks ago one of my cousins asked if I had a recipe of Mema's - which I did.  So I shared this with her and my other cousin.  This prompted an immediate reply back on wanting to know if I had anymore.  In my email I mentioned the rolodex and how she typed all of the recipes onto cards.  I told my cousins that I would make a copy of the recipe book and send it to them.

So I was about to copy it when I thought - why not create a blog and be able to share it with all of my friends and family members.  Along the way blog about stories of Frances and Ben and how the rolodex came into being.

So enjoy Mema and the Rolodex!

Dave Branch