January 31st, 2013 saw the end of a ninety four year journey that started on November 3rd, 1918. The young mother, Emma Bond, brought wailing into this world a little girl who she named Anna Marie. Little could she have known, but that tiny baby that she held to her breast would live almost a full century. That baby girl would witness monumental moments in history as well as staggering advances in technology.
The Titanic sank six years before she was born. She saw the ravages of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the cold war. She witnessed Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. President Kennedy's assassination. Barn dances. Model T Fords. Lasers. Fiber optics. The internet. She was nine years old when Charles Lindburg crossed the Atlantic. Seventeen men were called President over the course of her lifetime.
Anna, Marie to those who knew her, grew up in Amelia during the desolate years of the great depression. She had eight brothers and sisters but Marie could never recall being hungry during those lean years. Ultimately, she saw each of her siblings precede her in death.
She graduated from Beaumont High School and lived in the sparsely populated Amelia where a year later she spotted a slim, young blacksmith grinning at her from her neighbor's back porch. His name? Otis Ross Ferguson. Her dark hair and blushing cheek attracted Ross. Her smile captured his attention. He introduced himself to the lovely girl and he soon fell in love with her gentle ways.
In 1937, Mr. and Mrs. Otis Ross Ferguson made their first appearance to the fine folk of Amelia and moved into a modest two bedroom house on Amelia Road, now Major Drive, which was just a single lane shale road back then. Over the coming years, their family grew. The first child, a strong son, was named James Ross, "Peanut." Next was Roy Allen then Rita Marie, Brenda Sue, Robert Ellison, then Melissa Anne.
In 1945, sorrow struck the young family when James, then 8 years old, died suddenly from pneumonia. He passed away in his father's arms.
Marie was never employed. However, this does not mean that she wasn't a very busy woman. She took very seriously her role of wife and mother, stretching Ross' modest paycheck to raise the family. She patiently groomed and pruned her children into respectable adulthood sometimes just by uttering the words, "I'm going to tell your daddy when he comes home." Your fate was sealed.
Marie was a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian for most of her life and regularly attended services until her health faltered.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Otis Ross, and her son James Ross and is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and 26 great grandchildren.
We hurry and We run,
We juke and We jive,
We live and we die.
Yet still we wonder why,
The great God above,
Would take the ones we love.
Then all becomes clear,
Taken so to him be near.
Love her, heal her, let her know,
No matter where or when I go.
She will always be my Nana.
By Brad