Today I did not linger after the Chamber of Commerce meeting. I left quickly so that I could make one stop picking up supplies before meeting Don Welch at my shop, Sugary Creations. This was very exciting for me as Don has quite a reputation in our area!
Don wanted to interview me about my great-grandmother, Mama Bobo. Of course, to most of the world, she is known as Miss Mary Bobo.
My great-grandmother, Miss Mary Bobo, standing in front of The Hotel in Lynchburg, TN.
Frankly, the interview was a ton of fun! Don has done several pieces on the distillery & the boarding house so he is very familiar with the area. It’s very easy to talk to Don, which I’m sure, is a lot of the reason he is so good at his job. Not sure which I enjoyed more, picking out old pictures to share with him or showing the pictures to him. Thanks to my cousin, Sherrie Moore, it was easy to find some pictures Don would like. (Sherrie has taken on the role of family historian & has diligently been scanning & uploading old family pictures for all of us to be able to access.)
We went through several pictures of Mama Bobo & her sister, Ophelia Motlow. It was delightful looking at the pictures of the two of them when they were young.
A picture of the very young Miss Mary Bobo & Ophelia Motlow. Taken way before Ophelia married the famous Lem Motlow or Miss Mary Bobo had become famous.
My guess is that Mama (Miss Mary Bobo) was probably 15 or 16 years old at the time. This guess is based on the fact that she is still not in an ankle-length dress, the attire for a young woman of the time.
As happens, the two young ladies grew up, married & had children. Unfortunately, it’s also pretty common for such ladies to end up widows eventually as happened to these sisters. But they remained close & talked on the telephone frequently.
Ophelia Motlow on the left & her sister, Miss Mary Bobo on the right, visiting with a friend.
Mama was a delight to know & a huge inspiration. She never outgrew her love of children as can be seen in the photo below.
I look at this photo & I can hear Mama saying "gimme some sugar" right before she leaned over to get a kiss from her great great grandson.
Tags: food, Lynchburg TN, Mama Bobo, Miss Mary Bobo, Ophelia Motlow, Sugary Creations
Nice to see some photos of Ophelia I met her many times when my Aunt Mary came to Florida to visit.
Cool! So are you related? Ophelia is my great-aunt on my dad’s side.
Yes – Mary Motlow Boyd is my Aunt.My mothers side of family.