Maude (1883-1993): She Grew Up With the Country (Hardcover)

by Mardo Williams (Author) "Maude B. Allen became Mrs. Lee Williams on February 25, 1903..." (more)
Key Phrases: lift chair, hay fork, Rush Creek, Hardin County, Lee Williams (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
During her 110-year lifetime, Maude Allen Williams went from oil lamps to a microwave oven, from the horse and buggy to an automobile. She stepped onto an airplane for the first time at age 77 and flew to Phoenix, Arizona to visit her daughter. Maude graduated in 1902, the first of her Ohio family to receive a high school education. She was married at 19 (four months pregnant) to Lee Williams. Maude moved with her husband into a farmhouse on the banks of Rush Creek, Ohio. She had neither electricity nor running water. She did the washing for her husband and four small children on a washboard in a tub of soapy water. She sewed the children's clothes by hand. She grew and canned the family's fruits and vegetables. The family entertainment was reading by oil lamps, singing along with the player piano, sleigh rides to visit relatives, summer trips to town in the horse-drawn buggy to watch the latest free movie melodrama projected against the outside wall of the feed store. Maude's husband taught her to square dance and play cards (activities forbidden by her parents when she was growing up). She supported her husband with a quiet kind of faith when a suicide and two murders in his immediate family interrupted their tranquility. She developed a worry-free outlook, with the observation that you should worry only about those things yo can do something about. Maude lived simply, suffered hardships, took in stride the time-consuming hand-labor of the 1900s -- and, when she died at age 110, left family and friends with an enduring memory of her patience, kindness and courage, her quiet acceptance of the conditions over which she had no control, and the exemplary standards by which she lived. Maude (1883-1993): She Grew Up With The Country is an extraordinary and personal account of a memorable life and a kind of biographical window on the times and events through which she lived. Highly recommended! -- Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Mardo Williams, who died February 2001 at the age of 95, is the first posthumous winner of an Ohioana Library Award in 2001 'for his many accomplishments as a writer, for his constant creativity, for the outstanding role model he provided as a Fearless Life Long Learner.'

Product Details

• Hardcover: 335 pages
• Publisher: Calliope Press; First Edition edition (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964924129
• ISBN-13: 978-0964924123
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,574,825 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maude is a beautiful memoir of both the times and the woman., September 10, 1999

By A Customer

Maude is not only a beautifully written tribute to a remarkable woman, but a wonderful chonicle of our country's growth towards maturity. Author Mardo Williams' newspaper background is apparent: He has a unique ability to mix important and meaningul historical details with the entertaining vignettes of rural life. That Mr. Williams knew his subject well is undisputed: He was the second child and only son born to Maude and her husband Lee. Much of what he writes was experienced or witnessed firsthand. It is particularly remarkable that he didn't begin writing this loving tribute to his mother and the early days of this century until he himself was 88 years of age. Maude-1883-1993: She Grew Up with the Country is a delight.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gentle read about a good woman, October 11, 1998

By A Customer

Maude was a housewife in the days when that "job" involved endless hours of drudgery. Reading this book helped me understand the life my own grandmother had on a farm in Indiana, for my father is almost as old as the 93 year old author. Small town, small farm life is lovingly recalled by the author, and the book will be fascinating to anyone interested in "the simple life" early in this century. That "simple life" involved a great deal of work and Maude did it uncomplainingly, raising four children while helping her husband run a farm. The book takes you back to "the good old days" and makes you glad that you went.

5.0 out of 5 stars detailed & fascinating!, April 5, 2003

By	Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Mardo Williams, a long lived man in his own right & an Ohio newspaper reporter, has written a good biography-cum-memoir of his mother's 110 years of life before electricity to seven decades later, flying in a plane.

From his career as an observer of daily life, Mardo Williams gives us a particularly detailed & fascinating glimpse into the life & times of early America. Liberally sprinkled with philosophy, humor & tragedy, MAUDE 1883-1993 is indeed a fine tribute to one ordinary woman's extra-ordinary spirit.