Freddie Mae Price Richardson

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0a5285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Shaw ~ Price ~ Richardson ~ Smith Connection</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Shaw Price Richardson Smith Conne"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family Matters"><U><B>F</B></U></A><A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family Matters"><U><B>amily Matters</B></U></A><B>         </B><A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family Photos"><U><B>Family Photos</B></U></A><B>         </B><A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="In Memorium"><U><B>I</B></U></A><A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="In Memorium"><U><B>n Memorium</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="0a4d2c00dkelyh.png"> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0d1add10.jpg" border=0 width="173" height="209" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Freddie Mae Price Richardson</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <B>July 11, 1928 - April 5, 2004</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Photos:</B></div> <div> <B>left:  Freddie Mae (1988)</B></div> <div> <B>right:  collage of Freddie Mae (1946-2003)</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <embed src="HTMLobj-207/ilovethelord.mid" autostart="true" hidden="true">  </B></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><B><U>Freddie Mae Price Richardson</U></B></I></div> <div> <B>a tribute to my mother...</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0cb262c0.jpg" border=0 width="550" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>The “Dash” Between</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Most of us know about Freddie Mae's birthday and her death day.  But Freddie Mae lived a wonderful life during that “dash” between those two days.  We were all there and shared her life at one point in time during a portion of that dash. During that “dash”, she grew from childhood to maturity.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Her surviving siblings, sister Kathryn and brothers, James Edward, Don Lynn, Billy Glenn, and Ross Elmer could tell you a wealth of stories firsthand about her during the time of her journey from a beautiful young child to a beautiful young lady.  They could tell you about her life and the important highlights that made her the woman that she became.  They could tell you how she was the “big sister” to them all.  How she would “boss” them and take care of them.  They could tell you that she attended not only Booker T. Washington School here in Itasca, but also G. W. Carver Elementary School and Historic I. M. Terrell High School, both located in Fort Worth.  They could tell you how life was for their growing family with all of the poverty and hard times that they endured during the “Great Depression” of the 1930's and the aftermath during the 1940's.  They could tell you about her marriage to Elijah Richardson, Jr. and her two children. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Her children, Sadie and Gloria could tell you stories about her journey from young motherhood to middle age.  They could tell you of their earliest memories of when they all lived together - Elijah, Freddie Mae, Sadie and Gloria - in a little house on a small street in Grandview.  They could also tell you about life in Itasca after that time when Freddie Mae had to raise her two girls alone.  They could tell you all of the funny things that happened during their growing years in their household (and they were numerous) along with all of the sad things that happened.  A lot of possible young suitors at that time would tell you how they were scared to ask Miss Freddie Mae to come and keep company with her daughters.  Her two girls could tell you about how Freddie Mae raised them with grace and wisdom to be proud, strong, and independent young black women in a world that was not as comfortable as home.  They could tell you that she taught them how to be mothers of strong independent children.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Her grandchildren could tell you how much fun it was to live with “Grand Mama” during the summers.  Yvette, Elliott and Anita had so many adventures in Itasca with Grand Mama that they were always eager for summer so that they could meet in Itasca to have fun in the “country”.  Those 3 Musketeers could tell you about the summer that they were so difficult to handle that Grand Mama told her two daughters this: “I can take one of them at a time, I can even take two of them at a time, but I can't ever again take all three” (and I para-phrased that).  What was so funny about this was that Freddie Mae was a strong black woman, but these 3 musketeers together in one house were just a bit too much for her.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Her other relatives, neighbors and friends could tell you about the times that they needed something and went to see Freddie Mae about it.  They could tell you how she never turned them down and never turned them away.  They could tell you of her generosity in all things. They could tell you about how she always cooked for 15 people when no one lived there but her and two daughters.  They could say that she pulled people in who passed by and made them take food home with them, that she called several neighbors and told them what she had cooked and to come on over and get a “plate”.  They could tell you how she loved to have a house full of people around her so that she could entertain them with food, stories, anecdotes and accounts of things that happened to her as she acted out each one.  They could tell you things that I don't have the space to write about.  Ask them…each one has his or her own recollections about Freddie Mae. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The life of Freddie Mae Richardson began with “Hello” and ended with “Goodbye”…and that is as it should be.  But the “dash” between that hello and goodbye tells you so much more.  It tells you the measure of a woman.  It tells you why she does the things that she does.  It tells those of you who don't know her, just who Freddie Mae Price Richardson really was.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="http://www.matthews-shaw.com/family/id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.matthews-shaw.com/family/id19"><U><B>also see Mama & Daddy's story on her page at the family website</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>