Aunt Ruth Story 1
"Aunt Ruth” was a real character, I suppose as most Stroupe's
are. Though she was filthy rich, she wore clothes that were many years old. It
was not so much that she was a miser; she just lived her life the way that she
grew up, and never really acted like she had money. When I visited her in 1980, she had on an
immaculately bleached and starched white tick cloth dress. If you looked closely, the edges of the dress
were very worn, due to being washed so many times. I supposed the dress was 10-15 years old. She
had a black crushed velvet dress that was her "Sunday dress". This was the same dress she had worn to my
Grandmother's funeral in the early '50s. This was the dress she was wearing in
the story following.
My aunt Mary Claire
(daughter of MH Stroup) was fairly close to "Aunt Ruth" (daughter of
James Henderson Stroup). She visited her
often, and would carry her to Memphis, after the death of Homer. One Saturday in the early '70s, Ruth decided
she wanted to "buy me a diamond rang". My aunt took her to Dryfuss, Perel, or one of
the other of the best jewelry stores in Memphis. When approached by the salesman, she said,
"I want to buy me a diamond rang".
He directed her toward a case with lower end rings, all probably under 2
or 3 hundred dollars. She scowled at the
ware, emphatically stating, "No I want a Diamond rang". As he looked down his nose at this old "Granny
Clampett” he directed her toward rings in the 500-700 dollar range. She said "NO, I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU I WANT
ME A DIAMOND RANG!!" With a
disgusted look, he brought out a tray of their best ware, all over the 1500
dollar mark (remember, this was over 25 years ago), and she immediately pointed
at one of them, "NOW THAT'S A DIAMOND RANG, I WANT THAT ONE!" Then the arrogant salesman asked "now
Madame, how will you be paying for the ring?" Ruth reached into her purse (which itself was
probably 40 years old) and pulled out a fold of twenties that was
over three inches thick, and paid cash in twenties for the $1800.00 ring.
Ruth
May Stroup daughter of James Henderson Stroup and Mattie Moran.
She
was born 1894 and died in 1985 in Tennessee.
From the files of Ethel Stroupe
Aunt Ruth Story 2
One other story, as I mentioned, I visited Ruth in late summer,
1980. Ruth lived in a room or two of what had been the funeral home, a probably
5000-6000 sq. ft. building. When my
cousin and I pulled up, she was in the back yard sitting in the shade. (it was
probably 95 degrees out, and I did not hear a air conditioner running) As we got out of my Jeep, and began walking
towards her, she exclaimed "I don't know who ya'll are, but I see you are
Stroupe's, so come on up. We sat, and
began among the most wonderful conversations I have ever held with anyone. It was just unbelievable that this little,
weathered old lady could have been 86 years old. She talked a little about the family (very
little, who knew we would care now?) about the field trials, about Grand
Junction, about herself. She lived across the lot (probably 3-4 acres) from her
son, Bud. If you recall, the World’s Fair was in Knoxville that summer. "Bud and them went to that World's
Fair" she exclaimed. "They
wanted me to go with them, but I'm too old to care about that kind of stuff,
and I just kind of like to stay home now, anyway." "The other day I just got tired of
looking at that tall grass, and decided I had to cut it. I just couldn't figure out how to crank that
fancy riding mower of Bud's, so I figured I'd just cut the yard with
mine." She pointed to an old engineless
rotary type mower that was probably 50 years old. "I had to stop a couple of times to cool
off and get a drank of water, but I cut it all in one afternoon." She mowed The WHOLE lot, in August. I'm sure the temperature got to right around
the 100 mark. What an amazing lady. I could shoot myself for never going back to
visit.
Ruth
May Stroup daughter of James Henderson Stroup and Mattie Moran.
She
was born 1894 and died in 1985 in Tennessee.
From the files of Ethel Stroupe
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