My mother to say the least was a character! She would sit on the front porch in the summer and attract all the neighborhood friends in a heartbeat. They would sit and talk about the church and the school, quite frankly about anything that seemed interesting at the time. the porch was a focal point for our little community. Everyone loved her from the old to the young. She was such a sweet spirit. She loved her family, church and friends and they all new they could depend on Anna Mae.
One of the things that always amazed us was her ability to yodel. Now yodeling was an art. you had to be able to take a note from a song and as she explained it swallow it back and push it forward in the throat thus creating the western yodel sound of Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry. She worked hours as a teen perfecting the sounds we enjoyed when she would showcase her talent!
All the neighbors and family from grand kids to siblings would ask mother to perform. She would feign modesty for a while and then with perfect pitch and eloquence she would serenade us with her western renditions of good old country songs with a yodel.
To this day when we talk about our mother with others inevitably the yodel comes up.
Well in my mothers honor I can say that she taught me to yodel and sometime in the future I will serenade my grandchildren and their friends with the yodel stiling of my mother. Heaven help us..... Yodel-lady-Who.....move over Gene and Roy here I come.. Love you mom!
