Uncle LaVerne Johnson
y Uncle LaVern Johnson, mom's brother, was named after a mayor in Bamberg, South Carolina. Mom, Vern, my brother who was Uncle Peewee’s namesake, and I lived in a housing project in Queens. My mother’s name was on the lease, thankfully. The walls were painted institutional green to subdue the poor and the Negroes in these red-lined developments.
I was younger and, one night, we were in bed. Mentally I thanked Uncle Peewee for not taking the stepfather’s crap, something I was unable to do. I heard the stepfather back down. I smiled. We were afraid of this physically abusive man. He died weighing almost 700 pounds. Uncle Peewee didn’t care. He spoke truth to him.
Grampa Sam, far left, Aunt Helen and Uncle Peewee on their wedding day
This was the same person who, when my brother, three at the time, and I (4) wet the bed, he waited until Mom left, filled the bath tub with laundry soap and water and made us wash the sheets. Had it not been for Mom back tracking to see this, I would not have been told this in the last years of her life. I’d forgotten this happened. She knew from then on, she could not trust this man. Mom went to court. A white female judge rebuked her. No, not another Negro mother with children on welfare. She wasn’t going to have it. Those were not the specific words but the context: racism and discrimination.
Stars by Allison L. Williams Hill
We, the children, saw Uncle Martin almost every Sunday. We saw Uncle Peewee in between as well, not as frequently, but he was always speaking with Mom. I liked his voice. It was commanding, not thunderous or uncomfortably loud. And his eyes. I could see that he was thinking. These two men, Mom’s brothers, helped her keep our family together financially, mentally and emotionally.
I liked it when they visited. It seemed as if Mom’s second husband disappeared. The house was peaceful. I remember the conversations with Mom, Uncle Peewee and Uncle Martin, especially when they talked about
discrimination and racism in the work place and in life, in general.
I wanted to express gratitude for Aunt Mary. When I was a teen, she was like an older sister to me.
Uncle Martin Johnson, brother of LaVerne and Elizabeth
Uncle Martin was single. He said that he was not interested in marriage.
What Mom was experiencing was enough.
Tracey Skeete, Cynthia Johnson, me, Ellen Johnson, and the late Barbara Johnson
Flip side to Uncle Peewee. Uncle Peewee had his own family with Aunt Helen, his one and only. They raised daughters, not easy. Uncle Peewee housed his family. I remember the mortgage burning party, an accomplishment that more Black families achieved – how long ago, compared to now? His children are educated and have families and children of their own, the extensions of family, full of love and commitment to one another.
Stone Steps at Chalice Well, The Promise by Allison L. Williams Hill
I saw the power of elevating family, of holding family safe and secure in this.
I did not hear this in the stories from my mother with their father, Grampa Samuel. It doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Cousin Linda, a daughter of another brother, Uncle Sam, said it was there. I did not hear this in the stories from my mother about her husbands but I did hear it from Mom about her brothers and saw it. Is there a tree of Aunt Helen and Uncle Peewee? How many people are here because of them? How many people who are adopted/love/counseled/embraced are here? Love like that does not stop radiating to others.
Seeing the world, with your beloved, is momentous. I don’t know when the travels began but it was amazing, “Oh, they’re on another trip, or a cruise.” When were they home? In between the cruises and the trips! They experienced the world together.
I smiled at Uncle Peewee the last time I saw him. Activities came together to the place where I could visit. I was sure, and it was selfish, that I would speak with him about love of clocks that I only found out about.
Uncle Peewee was loving, loved and cared for. My Alpha Aunt, Aunt Helen, pint-sized Wonder Woman made sure of it. I appreciate her power: no games, and straightforward. She enriched his life, as well her daughters, my cousins, and my family.
I said I wanted to talk to Uncle Peewee about his clocks. In meditation I can ask, “If Uncle Peewee was here, what would he say to “why did you like clocks so much?” Then I’ll sit in silence, thinking about him, and wait. I am certain he will come. In life, when he was asked, he always did. I love and am grateful for all of you who were and still are in our lives.
Uncle Peewee and Aunt Helen were married for seventy-four years.
The family went on a cruise and spread his ashes on a beach in Belize.
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