Aunt Jemima A Part Of Texas History

[chefrob]

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Our Aunt Jemima would have been 131 yrs. old on March 23rd.

Lillian Richard Williams

Coming down the road eastward from the cemetery, if one stops where the road forks and absorbs the surrounding sights, the Baptist and Methodist Churches off to the left, the towering spreading oaks and the way the road forks and moves through the scene, then on past the scattered houses, one can’t help but be transported back to a simpler time and to a very different way of life. The road is wider now than it used to be and the sandy bed is layered with asphalt, but standing there it’s easy to believe you can detect in the air the smell of a wood burning cook stove and the whiff of a coal oil lamp at dusk, and the sound of children playing off in the distance. This scene is disturbed a little as a car whizzes past going south down farm road 2869, the road that takes you to the rest of the world.

Fouke, Wood County, just a little northwest of Hawkins Texas, in a simpler time was the world of Lillian Richard. She was born there March 23, 1891, the fifth of 12 children born to Derry and Cornelius Richard. It is not fair to say that Derry was just a farmer. In those days and with such a large family, every member of the family old enough to work was a farmer. The Richard family owned and worked about 100 acres on the west side of Little Sandy Creek about a mile southeast of the center of the Fouke Community.

In the early days school was held in the Methodist Church and sometimes in the Baptist Church and the Masonic Hall. It was here that Lillian and the rest of the Richard children received their education. It was at the Methodist Church on Sundays that Lillian received her religious instruction and teachings that would serve her well for the rest of her life. She carried the teachings of her Lord with her wherever she went.

Farm work and the sawmill industry was the mainstay of the whole area around Fouke and at Hawkins not much more could be offered a young woman just coming into adulthood, so Lillian like many others headed to Dallas to find employment. Young Lillian Richard found temporary employment as a cook and as a domestic in private homes until suitable permanent work could be found. This happened when in 1911 Quaker Oats Company of Paris, Texas, contacted her saying they were in need of a spokesperson to represent the company in a traveling capacity to promote their line of "Aunt Jemima" products.

The first "Aunt Jemima" was a Mrs. Green but after a period she was forced to drop out due to ill health. Between Mrs. Green and Lillian there were a few others who for some reason or other simply did not work out. Lillian took to the job right off. It was as if the role was made for her. To use the old quote "And the rest is history" would be too easy to say. Actually, there is much more to tell.

One part of Lillian’s life has not yet been fully uncovered. During this early period she met and later married a man whose last name was Williams. No children were born to them. Lillian Richard Williams continued to travel around representing the company as "Aunt Jemima." Her natural outgoing personality coupled with her enjoyment of her role and her Christian upbringing always drew a crowd wherever her employment took her. In the role of "Aunt Jemima" for an impressive 37 years Lillian represented the Quaker Oats Company instructing young homemakers in the art of cooking with the Quaker line of products.

It would be nice to be able to record that she ended her career peacefully and happily. Sadly, that is not the case. In September 1947 Lillian sponsored a trip for her pastor Rev. Mearell T. Reed and congregation at St. Luke Methodist Church in Dallas to drive down and worship with her friends and relatives in the Center Methodist Church in Fouke where she had so many wonderful memories of childhood. After their return home to Dallas, Lillian suffered a stroke which left her paralyzed. Lillian was moved back to Hawkins where she lived with and was cared for by her sister, Ollie. She lingered in this condition for over eight years then succumbed on July 4, 1956.

A whole generation grew up seeing only the woman in the wheelchair, never realizing what a vibrant outgoing person she had been. Lillian’s niece, Jewel McCalla wanted others to come to know the real personality of her Aunt Lillian but was at a loss to know how to bring it about. In 1995 the Richard family, working with Bill Jones, chairman of the historical society, Cecil and Beth Bishop and the Hawkins Chamber of Commerce, the City Council and others, finally caused a resolution to be passed by the Texas Legislature designating the city of Hawkins as the Pancake Capital of Texas because of the history of Lillian Richard’s role for so long in the industry.

On her birthday March 23, 2001, the city of Hawkins declared Lillian Richard Day. Following on the 24th the congregation of the Center United Methodist Church in Fouke celebrated a memorial to Lillian’s life. Jewel McCalla, her cousin Bobby Richard and others went to work planning the next Lillian Richard Day to be held March 23, 2002, both in Hawkins and at Fouke. It is shaping up to be a good one.

In the south line of the Fouke Memorial Cemetery rests a modest but appropriate headstone. It reads, "Lillian Richard Williams, Mar. 23 1891-July 4, 1956." There is one other line on her stone that brings it home to those who were fortunate enough to have known Lillian. It reads simply, "Our Aunt Jemima."

[chefrob]

great read......thx TH! to bad that we are loosing some of our american history and great stories like this due to PC.

[Slanted88]

feel the same with Land O Lakes butter...

[Squirrel]

Interesting the company no longer has to pay royalties to the families. It wasn’t about racism it was about money. Corporate greed.