An Introduction to Jessie Belle Lemon Haggerty (March 7, 2008)

Kelly, Great Grandma Jess, Katie, Thomas & William (July 1974)

     My husband’s paternal grandmother, Jessie Belle Lemon Haggerty, played a very important role in my life as well as the lives of all of our family.  I want to write about Jess so that our grandchildren will learn about their Great-Great Grandma, who would have loved them dearly and played with them by the hour.

     Jessie Belle Lemon was born in Minnesota on March 24, 1889 to Thena Susan Grant Lemon and James Riley Lemon.  Jess often referred to herself as the sixth little Lemon out of a dozen. She had four sisters and seven brothers.  One baby brother died shortly after birth and one brother died at age nineteen of tuberculosis, but the rest of the little Lemons followed in the family history of longevity.  Jess’s mother lived to 94, and Jess herself lived to 94.  Her older sister Fanny died just three months shy of 100.

      Jess contracted tuberculosis for the second time when she was 24 years old and her baby boy Bill was only about 18 months old.  There were no medications to treat the disease in those days so she was sent to a sanitarium.  Jess said she knew she would get well; she wasn’t about to die and leave her baby boy and her husband Bill.  After eight months, the doctors released her to go home, but they warned her that her chances of living beyond thirty were very slim.  She didn’t accept that prognosis and she certainly proved them wrong.

     When Jess was approaching forty, she said she tucked her purse under her arm one Friday and was surprised to feel pain; she checked and felt a lump.  She headed straight to the doctor, who admitted her to the hospital right away and removed her breast.  She was home in two days and back to work in no time.  Illness never seemed to slow Jess up for long; I will continue to document her health concerns in my next story about her.

     I first met Jess in 1963 while visiting Hacienda Heights in Southern California.  David, my future husband, had invited me to his parent’s home to meet his mother, father, and ten year old sister Debbie.  Jessie Belle lived in Redondo Beach, but she had been invited to the Haggerty’s to meet David’s new girlfriend.

     David’s parents, Bill and Vivienne, seemed a little guarded on that visit.  David had brought just one other girl friend home to meet his family, and when their relationship ended, it broke his heart.  I thought that was probably why his folks were cautious with me, as they were probably apprehensive as to where our relationship was heading.

     Jess, on the other hand, was very warm and welcoming.  She and I discovered right away that we had been born only two days and fifty-four years apart.  The fifty-four years seem to evaporate into thin air and Jess and I felt like sisters.  I was twenty years old at the time and Jess used to say, “Every time I look in a mirror I am surprised to see an old lady there; in my mind I am only twenty-four years old.”  If you had known Jess, you would have thought of her as twenty-four also.

     Jess often said, “I was born before my time; if I had been born now, I would be a hippie.”  She was peace loving and full of fun and adventure.  With her free spirit, she would have made a wonderful hippie.

      Jess was five-foot, seven inches tall and slender.  She had beautiful, naturally curly hair, which she loved.  She wore it just above her shoulders and fluffy.  It was graying when I first met her, but as the years passed it turned a beautiful white and she always put a purple rinse on it.  To make it curl, she added a few dabs of water and, instantly, she had beautiful movie star-looking hair!  She had twinkling brown eyes, with a hint of mischief shinning through.  She had rosy red cheeks and a smile you could see for a mile.  She almost always wore slacks, not old lady dresses like my grandmothers wore.  She loved velour pants suits in bright colors, red and aqua being her favorites.  She always wore flats, usually gold or silver, studded with jewels.  When she got up in the morning she put on her jewelry, earrings, necklaces and bracelets.  She could go from bed to beautifully groomed in five minutes flat.

     Jess worked hard most of her life; but when I met her, she had retired. She was enjoying spending lots of time visiting with family and friends, and she belonged to the Redondo Beach Senior Center.  She always referred to her cronies and herself as Seasoned Citizens, not senior citizens.  She had very little money, but she could make a penny go farther than most people could make ten dollars go.  She knew how to have fun, and she made those around her have fun too.

     When I began this story, I said it was an introduction to Jess, and that’s all the space I have for now; next time you’ll be hearing more about Jessie Belle.

To be continued