A Martha By Any Other Name

Thursday, April 27th, 2017     by Debra DuPree Williams     Start the Conversation

by Debra DuPree Williams  @DDuPreeWilliams


I’ve written a couple of blog posts that featured my daddy. But, obviously, I also had a mother. Now you may say that your mother is or was one-of-a-kind, but my mother, Dot, wasn’t. She had an identical twin, my Aunt Doris. But even though she had someone on earth who looked exactly like her, Mama was definitely her own person.

Mama was one of those people who just naturally excelled at anything she did. Except cooking. She hated to cook. But she loved to entertain and make party foods.

I don’t remember her ever putting a roast in the oven for a week night or Sunday dinner. But could she ever make party food. We had more parties at our home in one year than most of my friends’ moms had in ten years. Mama just loved entertaining, getting out her good dishes, and putting on the dog, as we say in the south.

It’s Party Time

Mama on the left with Hemerocallis Garden Club Ladies, 1960s

If she wasn’t having the garden club Christmas party, she was having her Sunday school party. If it wasn’t that, then it was her business women’s club. Every time we turned around, there was one group or another of ladies, coming and going. One of her favorite things to make were little finger sandwiches with the cream cheese colored to match her theme of the day. Red and green at Christmas, blue and yellow for Easter. This may seem a little bland compared to the nachos and buffalo wings so popular today, but back in the fifties and sixties, those little sandwiches were a must-have at any decent hostess’s party. Oh, they never, ever had a crust. Ever.


In those days lemon-ice-box pies or strawberry-ice-box pies were the rage. I’ve never made one, but I do remember that they were one of my favorites. So simple, you start with Jell-o.

Swedish meatballs were quite the rage in those days, too. Today we can just go buy them at IKEA or Publix or your favorite local market, but back then, you had to make your own from scratch. I don’t think she had a party at which these little round morsels didn’t make an appearance. Poke it with a colored toothpick, and you were good to go. Take two or three, after all, they’re small.

One of Mama’s Table-Top Creations

Table Top Decor  
Of course, the food had to be displayed properly. This is when Mama pulled out all the stops and
turned our simple kitchen table into an artistic display worthy of Martha Stewart. In fact, after Mama’s death, my sister and I dubbed her,“The Martha Stewart of the South.” She could turn the ordinary into something special. The display at the left is made from our everyday, wooden salad bowls, filled with a variety of nuts. She then took Christmas greenery, small Christmas ornaments, and long skinny candles. All of this was arranged with Christmas greenery in the shape of a star.                 

Mary and Martha
I wondered about giving her the label of being a Martha of any kind. Remember in Luke 10:38-42, Martha was scurrying around trying to prepare her home and the foods for Jesus while Mary only wanted to sit at His feet and learn from the Master. I have no doubt that Mama would have been able to pull off both. She would have had things ready for any surprise visitors long before Jesus knocked on her door. She could have served but listened, too. Yes, Mama was a Martha, but she was a Mary, also.


This blog is just the appetizer, giving you a small taste of who my Mama was. Stay tuned for more blogs about life in the fifties and sixties and the amazing woman I got to call Mama.

Did your mother like to entertain? Did she make foods like these? Tell us something special about the mother you were/are blessed to have. Leave your comments below. 

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