Spring brings renewal and remembrances

These hardy little creatures pop up about this time each spring and with them comes the promise of renewal and the happy remembrance of a special loved one.

Ora Lee (Warren) Randolph died in 1975, but each spring her family fondly remembers her when they see these grape hyacinths in bloom. Ora loved to garden, and she kept her front yard swept and scraped clean of weeds and grass. Flowers were another matter, however, and Ora had beds of blooms with winding paths throughout the yard. Over the years, these grape hyacinths have crept from their original spot in Ora's yard. As her great-granddaughter tells it, "We treasure these little guys, you should see us gingerly mowing around them when the plants begin to grow each spring. When they first push up from the ground it's a little hard to tell if it is a wild green onion or a grape hyacinth. The grape hyacinth has darker foliage,but if we ever doubt which it could be.....well, we leave it."

Like several Randolph and Mills families, Ora and Allen left Itawamba County for Monroe County in the 1930s. So if you want to see Ora's grape hyacinths, you will have to go to Nettleton.

Ora Lee was the daughter of James Rooker "Jim" Warren and Harriet Elizabeth Miller. Jim's father is believed to be Alexander, son of S. John Warren, an early Itawamba settler and large landowner. Ora was married to Allen Randolph, son of Henry Randolph and Rachel Fowler, and brother to Onady Randolph, my husband's great-grandmother.

Amy Randolph, Ora's great-granddaughter, provided both the photo and the memories.