This is a bonus post that combines the last two prompts—Family Heirloom and Musical—with perhaps a touch of the Wartime theme as well. It centers on a music book handed down from my great-grandmother, Nellie Louella McWilliams Fast, daughter of Ben McWilliams.
The book, Favorite Songs and Hymns, published in 1939, is a collection of old-time gospel hymns such as “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” and “The Old Rugged Cross,” along with songs deeply rooted in Midwestern and Southern traditions. The Fast family belonged to the Verdella Free-Will Baptist Church, and it’s easy to imagine these hymns sung by the congregation on a Sunday morning, following a long week of farm work.
The hymns, however, aren’t the only memorable part of the book. Written on the inside back cover are the names and addresses of several grandchildren who entered military service during World War II. One can easily imagine Grandma Fast writing letters to them, sharing news of life back on the farm.
Tucked inside the book is also a photograph of Grandma and Grandpa Fast with my twin uncles, John and Joe, taken in July 1941. I don’t know who took the picture, but it was made just a month after my mother had gone east to Buffalo, married my father, and begun their life together there.
So this heirloom isn’t a piece of fine china, antique jewelry, or handcrafted furniture—just a well-worn book and an old, cracked, discolored photograph. Yet together they hold a remarkable number of memories and offer a small but powerful snapshot of a moment in time.
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