Ma Payne

My great-grandmother, Lizzie Payne Ricketts, or Ma Payne as she was known to my family, passed away on Friday, August 28. She was 105 years old! Incredible! She was still active until the last few months of her life and needless to say we were all very blessed to have had her in our lives for so long!

My dad conducted the service yesterday. On Sunday night he asked our cousins and other relatives to tell him some of the things they remember her saying or a favorite memory. I wanted to share some of those with you.

She always loved Christmas parades and would go with me and my family every year when I was a young girl and then we would eat at Britling’s even though no one else liked to eat there.

When she was 59 she learned to ride a bicycle and my dad got to witness that! How fun that must have been!

She walked all over town and never owned a car.

She loved my grandmother’s cats and would call them “Ma’s Sweet Thangs.”

She always gave everyone a peppermint stick for Christmas.

She was the original re-gifter. If she didn’t like a gift, she would stockpile it in her house and then give it to folks that came to visit. And in more recent years she would just say she didn’t need it and try to give it to someone right there in front of you.

She would open all her Christmas presents at once even though we were supposed to be taking turns around the room.

She always had packs of gum to give you.

She carried Luden’s cough drops in her purse.

She had such a sweet and gentle laugh.

She always wore a bonnet wherever she went.

She would always say, “Ma loves you.”

I’m sure there are many, many more things I could say about Ma Payne. I’ll probably remember three or four after I post this. But I wanted to share a few memories of her today. She was a remarkable woman and she will be missed.