KEEPSAKE CHRONICLES
Romancing the Past with Rickford
Martha's Table
Martha had a round 1950 antique white and gold leather-tooled table. It was a living room table – the last piece from the living room set she bought when she and her husband bought their first house over half a century ago.
She and her sister had taken a springtime walk down in Newark one Sunday afternoon when she saw the living room set in the window of Kreske's, the furniture store. Over the course of the following week, she convinced her husband to purchase the set for their new home. Over the years, her family grew up around those pieces. Over fifty years of living took their toll on the furniture, though, and finally the round living room table was all that was left.
Martha's niece had always indicated that she liked the table, and now Martha had decided to give it to her as a useful keepsake. But it needed some refurbishing and repair.
At 5'2" tall and 92 years old, Martha had driven down herself to bring the table to the shop for an estimate. A couple days later, I called her to let her know that we had some quotes for her. The weather was bad, so she didn't want to drive to the shop to discuss them. Instead, she invited me to come up to her home to talk about the work. I told her I'd be up and said, "Can you make a cup of coffee for me?"
As I entered the kitchen, I could smell the pot of coffee – and she had a slice of Sara Lee carrot cake waiting for me, too. Twenty minutes later, we had a deal. I thanked her for the coffee and the job. She pointed to a bottle of Opeachy wine that was on the floor and with a wink asked me if I'd like to toast our agreement. "I don't know – can I trust you, Martha?" We both chuckled.
Two weeks later, the work was done. I called the house to let Martha know, and a relative told me that she'd had a stroke and was not doing well. One of Martha's last acts before the stroke felled her had been to get the table repaired. Her niece had received the last remaining artifact of her aunt's first home.
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