Esphur and Harold Foster - On their mother, Hattie Mae Foster's passing, and the community response to her death (clip)

Esphur Foster (EF): So when we took her down to the hospital that next morning Charley sent word over to the dental school and she said, tell everybody if they want to see Hattie for the last time to say goodbye, to come over. So when we got ready to leave Hudson, the whole Emergency Room dock was filled with people from the dental school, and they all came because they wanted to say goodbye. And then when her funeral–it was the weirdest thing–the church was packed. And I remember when we were going to the cemetery, for some reason, I turned around and looked out of the back window of the hearse, and as far as my eye could see…

HV: Oh my gosh.

EF: …coming with us to say goodbye to momma. And and when I – I had just, I had just begun working at the law school – and when we got to the church that day of the funeral, and we pulled up, I hadn’t cried yet. I did, I did cry one time – a law student came when she heard that mother had died, and when I opened the door I remember standing there and I broke down. And then when I, we got to the church and the church stoop was full of law professors, I cried. I just couldn’t believe it. And we had the wake in Durham, and the Dean and all of the law professors came to Durham to the wake. I was just overwhelmed, I just could just not believe it. So, that’s the kind of lady she was.

HV: That’s remarkable.

EF: Yeah. And William Cureton flew in for mothers funeral. I said, oh William, I said Gritty Grit, we called him Gritty Grit. I said oh my goodness, I said mother would be so so so surprised. He said, “as many times as I put my feet under Ms. Hattie’s table, and you think I’m not coming home for her funeral.” And then another girl who I think, Ida, her first cousin just died, said to me…she said – cause her mother had severe mental illness – and so mother always valued education. And so Ida said to me, “your mother had given me so much helpful advice.” She said, “I just loved her so much.” So it was just a whole lot of people. And mother was, she was Superintendent of Sunday School.

HV: Mmm, what church?

EF: First Baptist.

HV: First Baptist.

HV: Mm-hm. She was Directress for the children’s choir. She loved music, she played by ear. She was the president of the PTA. They would not let, they, she was the president for about six or seven years. We had finished, we had finished high school. And they would not let, they said “please please don’t, please remain.”

HV: Did she sleep? [Laughter]

EF: She was something. Walked everywhere she went. And like I said, she had those three jobs.

HV: Incredible. And I mean, she also took care of y’all.

EF: Yeah. Absolutely. Made our clothes.

HV: Geez.

EF: We had a garden, she cared, and every August she….