Nettie Green Meadows (1903-1997)

Our “Aunt Nettie Gal” is probably the family member I wish I could have met most. As a note, her name was pronounced as “Nettie Gayle” but it derived from the word “Gal” as in “Girl.” Nettie was the oldest of seven siblings from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and outlived all but one of them. On the very day of her birth in 1903, an important local historic event occurred: the Fast Mail train passed over nearby White Oak Mountain, derailed in the city of Danville, and inspired the infamous “Wreck of the Old 97” tale and ballad.

For about fifty years, Nettie resided in the same house where I grew up and occupied the room that later became mine. She was a gifted seamstress who made most of her own clothes and was a natural at traditional Southern cookery. She beheld the family history for her generation and could readily answer questions about birth dates, marriages, deaths, and certain relationships. Nettie was a devout Christian and an early member of the Emmanuel Pentecostal Holiness Church in the Dry Fork community. As a family-centered woman, Nettie lived with her aging mother and adult siblings, remained unmarried and maintained a tidy household. She mostly shunned modern conveniences, never learned to drive, and preferred an old-fashioned lifestyle with a wood stove, traditional well, and outhouse. Her remarkable life spanned 93 years in rural Southside Virginia. I understand that she was following familiar routines that were common for people of her specific upbringing, however, she chose to remain faithful to the old fashioned Virginia traditions to the fullest extent. She met people who served in the Civil War and she met people who are alive today. She witnessed the times before cars, the first cars, and every sort until the 1990’s. She was born months before the first flight by the Wright brothers and still didn’t own a TV by the time of the Moon Landing in 1969. It’s hard to imagine that my life began only two years after hers ended. While I knew the same walls, land, and some of the same people she did, the experiences and conditions she saw a hundred years ago are still a world apart. I’m not trying to glorify her lifestyle or promote negativity toward electronics, but I just wish to convey my respect for Nettie’s ability to withhold from evolving with the times. I think she would hope to be remembered in the future.