A Great Man Joins Us

Isaac and Susan Williams lived on a potato farm on the Station Road in Littleton, Maine. It was situated about a half mile from where my Mom and Dad lived on US Route 1.

They had five children. Their daughters were Pearl and Hallie. The three sons were Joy, Thomas, and James. Mom knew four of those five siblings in the Williams family. She never knew or heard about Jim until around 1960.

Jim knew about our family, though. One day he saw me with my Dad at the corner store between the Williams farm and the Cain farm. He went home and said to his mother, "I saw Mr. Cain and his little girl down to the store and she is the prettiest little girl I have ever seen!"

Little did Jim know that the day would come when he would escort that very same girl down the aisle of the Church on her wedding day! That little girl was, of course, your grandmother -- me!

Jim was a hard worker and devoted to his parents. He worked the farm when his father was no longer able and cared tenderly for both of his parents until they died. A great and wonderful man was he! And the day came that my mother met him.

Mom heard that Susie Williams was ill and she went to call on her. She rapped on the door and it was Jim who answered it. She introduced herself and asked to see Mrs. Williams. Jim was busy making oatmeal for his mother, but ushered my Mom in to see Susie. Now, after all these years, my mom has revealed her thoughts at that first meeting. She thought that a man who would cook oatmeal for his ailing mother is the kind of man she might like to meet someday.

In time, my Mom and Jim struck up a friendship. One day Jim asked her if she would like to go grocery shopping with him. Sure! She would go along. Once at the store in Houlton, they busied themselves with the shopping carts and ended up at the cashier. Then came one of Jim's most embarrasing moments: he had forgotten his wallet and had to borrow money from this woman in order to buy his groceries.

Eventually, this story became one of his favorites to tell! Always a jokester, he enjoyed telling people that he had heart trouble and was going around with a cane (Cain). 

It was June 16, 1961 when that great man joined us. He fit so naturally into the role of husband and dad -- this man who had never experienced being either. What a blessing he was to all of us. The giving, caring heart that he developed over his years of caring for his parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews had room for us, too. We were very thankful for that.

He and Mom had a wonderful marriage. They worked together on the farm and later on in their hardware store. They enjoyed the little camp at Cary Lake. He LOVED to talk to her and to hear her stories. Sometimes he would even wake her up in the middle of the night when he was restless and say, "tell me something". He would tell her it didn't matter what she talked about. He just loved to hear her voice and wanted her to talk to him. And so she did!

He liked to talk, too. He was full of home-spun, common sense. One of his sayings was from his Dad who taught him his great secret for a happy marriage, "Always avoid the first fight. You can always sit down and talk things out."

This farm house pictured above is where Jim grew up and where he lived with his parents into their old age. It became home with my Mom from July of 1963 until it and most of the out-buildings burned in 1968.

By the way, Jim's sister Pearl was great grandmother to our own Michele (Uncle Jonathan's wife). And great, great grandmother to their son, our precious little Robbie!