On November 22, 1915, Evelyn Marie Buckmaster was born in Port Republic, Calvert County with her two parents Walter and Ina. This southern Maryland farm girl is 1 of 4 children and is know to me as great grandmom and is my last 3rd generation relative. Her other sisters are Roberta who was born in 1910, Elizabeth Anne in 1912, and Irma Louise in 1922.
    During her younger years, their family moved from Port Republic to Baltimore when she was only 1 year old in 1916. She moved back to Port Republic when she was 5 in 1921. For games, they played mostly jump rope and Annie over which was a game where one person threw the ball over the over the house and the other person would throw the ball back over the house and they would try to catch it. Great grandmom and her sisters had nicknames for each other. She was called Ev, Roberta was called Bert, Irma was called Ir, and Elizabeth was called Betty. Her first car ride was in a Ford Model T when she moved back from Baltimore in 1920.
     When she started school she attended St. Leonard and walked 3 ½ miles from her home to get there. They did not have middle school of junior high back then so she stayed with one teacher for grades 1-7. She says,” She was the best lady I ever had.”
     Great grandmom went to high school at Calvert County High School. She had many jobs in the farm. She says her favorite job was raising the animals including a baby calf when its mother died and raised pigs from bottles. Her least favorite job was cleaning the 3-seater outhouse, which even seems disgusting to me. Her favorite place to visit was the Chesapeake Beach Amusement Park, which she says didn’t open until she was in high school. Great grandmom has never been far from home except when she drove cross-country in 1977 to California. She has never been in an airplane before though she probably would have if they were available to her. There were no movies and she didn’t have very many idols except for Janet Gaynor. Great grandmom’s other favorites were her favorite radio program, which was Amos and Andy.
     Great grandmom married in 1934 to Roy Wood right out of high school because she didn’t attend college. They moved to their present location in southern Calvert County, very close to their children’s house that is my grandfather.
     My memories of great grandmom are cooking noodles for me and adding a whole stick of butter. I also remember seeing a picture of my great grandpop’s 1960 yellow roadster. She always visits for Thanksgiving and Christmas and is always happy to see us. My other memories of great grandmom are when she always calls me birthday boy because we share a birthday on November 22. She is always warmhearted and caring for all her relatives.