Cathy Deloris Bobo Gunn Queen

Cathy Deloris Bobo Gunn Queen was born in Ashland, Mississippi on November 16, 1948, to the late Emmett and Everlenia Bobo. She was the 12th of 14 children. Cathy was the mother of two children and the grandmother of two.

She received her B.S. in Social Work from the University of Missouri, St. Louis in 1978 and dedicated her life to helping children in need.

In 1991, Cathy married Don Queen and, together, they began travelling the world. The two of them have traveled to numerous places outside of the U.S. (such as West Africa, Jamaica, and Vietnam, just to name a few), but they have also traveled to many U.S. states. On August 23, 2022, Cathy was called home after six years of bravely fighting ALS. She is survived by her husband, Don; her daughters, Jacqueline and Rosalind; her sons-in-law, Rod and Ray; her grandchildren, Rayna and Rebekah; her brother, Randy; her sister-in-law, Doris; and a whole host of nieces, nephews, and other relatives. She was preceded in death by: her parents, Emmett and Everlenia Bobo; her sisters – Vansola, Julia (Doll), Bernice, Glennie Mae, and Sweetie Bea; her brothers – Emmett Jr (Buddy), Lee Eddie, Henry, Roosevelt, Robert Louis, James and Larry.

The following two autobiographical compositions, "Growing Up In Mississippi" and "Tuesday Is Colored Day" were written by Cathy Queen. Thank you, Cathy, for leaving these with us to enjoy.

Growing up in Mississippi

My name is Cathy Bobo Gunn Queen. I was born November 16, 1948, in Ashland, a small rural town in Mississippi that consisted of a cotton gin, a general store and mechanic shop liquor store/food shop, all combined in one. My parents are Emmett and Everlenia Bobo; I am the third youngest of fourteen children. I grew up with six of my siblings: Henry, Roosevelt, Robert Louis, James, Randy, and Larry. I was the only girl in the house, which awarded me special privileges. I will get into more details later. The rest of my siblings had moved to the city, which was the goal of every Black or Colored (that is what we were called back then) person in my community. Vansola, Bernice, Buddy (Emmett Jr), Glennie Mae, and Sweetie Bea had moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Lee Eddie had moved to Memphis, Tennessee. My second oldest sister, Julia V (or Doll as she was called), had died at the age of twelve due to inhaling flame from a kerosene lamp. Back in the day, Blacks were not provided with good medical care. The nearest doctor or hospital was about fifty miles away.

I grew up in the South during the civil rights movement. However, our small community did not have many problems. Blacks and Whites co-existed in a rather peaceful manner. However, we were segregated. I attended a one-room schoolhouse called Concord, which had the same name as our church. We had one teacher, Mr. Leuellen, who taught grades preprimer to eighth. Grades ninth to twelfth were bused to Holly Springs, Mississippi to a school called Rosenwald High School. The name Rosenwald was informally applied to over five thousand schools in the United States which were built primarily for the education of African Americans in the early twentieth century. The need arose from the chronic underfunding of public education for African American children in the South who were required to attend segregated schools. Julius Rosenwald, the son of a German-Jewish immigrant, was an American clothier who became part owner of Sears, Roebuck and Company. He was the founder of The Rosenwald Fund; he contributed the seed money for many of these schools. My brother Henry graduated from the Rosenwald High School in 1958. When I was in the fourth grade in our one-room schoolhouse, the White Superintendent came to our school and announced that we were getting a new school with running water, inside toilets and gas heat. He said that all the one-room schoolhouses in the county were going to be closed, and all the Colored children would attend this brand new school. This new school was named Sand Flat. We were so happy. We had an outside toilet, wood heater and no running water. We did not have these things in our own homes.

You might think that this was a tough time for us, but it wasn’t. I didn’t know we were dirt poor. Daddy had a job. We had a nice house even though we did not have the modern conveniences. We had plenty of food. Mama was a great cook, and Daddy grew most of our food. We had cows, hogs, and chickens. We had a great community. We went to church every Sunday. We looked after one another.

As I mentioned, six of my siblings had gotten married and moved to the city. They came to visit us in the summer. Bernice and Bea came every year. Bernice had gotten married to IV Jimmerson and she had two kids: Harold and Leon. The marriage didn’t work out, so she got a divorce and married RV Hayslett. They had three kids: Barbara Nell, Victor, and Terry. Bernice left her two older kids with Mama and Big Mama. Hal was with Mama, and Leon was with Big Mama. Mama received a letter from Bernice that she and Bea were coming out to visit in about three weeks.

Early one Saturday morning, my Mama looked out the window and saw two cars. My Mama said, “They are here; my children are here.” I looked out the window and saw the pretty cars; one was long shiny and black and the other was candy apple red. My Mama started jumping up and down, ran out in the yard screaming, “My Children Are Here! My Children Are Here!” She rushed to the car almost falling down. Bernice got out of the car, dressed in brand new clothes, and with her hair newly done. She looked really nice. Her husband RV was also dressed very nicely. Her daughter, Barbara, was also dressed in new clothes and new tennis shoes. She had gone to a beauty shop and gotten her hair permed, not press and curl, that is chemically relaxed which was new and very expensive. Her brothers, Victor and Terry, were also dressed in new clothes and shoes. From my eyes, the family looked rich. I have to admit, I was jealous. I looked at myself. I guess I am about twelve. My hair was uncombed with little plaits all over. My clothes were old and raggedy, and I am not any wearing shoes. I am dusty looking as I have not had a bath in days. Today is bath day, as the family will go to town tonight and church tomorrow. We don’t have running water, so we had to go to the well to get the water, build a fire under the wash pot (big black pot) to heat the water. The kids want to use the bathroom. Bernice explained to them they would have to use the outhouse. Bernice says, “You know Mama Lena does not have an inside toilet.” Of course they knew that; they came to visit every year for the entire summer. I wished I had taken my bath already, put on my special clothes, and had my hair pressed and curled.

I looked over at the pretty red car. I see my sister Bea gets out of the car. She is tall with dark brown skin and long hair. She is wearing a pretty sun dress with real tall high heel shoes. She is very beautiful. She looks over at me and gives me a big smile. I almost blush. I thought to myself, “When I grow up, I am going to be just like her.” Her boyfriend Ben gets out of the car and struts over to Daddy, who had also come outside, and gave him a hardy handshake. I didn’t really know Ben that well, but I knew Claude Dowdy, Bea’s ex-husband. Bea and Claude got married when she was fourteen. They moved into town, and he was working at the Brick mill. They seemed to be the perfect family. Bea had four children with Claude (one son died in infancy) and one child with Ben. Bea’s children quietly got out of the car. They were well mannered. Joyce was the oldest, Ricky was next and than Mike. Reggie was the youngest.

Let the good times roll. Mama and Daddy are so happy to see their kids. I guess this was the beginning of our family reunions. I didn’t realize it then. We didn’t rent any hotels or buy any t-shirts, but we had about ten extra people staying at our house, and we had a big feast. People were sleeping on pallets, and everybody was laughing and talking. I was happy too because my big sister, Bea, had washed and pressed my hair and she had even brought me an outfit with new tennis shoes. Side note: My sister Bea was my very best friend until the day she died. She lived in Missouri, and I lived in California, but we talked to each other every day. She came to my daughters’ high school graduations and weddings. She also gave them nice gifts for high school and college graduations, and their weddings. She was a wonderful sister and friend.

Back to the family gathering, Mama went out in the yard and grabbed two chickens and with one ring, she broke their necks. She was proud that she was able to do that. I never killed a chicken in my entire life. Oh well. Mama was the best cook. We had fried chicken and chicken and dressing. Mama baked several cakes and pies, including a caramel cake for RV (this was his favorite). We had potato salad, greens, black-eyed peas, spaghetti, and ham. Daddy went to the garden and got all of the vegetables. He then went to the smokehouse and got a ham. These hams were reserved for Christmas and Thanksgiving, however, when the adult kids came home for a visit, all rules went out of the window. We had a hog killing event once a year in October. Daddy invited about three of his friends and their wives to help with hog killing. Daddy and his friends would tie up the hog in a scaffold and Daddy would either chop the hog with an ax or shoot it with a rifle. I would not look. He would kill about three hogs. After that he and his friends cleaned the hair off of the hogs, skinned and gutted them. The women would clean the intestine for chittlin and cut the fat off for lard. The fat was put in the big black wash pot to cook down. The men would wash the testicles and cook them. Only the men could only eat the testicles (at that time I didn’t know why), I guess because it was thought to be an aphrodisiac. My older brothers were also able to eat a piece. When they handed the plate to them, I grabbed a piece and ate it. It was nasty; I spit it out. Daddy just laughed. Daddy also had a green thumb. He grew the largest watermelons and had the best garden in the community.

Mama, Bernice, and Bea did all of the cooking. They were all good cooks. We sat down to eat. Mama had a formal dining room set. The table and chairs were kept in storage until we had guests which were usually brought out for the preacher during revival. However, Mama deems that this was also an occasion for the prized dining room set. We had a table in the kitchen for everyday use that Daddy had made with two long benches for about ten to twelve people. All the children ate in the kitchen and the grownups sat in the front room. Daddy said the blessing, and we start eating. That food was sooo good. We were laughing and talking all at the same time. A passerby may think we were arguing. We were just so happy. Well, it’s time for my sisters and their families to leave. Barbara Nell, Victor, and Terry will stay for the summer. We walked out to their cars, gave hugs, and waved and waved until we could no longer see their cars.

Well, everything had gotten back to normal. We were washing mason jars and picking fruit for canning. Before Mama got her Deep Freeze (that was what she called it), she canned the fruits for the winter. We picked blackberries, pears, apples, peaches, and plums for canning. From the truck patches or garden, we had dried corn, popcorn, peanuts, and potatoes. Growing up on a farm meant work, work. We picked and chopped cotton, tended the truck patches and Mama’s flower garden six days a week until noon on Saturday. It is now time for baths, and we are going to town. Every Sunday is Sunday school and church. However, we do not have to work on Sunday. Mama also prepared her Sunday Dinner, which consisted of a meat, chicken or Whitey fish, vegetables and always a dessert. Daddy loved sweets, so we had to have a dessert.

Tuesday Is Colored Day

As my husband Don and I sat eating at a local eatery in Old Towne Orange, I gazed over at the square that reminded me of my old home town, Holly Springs, Mississippi. It was December 1954. I was six years old. My brothers (James, Harold, Randy and Larry) and I were anxiously waiting for Mama and Daddy to take us to see Santa Claus in the square. Santa Claus always came to Holly Springs the week before Christmas. Tuesday was the day that Colored or Negroes could go. It was advertised all over town in the Colored cafes and juke joints that we could visit Santa Claus on Tuesday. The flyer said, “Come bring your children and they will receive a gift from Santa.” I had never visited Santa before, and I wanted to go so badly. I saw Santa Claus on television, and I knew that he could make all my wishes come true. I begged Mama to take us. She always said the same thing, “Go ask your Daddy.” I said, “Mama you know he is going to say no.” Daddy did not believe in foolishness. He did not believe that Colored children needed to go to see Santa Claus. Daddy believed that the only thing that Colored children needed to do was work in the fields, grow up, get married and work in the fields some more. Although Mama played this game with us, she wanted more for us. She wanted us to have things that White children were able to have. She wanted us to get an education, leave Mississippi and get a good job. Mama always said, “A Colored person can never make it in Mississippi.” She was very traditional and believed that the man wore the pants. So she made Daddy believe that whatever she wanted for us was his idea. She would say, “Mr. Emmett, Cathy looks so much like you, and when she is happy, she looks just like you.” My Daddy stuttered and he would say, “Boy she looks just like me.” I knew then we were going to see Santa Claus. Daddy agreed that he would take us. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think we had to pay to visit Santa Claus and get the gift. We were pretty poor. Well anyway, it’s about three weeks before our visit with Santa. I can’t wait.

Christmas time in our house was a joyous time. Even though we didn’t have much money, we had plenty of food. We got the best ham out of the smoke house, the fattiest rooster off the yard for chicken and dressing, and Mama baked cakes and pies for a week. Every type of cake you could think of - chocolate cake, coconut cake, lemon cake and Daddy’s favorite cake, a caramel cake. She baked sweet potatoes pies, egg pies and lemon pies. The house smelled soooo good. Everybody was in good spirits. Mama would say everyday, “You better be good or you will get hot coals in your box.” When I was growing up we didn’t have stockings, we had decorated shoe boxes.

Okay, its time to put up the tree and decorate the house. Daddy loved it. He and the big boys would go to the woods and cut down a tree. It would be such a pretty tree. Daddy was so proud of it. Mama would bring out the decorations. All types of garlands and bulbs. We also had red garland and red paper bells that folded over into full bells. A big red paper bell was placed in the center of the ceiling and a small paper bell in each corner. We decorated the front room (or the company room). The front room had a couch, chair, coffee and end tables. This room also had a store-bought bed in it. On Christmas day, Mama put her beautiful handmade quilt on the bed. Of course, I was able to sleep in this room by myself. The boys shared a room, and Mama and Daddy with the younger children and grandchildren stayed in another room. However, when company came, I had to move in with Mama and Daddy. Well, back to the front room: it was beautiful. We kids, the younger kids could not see the room until it was finished. Now it’s time to decorate the shoe boxes. Mama saved all the shoe boxes when we got new shoes. Everyone got a box including Mama and Daddy. Mama saved scraps of fabric from her sewing; red and green tissue paper, pinecones and twigs from the Christmas tree were used to decorate the boxes. Oh, I forgot the pages from the Sears Christmas catalog. My big bother, Henry, cut out our names from the Sears catalog and pasted it on our boxes. All the boxes were put under the Christmas tree to wait for Santa Claus. On Christmas day, the boxes were filled with nuts, candy, apples and oranges. Daddy played Santa Claus, but I didn’t know that back then. I believed that the real Santa Claus was in town, and I was going to see him on Colored Tuesday.

Today is the day - Tuesday, December 21, 1954. We are going to see Santa Claus. We dressed up in our church clothes. Mama had pressed my hair with the pressing comb. I had two long pony tails with matching ribbons. The boys had gotten a hair cut. We were so dressed up. I had practiced with my big brother, Henry, what I was going to say to Santa Claus. Good girls should never sit on man’s lap, but it was okay for me to sit on Santa Claus’ lap because Mama would be there. So I jumped up on Henry’s lap and told him what I wanted for Christmas. I want a DOLL, a DOLL HOUSE and DISHES. I was ready to see Santa Claus. Daddy drove us to Holly Springs in his old Navy Blue 1948 truck. Henry told me the age and make of the truck. We waited in line with the rest of the Colored people to see Santa Claus. Finally, I am next. I stepped up, but had to be ushered by Mama to sit on Santa Claus’ lap. He asked me, “What do you want for Christmas?” I just looked at him; no words came out of my mouth. He asked me again. “What do you want for Christmas little girl?” Again, I just looked at him. Mama said, “Tell him Baby, tell him what you want,” Mama said. “A doll, doll house and dishes.” All I did was cry. Santa Claus said, “That’s okay, that’s okay. I got a gift for you.” He gave me a gift and Mama instructed me to say, “Thank you.” In a very small voice, I said, “Thank you..” This was my visit with Santa Claus. As I sat in Old Towne Orange sipping green tea, I glanced over at the square and smiled to myself and said, “I still had a good time.” This is a long way from Holly Springs, Mississippi to Orange, California.

A funeral service for Cathy will be held Wednesday, September 7, 2022 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM at Fairhaven Memorial Park Mortuary, 1702 Fairhaven Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705. A visitation will occur Wednesday, September 7, 2022 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 1702 Fairhaven Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92705.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.fairhavenmemorial.com for the Queen family.