Guest Column: Tribute to Mamaw

“Wilsie Corinne Fondren, 92, of Blytheville, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Saturday, May 11, 2024. 

Known by family and friends as “Mamaw” and “Mrs. Fondren”.

Born on Sep 9, 1931 in Gibson Wells, Tenn. to the late Carl and Gladys Gipson.  

Throughout her life she was a charitable giver earning her picture on the wall at Lifeblood in Blytheville with over 100 gallons given and a faithful member of New Liberty Baptist Church and in later life Mary’s Chapel Baptist Church. 

Corinne was co-owner of Fondren’s Hardware, which she and her husband opened in Downtown Blytheville in 1960.  

She was an avid quilter until she was unable to due to health and was a member of the Dogwood Home Extension Club. 

She is preceded in death by her husband, Jessie “Sonny” Fondren. 

She leaves behind two sons  Ronnie (Cathy) and Donnie Joe (Sandra) Fondren, all of Blytheville.  

Three grandchildren: Wendy (Richard) Fondren Erhard, of Memphis; Scott Fondren; and Jessica (Ryan) Perkins, all of Blytheville. 

Five great- grandsons: Joseph and Jacey Fondren, of Blytheville; Jacob Fondren, of Jacksonville, Ark.; and Chase and Blaine Perkins, of Blytheville.

A granddaughter-in- love: Leah Givens, of Hickman. One brother James (Jan) Gipson of Blytheville and one sister-in-law Bernadene Daugherty, of  Pottersville, Mo.

The family would like to say thank you to her granddaughter, Jessica,  for taking time away from her family and special events to be Mamaw’s caregiver.  We know that her being there and her loving care helped bring comfort and peace to Mamaw in her final days.”

Two weeks ago now, the Fondren’s were told that our beloved Mamaw was being put on hospice and given a week to live. Well as you have read up above my Mamaw departed this life Saturday morning.

Throughout the week I, along with the rest of the family, has been sent condolences and prayers, which we are thankful for and appreciate very much.

For nearly the last decade, up until last summer I was Mamaw’s yard boy. The first job I had really ever had.

Obviously as a teenager it was more for the side job; money I could take the girl out for a date or go to the movies with a buddy or whatever item that I could buy that my parents, mostly my dad, said he wasn’t paying for.

But as I grew older and started working a “real life” job after high school it became more of time with Mamaw.

Work was nothing new at her house, as a kid, she was the babysitter while my dad worked at the hardware store during his days off from the steel mill. Which brings me to the lyrics of Thomas Rhett’s song “Mamaw’s House”.

The lyric goes, “It’s where I spent my summers and she put me to work/ Shellin’ peas and shuckin’ corn until my fingers hurt.”

Trust me, she was an avid gardner and during those months in the summer I shelled a many of peas on top of raking leaves or mowing the yard.

I did know though at least once a week she was going to cook something good… especially when she knew I wanted Mexican Chicken, YUMMY!!

I was working at the steel mill Saturday when I was made aware of her passing, but I am thankful I did get to go see her two times last week at Stonebridge and say my good byes.

One last memory I feel led to share is her always asking me what I knew was happening, rather if it was in town, with family or friends.

I guess she thought I had some inside scoop since I worked/ had worked at the paper, but every time I told her I really didn’t know anything but to read the paper, which she was a subscription holder of.

Then on days the papers ran, I’d go over and read the articles. Some of which I had written and edited. She’d ask me if I needed the light on to read the articles and I’d decline and say, “ I already read it earlier I was just double checking for mistakes or anything I missed earlier.”

Looking back on some of those conversations I think she knew that I knew more than I sometimes let on but I will say 99 percent of the time, I was really just as lost in everyone else’s day to day life.

Some of these memories I have shared and others can be read on my Facebook post, but all of these are precious memories to me and those that I always hold close to my heart.

I am thankful to have had my mamaw for the 26 years I have been alive. Her memory will never be forgotten and a grandson’s love will never be lost.

One last song lyric I’d like to leave you all with comes from Chris Janson’s “Bye Mom”.

“I know that's just the way it is/ When you think you grown but you're still a kid/And you don't know you're somebody/ That somebody loves more than themselves/ And there's a beauty in the innocence/ Of not knowing that the time they've spent/ Is more than one could ask for/ And that's a special kind of love

And it's only there for a lifetime, then it's gone/ And it's bye mom.”

Joseph Fondren is a contributing writer for the NEA Town Courier and Sports Connection.