Teacher song collaboration with teaching artist Brent Kirby and Fatima Family Center senior, Mary Anderson, who is 87 years old. A child of the Great Depression, she grew up in Georgia before moving to Cleveland in the 1950’s. Mary and her husband Rufus raised seven daughters in East Cleveland. Mrs. Anderson is a great-great grandmother, and feels blessed to have so many grandchildren. She cleaned houses before becoming an employee of the Cleveland Clinic for 22 years. A lover of gospel music, she loves cleaning, cooking, and is known for her sweet potato pie.
Near the end of our conversation, she mentioned her amount of grandchildren and how she wished her late husband Rufus could see the size of the family they created. The song is written from Mary’s perspective at a family get together with Rufus present to see the family all around the dinner table.
I really enjoyed talking to Mrs. Anderson about her life and philosphy, and thought it was great how she called her seven daughters “Three Peaches and Four Buckeyes”, as three of them were born in Georgia, and the rest in Ohio.
