Emme Claire: Mamaw Bibber

My Mamaw Bibber passed away Thursday, October 1, 2009. Wilma Hightower was 83. She lived a long blessed life. She had a huge family that loved her dearly. She influenced my life greatly and I will forever miss her. She and I were very close and we spent a lot of time together. I'm so grateful for the time I got to spend with her. I took her to many of her doctor appointments and we would always go out for lunch. I would take her for pizza sometimes because she loved pizza but didn't get it very often. Sometimes we would go to the Cracker Barrel because she loved their cornbread muffins. I took her to get her groceries and her medicine. And most times she would say "Do you feel like having some ice cream?" and we would go somewhere to get a shake or a scoop. I have a sweet tooth and I know just where it came from. :) One year she was trying to decide what to give everyone for Christmas and I suggested we make up a cookbook of all her special recipes. So she gathered them up and some she had to write down because she just had them in her head. And I typed them all up, printed them out and put them in little books. And so that year she gave everyone 'Mamaw Bibber's Recipe Book'. I'm so glad I did that because I will always cherish it. And I use it all the time. We would go to the movies in Ruston and she loved it. She just loved to get the yummy buttery popcorn (so do I). I took her several times to the Biedenharn Museum in Monroe to see the flowers. She loved all her flowers at home and she always had the prettiest bulbs that would bloom every year. We made sure to get one of the 5 cent glass bottle Cokes when we were at Biedenharn and we would either sit on the bench and drink it or wander around the flowers drinking it. My mamaw was funny and the best story teller. She told me a lot of funny stories about my dad when he was little. He is her oldest child. We would talk about my dogs, she liked to hear about the funny things they were always doing. I'm going to miss visiting with her. She was a truly a blessing in my life and I am so glad I had 32 years to spend with her. I will have to tell my little Emme Claire all about her great grandmother and what a wonderful person she was.

At the Biedenharn Museum. This was in February 2008.