Mamaw’s View – Boones Creek TN

You have to hear the image if you want to see the story

This is the window she looked out of every day. Every day. It looked out onto the family farm. She spent most of her life in this house, working this farm. She married John Henry Matherly when she was 14 years old and moved to this farm. She raised ten children in this house. She was 45 when John Henry died. A widow. A widow with ten kids. She didn’t complain. She believed in God, America, and family. Her name was Blanche Matherly. She was Sloan’s Mamaw. She looked out this window when she was happy. She looked out this window when she was sad. Mad. Lonely. Forlorn. Worried. Joyful. She sat at this window in a rocker and felt all of these things. She was 86 years old when she died so she spent 72 years looking out of this window. 72 years is a long time to get to know someone. I’m sure this window knew Mamaw well. This window and this view comforted her and saw her through so much. She died in her chair looking out this window. After she died in 1980, her oldest daughter (Sloan’s Aunt Pat) sat in that chair looking out that window. She died in that chair looking out that window at the age of 98. I can only imagine what Sloan felt looking out that same window. A photograph is so much more than aperture and shutter speed. Sometimes it has a heart and a soul.
~Ken Martin