24Girl and Papa

Girl, Papa, and Daddy

I was named after my grandmother, Lois (Wall) Knight Henderson.

But no one called her Lois.

My father gave her the nickname “Girl.” He was looking at a magazine one day and saw a picture. He asked what it was called and was told, “girl.” He pointed to his mother and said, “Girl.”

And the name stayed with her for the rest of her life.

Girl was born in Tampa in 1890. Her family — the Knights and the Walls — were old Florida pioneer families, arriving in the mid-1820s and late 1830s. Their roots ran deep in Florida soil. (Their story is one I will tell another time.)

Girl went to Belmont College for Women, in Nashville, Tennessee and graduated from Brenau College for Women with a degree in  China Painting.

Papa was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1889.

His father died when he was nine years old. His mother remarried, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Bettie Hollowell.

She carried her own history.

As a young girl of fourteen, she lived through the Battle of Stones River near Murfreesboro, which took place from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863. It was one of the most brutal battles of the American Civil War, with tens of thousands of soldiers and devastating losses.

I was told that she was deeply affected by what she witnessed, and that she spoke of the horror and brutality of it.

That history lived on in the family.

Papa came to Florida sometime before 1910. He was a dashing young man, and he swept Girl off her feet. He loved her deeply and adored her.

To me, he was warmth.

Papa passed away when I was ten years old, but I have sweet memories of him. I remember sitting on his lap, bouncing up and down while he sang to me:

“I’m a little prairie flower,

growing wilder every hour.

Nobody cares to cultivate me,

so I’m as wild as wild can be.”

He was affectionate and hands-on — a loving presence in my early life.

And when I think of him now:

Love lived easily in his arms.

It was simple,

playful,

warm.

A song, a laugh,

a gentle hold—

and for a little while,

the world felt soft

and safe.