Pictures of appalachian hillbillies
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Capturing Appalachia’s “Mountain People”
Esther Renee Adams was born on her grandmother’s birthday, June 2, and was named for her, though eventually, after “Mamaw” started calling her “Nay Bug” (because she was scared of ladybugs), everyone else did, too.
No granddaughter loved her grandmother more.
Pictures of appalachian hillbillies
Mamaw could take the smart out of a wasp sting and hold her own in bubble-gum-blowing contests. She was always game to slice into the Fourth of July watermelon a few days early.
Mamaw died of emphysema in July 1990, when Nay Bug was 7.
“Half of me died, too,” she says.
Mamaw was laid out in her own home. In the mountains of eastern Kentucky, such “country wakes” could last for days, as mourners emerged from the coal mines or drove out from the factories.
Sometimes so many people showed up, the parlor floor had to be reinforced. Guests paid their respects to the dead, then went into another room for sandwiches, coffee and a long visit.
Not Nay Bug. While people tal