![]() While cruising the tables sampling another version of baked beans, families compare the dishes on their table to those on other families’ tables, of course favoring their own with smug satisfaction. There’s an undercurrent of friendly competition. Debbie freezes peaches every summer for her Decoration Day cobbler. And of course, Cuppa, Cuppa, Cuppa Cobbler. Other dishes on their family table include black-eyed peas, green bean casserole, brisket, potato salad (made from their mother’s recipes) and baked beans. Peggy is the family’s designated maker of Lime Tea because “she has the touch,” says Debbie. “the Bozeman girls”-Peggy Morse of Florence and Lynne Crews of Boerne-divvy up their family’s assignments. The simpler, the more traditional, the better. pudding and fluff) salads,” and especially desserts, many using recipes handed down from one generation to the next.ĭecoration Day is no time to show off with a fancy dish from The Food Network. Families also bring homemade covered dishes with sides such as scalloped potatoes, corn casserole, multiple variations of “funeral (i.e. They, along with others, also bring buckets of fried chicken and store-bought hams. All the other dishes are laid out on the Hamilton Family table but the paper-towel-lined box of pies goes under the table for doling out to family and special friends. She couldn’t possibly make enough to give one to every Decoration Day pilgrim. Ronda makes a similar batch, her once-a-year nod. ![]() on Decoration Day to roll, fill and fry three dozen fried pies. Don recalls that his mother got up at 4 a.m. That’s her son, Don Hamilton, and his wife, Ronda. These days, one particular family still brings College Mound Decoration Day’s signature dessert, Nawasa Hamilton’s fried pies. Her Hogan-Liston family is among the pioneers of College Mound, founded circa 1840. “No one leaves there hungry, ever.” Her favorites include her late grandmother’s recipe for brownies with vanilla glaze and Frito chili pie. “There’s always plenty of food,” she says. This year, Natalie Knabach came from Chicago, as she has several times since relocating from North Texas 15 years ago. In recent years, after retiring as an artists’ rep and marketing professional, Debbie’s been the keeper of the flame as College Mound Cemetery Association president, working to see that Decoration Day will continue for another 133 years. Like the others who come, she’s got it in her, having been part of College Mound Decoration Day most of her 60ish years since growing up in Terrell. If you’re lucky enough to be part of a tradition like this, if you’ve got it in you, you come.” “A rich tradition like this makes you belong. Decoration Day goes deep, says Debbie Bozeman-Zook of Dallas. Though family reunions and fresh flowers for the graves is the mission, the expansive covered dish lunch, particularly certain special dishes, is the lure. That’s basically sweet tea-really sweet tea- laced with lime juice, another signature recipe for the occasion. Decoration Day regulars’ dessert dreams foretell Maud Shepherd’s Cuppa, Cuppa, Cuppa Cobbler. Friends and family with College Mound roots yearn all year long for an apricot fried pie made from Nawasa Hamilton’s handwritten recipe. With so many other things to do and places to be, what keeps family and friends coming back from as far away as New York City, Chicago and Denver, and as close as the nearby Dallas area, about 40 miles west on I-20? All comers relish visions of long tables laden with ham, mac and cheese, fried chicken, cheesy grits, potato salad and, of course, the desserts.ĭecoration Day is about food and community spirit. Riding in horse-drawn wagons, they also brought lunch baskets to sustain the hard work. Every family answered the call to arms with rakes and yard tools. The tradition at College Mound United Methodist Church dates to 1886, when the objective was more practical: honoring the dear departed by spring cleaning the adjacent cemetery. Once a year, memories of biting into handheld pies with crisp, flaky crusts and sugary apricot filling lure several hundred hungry pilgrims to a small church in rural East Texas for a spring potluck known as Decoration Day. Becky Nussbaum and Mike Gerro from Arlington with photo of Clyde Love.Folks gathered in April for the 133rd Decoration Day at College Mound United Methodist Church. ![]() Photo: Courtesy of the College Mound Cemetery Association. ![]() Photo: Courtesy of Estelle Liston family. An earlier iteration of Decoration Day.
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