It is no secret that I love old book stores and shops and that usually in every city my husband and I visit, I try to make the time to get into at least one or two. People who have a profound love for books share a kindred spirit in that they’re always willing to help point you to their favorite bookshop or to tell you about the last great book they’ve read. Many of these shops are obscure little places tucked away in busy shopping centers and off the main highways and byways of our nation.
I have friends in several cities now, such as Coyce V. Wilkinson, a kind, gentle man who owns and runs Books & More in Amarillo. He is a true book lover and always has several open behind his counter in his shop. He helped me to complete my collection of Hemingway novels and to acquire the latest in the James Patterson series. It is also no great secret that books are expensive and that any way you can find to purchase them at reduced prices is worth checking out in earnest. I’ve found estate sales, Goodwill stores, The Salvation Army stores and sometimes individual garage sales are good places to scoop up good literature. The Internet shopping services are also good ways of obtaining particular books as long as you know the title and author you want. I long ago got over being proud when it comes to book shopping, and the better the deal, the happier I find myself.
I also have friends who share their used books with me, and I likewise, return the favor. There’s always a bag of books somewhere in our home waiting to be delivered to a friend’s house or taken to one of the shops to be exchanged for new reading material.
While shopping in a little bookstore recently, I chanced to come upon a small book, “Simple Wisdom for Rich Living,” the life story of a Hattiesburg, Miss. woman, Oseola McCarty. Miss McCarty was an African-American washerwoman who lived a simple, but profound life in the old south, and left a legacy in education for which she will be long remembered by many. The first thing I noticed about the book was that it was an original printing signed copy by Miss McCarty and I found it had enjoyed several printings by Longstreet Press in Marietta, Ga. since that time. I read it in one sitting and found it to be inspiring and exciting. After reading the book, I began a one-woman campaign to verify its contents and to find out whatever I could about this amazing woman.
The more I read and discovered, the more enamored with Oseola McCarty I became. Her selfless story is a remarkable one that bears witness of what one person can do in a lifetime. The words bear mute testimony to a lifetime spent washing and ironing other people’s clothes so that the simple woman could donate $150,000 in education scholarships to The University of Southern Mississippi, a place in her hometown she had never visited, but had heard about in the news.
When Miss McCarty decided to make her gift to the university, her neighbors and those that thought they knew her well were astounded. Customers who had brought washing and ironing to her modest frame home for more than 75 years read like the social register of Hattiesburg. She has done laundry for three generations of some of the families. In the beginning days, she said she charged $1.50 to $2 for a bundle, but with inflation, the prices increased some over the years.
“When I started making real money — $10 a bundle, I commenced to save money,” said the articulate speaker. “I put it in savings at the local bank. I never would take any of it out. I just put it in consistently and it just accumulated over the years.”
Miss McCarty was born in Wayne County, Miss., on March 7, 1908 and was reared by her mother, Lucy, grandmother and aunt who moved to Hattiesburg when Oseola was very young. Even as a young child of eight, Miss McCarty worked after school helping the women of her family wash and iron. “I’ve always loved to work,” said Miss McCarty. “Good honest work keeps a mind and hands busy.” When Oseola was in the sixth grade, her childless aunt had to go into the hospital and when she was released, she needed someone to care for her. Oseola left school to take on that responsibility and never got to return to her classes.
Her grandmother died in 1944, her mother in 1964 and her aunt that she took care of in 1967. “I’ve been having it by myself since then,” said the kindly lady. In 1947 her uncle gave her the home in which she frugally lived and worked.
During the latter years of her life, bank personnel, realizing that Miss McCarty was accumulating sizable savings, advised her to put her money into CD’s, conservative mutual funds and other accounts where it would work for her, including a trust for her care should she need it. In the meantime, Miss McCarty continued to do the laundry of her customers until arthritis forced her to retire in December 1994 at the age of 86.
Paul Laughlin, assistant vice president and trust officer of the local bank, along with an attorney for whom the laundress had worked, explained to Miss McCarty what she had accumulated by using dimes and slips of paper. She divided her savings between her church, three living cousins and the University of Southern Mississippi so that other young people could obtain the education she never received. “She placed one dime on the slip of paper marked for her church, one dime each for three living cousins and six dimes for the university gift,” said Laughlin. “It was totally her idea and her choice of the distribution.”
At age 87, Miss McCarty donated $150,000 saved from her 75 years of doing laundry to the University of Southern Mississippi out of her total savings of some $280,000 and continued to live her quiet, unassuming life until word got out of her sacrificial gift. Stephanie Bullock, an 18-year-old African-American Hattiesburg High School honor graduate, became the first Oseola McCarty Scholarship recipient.
She then had offers to appear on ABC, CNN, NBC, BET and MTV, which she did with quiet aplomb. Miss McCarty was also a big read in Newsweek, The New York Times, People, Life, Ebony, Essence and Jet. Her numerous national and international awards include the Presidential Citizens Medal presented to her at the White House by President Bill Clinton, the second highest civilian honor in our nation, the Wallenberg Humanitarian Award and the famed Avicenna Medal from UNESCO. She was also featured as one of Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People in 1995 and was the recipient of an honorary doctorate of letters from Harvard University.
The sudden fame did not change this humble, hard-working, thrifty woman. She continued to live in her modest home, tend her flowers, cook her own meals and walk everywhere she went other than in latter years when transportation was provided to her. One interviewer noted that Miss McCarty’s old, worn Bible was held together by strips of Scotch tape. The entire Book of Corinthians was taped into the worn leather cover. Miss McCarty’s death was mourned by thousands on Sept. 26, 1999 when she died of cancer of the liver. Her principles and exemplary life inspire others and leave a rich legacy that has spread far from Hattiesburg.
I have included some of the quotes from Miss McCarty’s book in The Examiner’s Fuel for the Fire in coming weeks.
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