Local man recalls fond memories of his mother

A local resident recalls fond memories of his mother. Sue Willis passed away May 19, 2023, at the age of 92. Her son Stephen Willis said she was his “greatest teacher and challenger.” To honor her life and cherish her memory, he recalled a story about how hismotheralwayschallenged him.

He said he could never recall seeing her with a pole in her hand fishing, but she could most definitely cook and prepare anything caught with a fishing pole.

He said when he was around 12 years old, he and his family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Around that time in his life, Stephen was a picky eater.

One night, his mother served eggplant for dinner. He said it was not visually appealing for a 12-year-old boy.

“I looked at that purple thing and immediately,” he said. 'Nope. I'm not eating that. Yuck!'

After Stephen’s rejection, Sue didn’t say a word, she just took away the eggplant and allowed Stephen to eat the remaining items on his plate. A few days later, Stephen recalled, Sue served him a plate of delicious fried fish fillets with potatoes, spinachandbananapudding. Stephen enjoyed that meal so much, he told his mom that it was “the best fish” he had ever tasted and requested it for future meals. He said she smiled sweetly as he polished off his plate.

Fast forward to 2008 when Sue invited Stephen to move from the Bay Area to Kingston. One day while they were visiting, Stephen told his mother that he had learned to enjoy asparagus, artichokes, avocados, and other foods from his past that he refused to eat.

She then inquired if he ever learned to like eggplant, the meal he refused to eat when he was 12. He replied that he had, especially “sauteed in butter and lightly salted.”

She smiled to his response and asked if he remembered the fried fish that she served in Corpus Christi that he loved so much. With a smile, Stephen said yes. Then, she surprised him with her next statement.

“Well, guess what” she asked. “That was the purple eggplant, sliced and covered with corn meal and pan fried.”

Stephen said he was surprised to learn that the “fish” dinner he enjoyed so much and lovingly remembered was actually the eggplant that he despised.

Stephen said Sue was his greatest defender and teacher. She taught him so many things, like how to be a proudChickasaw,andhowto stand up for himself. He said he will cherish that memory and other ones like it to keep his mother’s spirit alive.