Momma Used To Say

About the Book

Whether called momma, mother or mom, she was the matriarch of the family.  Her memory banks included a storehouse of short sayings that were used to advise, teach, discipline and love her children. Come along and take a nostalgic walk down memory lane while reading some of the sage advice mommas have passed on to their children, generation after generation.  Some of the advice might be called motherly wisdom and some might be called common sense.  Regardless of what they’re called, the bits of advice moms have passed down to their children have certainly stood the test of time, often becoming memorable pieces of a family’s heritage. 

Some of momma’s sayings may be unique to certain geographic regions of the country.  However, most are known throughout the nation, perhaps with slight variations in the language. Many have roots in other countries of the world, arriving in the United States with our immigrant relatives.  Whatever the origins, motherly advice is alive and well in spite of television, computers, cell phones and a host of other things in today’s world that have reduced the amount of time families spend in conversation.  If you’ll just take the time to stop and listen, you can still hear sons and daughters start discussing fond family memories by saying, “Remember what momma used to say?”

About the Author

 M. Gene Newport was born and raised in Albion, a small rural community in southeastern Illinois.  As the county seat of Edwards County, the town had a courthouse, complete with a clock in the bell tower.  When it worked properly (sometimes it didn’t), a bell in the tower would ring out on the hour to let all within hearing distance know the time.  Streets around the courthouse were packed with automobiles on Saturdays when farmers and their families came to town to do their shopping.  Gene’s paternal grandmother made the trip to town about every two weeks to buy the few staples that couldn’t be raised in the large garden she tended while grandpa worked in the fields on their farm.

When grandma came to town, she always stopped by to visit with Gene, his brother and his parents.  Her visits gave everyone an opportunity to catch up on news from the farm, as well as the latest news making the rounds in town.  The conversation was usually filled with lots of sayings that were descriptive and filled with sage advice—advice that had been passed down from one generation of the family to the next.  Some of the sayings were unique to Gene’s family, but most were common among families throughout the area. Gene didn’t know it at the time, but families throughout the nation had also perpetuated many of the sayings and some had come from countries around the world.

There was no television as Gene was growing up, and families with radios played them sparingly.  Houses had neither central heat nor air-conditioning.  They were heated with wood or coal stoves placed in one room of the house.  Family members sat around the stove on winter evenings to talk, read or play board games.  For relief from the summer heat, families gathered on front porches to talk and enjoy any cool breezes that might come drifting by.  Whatever the season of the year, conversation was always present, and most conversations included lots of advice that had been passed down from one generation of the family to the next. 

During Gene’s childhood, dads were the breadwinners who worked to bring home the bacon.  Mommas worked full time in their dual roles of wives and mothers, roles that sometimes found them saying, “Man may work from sun to sun, but woman’s work is never done.”  Since dads were at work, children typically spent more time with their mothers while growing up.  To teach, discipline, praise, comfort and love their children, moms often passed on advice through sayings they had heard from their mothers.  Gene certainly received such motherly advice while growing up, usually on a daily basis.

After graduation from high school, Gene attended Eastern Illinois University where he earned a B.S. degree in Education.  He then attended the University of Illinois, earning a M.S. degree in Management and the Ph.D. degree in Business. He then began a career in university teaching and administration that spanned more than forty years.

During his career as a professor and administrator in three universities, Gene wrote, co-authored or edited over a dozen books in the field of management.  In addition, he wrote articles published in professional journals throughout the United States and abroad.  Since retiring in 1997, Gene has written and published four books with AuthorHouse. Subject matter of the books ranges from management, to country music, to school administration.  The latter book has been translated into the Arabic language and is being published in Saudi Arabia.

Gene and his wife, Sue, live in suburban Birmingham, Alabama.  They travel extensively, in addition to spending time with their children and grandchildren.  Wherever their travels take them, they listen for any sayings being used by mothers to pass advice on to their children, just as mothers have always done.