A Lost of A Matriarch

This past Thursday, our maternal family lost a beloved love one and our family business lost one of our Matriarches. My tante (aunt/tiddy) Vani Gay Williams is the first and only person in my family that I witness rebatching cottonseed oil soap and making candles. When I was a little girl, 4, and introduced to my mother’s mother’s side of the family, a year later, I quietly watched my tante melt cottonseed oil soap in my grand-mère’s kitchen using Wagner’s magnalite sauce pan. After the cottonseed oil soap had been gently melted down, she would take the saucepan off the fire, walk towards the kitchen table where is had pre-wax papered little wooden jewelry box or keepsake box awaiting to be filled with soap.