Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. In some places it is also Decoration Day. May 10, 2026, is a special day for another reason for me. My mother, Lennie Irene Headrick Stephens (1926-2022) would be 100 years old tomorrow.
I do not often write about my family, but my mother represents a whole generation of women who grew up in a difficult time in our nation and community. They were the women of “The Greatest Generation”.
My mother was born into abject poverty. Her father was abusive to his wife and children. Her mother, Cora Cummings Headrick, had Pellagra when she was born. Pellagra is a disease caused by a poor diet. It took my grandmother over a year to recover after she gave birth to my mother. My mother spent that time with her step-grandmother and namesake Lennie Medlin Farmer Cummings McBath…