Finding Montana

As a kid, I grew up hearing stories of my great aunt, Tan. That’s short for Montana. Aunt Tan was my grandmothers sister. She was a twin and tough as nails. For years, Mama and uncle Milford had looked tirelessly to find where she was buried. Through the years, the memories were fuzzy and they’d ride through miles and miles of Randolph County, Alabama looking for her grave.

From what I understand, Aunt Tan was the kind of lady I would have loved. She was born in 1900 and died the year I was born. She wore homemade dresses that her twin sister, Maybelle, made her with two pockets on the front. One pocket was for her wallet and the other held her Camel cigarettes. When her sisters son was on trial for murder, the prosecuting attorney said something that made her mad as a wet hen. She asked the judge how much she’d be fined if she slapped the hell out of the attorney. The judge told her it’d be $75 and it was the best $75 she ever spent. She knocked him out.

Aunt Tan knew Mayhayley Lancaster, the psychic made famous by the book and movie Murder in Coweta County. Aunt Tan had some tools stolen and she went to Mayhayley to find the tools. Low and behold Mayhayley told her where those tools were and she went to get them. Aunt Tan found the tools just where the psychic said they’d be. When I heard this story as a kid, I felt like our family was famous since Aunt Tan had used the talent of Mayhayley to find the tools.

Mama always said that Aunt Tan used to get in the car for a ride and tell her husband, Uncle Ern, “ride me ‘til we’re lost.” I didn’t even know her but I have always enjoyed getting in the car and wandering the countryside. I guess that’s why my Daddy always called me and Mama “the gypsies.” It almost seemed fitting that Mama and Uncle Milford searched for so many years, getting lost in the country, searching for Aunt Tan’s grave.

Yesterday, I took Mama home after spending the weekend with me and we went to lunch. While talking she commented how she wished we could find where Aunt Tan was buried. She remembered what she thought was the church’s name. Thank goodness for Google. With a quick search, and even a wrong name of the church, I found Aunt Tan. At the High Pine Baptist Church in Randolph County, Alabama, I located her grave. For all the years she wanted to be lost, all we wanted was for her to be found. Seeing the headstone online was surreal. It was so easy to find her with just a quick online search. I don’t know exactly where High Pines Baptist Church is located in the big town of Roanoke, Alabama but one day real soon, I’m going to ride until I’m lost and find my Aunt Tan.