A
LEGACY
OF
LOVE
Opal Arthur teaches others how to make her beloved biscuits
N
Story by Monique Harrison Henderson
annaw’s homemade buttermilk biscuits have become a big
part of 97-year-old Opal Arthur’s legacy.
It’s a legacy that has spanned several generations, as
she has taught her children, grandchildren, great-grandchil-
dren and others how to make the doughy, round breadcakes.
She initially taught her young grandsons how to make the biscuits
years ago in part as a way to keep an eye on them while she was in the
kitchen, hoisting them up on the counter to sit, mix and roll dough for
their own biscuits.
“It was a good way to keep them from getting into anything while
she was in the kitchen,” recounted Betty Arthur Rucker, Opal’s daugh-
ter, recalling her sons’ early biscuit making efforts.
Rucker herself did not fully learn how to make the biscuits until her
own kids were grown.
“My son could make them before I could,” she said. “But as mother
was getting up in age, I realized that it was important for me to learn
how to make them the same way she did.”
One of the challenges, Rucker said, is that even when she did exactly
as her mother directed, hers didn’t turn out quite the same.
“I would be in her kitchen, using her spoon and her bowl, with her
“My son could
make them before
I could. But as
mother was get-
ting up in age, I
realized that it
was important
for me to learn
how to make
them the same
way she did.”
Betty Arthur Rucker,
Opal Arthur’s daughter.
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