Pomona Street

I was driving with my son one sunny afternoon

we drove by a street named Pomona

He said, “Hey mom! do you know why they named that street Pomona?”

I said, “No, why?”

Well you see, long time ago when this town was starting before streets were named

and there were no roads or side walks, there lived a very nice widowed woman on this street.

She was very kind, but some not so nice kids used to make fun of her and called her, aunt Jamima

because she was a sweet and  wore a rag in her head.  Her real name was Ramona.

She would feed the needy though she was very poor and had no husband to help her with the expenses.

Children playing outside would often knock at her door to ask for food or just a glass of water.

She’d often babysit for free, but many mom’s payed her with groceries, to assist her feed her children.

She was well known in that town and most remembered her fondly.  When she passed away

and they were deciding what name to give that street her name came up.

But some said, who’s Ramona? someone quickly added you know, Po’Mona as most

black folks used refer to her, when they’d hear about her financial struggles.

Today most residents ignore what Pomona stands for and who was this nice lady.

“Oh wow!, that’s a really interesting story, thanks for sharing honey.”

Is that true?

He replied, “No!”

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