Civillian "Mama" Edith Jackson
Name "Mama" Edith LaMarie Jackson
Position DFAC Manager
Rank Civillian
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 52 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 5'5 | |
| Weight | 210 | |
| Hair Color | Gray/black | |
| Eye Color | Deep brown | |
| Physical Description | Compact and heavyset, Mama Edith either has a big smile for you, or a withering frown, depending on how well you're behaving. She tends to go with minimal makeup, except for her shade of deep red liptstick and maybe a "lil dab'll do ya" perfume stick. |
Family
| Spouse | Walter | |
| Children | Tonya Walter, JR Anthony "AJ" James ElMarie |
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| Father | Deceased | |
| Mother | Deceased | |
| Brother(s) | N/A | |
| Sister(s) | N/A | |
| Other Family | She considers all those who are serviced by HER Dining Facility to be her family, and treats them exactly as if they are. From General Wolf down to the other civilian support staff. But, she does have a special place in her for "the boys in uniform". Don't bother pointing out that there are females in service there because "Pshhh, that don't matter, it's just a word, honey". |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | You remember that one woman in the neighborhood? The one EVERYONE called "Mama"? The one that always had fresh baked cookies or pie and there was no such thing as "not plenty to eat"? There ya go. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Mama's greatest strength is in her warm, kind, nurturing nature. Everyone is a 'child' to her and everyone is her child. Can be a bit tempermental at times. |
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| Ambitions | World peace. Or maybe just everyone being kind to one another and enjoying some of her special grits! | |
| Hobbies & Interests | Cooking, mothering, cooking, feeding others. She also knits, crochets and will be sure to fix those little uniform problems from a slipped hem to a stubborn stain. |
| Personal History | The girl who would become Mama Edith was born to two lower working class parents in Hoover, Alabama. Everyone said she was born with a smile on her face and joy in her eyes. Though doctors and specialists would say it was impossible, her family swore she laughed from the first day. A precocious and wonderfilled baby, Edith grew surrounded by the love of her parents - when they could. Both were forced to work just to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. It wasn’t always easy, but Edith learned that a good life came not from how much you had but what you did with it. As she grew she was watched over by her “Grammie Jean”. Grammie lived in a project, but one that tried to have pride. They weren’t ‘poor’ at that time but were ‘black’ and their economic status was to be expected. After all, it was the South and it wasn’t quite flush with the civil rights movement yet. But the world was changing Brown vs Board of Education, the March on Selma, the calls to action by a young reverend as well as the call to arms by another young man, a malcontent who preferred anarchy to dreaming. But nothing changed in Grammie’s house, because there was nothing to change. Grammie spent her days watching over the children of the neighborhood, and never once did her rheumy eyes see the color of their skin but only heard the laughter in their hearts. Mornings would see biscuits with sausage gravy, large bowls of fluffly scrambled eggs, benoits, pancakes, flapjacks and always a large pot of grits just waiting for someone to grab a freshly washed bowl and the ladle. This is how Edith grew up, by the warm, loving side of her Grammie and surrounded by whoever happened to stop by (and later, Edith would come to understand that not everyone who came to eat Grammie’s food was from the neighborhood, because some of them didn’t have homes at all). Grammie wasn’t by any means rich, but she knew how to get what she need, and even more, she knew how to make what she had into so much more. It was in this stead that, on the verge of double digits, Edith was able to go on after the death of her father. The death under suspicious and never explained circumstances. Never explained, that was, except in the knowing looks and the pursed lips of the ladies at church. After school Edith would rush to Grammie’s house and continue learning to cook the most amazing things, branching out from their native Southern cuisine (and by the time she started high school, you would sell your mother down the river for a jar of her white BBQ sauce)! She continued her schoolwork hoping to make something more of her life, and to continue Grammie’s legacy. But, eventually she had to make a choice - her evenings with Grammie or finding a job so she could save money for culinary school. She choose, instead, to begin selling sandwiches, popkins, dessert loaves, strawberry shortcakes, cookies and various daily stews she and Grammie made in her kitchen. And yes, there was always the big pot of grits for whoever needed that warm bowl of deliciousness. What she hoped would earn her a little bit of money, and help Grammie continue feeding the less fortunate, started to take off. Soon there was too much business to just work out of the kitchen of one projects home. She rented restuarant space and began working from there. Eventually, due to demand, she had to open the restaurant itself and became something of a Hoover legend, all shortly after obtaining her diploma. She did get to attend culinary school, working it around working in her kitchen. Her catering business resumed afters he graduated from the culinary academy with honors (and a few professors offering to co-author a cookbook with her). Though just barely in her twenties she was already “Mama” Edith, called that in the beginning by her young employees (she made sure those in school spent at least an hour at the beginning or end of their shift doing their ‘studies’.) Then by the regulars in general. Eventually, Edith married Walter and started to become a mother for real. All through it all, she kept to her cooking, even if it was stirring a pot of beans with one hand a baby on her hip with the other. Walter was a kind, caring husband with an unfortunate two pack a day habit. By the time the cancer caught up to him, Edith was already working on government catering contracts. Until she finally caught contracts to run dining facilities at various Southern bases. It was here that her food came to the attention of a few senators, which led to invitations to cater Washington luncheons, which lead to bigger military contracts. Which led her to turn her restaurant over to her eldest niece. Which led her to Cheyenne Mountain Complex and a strangely lucrative contract with many conditions attached. But Mama Edith would have complete autonomy where it came to the kitchen. Which was good because Mama was a warm, kind, mothering woman. Unless you were being naughty, then it was tough love. And the toughest thing Mama knew was bland, ‘gray’ food and denial of the things you really loved. Now, Mama Edith is finding a whole new family that needs her nurturin, her care and most of all, her buttermilk biscuits and banana chocolate chip bread. And all of them fine, brave young men and women in uniform. Even that General Wolf - when he remembers his manners and stops stomping around the Dining Facility like he’s in charge of the place. |