![]() ![]() People are drawn to Idella Parker like bees to orange blossoms. "Honey," she tells me, "We had some good times here." But it is different now, and as she approaches her 82nd birthday, she can remember the better days. Rawlings was only 57 when she died of a stroke in 1953, and for many years, Idella could not bear to visit the Creek because of the most painful memories of their years together. She once wrote a book about all of this, Idella: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' "Perfect Maid." More than just an account of her relationship with Rawlings, the book paints a vivid picture of the joys and trials of rural black life before integration. Finally, caring for Rawlings became too much of an emotional burden for Idella, who left. Like perhaps too many creative people, Rawlings suffered from depression and alcoholism. She knew the Pulitzer Prize-winning author at her best, but also at her very worst. ![]() Idella was Rawlings' housekeeper and cook, cheerleader and friend. In her 1942 essay collection, Cross Creek, Rawlings called her employee the "perfect maid," a description Idella treasures all the while denying its accuracy. Rawlings and Idella were close _ probably about as close as any rich white woman, and any poor black woman, ever got in the heyday of Cracker Florida. ![]()
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