Affectionately, Toots
My Mother’s Journal
by Cheryl Elferis
Your Subtitle text
A Daughter's Tribute
Edna Craig ("Toots"),
before a piano recital
Brooklyn, 1938
Edna Louise Craig was born July 12, 1920 in Harlem. She was the eldest of three children born to Jamaican immigrants.
At an early age, she showed extraordinary musical aptitude and became a skilled classical pianist and organist. She was an accomplished musician, as well as a devoted wife and mother.
I was blessed to be her daughter. We were very close. She called me Missy; I called her Toots. She had such interesting life stories to tell, and when she was nearing eighty years old I asked her to write it all down in a journal.
Affectionately, Toots is a compilation of material taken from two journals, a diary from earlier years, plus lots of letters and handwritten notes of love and encouragement she wrote all through her life. I have put them together, filled in some missing pieces with memories and commentary of my own, and have added family photos throughout.
At an early age, she showed extraordinary musical aptitude and became a skilled classical pianist and organist. She was an accomplished musician, as well as a devoted wife and mother.
I was blessed to be her daughter. We were very close. She called me Missy; I called her Toots. She had such interesting life stories to tell, and when she was nearing eighty years old I asked her to write it all down in a journal.
Affectionately, Toots is a compilation of material taken from two journals, a diary from earlier years, plus lots of letters and handwritten notes of love and encouragement she wrote all through her life. I have put them together, filled in some missing pieces with memories and commentary of my own, and have added family photos throughout.
