Kathleen Grant Daise:Time And Tide Wait For No Man

Born in 1913 on Saint Helena Island to Ezekiel and Gertrude Grant, and the oldest living graduate of the Penn School, Kathleen Grant Daise fondly remembers the days when she was a student there. “I enjoyed everything! I loved to go to school; I was always on time.” And being on time was not always an easy feat because the young Kathleen walked about three miles each way to school every day from her home on the old Croft Plantation on Eddings Point Road. “When the tide came up it would cover the dirt road. If we waited for the tide to go down we would be late so we found another footpath that we could use.” It may be as a result of those walks that her son, Stan, remembers her saying, “Time and tide wait for no man.”
Mrs. Daise’s grandparents are likely to been born into slavery on the Croft Plantation, her mother died when she was only five and her father had died before she was born. Her love of school and her education were so important to her that she became a teacher herself. “I was the youngest in my house. There were six children, and I was happy to get out and go to school!” But Mrs. Daise had to wait an extra two years to attend school. In Memories of Penn School, she recalls, “At age six I was a very little girl, but I was quite ready for school because I could spell my name and I could also write my name. Penn School did not require you to have a birth certificate, which we did not have then. They just assumed that since I was so small, I was not six. I was eight years old before I was admitted. How unfortunate!”
Mrs. Daise remembers some of her experiences at Penn with pride, and some with humor. When she was in her early teens, she was awarded the opportunity to go to Columbia, SC to a biscuit making contest. “I was one of the ones who could really make a biscuit! It was my first trip away from Beaufort; my uncle took me across the water in a boat to meet my ride to Columbia. It was a long trip on the bumpy dirt roads.” Did she have a secret technique? With just the glimmer of a smile, all she’ll tell is that she used a fork when making the batter. Mrs. Daise laughs when she tells the story of a well known schoolmate who used to put bricks in his shirt to bulk up a bit on the basic health screening day at school when the students were weighed.
Graduating in 1933, Mrs. Daise also explains in Memories of Penn School, “When I entered, Penn only went to the eleventh grade. When I completed the eleventh grade, a twelfth year was added to more thoroughly train teachers. We had to make out a lesson plan, and we used children from the lower grades to do our practice teaching on. So after graduation, you could go into a classroom and work. That was a great advantage. I was in the first such class. Several students who had already graduated returned to Penn for the year of teacher training.” With that experience under her belt, Mrs. Daise began her long teaching career on Saint Helena Island at the Lee Rosenwald School on the McTureus Plantation, where she lived in a cottage on the property. Her next position was at the Elting School on the Tom Fripp Plantation where she was one of only two teachers and taught the youngest of the children.
In 1936 Kathleen Grant married Henry Daise, known as Chansome, and over the course of years they had nine children: Catherine, Mildred (deceased), Henry Jr. (deceased), Benjamin, Irene, Vera, Osalami (nee Barbara), Stanley, and Ronald.
When they married, Henry Sr. was in the Civil Service and a carpenter at Parris Island which is where he learned the building trade. Son Stan recalls a time that was a testimony to his fathers skills and his mothers support. “1959 was a year most St. Helenians remember because of Hurricane Gracie. I remember an exchange that took place between Mama and Daddy because of warnings that came about the pending storm. Mama asked Daddy if we could go to Aunt Marge’s house because her house was made from concrete and ours was made from wood. She felt this would be sturdier and therefore safer for us. Daddy was a carpenter and told her he felt our home would be all right. Mama remained calm and appealed to him to let the children go to Aunt Marge’s and she would remain there with him. Daddy still did not agree and we all stayed. The storm hit and I recall Daddy and Ben bracing the front door to keep it from being blown in. A part of the roof did come off the house, but we survived without extensive damage or any injury. I never forgot this because I saw first hand her concern for our safety and yet a commitment to Daddy in spite of her own apprehensions. Daddy helped build our house with wood and nails but Mama built our home with love.”
As a teacher, wife, and mother of nine children, Mrs. Daise found ways to balance her personal and professional life. Daughter Irene says of her mother, “My mother is the most resourceful person that I know. We never had a car when we were growing up, but somehow she managed to attend all PTA meetings and other school programs. She always found a way for us to attend school events. I really think she could pray up rides for us to go where we needed to go. Educators talk of the importance of parental involvement; they really need to patent what my mother practiced. She instilled in us a love of reading and the power of education.”
Of the various holidays and festivals that the Daise family attended at Penn, Baby Day was a favorite of Mrs. Daise. In her son Ronald’s book Reminiscences of Sea Island Heritage, she further explained, “‘Mothers were always proud of their babies and looked forward to the next Baby Day,’ continues Mrs. Daise. ‘That was the day the mothers took their babies to the Penn School campus to be weighed and measured. All the midwives were there. All the healthy babies received blue ribbons; others, honorable mention. It taught mothers to try to keep their babies (infant to four years old) healthy. There were always a number of blue-ribbon babies because the mothers would try to live up to what the midwives were teaching them: how to care for the baby, how to bathe him, and what kind of food to give him. All of mine were blue ribbon-babies!’ Mrs. Daise boasts about four of her nine children born before the event was terminated.”
A genteel and gracious woman, Mrs. Daise has always been an integral part of her community and beloved by family and friends alike. Robert (Bobby) Middleton remembers, “I knew her when we were kids. She has always been a nice, kind person with a wonderful smile. She would never pass you by without speaking. She’s the same person now that she was then; what amazes me is that it seems like she hasn’t aged a bit.”
Son, Ron, shares the memory of the quote with his brother, Stan. Mama would always say, I’ve passed this proverb on to my children. It means: ‘Don’t procrastinate. Get things done that need to be done. Other responsibilities will follow.’ She’d also ask quietly whenever circumstances seemed grim, ‘So did you think life is just a flowery bed of ease?’ Afterward, she’d advise praying about the situation to gain some sense of handling it and then beginning to take care of it – with faith that God would guide you throughout its resolution She has always been a straight-shooter. She continues to give blessings – praying with and for you and advising you with scripture when you’ve reached different stages of life. However, when she thinks it’s needed, her words or body language can bless you out.”
Kathleen Grant Daise has lived on Saint Helena Island for ninety-nine years; years in which she has seen many changes. But one thing remains constant, everyone who knows her, everyone whose life she touched, holds her in the highest regard. Daughter Osalami, her caregiver who is a retired teacher, singer and songwriter, sums it up best in a song she wrote entitled “She’s A Queen.” Some of the lyrics go like this:
“Gertrude held her child in her loving arms and she said,
Kathleen daughter, you will live long years,
You will conquer tears when the pain, it brings them.
You will rise up strong, you will not stay down,
And you will bring forth children….
Now she’s a Queen, we’re here to tell you
Now she’s a Queen.”