Only in Indiana: Big Mamma's legacy lives on
If you ask Hoosiers what is most important to them, most will say family. It is certainly at the top of the list for the Toles of Indianapolis. They held a family reunion this last weekend that rivals any held anywhere in America.Family reunions can always be challenging.
"Do we have to coordinate you all?" That was a common refrain heard at Brookside Park over the weekend.
For the Toles, family reunions can be downright overwhelming.
"Oh man, I got to organize this," another mom realized.
Just cooking can take its toll. Not to mention the popcorn popper, the face painting, bubble blowing and then all those pictures.
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"Come over a little bit this way. Uncle Sam. Uncle Joe, can you move over a little bit? This way. Just a little bit this way. Just a little bit this way. Can't get you all over here?" Cathy Ferguson said as she tried to arrange family on the stage for pictures.
How important is the Toles family reunion? We'll let you be the judge but for my money nothing says family like a chorus of cameras. When the family elders took the stage in their purple T-shirts, they were treated like rock stars.
Big Mamma has to be smiling in heaven right now, I remarked to Vincent Toles Sr.
"This legacy is awesome. It really is. If she could see what this is, it might even scare her. But it is a beautiful thing," he responded.
We first introduced you to the Toles family when Leila Big Mamma Toles passed away in 2001. Her obituary listed 116 great grandkids, so we stopped in and found a grieving family celebrating her life.
"I hopped in her lap and said, 'Hi, Big Mamma,' and she said, 'Who is you?'" one of the grandchildren remarked.
Now 14 years later Big Mamma's family has gotten even bigger. A lot bigger.
"Oh, forget it," a frustrated Cathy Ferguson remarked as she walked away from the stage with a realization that she wasn't going to be able to get folks arranged for pictures the way she had hoped.
323 Toles and still growing, which makes the pictures harder and more worthwhile to get. Seven more are expected to join this group by the end of this year.
"Did you see the tsunami?" One family member asked me as another group of children passed us by.
The tsunami has become so big they have to wear T-shirts signifying who they belong to. Big Mamma's kids wear purple. The grandchildren wear green.
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"The green shirts are my generation. We are the kids. We are the grandkids. Right," two family members exchanged.
"It's a good thing. You really don't need nobody but your family when you got this many," Cequila Warren from Indianapolis observed.
"TOLES," the latest group on the stage exclaimed. It seemed more fitting than cheese.
"All right, blue shirts. Come on," another woman yells out.
Even with the color coordination. it's still tough to keep up. They keep coming at you in waves.
"Your momma is a grandchild. You are a great grandchild. Your kids are a great great grandchild and their kids are great great great great grandkids," Cequila Warren tries to explain.
They are all keeping Momma Toles' spirit alive.
"This is what the Bible was talking about. Being fruitful and multiplying. This is absolutely what it is. I don't know everybody but I can know whose they are by the shirts," Vincent Toles, Sr. summarized.
Pink has now taken the stage at Brookside Park and the onslaught continues but there is still one more color set to take center stage.
What does yellow signify? "Great, great, great grandkid," she answered with the slight hesitation of uncertainty.
As you might expect, anytime the great, great, great take the stage, the numbers dwindle down to a precious few but it was still just that. Great. Big Mamma must be beaming.
