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Lunch Rush: That’s Love Right There At Mama Ruth’s In Century
February 7, 2018
by Sean Dietrich
“My daddy built this general store when he was twenty-three,” Mary Hudson Bourgeois says. “Folks used’a visit by mule and wagon.”
I’m sitting in Hudson’s Grocery, sipping tea from a jelly jar, eating fried catfish and collards. There are buck-heads on the wall. Black-and-white family photos. Mounted large-mouth bass. A few customers in cowboy hats. I have tartar sauce on my shirt.
I’m feeling pretty good.
Miss Jackie waltzes out of the kitchen. She’s wearing a dusty apron. She’s tall. Bone-skinny. Skin like molasses. She doesn’t talk much.
“I enjoyed your cooking,” I tell her.
“Mmm hmm,” says Miss Jackie.
This one-room joint is located in the speck-of-a-town, Century, Florida—within spitting-distance of the Alabama line. In this city, folks pronounce “fire” as “far.” A place where middle-school girls can drop eight-point bucks faster than most forty-year-old men.
Mary and her best friend, Jackie, run this meat-and-three.
Today, I visited after church. I waited in a long line with Baptists, Methodists, and Holy Rollers who wore neckties and pearls.
“Sometimes we serve so many, we run outta food,” says Mary.
“Mmm hmm,” Miss Jackie explains.
A few years ago, Mary reopened this dusty store as something more than a market. She calls it, Mama Ruth’s, and she sells everything from antiques to catfish.
“I love what we do,” says Mary. “We’re kind of an all-around country store.”
“Mmm hmm,” Jackie points out.
This tight-knit community supports Mary enough to eat her out of house and home. It’s been that way from the day she first opened. Her business took off. People couldn’t get enough of Miss Jackie’s made-from-scratch cooking.
Then Mary got diagnosed with advanced leukemia.
Doctors told her to get her affairs in order. And fast.
Mary closed shop. She left for Dallas to undergo treatment. It was agonizing. It drained her. She felt alone. She missed home.
“I thought, ‘God, why’s this happening to me?’” she says.
“Mmm hmm.”
Mary’s Dallas mailbox began to fill up. Letters, poems, good-luck charms, food, knit shawls, care packages. Each day, her mailman brought a new load.
Mary might’ve left town, but town never left her.
The letters read something like: “Dear Mary, we prayed for you at First Baptist this morning. We pray every single day.”
Another letter—from a five-year-old: “Dear Miss Mary, I believe God will heal you…”
Mary wipes her face. “This town, they just.. They’re so…”
“Mmm hmm.”
Doctors scheduled her for a bone marrow transplant. But during preliminaries, something happened. Nobody could explain it.
One physician told her she was a miracle. Another man of science admitted he didn’t know what made her cancer go away.
“When you’re younger,” says Mary. “Sometimes, you just wanna get away from your little hometown. But this community, this restaurant, they saved my life.”
“Mmm hmm,” Miss Jackie says. “That’s love right there.”
Well spoken, Miss Jackie.
Pictured: Mary Hudson and Mama Ruth’s Cafe on Highway 29, just south of West Highway 4, in Century. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
19 Responses to “Lunch Rush: That’s Love Right There At Mama Ruth’s In Century”
Red beans and rice and the gumbo is amazing so is their sandwich with the aju sauce to dip it in sooo good everything I’ve had is great.
What day is Catfish and Collards?
This is such an uplifting article. I enjoy reading this type of news.
Left out one important detail about the unique place, hours of operation.
My cousins and I have a mini reunion there almost every Friday…I drive from Pace to get there…sometimes there are 2 or three..sometimes 10..best food..like eating food mama used to make..Mary is so sweet….she grsduated high school with one of my cousins..we stay there for 2 hours..eating and laughing….its a wonderful place to gather and eat home cooking..and I usually end up buying something from her store!
I well remember the day Mary went to the doctor, was not ready for a trip straight to the to the local hospital.. What a shock. I could not believe she could be that sick………she had energy that would not quit. now she had to quit!!! God has been involved in her sickness all along (and still is). She is a special friend. love you, Mary
The food here is soooooooo good. Such a neat little place.
What are the business hours? Would love to visit there.
The power of prayer. I experienced my own miracle, in 2014. Stage IV advanced, 30% chance of surviving more than a year. Six months later, scan showed no cancer. Doctor called it Devine intervention. I’ve left my hometown now and moved out west, where the deer and the antelope play. I miss the people there. They’re still in my heart though. Like Mary, I’m still here because they prayed for me.
If I were there today, I’d be first in line for that lunch. I miss the southern cooking more than anything! People here don’t know what collards are.
The best after church place to eat around here!!! And we love the hosts!!!
A candle was lighted by this miracle and story. The light has shown the power of prayer and friends. Live a long life, Mama Ruth!
And she has the sweetest Angel servers there! Angelique and Shebly were great! I know it’s hard in that small town so I tipped them generously! Thanks Ruth.
We Love to eat at HUDSON’S RESTAURANT..And MISS MARY is such a kind,caring person who is a testament to her strong faith..no wonder her neighbors pray for her and shower her with love and get well gifts…THE GOLDEN RULE IS ALIVE AND WELL IN CENTURY,FLORIDA
God is good!
Stories like this make the entire day a gift. A blessing on all of us readers, thank You.
Have been to Mama Ruth’s one time. Great article and so true! She was right there interacting with the customers. Food was delicious!
This is a sweet story. GOD is good!
Need to support this business a little more
Great story about the power of prayer and faith. I wish I was there eating catfish and collards. “Mmm Hmm”
What are the hours of Mama Ruth’s Café? We seem to never catch it open. Thanks!