Heirlooms: The Olive Wood Bible

My aunt and uncle, Marvin Edward Jennings, Jr., and Rachel Mildred "Millie" (Lange) Jennings, were stationed in Iran for two years In 1965 through 1967. Mom was one of nine children so I had a lot of aunts and uncles, but Uncle Marvin and Aunt Millie were like a second set of parents to me. Uncle Marvin is my Dad's brother and Aunt Mille was my Mom's sister. Yes, two sisters married two brothers. They almost always lived nearby, in the same town or next door to my parents. They were an important part of my youth and there for every important milestone in my life.

We lost Aunt Millie in October 2009 and my Mom in 2014. Those losses left a hole in my heart which only special memories fill today.

But back to Uncle Marvin and Aunt Mille's time in Iran. Aunt Millie found a bookbinder in Tehran that did exceptionally fine work for reasonable prices. Mom sent many books to Iran to be bound in leather and have the pages gold-leafed. But one book Aunt Mille gave my mother is very different. It is a New Testament bound in leather and olive wood. It occupies an honored place in our family room where I can see it whenever I sit in my favorite spot on the sofa. Just looking at it brings back so many wonderful memories of Aunt Millie.

Olive wood-bound New Testament from my aunt to my mother to me;
personal collection

Close-up of the olive wood-bound New Testament; personal collection