EIGHT SISTERS continued EIGHT SISTERS continued
Gatlin & Sanders with the Cox Sisters Cookbook A Taste of Old, A Taste of New.
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With recipes from over a hundred years
old to modern ones, there is something for
everyone! As Teresa Sanders, the inspiration
and initiator of the book encourages locals,
“There’s a recipe in there from a person
you know. You are kin to somebody in that
cookbook! I promise you.”
When Mr. Frank Deal from Channel 8
highlighted “Spies” while announcing the
forecast one evening, he didn’t know there
were so many telephones in “Speece” once
locals started calling. Six miles between
Robbins and Star with farms, country stores
and two or three churches, Spies is a small
community. And it just happens to be the
hometown of the eight Cox sisters who have
more than recipes to share with the world.
Teresa Sanders, the baby girl in the bunch,
along with Olivia Gatlin, daughter to sister
Patty, sit down to share the journey recording
family, farming, and all things down home
Southern living with a dash of this and a
sprinkle of that.
Inspired by several events, the A Taste
of Old, A Taste of New cookbook ultimately
rose to perfection from “Sisters’ Night.” When
a lady at Brown’s Chapel passed away one
Sunday morning, Teresa awakened to new
life! She tells, “I thought it was so sad! The
lady came from a large family like I did, and
I realized that I didn’t really know my older
sisters that good as they moved out early. I
thought we should become closer if there
was any way possible. So, I went to my sister
Carolyn in 1994, and told her I needed her to
write me up a letter. I mailed it and waited not
knowing what the response would be. I was so
shocked when everybody showed up!”
From that first meeting in 1994, all eight
sisters have shown up to “Sisters’ Night” each
month for now twenty-seven years strong!
From meeting up at Carolina Fried Chicken
to a sister’s house when they’re talking
hard-core business, the sisters enjoy pajama
parties at the lake and day trips to the flea
market. December changes up the normal
schedule to include their large family gettogethers
and their fruit basket giving all over
the neighborhood to shut ins and seniors
at Autumn Care. As fruit, candies, nuts and
chewing gum fill the baskets, the number has
grown from twenty the first year to now close
to forty! No matter what, the sisters never
leave without planning the next meeting.
Inspired by Steve Doocy on Fox and
Friends who mentioned that he was writing
The Happy Cookbook because his children
wanted all the family recipes before he passed,
Teresa realized, “A recipe that isn’t written
down is lost forever!” One year ago, in January
2020, Teresa gave her sisters ninety days to
gather all of their favorite family recipes; this
January 2021, the cookbook is ready to savor.
From the meals enjoyed, Teresa wanted
to ultimately record the recipes so they
wouldn’t be lost. Secondly, she wants to raise
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enough money to buy the sisters a handi-cap
accessible mini-adventure bus to plan ahead.
“One day, one of us sisters will not be able
to walk, and I want to be prepared. After the
expense of the book, all of the money is going
to purchase a bus.”
Once the sisters included their personal
favorites, they reached out to extended
families for more recipes. With the ingredients
gathered, 370 recipes fill the pages. Desiring
to make the book really special, an easel is
included along with the sisters’ personal
biographical pages. Olivia smiles, “It’s way
more than a cookbook; it tells a story.”
Editor and designer of the book, Olivia feels
so honored to share a part and tells, “Three
years ago, I had a career and was seven years
from retiring. However, in September 2017, I
had an accident while taking my daughter to
school and everything stopped. I could no
longer work. I could no longer drive as I was
having seizures. Upon being diagnosed with
Epilepsy, I stayed home for two very difficult
years... Then the cookbook comes along and
gives me new life! I was able to use all of my
skills from the office and prove to myself that I
could still accomplish.”
Olivia slows, “It’s a big deal as it restored
my hope. The cookbook saved my life! Teresa
rescued me! And the proofreading was like
waiting for water to boil!” She laughs, “I
probably read every single one of those pages
twenty times to make sure that everything was
grammatically correct!” However, getting to
know her mama and her seven sisters better
in the process was priceless!
With each sisters’ personal pages
remaining the favorite pages, the favorite
recipes are a close second! Pecan lemon piewithout
a doubt is Olivia’s favorite. She tells,
“There are so many wonderful recipes in the
book because each sister shares a signature
dish from our family get-togethers!” As for
Teresa’s favorite? Chicken and dumplings!
Whenever she asks her children what they
want for dinner—it’s always chicken and
dumplings!
From that first Sisters’ Night in 1994, to
the night in 2020, when the eight sisters
autographed three hundreds books, the legacy
actually began in the 1940s when Luther and
Inez Cox met at a gourd stand in Rockingham
on a Sunday. Luther worked at the Standard
Mineral Company in Robbins when they got
married on November 19, 1945. Welcoming
their first six daughters while living at the
mine house during the early 1950s, the family
had to move when Luther became disabled at
age thirty-four. Condemned from the mines
upon contracting silicosis, a side effect from
working in the mine, Luther relocated his
family from the Talc Mine in Robbins to Spies.
Teresa shares, “My oldest sister said they had
a Cadillac house with a washing machine
and electricity. And then we moved to our
little house where we eight sisters shared one
bedroom.”
After Luther bought the tract of land, with
the payout from the mine, he built his first
chicken house in order to provide for his
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p.28 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. No. 141