Katrina was a very busy entrepreneur and a very caring person. She was affectionally called Ma McGhee and very social.
In the 1920's she lived in the Charles Black house, son of Dr. Harvey Black, and managed a waffle restaurant. See the photo that was copied from the Bugle Echo, vol. II, 1900 to 1912. The house burned and was located where Mellow Mushroom now sits. Can imagine debarking from the early morning train and being pulled towards the strong aroma of her waffles!
By the 1930 census she owned 204 E. Roanoke St home, which she manage as a boarding house with 4 small rooms in the basement and 3-4 rooms on the main floor. By the 1950's she also operated a Tea Room at the back of the house.
The clipping that follows was transcribed. It provides a glimpse into Ma McGhee's life.
40th Consecutive Year
Ma McGhee’s Open House Slated New Year’s Eve
Mrs. Katrina R. McGhee, 201 East Roanoke Street, will hold “Open House” this New Year’s Eve for the 40th consecutive year.
Her rambling, cozy, one-story home once again will be bursting with friends, gay laughter and cheery conversations. Beginning about 5 p.m. and continuing until after midnight, friends will “drop in” at “Katrina’s” for her “Open House” which is a traditional part of the holiday season in Blacksburg.
Dating back to 1927, friends, once invited, have had a “standing” invitation to return each year and join in the New Year’s Eve celebration.
Mrs. McGhee started the annual event when she lived on South Main Street in the Charles Black house (now the location of a service station at the northeast corner of Main and Washington Streets). There she operated “Katrina’s Waffle Shop,” renown for its delectable waffles.*
Before the advent of thousands of automobiles on the Va Tech campus, students who returned to college after the Christmas holidays made the journey back to Blacksburg via the well-known “Huckleberry” train, now non-existent.
The train made several trips a day hauling members of the student body back to Blacksburg for the opening of the VPI winter quarter Jan. 1. Frequently, the last train did not reach Blacksburg until the early morning hours of New Year’s day.
Hungry, tired, and often homesick before they arrived back in the small college town, more than one student was cheered by the sincere welcome always awaiting at the Waffle Shop. The lights shining in Mrs. McGhee’s windows, the warmth of her hearth, and the delicious taste of the food she prepared cheered hundreds of Techmen. It seemed only natural that she should become affectionately known as “Ma” McGhee.
As the years passed, “Ma” has invited new friends to share her hospitality on New Year’s Eve. One does not forget the taste of her ham biscuits and other delicacies, and, since 1927, she has been hostess on New Year’s Eves to more than 10,000 guests.
A native on Mississippi, and a grand-grand-niece of Jefferson Davie, “Katrina” lost her mother while an infant. She was a “delicate” baby and was taken to “Beauvoir,” the ancestral hole of Davis, in Biloxi, Miss., to “die.”
But her elders had not reckoned with the capacity for living of Scotch-Irish Katherine Nugent Rhodes McGhee. She had two sisters and a brother, and her widower-father remarried twice, giving her two step-mothers. Katrina has outlived the six immediate members of her family and served as nurse for each.
She has spent much of her life nursing. Her hobbies are taking care of “old folks,” babies, VPI students and pets. She says that the oldest person with whom she has “baby sat” was 95 years old.
Although she has never had any children of her own, Mrs. McGhee is perhaps “Mom” to the greatest number of “children” of any mother in Virginia. Her Roanoke Street home is described as “the little house with 20 rooms.” The VPI boys who make their home at “Ma’s” house have a rare privilege in sharing the devotion and care of a “Mother” away from their own home. “I ordered a dozen and adopted 150,” explains Katrina.
At a formal dance at Va Tech many year’s ago one of Katrina’s “boys” asked the orchestra leader, Jan Garber, to “sing and dedicate a song to a nice lady who has done much for VPI students.”
Garber chose two songs to honor Mrs. McGhee. They were “My Mom” and “I Love You Truly.” Henceforth, the woman who had “mothered” countless boys became “Mom.”
The affection that her “sons” feel for her is reflected in the fact that in recent years Katrina became “Mom” to the second generation, sharing her home with the sons of her “sons.” Our friend introduced her as “an institution all her own.”
Her pets have included two well-known cats, “Miss Stinker” and “Miss Priss,” and a dog, “Hot Stuff.”
After “Stuff” lost his sight and hearing, Katrina was his eyes and ears for two years. When he died and was buried in Mom’s backyard, people came from all of Blacksburg to pay their last respects.
A devout Episcopalian, Mrs. McGhee has observed let from early childhood by making some sacrifice.
“Forget about giving up food, and give up that Scotch-Irish temper,” was the advice Katrina received as a little girl from her grandmother.
Another bit of wisdom that has influenced Katrina’s life came from a Bishop in her church. “Do not pray to God not to send you any troubles, but ask Him to help you live with them,” he told her.
Each Christmas one of “Mom’s” boys and his wife give her a visit to their home with all travel expenses paid. But Katrina always returns to Blacksburg in time for her Open House on New Year’s Eve.
Her carpets are worn from the thousands of feet that have passed over her threshold on many New Year’s Eves, but the warmth of “Mom” McGhee’s greeting will never wear thin. Like the glowing coals in the old-fashioned fireplaces in her home. “Mom’s” welcome radiates a warmth and cheerfulness that makes each January 1 a “Happy New Year.”
This newspaper clipping has no date or name of journal, but I assume this was written in 1966.
*Our note: The Dr. Harvey Black (1827-1888) and Mollie Kent Black (1836-1911) House was located where Mellow Mushroom now sits.
