Memories of the old homestead

The house I grew up in on Macon Drive in Atlanta.

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “the old homestead.”

When I saw the theme for this week was “the old homestead,” I immediately thought about my third great-grandmother Caroline (Hobbs) Lankford, who filed for and received a plot of land in Penfield, Greene County, Georgia under the Homestead Act in 1869. But I blogged about this in 2014 so didn’t want to repeat myself. You can read about Caroline here. I next thought about Grandpa and Grandma Lankford’s old home place in Penfield, but I shared the few memories I have of their home in a blog post about my Grandpa Carroll Harvey Lankford in 2016. You can read about Grandpa here. I went into more detail about their home when I blogged about our Lankford family reunions in 2015. You can read about them here. So, what homestead should I write about? I guess it’ll be the Atlanta home I grew up in.

Front sidewalk during heavy rainfall. The roses were white.
I remember people stopping and asking if they could have a white
rose to wear on Mother's Day.

Shortly after I was born, my family moved from the West End neighborhood of Atlanta to a nice neighborhood on Macon Drive in southeast Atlanta. The house was your standard house, nothing fancy. The main level included a living room, dining room, small kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. The bottom level of the house was divided into two sections. One section had two bedrooms (one large and one small) and a laundry room; the other section was dirt and was where we stored tools, canned goods, and the normal junk people keep in their basements. When we first moved there, it was Daddy, Mama, and three children. But our family was still growing and within four years there were five children. At some point, my uncle Clark Lankford moved in with us so there were eight people living in the house and all with one bathroom! By the way, my Uncle Clark was like a father to us, even after he moved out of the house. I loved him dearly.

Furniture in the living room. I have the carnival glass vase on the left today. It
once belonged to my Grandma Lankford. One of my sisters has the statues in front

Front porch, after the remodel.
My brother Michael holding the cat that  was probably
named Kitty Wampus.

There was a front porch that went across the full length of the house (screened in during the early years if I recall correctly). Daddy eventually remodeled to extend the front bedroom out so we lost that half of the front porch. The house had a screened in back porch just off the kitchen. I remember Mama would go to the farmers market in Forest Park and bring home bushel bags of beans, peas, and corn and we’d sit on the back-porch snapping, shelling, and shucking. My sister reminded me that our fingers would be all purple when we were done shelling pink-eyed purple-hull peas. It wasn’t much fun but it was worth it. Mama would fill the freezer with squash, okra, peas, creamed corn, beans, and fruits. She’d can tomatoes, make soup mix, and I’m sure many other things that I don’t remember to store away for the winter months. We ate good! The kitchen had a laundry shoot near the back door that allowed us to drop dirty laundry directly into the laundry room. I remember my brother once tried to take the shortcut to the laundry room and got himself stuck in the shoot. He didn’t try that again.

View of the back screened-in porch

We had a piano in the living room and all of us took lessons at one time or another. Someone would usually have to play when visitors came. I took eight years of piano lessons but I doubt I could play chopsticks today. I love to hear someone playing a piano but it was just not for me.

I don’t know what the yard acreage was, but it always seemed large to me. There was a gravel driveway with space for several cars. Daddy built a patio near the back of the house that included a brick bar-b-que pit. I remember eating some finger lickin’ good ribs cooked on that pit. During the summer months, Mama often brought out the hand crank ice cream maker for some vanilla, strawberry, or peach ice cream. Daddy had a green thumb so we always had lots of color in the yard. And it wasn’t just flowers and bushes, we had fruit trees as well—cherry, pear, plum, apple, and even a banana tree. During the winter months, Daddy dug his banana tree up as well as a Bird of Paradise plant and transplanted both in the dirt side of the basement, in front of a window. Come spring, he’d move them back outside. One side of the house had a layered rock garden, anchored by a large rock against the side of the house. Every spring it had Thrift flowing over the rocks and in the summer, it was always filled with Day Lilies and Iris. That side of the house was lined with Baby’s Breath. At some point, Daddy started a vegetable garden in the backyard. It got bigger every year. Between his garden and the large farmers market in Forest Park, we had fresh vegetables and fruit on the table year-round.

Brother Michael on the big rock in the rock garden.

Brother Michael in the rock garden.
The Hamby's home in the background. Their son Douglas was killed in a
car accident while on military leave during the Vietnam War.
Mama's car in the background.

Hunting Easter eggs around the pear tree -- brother Michael, uncle Clark, and
sisters Vanessa and Bonita.

But our house wasn’t the only part of the homestead. It also included the outbuildings, in this case, our neighbors.

The house next door belonged to Mrs. Davis. She and her two adult children, Baxter and Elaine, lived on one side of the house. The other side of the house was Davis Grocery, a neighborhood mom and pop store. Her store was always stocked with milk, bread, canned goods, snacks, candy, ice cream, and the Coke cooler. On the nights Mama worked late, the store was already closed by the time she got home so Mrs. Davis would have us come to her back porch and to buy an evening Coke. It didn’t dawn on me until years later that drinking a Coke that late at night was probably why I had trouble falling asleep. I bought a lot of penny candy at Davis Grocery. In March, she always had kites for the neighborhood kids. I remember buying them and flying them from the hill on the side of her house. The corner where her house stood is empty today.

My brother Michael, sisters Vanessa and Jennifer, and me.
You can see Mrs. Davis' house in the background.

Neighbor Elaine Davis and sister Vanessa. Elaine went to
Panama City, Florida with us one time.

A good part of the neighborhood was made up of the Morgan and Newcomer families. Hazel Morgan lived next door to us. Her brother Charles Morgan and his wife Thelma lived next door to Hazel. Alice and Buddy Newcomer lived next door to Alice’s, parents, Charles and Thelma. Across the street were other members of the Morgan family—Raymond, Charles, Wayne, and Gene—all children of Charles and Thelma. They were a huge part of our lives.

Sisters Bonita and Vanessa standing in the front yard.
Hazel Morgan's house is next to ours; Charles and Thelma Morgan's next to Hazel's.
Alice and Buddy Newcomer once lived in the Charles Morgan house and Charles and Thelma lived next
door to them. At some point, they traded houses.

We also hung out with the Strickland, Rath, and Kingston families who all had children the same ages as the five of us. All three families were a huge part of our lives.

Celebrating someone's birthday with the neighborhood kids in our living room.
The house had a fireplace at one point. I only remember the mantel being there.

Sister Jennifer standing in the front yard.
You can see the house still had the full screened-in porch then. The house in the background belonged to the Raths.
Mrs. Rath eventually remarried so at that point, the Knights. The Rath house was on top of a large hill.
That was "the" place to go sledding when it snowed.

Bromack Drive was across the street, ending at Macon Drive. If you kept going, you’d go down our driveway. The road had a slight incline and I remember sitting at the living room window during ice storms, watching cars trying to make their way to the top of the incline. I still think about that today when I watch cars try to get up the small hill across from my house during snow storms.

Bromack Drive meets Macon Drive.
My brother Michael and I. You can see three of the Morgan houses in the background.

The Lakewood Fairgrounds were just over a mile from our house. Every fall, the Southeastern Fair came to town for at least a week, maybe two. The entire neighborhood gathered on Meadow Park Drive (the street that ran beside the Davis house and where the Strickland, Rath, and Kington families lived) to watch the fireworks show put on at the fairgrounds. We could see them above the trees from the side of Mrs. Davis’ backyard. That was always a fun time of the year. If you saw the Smokey and the Bandit movie, you would have seen the fairgrounds in the opening and closing scenes. In the second Smokey and the Bandit movie they blew up the old wooden roller coaster.

Our home in Atlanta was a great house and a great neighborhood and I have very fond memories of that time of my life. My husband and I have lived in our house (our starter house) for 37 years. I hope my sons feel the same way about our house years from now.


Photo of Southeastern Fair, Nan Peeples saved to MY HOMETOWN, Old Lakewood Fairgrounds.

Clara Bell White's misfortune

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “misfortune.”

Clara Bell White, the daughter of Candler Milton White and Lenora Dean Lankford, was born on February 9, 1898 in Georgia, most likely Clarkston, DeKalb County. She was the oldest child of three—Clara Bell White, Charles Candler White, and Russell L. White. Clara would be my 3rd cousin 3x removed with our nearest common relatives being Nathan Lankford and Marion Caldwell who were married in Rutherford County, North Carolina about 1790.

In September 1899, baby Charles was born in Clarkston making Clara a big sister. The family still lived in Clarkston when the census enumerator visited on June 5, 1900. On that day, Clara’s parents had been married for three years. Her father made a living as a carpenter. Clara’s youngest brother Russell was welcomed into the family about 1902.

Sadly, Clara’s young life came to a tragic end on September 26, 1904 when she died after contracting tonsillitis in Clarkston at the age of six. Clara must have died early on the 26th as her death was reported in The Atlanta Constitution that same day. The news article noted that Clara was buried at Indian Creek Cemetery in Clarkston, however, Find-A-Grave has Clara’s burial location as Clarkston Cemetery and includes the photo used here. An Indian Creek Cemetery transcription found on the Georgia USGenWeb Archives Project website lists Clara’s parents but not her so perhaps there was a last minute change in cemeteries at the time of burial.

Had Clara been born today, the doctor would have prescribed antibiotics once she was diagnosed with tonsillitis and she probably would have recovered within days. Unfortunately, she had the misfortune of being born in 1898, long before penicillin was discovered in London in 1928 and first used on humans in March 1942.

References

1. The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, September 26, 1904.
2. The real story behind penicillin, WETA PBS News Hour, September 27, 2013. 
3. Tombstone photo by Quietly Resting, Find A Grave Memorial 40237381.

Benjamin Smith's baby dress

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “lucky.”

This beautiful baby dress once belonged to Benjamin Gordon Smith, my husband’s grand uncle. Ben was born in Apollo, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania on November 18, 1882 and was the first born child of John Milton Smith and Amanda Larimer Horne. He was an only child until his brother George was born on October 22, 1885.

In 2008, my father-in-law (Earl Murphy) was in declining health so he moved to an apartment near us. At the time, he still owned a house about 25 miles away. He and my mother-in-law (Mary Athya Murphy) purchased the house in 1981, planning to move there when he retired. Earl spent several years remodeling the house while still living in the family house. Once he was ready to retire, they sold the family house and moved to the retirement house. We helped them clean out the family house attic, which contained many boxes that hadn’t been opened in years. Those boxes were moved to the retirement house and placed in a cement block shed that stood beside the driveway where they would remain unopened for many more years.

Before her death, Mary told me several times that there was a program in the shed from Apollo’s 125th anniversary celebration in 1941. Because of this, and assuming there would be other documents, I knew it was important to go through every box when we  cleaned out the shed in the late 2000s. Having done a lot of research on the Smith family, I was on the lookout for the celebration program, which we found, along with many other documents that are gold to a genealogist. It turns out, the boxes contained items that had once belonged to my husband’s maternal grandmother, Bertha Edna Smith Athya and his maternal great-grandmother, Amanda Smith. I remember opening one cardboard box in particular. Inside the box were odds and ends as well as a dirty plastic bag. I could tell there was a piece of cloth wadded up in the bag but had no idea of what I was about to discover. When I opened the bag, I found this baby dress. My mother-in-law was the only person who would have known anything about the gown, but she had passed away in 2006. Lucky for us, Mary’s mother, Bertha, had written a note and placed it inside the bag with the dress. The note reads:

Uncle Ben Smith’s baby dress made by his mother about 1884. His birthday Nov. 16, 1882. Died Dec. 15, 1956. His mother Amanda Horne Smith.

Note found inside the bag with the baby dress, written by Ben's
sister Bertha Smith Athya. (Note: all records show Ben's birthday
as Nov 18, not 16).

Ben never married and lived with his mother Amanda for many years. It’s assumed that once the dress had met it’s needs, Amanda packed it away for safekeeping. I have no way of knowing if Ben ever took possession of the dress as an adult but I doubt it. My guess is it stayed packed away with his mother’s possessions until she passed away in 1943. Amanda was living with Bertha at that time so being the only girl in the family that survived, she took possession of the dress and it moved with her to Ohio after Amanda’s death. In 1949, Ben moved to the Elks Home in Bedford, Bedford County, Virginia where he died in 1957. Bertha was living with Mary when she passed away in 1979. Mary kept many of her mother’s belongings, the dress being one of them.

The 1880 census record shows that Amanda was employed as a dressmaker so it’s no surprise that she made this dress for her first-born child. She would have been 24 years old at the time.

Amanda and Ben Smith

After finding the dress, I brought it home and gently cleaned it with baby laundry detergent, then laid it flat to dry. I spent a Sunday afternoon looking for a baby hanger in the local shopping center and no one had anything appropriate for sale. I finally found one in a baby clothes display at Macy’s. I asked if they were for sale, which they weren’t. They had several laying around the cash registers though and one of the cashiers gave one to me.

The dress is 19 ½ inches in length and 10 inches wide at the waist. The material, which is very thin, is the color ecru. The dress has some damage—four small holes on the front skirt, two round holes on the back, and a long-frayed tear on the back. I see the beginnings of a small hole on one sleeve. Otherwise, it’s in fair condition.

The dress is about 134 years old and now hangs in my bedroom. Thank God Bertha left a note in the bag with the dress or we would have never known the history behind the dress.

Holes on the front skirt

Back of the dress

Back of the dress

Back arm tear

In 2014, I set a genealogy goal to document our family treasures. Although I’ve included this item in previous posts, I recently realized it needs to be added in the family treasures series so this post takes care of that.

My Mama, the strongest woman I know

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “strong woman.” I didn’t have to think too long to determine the subject of my blog post this week.

What comes to mind when you think of a “strong woman?” Do you think of one of the female athletes we just watched during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics? Maybe you think about Mother Teresa or Rosa Parks, two women that helped change the world. Or perhaps you think of one of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) divas, or She-Ra, the Princess of Power? Not me … when I think of a strong woman, it’s my Mama that comes to mind, Fay Lankford.

What makes her a strong woman? Well, let me tell you …

… Mama was just a young girl when her mother left home, leaving her only child behind. Granny would come and go in Mama’s life for the rest of her childhood, including having little contact with her from 1941 to 1948. Granddaddy was a truck driver so had to depend on help from family, neighbors, and hired help to take care of Mama. She had a lonely childhood.

Granny and Mama

… At age 15, Mama met and married Daddy. My sister was born the following year. Later that same year, Daddy came home and told Mama he was selling the house to a couple that lived with them and she could do whatever she wanted. Mama’s uncle helped move her and my sister to Tunnel Hill in north Georgia. The two of them moved between houses, staying with Granny and my Grandma Shields (Granny’s mother). At one point, Mama and my sister were separated for several months when Granny moved to Tennessee and took my sister with her. Mama divorced Daddy that year.

Mama, my sister Bonita, and Daddy

… While living in Tunnel Hill, Mama got a job in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With no car, she left home three and a half hours before her shift at the textile mill began and walked three miles to the bus station, then rode the bus 20 miles to Chattanooga, and finally caught a city bus to the mill. Her shift ran from 3 to 11 PM and then she made the same trip home. After several weeks of this routine, she was able to get a room in Chattanooga and found someone to help take care of my sister while she worked. They lived there a year before Mama got an apartment of her own.

… After moving to the apartment, Daddy re-entered the picture for a few days but then left again. Mama and my sister moved back to Tunnel Hill and stayed with Grandma Shields. Daddy eventually came back, they remarried, and Daddy helped Mama and my sister move back to the Atlanta area.

Grandma Shields, Mama, me, and Jennifer

… Four more children were born but by all accounts, it was a lonely, loveless marriage. Daddy worked and provided for the family but mostly kept to himself. Mama took care of everything else. She was involved in school, took us to church, and made sure we were always doing something fun. When I look back at family pictures, we spent a lot of time around water—going to Lake Spivey and Joy Lake. She saved her money and took us for a beach vacation in Florida every year. At least seven or eight houses in our neighborhood belonged to one family. They welcomed our family into theirs and invited us to join them at their property on Lake Jackson, their vacations in Daytona Beach, and even their family Christmas parties. They would often take us kids to the lake during the week and Mama would join us on the weekends. Mama and the five of us kids spent many, many fun times with them.

Michael, Mama, Jennifer (back), Vanessa (front), Bonita, and me

… Mama eventually divorced Daddy again but she waited for all five of her kids to reach adulthood before taking that step.

… Mama worked a full-time retail job all those years, managing a shoe store. She was robbed multiple times during her many years of employment—five times with a gun and twice with a knife. I would have quit after the first time but she didn’t.

… Mama was scheduled to go on a trip to Italy the fall of 2001. Then 9/11 happened. Many people felt she shouldn’t go but she said “if the State Department doesn’t feel it’s safe for us to go, they won’t let us go.” I would have cancelled but she went and had a ball.

… Volunteering has always been important to Mama. When we were young, she volunteered with the March of Dimes. In 1996, Mama was a volunteer during the Atlanta Olympics, working security. She served on the Clayton County Senior Advisory Council for the Parks and Recreation’s Senior Adult Division where she helped develop programs for the seniors. She worked with the Red Cross, supporting blood drives and disaster relief. Mama was named Clayton County’s (Georgia) Red Cross Volunteer of the Year in May 2002. The Red Cross Disaster Relief sent Mama to North Carolina in 1999 after Hurricane Floyd and to Oregon in the summer of 2002 to help with the fires. As part of the Clayton County Golden Kiwanis Club, she supported schools, battered women’s shelters, the March of Dimes, and helped prepare food baskets to pass out at Thanksgiving and Christmas. She has been active in senior centers for years. She was there at tax time to help organize the seniors coming to get their taxes done. For several years, she cooked treats to sell at the senior center to raise money for birthday parties. She organized a group of women (and one man who drives his wife so he joins in) that meet monthly for lunch. They call themselves the Gruntin’ Grannies because she said they all grunt when they get out of their chairs or cars. Now I giggle every time I hear myself grunt when getting out of my car! She’s always thinking of something she can do to help someone.

… Mama has had several health setbacks in the last 25 to 30 years. She was near death a time or two but thankfully pulled through. On one occasion, I spent three weeks at my youngest sister’s house helping her take care of Mama. I gained a new respect for healthcare givers during that time. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done and I wasn’t the one in recovery. During her recovery, Mama did everything the doctor told her to do because she wanted to get back to her normal life. My sister, who has health issues of her own, has been a rock in watching over Mama for many years and I appreciate everything she does. They take good care of each other.

Mama last came to Virginia in May 2017 and while she was here, it struck me that she is a very independent woman. I hadn’t thought about her that way before. While clearly handicapped, she didn’t want to be waited on. She was perfectly capable of getting herself out of the chair or the car. Mama didn’t let the setbacks in her life hold her back. She likes to say she’s making rocking chair memories. Well, I think she’s made enough to last many lifetimes! Mama is the strongest woman I know. She raised five productive children. She persevered. I hope I can be half the person she is. She’s my hero.

Willie Mae Shields

Willie Mae (Shields) Smith

The 52 Ancestors theme this week is “Where There’s a Will” so I thought I would write about a female member of the family that fits the bill—Willie Mae Shields.

Willie Mae Shields, daughter of James Stewart Shields and Hattie Jane Rhinehart, was born on July 3, 1914 in Varnell, Whitfield County, Georgia. She was the 2nd child of 11—Daisy Lee Shields, Willie Mae Shields, James B. Shields, Betty Ann Shields, Paul Sam Shields, Bessie Lucille Shields, Mary Nell Shields, Dorothy Joline Shields, Bobbie Jean Shields, Charles Dewayne Shields, and Loyal Mack Shields. It’s believed that Hattie had a 12th child, possibly stillborn, but I’ve not found any proof of that. Her older sister Daisy was my granny so she was my grand aunt. I know we visited her a couple of times when I was very young but I don’t remember her at all. What I share here comes from my research and memories of a few family members. Her life timeline follows.

What goes into selecting your baby’s name? I know for my children, we simply created a list of names and crossed them off the list until we came up with a combined name we both liked. I probably shouldn’t admit it, but it never entered my mind to name my children after anyone. I wonder how my Pappy (James Stewart Shields) and Grandma Shields (Hattie Jane Rhinehart) came up with the name Willie Mae. Did they just pick the name out of the blue? The name wasn’t that popular at the time. There were 23 girls given the name Willie Mae in 1914 according to Names.org, although WeddingVendors.com includes the names “Willie” and “Mae” on the list of “100 Most Popular Baby Names of 1914.” According to the Social Security Administration, the name Willie was number 66 and Mae was number 88 in the “Top names of the 1910s” for women. With “Willie” being a shortened form of William, perhaps Willie was given this name to honor family members. Her grandfather was William Dearnald Rhinehart; her great-grandfather William Robert Sneed. Another great-grandfather is said to be William Cleason Ogle although I still need to prove this one. Her uncle was William Elmer Shields. Her middle name “Mae” could have been to honor two of Willie’s great-grandmothers who were named Mary. According to Babynamewizard.com, “Mae” is a “pet form” of Mary. I guess I’ll never know but I do like that it’s a very Southern name which was appropriate given that Willie and her family lived in north Georgia.

Stewart Shields, Daisy Shields, Hattie (Rhinehart)
Shields, and Willie Mae Shields

A month before Willie’s second birthday in 1916, her brother James, the first boy in the family, was born at home. Her sister Betty was welcomed into the family in 1919.

On January 6, 1920, Willie and her family lived in the Lower Tenth District of Whitfield County, Georgia. She and Daisy were both attending school. Willie’s father was a farmer on a general farm. Her 54-year-old widowed maternal grandmother, Betty (Sneed) Rhinehart, lived in the home with the family. Three more siblings were added to the family during this decade—Paul Sam in 1922, Bessie in 1924, and Mary in 1927.

On April 19, 1930, Willie and her family lived at Prater Mill and Deep Springs Roads, still in the Lower Tenth District of Whitfield County. At age 15, Willie did not attend school, however, she was able to read and write. Farming was still the occupation of choice for her father. Willie’s paternal grandparents, Cas and Martha (Ogle) Shields, lived next door, along with her uncle Blaine Shields. Willie’s parents now had a full house (with more to come) of eight children with the girls outnumbering the boys six to two. Joline, Bobbie, Charles, and Mack were all born during this decade.

At age 24, Willie was practically a spinster when she married Loyal Cecil Smith, son of William David Smith and Annie Mae Reed, on March 18, 1939, location unknown. No children were born to this union. Willie did become pregnant once but lost the baby and was never able to have others. I feel sad for Willie that she was unable to have children, but being the second oldest of such a large family, I’m sure she had her hand in raising many children.

Cecil and Willie Smith

At the time of their marriage, Cecil had been living in Chatsworth, Murray County, Georgia and Willie in Dalton. By the time the census enumerator made his rounds on April 26, 1940, they had made their home in Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia. Willie stayed at home keeping the house while Cecil worked as a clerk in a retail grocery store. It appears they spent a short time living in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee as I found them listed in the 1942 city directory. Cecil worked as a truck driver for the Malone Freight Line at the time.

By 1951, they had moved back to Dalton. At the time, Willie worked as a machine operator for Dixie Chenilles which is not surprising since Dalton is known for its textile/chenille industry. Willie and Cecil still lived in Dalton in 1958 according to the city directory.

On September 7, 1962, Willie’s father (my Pappy) suffered a blood clot of the heart and was found dead in the field by his house in Tunnel Hill, Catoosa County, Georgia. Her brother James lived in Alabama when he passed away in 1972. Her sister Betty also lived in Alabama when she passed away in 1975. Pappy and James were both buried at Nellie Head Cemetery in Tunnel Hill. Betty was buried at West Hill Cemetery in Dalton. Willie’s mother Hattie (her children called her “Mommie,” we called her Grandma Shields) passed away in Chattanooga in 1982. Grandma Shields was buried with Pappy at Nellie Head Cemetery. Daisy (my granny) passed away in Riverdale, Clayton County, Georgia in 1987. Granny was buried at Anderson Cemetery in Ringgold.

There was most likely always music in the Shields home. Willie’s father played the fiddle and her mother the banjo. I don’t know about the girls in the family but have seen photos of Paul Sam and Mack playing as well.

Frizzle chickens. Photo by
Jean Bungartz [public domain], 
via Wikimedia Commons.

Willie and Cecil had Frizzle chickens, which according to Wikipedia, “is a breed of chicken with characteristic curled or frizzled plumage.” Mama described them as chickens with the feathers turned backwards. She also remembers them having stuffed rabbits and snakes sitting on the mantel.

After Willie was diagnosed with cancer, the Reed family and her brother Charles’ daughter took care of her. Willie died on January 13, 1994 at the age of 79 in a Dalton hospital. She was buried on January 15 at the Reed Family Cemetery, a private cemetery in Chatsworth on top of a hill overlooking the mountains. They had to dig through solid rock to make the grave.

Willie and Cecil Smith

Photo by Vida Betterton from Find A Grave ID 47182808.