Josephine Jones Whitehead

    

      Aunt Josie was the second daughter of Lay and Nannie Jones born in 1911. Sometime when she was small, she was burned around her neck and her hand. This caused her hand to not open completely but she could still use it very well. Her husband was James Whitehead and they owned and operated the Whitehead Florist in North Rome. We all called her "Aunt Josie" but her husband never called her anything but "Josephine." She could make the prettiest corsages that I had ever seen and she was always busy. I loved to visit there because it always smelled so good. All the different flowers were lovely. Now she was a character from the beginning. I always thought of her as the Edith Bunker of the family. She wasn't really ditsy but the things that she said were so funny. Like the time that she made homemade chicken salad. Uncle James didn't like chicken at all. But he would eat it sometimes. Well after she finished, she made him a sandwich and fries with a dill pickle on the side and took it to his chair in front of the TV. When he was just about finished, she asked him how it was and did he want some more. You know he just looked at her and stated " no more, tastes too much like chicken." Well Paula (their daughter) and I just about died laughing.  So the next day, she made meatloaf. She could make the best macaroni and cheese that I ever tasted. It was never from a box. I always liked grating the cheese. After it was cooked, it would be so creamy and taste delicious. Lots of times after church on Sunday, daddy would take us out to the farm just to eat dinner with Aunt Josie. She really catered to my brothers. She didn't have boys, just Paula. They had another daughter named Joy Sue but she only lived 4 days. I think that she wanted more children but it just didn't happen.

     James was funny also. He loved to eat ketchup on his eggs. I have several cousins who still eat eggs that way because he did. And they had to be scrambled, never fried. He use to say if he has to eat eggs there had better not be any yellow running so scramble them up. He liked to watch the Monday night fight after he had fed the cows. Sometimes I thought he would jump in the TV with the fighters. Paula and I were suppose to be in the bed asleep because it came on at 10:00 but we would still hear the TV and lay there awake. When I was growing up, I use to spend the night with Paula often. They had an apartment behind the florist. There was 4 rooms. A living room, dining room, bedroom, and a kitchen. It also had an enclosed back porch where  Uncle James slept in the summer time but in the winter time, he slept on the couch. Now it had a bathroom but no bathtub. Aunt Josie would bring in the wash tub to the kitchen and we would take a bath. Then James would empty the water out the back door. There was a shower in the basement but we only used it in the summer time as there was no heat downstairs. It was also open and I didn't want anyone to see us naked. After the farm house was restored, they moved and did away with their apartment. I missed it because in warm weather, we got to ride on the back of the pickup truck all the way to the barn. Children are not allowed to ride on the bed of trucks now because of so many deaths.
     After my mom was killed, we spent alot of time at the farm. Daddy worked out of town so we stayed with Aunt Josie and Uncle James. Now this meant that Josie would drive us to school. She didn't get her drivers license until Paula was in high school. James didn't want us to ride the bus. It was the city buses then. There were no yellow buses in town. It cost a nickle to ride and that is how I use to get to Paula's house. Just take the to bus to Celenese and get off at the red light. North Broad didn't go past the hill. It wasn't till later that it was extended to new 53 highway. Then Paula was elected cheerleader and we would get to go to the out of town football games.
     After I married, I didn't see her much. Just at family gatherings but when Jeff was born, she came to the hospital with my dad and sat with me for a long time. I really missed seeing them so I would go every chance I got. Paula had married and moved to Athens. The house just seemed deserted. When uncle James died, I went to see them and it was never the same. Aunt Josie still had a Christmas tree sitting in the living room. I asked her why she didn't take it down. She told me that by the time she got around to taking it down, it would be time to put it back up so she just threw a sheet over it.
     I think my family is interesting and I hope anyone who reads my stories likes them. These are my memories of them when I was young. I want every one to get a feel of who they were and how they lived. When you run across a name on paper it is just a name. But if you learn a little about that person, then you feel like you knew them and they can live on.

The Love of Family History part 6-Uncle Lowell

     Well its me again with another version of the family via Lowell Eugene Beall Sr. Uncle Lowell was the second son born to Guy and Imogean Beall. He was born in Paulding county along with the rest of the children. He didn't move to Atlanta until his mother died. When they moved in with his sister, Gordie Mae, he met an interesting lady who lived up the street. Miss Thelma Estell Hanie. Her father was the pastor of Cary Park Baptist Church, preaching until his death and then his son took over. Their house had a big screened-in porch that I loved. Many times, you would catch me asleep on that porch when I was staying with Aunt Thelma. When they fell in love and were married, World War II happened. After that, they moved to Miami, Florida and he worked for the Miami Herald. Lowell had 3 children. 2 boys and a girl who my dad said that I favored. Her name was Joan. I don't know what happened to her. She died when she was young.
     My dad, mom and my 2 brothers along with me made a trip to Miami when I was 12 years old. We drove all the way mostly down highway 27 to get to Uncle Lowell's house. We went to Miami Beach and played in the ocean. Eugene and Jerry, our cousins, went with us.  I think Uncle Lowell had to work and Aunt Thelma stayed at home because the repairman was coming that day.  My youngest brother, Kenneth, buried my pocketbook in the sand and we never found it. I had my glasses in it and when we got back, I had to go to the doctor for another pair. While we were in Miami we went to a zoo. I saw the largest snake that I had ever seen in my life. It had swallowed a pig whole. I was ready to leave but the monkeys were funny so we stayed a while longer. There was a turtle who the zoo keeper stated was 100 years old. They would let you take a ride on its back but I was scared and stayed back. Larry took a ride and said it was fun. We stayed 2 weeks and then started for home. I think I slept most of the way back to Rome, Georgia. But I always remembered my first trip to Florida and Aunt Thelma cooking Red Snapper in the oven. It was delicious. Until next time!!

The Love of Family History part 5 Aunt Vivian

I should have started this story in the last chapter as Aunt Vivian was the second oldest child. She took over raising my dad after their mom died. She told her daughter that she had lived 3 life times. Helping to raise her brothers, marriage and raising 6 children, and surviving after the death of her husband. I think to the best of my knowledge, that Eleanor was married when her dad died. I remember going to aunt Vivian's house and spending some time during the summers when I was growing up. Her piano sat next to the kitchen door and it was always covered with song books. She gave piano lessons and played at Cary Park Baptist Church. Her husband, Hoyt, drove a trolley in Atlanta. That is just about all I remember about him and he was very tall. I can remember him reading the paper. My dad said that aunt Vivian use to walk to the end of the trolley line when he got off work just to walk home with him. She also helped him talley his money as he wasn't very good in math. I think that shows a lot of love. I guess it is the little things you remember that stay with you after you are grown. Aunt Vivian always encouraged me to stay with my music lessons. I still can recall walking down the hill from Vivian's house to Lillian's' to pick grapes and tried not to eat all of them before I got back up the hill. I didn't see her much after I married but dad went when every chance  he could until she went into the nursing home. She lived to be in her 90's.

The Love of Family History part 4 uncle Aubrey

I will start this chapter with uncle Aubrey. He had a bought a house in Decatur and married Verbie Sills. Her mother lived next door. I thought she was lucky to have her granny live so close. Aubrey worked at home in a little shop out back. He did furniture upholstery and was very good at it. Dad went to see him often and we would stay all week-end. I remember his house because I thought it was so pretty. When you first went in the front door, their was a couch to the right and just past it by the wall was the piano. I think we all took piano lessons. All the granddaughters. Aunt Lillian and aunt Vivian both taught piano. Aunt Lillian taught me my first gospel song. "There is a Fountain." They had a fire place that they used mostly at Christmas. One Christmas we were there and Janet got a dollhouse that her dad had made. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had every seen. He had even made the furniture. We played for hours. Another time we were there, Larry, my brother had to have stitches. He fell on the front steps and cut his head on some glass. Back in the 50's, milk men delivered milk to your front door in milk bottles and I think this is where the glass came from. Janet graduated from high school and went on to college. She started to Georgia Baptist to be a nurse. I thought this was a great honor because alot of people didn't finish school much less go on to college. Then she married and I didn't get to see her much anymore.
Uncle Aubrey was an avid reader. He would read anything. Newspapers, magazines, books you name it, he would read it. I knew he always had a stack of books by his recliner in the living room and a floor lamp to read by. This is my best memory of him and oh yes, he was the Archie Bunker in my family. He was very opinionated and would speak his mind. And he loved to argue. He always thought he knew more than anyone and was quick to tell you about it. My dad and Aubrey would argue for hours about anything and it wasn't even important. When his wife died, he went to live with his daughter and spent time with his grandchildren. Sometimes, he would come up to Rome ad spend the week-end with dad. He always wanted to sleep in the recliner and watch TV just abut all night. And he would argue with the TV. I thought it was funny. I will get old one day and it won't be so funny anymore. He died at the age of 92 in 1997. I still remember watching him work crossword puzzles and reading his westerns. He loved Zane Grey.
continued

The Love of Family History part 3 Aunt Lillian

     To start this chapter of my story, and it is a story of the things I remember, I have to back track a little bit to Aunt Lillian. She was the oldest child of Guy and Imogean, born in August, 1899. She had married Thomas Watson Adcock and moved to Atlanta in a community called Almond Park. A lot of people referred to it as Carey Park because that was the name of the baptist church on the hill. Aunt Lillian and Uncle Tom had 4 children-Rosemary, Houston, Fay, and Tommy. Fay died when she was 2 years old and is buried at Concord Cemetery near her parents. Rosemary was born in 1919 the same year as my dad so they were very close. More like brother and sister instead of uncle and niece. Uncle Tom was running a store and in 1938, 4 black men came in the store to rob him. He gave them the money but it wasn't enough so they shot him and ran. Eventually they were caught and sentenced to die. The family was devastated. My dad told me this story and said he was supposed to be helping uncle Tom that day but Aunt Vivian had some chores for him to do so he stayed home. He always said that the Lord saved his life that day by making him stay at home.
    My dad later told me that his funeral procession was the longest one that he had ever seen. Their were over 50 cars in the line. When you think about it, most people in Atlanta didn't have cars back them. Everyone rode the trolleys. So I am sure it was very impressive. He is buried at Concord Church also. This is a family church in the community where he grew up and still had family living there.
     The family had a rough time after this. No one to make a living and the rock of the family was missing. Aunt Lillian had to go to work to provide for the family and Rosemary had to take care of the home and Tommy. But in 1941, she married Warren Candler Hawkins and lived in the same community of Almond Park. Then along came WW II and we started a whole new chapter. Dad enlisted in the Army and so did uncle Lowell. My cousin, Houston, joined the Navy along with Warren. continued

"Granny's Rocking Chair"

       by Rhonda Jane Beall

Granny read her Bible every single day.
then she would tell us stories to pass the time away.
She told us about Daniel in the lion's den,
and then there was ole Samson who slew 100 men.

As my Gram grew older, her eyes were getting dim.
From her memory came forth songs about a special Man.
She said His name was Jesus and He died for one and all,
that we might have eternal life and I'm waiting for the call.

Memories, memories, of my Granny's rocking chair,
I can still remember when she was sitting there.
She told me about a Man they called the Prince of Peace,
then the angels came along and rocked my Gram to sleep.

Now the rocker's empty and my heart is full of pain,
But I remembered Granny told about a precious Man.
Then Jesus came into my life and filled my heart with love
and someday soon I'll see my Gran in a mansion up above.

"Visions" Poetry

                                                                        "Visions" a poem by Rhonda Jane Beall


So often I"ve visioned how it would be
to travel far beyond our sister Mars.
Just stepping out into eternity,
way out behind the planets and the stars.
Could it really be some life form out there?
Something that's only pictured in your mind,
or perhaps there's no one that gives a care,
yet maybe--somehow there are ties that bind.
Wondering through the dark portals of space;
very similar to portals in time,
absorbing like sponges this human race
until up from this madness we must climb.
As mists of ebon creep into cerise
Oh Lord, let these visions leave me in peace.