Savana’S Folks

By Ann Walker Conley

The gathering of materials for this book has taken a few years. At the start, my granddaughter was a non-reading preschooler. Today, being in the fourth grade, she reads on the fifth-grade level. This is where we begin:
It was a chilly fall evening, and Savana, my precocious, pragmatic four-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter was spending the night. As a preschooler, reading, to her, was a favorite activity. One evening, as we were about to start our fun, she wanted to choose the book. To my surprise, she returned with Grandmas old green album. She knew this book was a no-no, but I suppose she felt she had grown up to it. This was a true reflection, dj vu, my grandmother and me.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499035308

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Copyright © 2014 by Ann Walker Conley.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 06/12/2014

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CONTENTS

1. HOW THE BOOK STARTED

2. MY BEGINNING

3. BROTHERS

4. BEN (1839–1911) and MARTHA (1839–1912)

5. THE TOKEN

6. RUIE and DAVID WASHINGTON

7. RUIE’S FUNERAL, 1936

8. JENNIE and TOM

9. JENNIE, 1884–1969

10. JENNIE’S FAMILY

11. TOM – PAP, 1881-1957

12. TOM’S FAMILY

13. ENA, 1906–1997

14. RUSSELL, 1902–1966

15. DADDY’S SIDE

16. CUTE AS A BUG

17. RICHARD

18. SOUL MATES

19. OLD MARY

20. DR. JOHN E.

21. FOREVER YOUNG

22. SISTERS

23. THE TRIP CONCLUDED

24. SAYINGS BY GRANDPARENTS

25. FAMILY TREE

26. TOMBSTONE VERSES

To all thos

e people who were there when the idea came to me about this book. To all those who have passed on during the writing and rewrites of this book, and to my loving family who has supported me during this time. And to God who gave me the gift of imagination and the idea and courage to finally see this book through. I just want to say thank you and love you all for being there when I was at my worst and best.

THANKS TO

MY FAMILY—BOB, JENNIE, SAVANA—FOR ENCOURAGEMENT

AND MELISSA FOR EDITING

CHAPTER 1

HOW THE BOOK STARTED

A ll that mankind has done, thought, gained, or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books. This quote by Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) certainly seemed apropos as I read it one day while substitute teaching. I would like to think my book, Savana’s Folks , is the preservation of my family.

While attending Cousin Ann’s eightieth birthday in Herculaneum, Missouri, a few years back, some other cousins and myself sang John Denver’s song Country Roads. This is the unofficial theme song of West Virginia. To be from West Virginia, you know the words and the closeness of families from there. Life is old there, older than the trees, and no matter where, the radio reminds me of my home far away. Country roads, take me home.

The gathering of materials for this book has taken a few years. At the start, my granddaughter was a non-reading preschooler. Today, being in the fourth grade, she reads on the fifth-grade level. This is where we begin:

It was a chilly fall evening, and Savana, my precocious, pragmatic four-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter was spending the night. As a preschooler, reading, to her, was a favorite activity. One evening, as we were about to start our fun, she wanted to choose the book. To my surprise, she returned with Grandma’s old green album. She knew this book was a no-no, but I suppose she felt she had grown up to it. This was a true reflection, déjà vu, my grandmother and me.

Sixty years earlier…

A pale green cellulose book with its back cover in great disrepair was a prized family possession. As a child, from time to time, I would ask my grandmother to tell me about our relatives in the album. Some stories were more entertaining than others and would get repeat requests. Hours would pass with me cuddled up to Grandma as she reminisced about the people and events of long ago. She enjoyed traveling back in time as much as I enjoyed hearing of the events. (And for those that knew my grandmother, talking was not her.) The hair and the clothing were so different. It is hard to imagine life today without the everyday amenities we now possess.

Fast forward to the present day, Savana was the recipient of the tales. It must have surely blown her mind, the idea of no television, no computer, and no car. How did these people live? Although she is physically active and travels a lot by car and air, the notion that you rode a horse or went by train or did not go was beyond her comprehension.

Years after Grandma’s death, my mother and I decided the album needed major repair if we intended to keep it as a family history. Thus, we carefully removed the pictures and set about to find a reputable company to handle this delicate job. A local Bible store got the project.

The Bible store did an excellent job with green velvet on the back and the spine reinforced. Except for a few zings on the front cover, it looked almost new. Now came the hard part—replacing the pictures with names and approximate dates. My mother, whom had personally known most of the pictures’ celebrates, did this job to perfection. (Mom was the eldest grandchild on both her parents’ sides.) Thus, the album could now take an honorable place on the shelf as the family’s history book.

As Savana and I turned the pages, it dawned on me that the stories of these folks’ lives should be written down. When I am gone, the details of their escapades would be forgotten. So Savana’s Folks came to be.

Before starting these