Time for a history lesson: Grandpa (James Gentry Perry) and Grandma (Elzina
Senatta Miller) Perry, Ada Emogene’s (my grandmother’s) parents, were farmers.
He was also a Primitive Baptist Preacher and often preached in the area of
Grayson, Smyth, and Washington counties, Virginia.(Odd note: He had bad eczema
on his hands.) They came from Ashe County, NC, between White Top Gap and
Lansing, near Big Horse Creek. He would haul produce from their farm to
Bristol, Abingdon, and Chilhowie to sell.
He usually had a route staked out. Elzina died of high blood pressure on
Christmas Day in 1940. She used garlic for medicine – not sure what else they
may have had back them to take care of this.
My daddy (nicknamed Billy) remembered another
Christmas (he was the one that got scared over the big teddy bear). His daddy
came home and pulled the car into the barn for the night. It was Christmas Eve.
Billy saw his daddy carrying a bag over his shoulder like Santa. He ran to the
kitchen thinking his dad would come through that door, but he came through the
front door. For Christmas, Billy got a coconut, a pair of socks, a harmonica,
and a little bag of peanuts. What a difference in the presents our children get
today.
I once “interviewed” Grandma Ada (my sister is
named after her) Walton and asked her some questions. So here are a couple of
facts about her. She met Granddaddy Booker Walton on the second Sunday in March
1920. Later, Ada had gone with her granddaddy to Troutdale, Virginia, where
Booker lived. They spent the night with Booker’s family and he asked her to
walk to Church with him on Sunday morning. When they had to leave and return
home, she thought she would never see or hear from him. The next week she got a
letter, and the second week she got another and he asked her to marry him. In
total, they exchanged 9 letters. The third time she met him was when they were
married. They were married the second Sunday of June at her Granddaddy’s,
Harrison Baker Miller, house above Riverside, Virginia. Riverside was very
close to the St. Clair Primitive Baptist Church that the Waltons attended for
Church. It was the first Primitive Baptist Church built in that area (in the
late 1770s), and it may have been the first in Virginia. Harrison was also a Primitive Baptist
Preacher, and he married them. They were married for 43 years, and she said
that we should not ever say that there isn’t love at first sight. (Another odd
note: Riverside High School was were I went to the 4th grade, Anita
to the 6th, James to the 3rd , and Ada Jo to the 1st.
When Ada first met Booker, she thought he was
the best looking man she’d ever met, but he didn’t talk. When he did, whatever
he said he meant. Grandma thought my daddy was like him. After they were
married, Booker’s mother told Grandma that the Saturday night or Saturday
evening after Church that they stayed with the family, Booker followed his
mother to the spring house and said, “Ma, I’ve met my wife. I’ve waited 25
years for her, and I hope she will have me.” Grandma said she and Booker never
had any harsh words with each other, he was so good to her and was crazy about
his children.
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| Ada Emogene Perry and Wilborn (spelling wrong on picture) Booker Walton before they were married. |
Booker passed away in 1963. I still remember
how they came to tell mom that he had been sitting on the porch and had a heart
attack at home. I believe Uncle Wallace and his family was there and took him
to the hospital in Abingdon where he died. We were at our home, just down the
road from where they lived, when someone came to tell us he was at the
hospital. He had passed away before my parents could get there. Later, they
brought his body back to the house where people came to visit before the
funeral. He was laid out in the front room, where several years before Anita
and I sat and watched the Wizard of Oz when it came on for the first time on
TV. All of the cousins where there, and we would go around talking about what
had happened, death, and how we would miss him. There was a bird’s nest in a
tree on the side of the house, and we got up to see the little baby birds. We
breathed on the babies, and someone told us they would die because of it and the
ants would eat them. I was so worried about those little birds dying also.
Booker was my granddaddy, and he was a good
man. Once, he and Grandma were taking me and Anita to a Church member’s house
for singing (they did that in their Church). As we drove there, I must have
said a word (not a cuss word), but something that was like “gosh” or “darn”.
Granddaddy quietly corrected me and said that I should never use words like
that to express myself. I wanted to please him, and I thought I never would. (Sure
forgot that when I grew up.) Grandpa and
Grandma Walton also took Anita and I to see “Old Yeller,” and we cried buckets at
that movie. It was in a drive in, and we sat in our car. It is funny what
memories come to us when we are reminded of little things from the past.
Grandma married Leonard Davis several years
after granddaddy died. He was the father of their daughter’s (Sybil) husband (Melvin). She said
that she still missed granddaddy, and although she had married Leonard, she
could never love him like she did Daddy (what she called Booker). Leonard was a
wonderful man too and was good to her.
Enough about the past! Let’s get to the present. Please share this
with my grandbabies. As I work, I want them to know about their family.
The beginning of the week (for me) was on
Tuesday. We began our day by driving north to a place near Port Washington
called Grafton. Another small clean town but not much there. It was so very
peaceful and a nice drive to get there. We went there to inspect missionary
apartments. What a hoot! They had done a pretty good job. We enjoy getting to
do this. I usually do the looking and writing of the report, Craig keeps them
talking so they stay away from me. I go through all the cabinets, closets,
rooms, etc. Man, they are really just boys in so many ways. It is amazing to me
that some have been on a mission for 18 months or more and never had their
apartments inspected. We are trying to do a better job about getting them to keep
it conducive to the Spirit.
That night we attended the PAF genealogy group.
It is such a well oiled machine, and it gets the information to the members.
These people are so into their family work, they are professionals. We love
going to their meetings, and we learn something every time we go.
On Thursday, we went to the gym, and for a lot
of the day prepared for Pathway. There aren’t many weeks left in the program,
and I am going to miss the math; however, I will also be glad to free up the
hours I’ve spent trying to keep up with the students and their work.
Friday came around, and I felt a sorry for the
passing of Aunt Peggy. She was buried on Friday the 13th. They
buried her next to Uncle Blaine in the Dowell Cemetery off Fall Branch Road.
She was a good lady, and so much like mom in so many ways and yet, not like her
at all. I shall miss talking with her and asking her endless questions.
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| Aunt Peggy and Uncle Blaine |
That morning we went with the missionaries to
talk with a new member, Dave Meltun. He is in a program to become a chef and
has had a hard time coming to Church. He is a black man, but I think he looks
Italian. He has three children, and I can’t tell if they live with him or not.
There are several people who live in the house, and the woman (maybe his
sister) who owns the house does not like the Elders coming around. So we went
with them. He had asked me several questions regarding the need for baptism for
the dead. He is very smart, and we do not want to lose him.
Later that evening, Craig had to go with the
missionaries to talk with someone about employment opportunities. He was gone
for several hours, and I spent my time as usual working on family history. I’ve
been working for a nonmember on scanning in all her documents so she can get
rid of her paper trail. She and her husband have been in Florida for the winter
and should be back soon. They were unable to sell their home before they left,
so they can’t move to Florida for good until they get rid of the house. I had
one notebook left when they went to Florida, and I’ve been working on it
forever. It takes a lot of time to scan in dozens of documents. When I finish,
I’m going to get back into scanning our pictures. I have so many to do, and I’m
constantly finding more. At the same time, we found out earlier in the day that
Dave Armstrong had pneumonia. I spent several hours getting the Priesthood on
the phone to get someone over to their home to give him a blessing. I don’t
think they had even thought of it. I wasn’t sure how she would react, but she
was all for it.
Saturday found us hunting out some new sights
in Milwaukee. We had an appointment that afternoon that was cancelled at the
last minute. That night we went to Waukasau to attend a meeting with an author
who had written a book about the Blacks and the Church. Can’t remember his name
now, but it was very interesting, very positive. He is working on a doctorate
and has done extensive research on the subject. He had some access to many
resources in SLC. We learned from his presentation.
Sunday found us at Parkway. It is a nice
building, but small in some ways. We usually have a full Sacrament, such a
difference from City Branch. This group is much more well-to-do also. There is
a different feeling here, and we find ourselves missing the City Branch. They
are good people, but there isn’t the closeness we felt before. It is practically
a new Ward, so it will take a while to come together. The Bishop, his
counselors, RS leaders are top notch. We don’t know the Primary workers or
youth leaders yet. It will take a while to get to know them. After Church, someone in the Ward brings all
these bread and goodies for members to take as they need. I picked up some
cinnamon rolls, and we took some by the Armstrongs to check on him. He did not
look good. We didn’t stay because when we got there someone (a man) was leaving
their house. He quickly went back inside and disappeared. We figured it was
their son who doesn’t like the Church. So we left after checking with them.
On Monday, after going to the gym, we got
cleaned up and went by the home of a Sister who has been sick a lot and we
haven’t seen her in a while. She was not home when we got there so we headed
out to Costco. We had our refund check with us and so got several things to put
in storage. We also picked up a rotissori chicken for the Armstrongs (and one
for us) to take by their house that night. We are worried about Dave. When we
took it by, Dave looked like he was so tired that it was all he could do to
stand up. Again, we didn’t stay long because he didn’t look like he needed
visitors.
Tuesday brought around the regular oil change.
While there, Craig ended up getting two new back tires (ouch!) and the
information that the front tires will need changing soon. We also inspected two missionary apartments,
and one of them was a mess. Only one of the missionaries assigned to the
apartment was there. The other was on exchanges. We then met him when we went
to the Mission Office. He asked if they passed. I wanted to laugh. So silly!
We didn’t have a District Meeting on Tuesday
because we would have transfers the next week so we had math practice all
afternoon. Craig has to entertain himself when I’m tutoring. He is very good
about doing things that need to be done. Again, I’m ready for these hours to be
finished.
Our Scripture for March is from Doctrine and
Covenants 68:4 -
And
whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be
scripture,
shall
be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of
the Lord,
shall
be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.
Elder and Sister Lenhard
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