Mamaw was the oldest of her eight siblings and she also had
an older half-sister as well, making nine children that her mother had. They were the following: Marguerite Rachel
Floyd, 1914-2011, married Curtis Ashby Rushing, 1910-1959; J B Loftis,
1918-2004, married Dorothy Helen Beard, 1926-2009; Myrtle Mae Loftis, 1920-1998,
married James Robert Moreland, 1917-1986; Christine Virginia Loftis, 1921-2015,
married Joseph Benedict Alvey, 1902-1964; Willow Belle Loftis, 1924-1986,
married George E. Watson, 1919-1991; Dorothy Elizabeth Loftis, 1927-1929, died
of whooping cough and pneumonia; Bobbie Laverne Loftis, 1930-1975, married Paul
Gregory, 1929-1979; and Norma Jean Loftis, married first William Earl Fox and
then Percy Rex Martin, 1932-1998.
The following picture is from left to right:
Daisy, Bobbie, Norma Jean, Willow Belle and Christine with their Mom, Amy,
setting in front of them, taken in about 1950.
These five girls were always very close to each other. Their other two sisters Marguerite and Mae
never lived close and had left home when they were teenagers and Dorothy had
died when she was just two. Their
brother J B had moved out to California right after World War II ended and
lived there till the day he died. Next
are pictures of Marguerite Floyd Rushing in 1950, the only boy, J B Loftis in
about 1940 and Mae Loftis Moreland in about 1940. I have never seen a picture of little
Dorothy, so there may never have been one.
Mamaw had a pretty tough life growing up, money was always
tight and they all went to work pretty early in life, they were just dirt poor
as the old saying goes. Their Daddy
worked in a number of the spar mines around Western Kentucky, and I know he
worked at the Klondyke Mines in Livingston County in 1930, also the Bonanza
Mines in the 1920’s. Sometimes, unfortunately, he could be just
plain lazy and Mamaw remembered at least twice of Night Riders coming and
laying a bundle of switches on the front porch.
Back in those days if someone was
lazy and not providing for their families, there were men that would take care
of these people, you got one warning when a bundle of switches were laid on
your front porch. If you weren’t out and
looking for a job the next day they came back and drug you out of the house and
whipped you pretty good. Mamaw said her
Daddy never got whupped, because he always got the message and would usually
have a job again in a couple of days. Mamaw
loved him dearly, but she said sometimes he made it hard to do so. The following is a picture of her Daddy, who
was sometimes called Jack, Jess and Jesse and every now and again he went by
his middle name of Guy as well. I only
have the picture of him with his wife and daughter, Daisy and this one. If any others ever existed of him, I have
never seen them. It could be they were
just so poor they didn’t have the money to have any pictures taken. I have a number of pictures of the family
after he passed away, but not too many before that time.
Mamaw’s
Mom took in laundry to earn money and try to make ends meet and Mamaw told me
that by the time she was eight, she was helping to do the laundry that her Mom
took in, as well as helping to take care of the smaller children. Mamaw was only able to go to the eighth
grade, her Daddy had wanted her to quit even sooner and go to work, but her Mom
was able to convince him to let her go just a little while longer. Mamaw had always wanted to go to high school,
but in those days you had to pay to go to school and usually stay with someone
in town, which you also had to pay for, and there was never enough money for
her to do that. After the eighth grade, Mamaw went to work full
time, doing laundry, cleaning people’s houses and it seems like I remember her
saying she worked at a store in Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky as
well. I wish I could remember the name
of that store. I don’t think any of her
sisters or her brother went any further then the eighth grade either. The following are some pictures of her Mom,
Amy, who I remember really well as she died when I was ten years old.
Pretty soon my Mamaw, Daisy Elnora Loftis, ran into my
Papaw, Ermon Edward Fraley, 1914-1994, and they started dating and the sparks
flew between them. Mamaw told me a story
about this old car in the following picture.
She said, Papaw would help her get in the car, she would get her dress
all settle nice around her and then Papaw would hop in the car on his side and
start the car up. They would be going
down the road and there was some kind of button on his side of the car that he
would pull, which would send a blast of air right where Mamaw was setting and
it would blow her dress up over her head.
Papaw got a kick out of it, I can just hear him laughing now, and Mamaw
said she would smack him and tell him she wouldn’t go out with him anymore
unless he stopped doing that. So he
would stop and then the next time they were together, pretty soon he would pull
that button again and up would go her dress and smack, he was laughing again. Mamaw always laughed when she told me that
story.
A
little over a year after they started dating, they were married on March 19,
1938 in Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky in the upstairs room of a house
across the street from the courthouse, it was Mamaw’s 21st
birthday. I know I have taken at least a
couple of pictures of that house, but can I find one of them now when I want
one, NO. The following picture shows the
house in 2005 when I took this picture, that was the first house that my Mamaw
and Papaw lived in and where their first child, Barbara was born, just outside
of Marion going towards Fredonia.
Mamaw and Papaw settled into married life and soon their
children started coming, Barbara Ann Fraley who married Curtis Leon Fritts
1934-2005; then my Mom, Erma Jean Fraley 1940-2011, who married Duell Franklin
Beard 1935-2009; Guy Robert Fraley who married Eleanor Jane Summers; Amy Corene
Fraley who married Thomas Edward Brooks 1943-1997, then Joseph Monroe Mitchell;
Connie Rose Fraley 1947-1950; Iva Nell Fraley who married Roger Dale Griffin
and Edward Jewell Fraley 1952-1954.
Pretty soon World War II started and my family
was effected the same as most of the rest of the nation and the world. My Papaw was called up in 1943 in the United
States Navy Reserve and was sent to the South Pacific and was on board a
hospital ship as a corpsman. Mamaw said it
was a very hard time for her and she worried about him all the time he was gone. She was raising chickens and selling them and
their eggs to help make ends meet and somehow she had enough money to buy a
house while Papaw was gone, along with what she got from Papaw’s service pay. I have a picture of that house she bought, that
I took in 2011, when I took my Mom back home the last time, and I have the
following pictures too, one of Papaw in uniform and one that my Mamaw sent to
him during the war of her holding Amy who was born right before he left and
then from left to right my Mom, Guy and Barbara.
The war finally ended and Papaw was able to come back home
to his family, where the last three children were added to their family. The following pictures show Connie Rose, Iva
with Mamaw and Papaw and Edward Jewell.
The pictures of Connie and of Edward were taken not to long before they
passed away, they both apparently had the same thing wrong with them. My Mom and her other siblings never said a
lot about it, but I know my Mom really had a hard time when they passed away and
I am sure the others did as well. I also
know my grandparents suffered for a long time to, wondering if there was
anything they could have done differently, but both deaths were pretty sudden
and seem to be almost the same type of thing happening to the both of
them. My Mamaw told me a few different
times that a mucus like pus was coming out of their eyes and ears, they both
had really bad coughs and high fevers, right before they died and the doctors
didn’t really know what the problem might have been. We now know it might have possibly been
encephalitis. They had taken Connie to
the Children’s Hospital in Louisville, because the doctor in Marion didn’t know
what was wrong and that is where she passed away. Mamaw told me that after Connie died the doctors
wanted to do an autopsy, but that was such a new concept to them and most
people at that time, that they didn’t want it done to Connie. Mamaw told me that after Edward Jewell died,
she and Papaw both blamed themselves and wish they had let the doctors perform
the autopsy on Connie and then maybe Edward wouldn’t have died. I don’t know how they did it losing a child,
let alone losing two children within a four year time frame, I know it haunted
them both till the day they died.
Mamaw and Papaw and their children moved out to Woodlake,
Tulare County, California in 1953, because Mamaw’s brother, J B Loftis and his wife,
Helen Beard had moved out there in 1946 after they got married and told them
jobs were plentiful and they would love it there. The above picture of Edward Jewell was taken
at Mooney’s Grove in Visalia that year.
They found work right off, but only stayed for about a year, they were
so homesick they had to get back to Kentucky and so they packed up and went
back home. They moved to the Hardin’s
Knob area of Crittenden County when they got back to Kentucky and that is where
Edward got sick and died in 1954.
In 1959, my grandparents left Crittenden County
for the last time and moved up to Hebbardsville in Henderson County, Kentucky
about 70 miles north. My Mom and Dad had
gotten married in 1957 and my Aunt Barb and Uncle Leon had gotten married in
1955 and they both stayed in Marion for a little bit longer. My Aunt Iva started third grade there at
Hebbardsville Elementary and Aunt Amy and Uncle Guy as well as Aunt Iva all
graduated from Henderson County High School just like I did, a few years later. They lived in at least three different
houses that I can remember before my Papaw built the house that they would
continue to own and live in until 2006.
The following three pictures shows one of the houses in Henderson County
they lived in when I was just little, that is me on the front porch and with my
Aunt Iva out in the yard at one of the houses and the house Papaw built in the
1960’s. After they moved out to their
house off of Hwy 416 in Hebbardsville, I would go out there on Friday’s and
spend the weekend every chance I got. After
I got to Middle School and High School I could catch the bus that took me to
their house and would stay all weekend when possible and just ride the bus to
school on Monday mornings sometimes as well.
I loved to be out there with them.
Mamaw
went to work at Henderson County Middle School as a cook in the lunch room in
1970 and worked there for the next ten years.
When I was in Middle School I would always go in and talk to her and I
even worked in the lunch room as a helper when I was in seventh grade. You got your lunch for free if you helped
during your lunch hour. Usually your job
was washing down the tables, sweeping the floors and taking out the trash. She really liked the ladies she worked there
with and so did I, they were all really sweet.
The one I remember the most was Mary Clouse, and that is mainly because
they lived on the other hill across from my grandparents off of Hwy 416. We always called her Aunt Mary and we still
do to this day. I was hoping to go and
visit with her when I was home in August of this year, but I just didn’t have
enough time. I did get to go see her and
visit when I was home three years ago though.
The following two pictures of Mamaw were taken in 1974 and 1975 when she
was working at HCMS.
In 1988 Mamaw and Papaw celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary and their children threw a big party for them at Atkinson
Park in Henderson, Kentucky. The
following are just a couple pictures from that day. Mamaw had never had a wedding ring, they just
didn’t have the money for one back in those early days. In the picture where they are setting Papaw
had just given her a gold wedding band, she was thrilled to say the least. We had all been taking our rings off and trying
each other’s on and having her try on our rings too while setting around the
kitchen table a few days before. She
never suspected what we were really up to and that was trying to see what size
ring Papaw needed to get for her. To say
she was surprised is an understatement.
Life moved on and times got better, the family grew, with 15
grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren when my Papaw, Ermon Edward Fraley,
died August 4, 1994 at their home in Hebbardsville, Kentucky they had been
married for 56 years. It was a devastating blow to all of us, but
one we had been preparing for since he had been diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer just a few weeks before. Once
again my Mamaw knew heartache, but she was strong and nothing could get her
down for long and for the next 12 years she went on without her sweetheart by
her side, but her kids and grandkids were always there for her, always making
sure she had everything she needed.
Mamaw’s eyesight was getting worse and so she couldn’t see
real well those last few years, but she knew where everything was and so she continued
to stay out at their home in Hebbardsville.
There was always someone calling or stopping by to check on her pretty
much every day. The Clouse family on the
other hill, even cleaned out a lot of the trees and bushes in the gully between
their homes so that they could see through to her house better. They told her anytime she needed something to
just call and they would be right there and during the night if she flipped on
the lights in the kitchen they knew she needed help and they would be over
there in a heartbeat. Aunt Mary has two
sons Don and Ricky who still live on the hill too and they kept her yard all
mowed and kept things fixed around the house if one of us wasn’t going to be
there before it needed it really bad.
Ricky and I are the same age and we use to wonder all over the woods
around Mamaw’s house and his house. We
would swing from grapevines in the gully, are climb in the big old trees behind
Mamaw’s house and set up there for hours.
They were the best kind of neighbors to have for sure.
Mamaw loved to set outside and it was getting
harder for her to walk down the steps, so we all pitched in some money and with
the help of my cousin, Teresa’s, husband, George, he built a deck off her back
door. George also put in a ramp so she
didn’t have to maneuver down the stairs anymore. The following picture I took of her on her
porch as she always called it, on Mother’s Day in 2005 when I had gone back to
visit.
In 2006 Mamaw was starting to have some weak spells and had
fallen a few times so Aunt Barb convinced her to come up to her house in Valparaiso,
Indiana and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with her. The other girls, Aunt Amy and Aunt Iva lived
in Henderson and both were working at the time and my Mom, Jean lived in Utah
and Uncle Guy lived in Florida, so they couldn’t run out to the house every
single day to check on her. Mamaw agreed
and so Aunt Barb came and got her around the first of November and took her
home with her. About a week or so after
Thanksgiving, Mamaw apparently had, had some small little strokes or something
similar. My cousin Phyllis who is a
nurse lived close to her Mom, Barbara, and so she was coming over and checking
on Mamaw every day. Sometime on December
3rd or 4th I think it was, Mamaw couldn’t talk or move
and so they took her to the Porter Hospital there in Valparaiso, where she
passed away on December 5, 2006 with all of her children around her bedside.
The lane leading back to their house seemed so
lonely and forlorn the week we were all there to say our last goodbyes. The house on the hill was bustling with
activity, but it was not the same as when they were both there to greet all of
us. The following are pictures my
husband took the week we said our last goodbyes.
She
was taken back to Kentucky and was buried beside her sweetheart and their two
little children, Connie and Edward at the Deer Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in
Sheridan, Crittenden County, Kentucky on December 11, 2006. When Mamaw passed she had 15 grandchildren, 26
great-grandchildren and 6 great-great-grandchildren, but only 4 were still living. The following is a picture of her five
surviving children, from left to right, Jean, Barb, Guy, Amy and Iva, Mamaw’s
grave that day and all 15 of her grandchildren at her funeral in 2006. There are now as of December 28, 2015 = 28
great-grandchildren and 33 great-great-grandchildren, if I haven’t missed any,
but I think I have them all accounted for now.
I am pretty sure the great-grand’s are done, but I am sure they will
continue to be more great-great-grands in the future.
I was just at the
cemetery in August this year, my cousin, Phyllis, took this picture of me by
their grave.
The old Dolly Parton song said it best when my Mamaw passed
away, “The ole' family tree is shedding its leaves, But we'll all meet in
Heaven again, Oh, she's an angel Let her fly, let her fly, She's gone home to
glory, To her home in the sky, When God sees her comin', Heaven's choir will
smile and sing, "Oh she's an angel, let her fly, let her fly, Ooh, she's
an angel, let her fly”.
Our special Angel is no longer with us, but we think about
her almost every day and miss her constantly.
