Mother Circa 1935

Mother - Evelyn Circa 1945

Evelyn - Mother Circa 1956

I found the picture on the left in a box of old pictures that I got from mother when she moved to Apt 54. I intended to ask her for dates, etc. but as is the case too many times, I didn't. So I'm estimateing by other photos with dates on them.

In the same box was the picture in the middle, of mother's younger sister Aunt Evelyn Campbell and Mother. I already had the picture on the right of them many years later, and thought that it would be good to show the longivity of the sisterly love that they shared.

Aunt Evelyn wrote a short story about mother getting married from a younger sister's point of view. I've included it below because I throughly enjoyed reading it and thought some of you might to.

Athey Virginia Got Married

By Evelyn Campbell

She was the eldest of our brood and shouldered most respons- ibility. Under different circum- stances or a different time, she would have been your true Southern Belle, dark hair, very blue eyes, fair skin ---- and so proud. So proud that when a boy from a well-off family walked her home from church, she let him get near the house, then politiely informed him that she had other plans for the afternoon ... her home was not fine enough for him to see, but he never knew her reason. Athey was a natural artist. With crayons and watercolors, she created dreamy landscapes, designed and painted all the beautiful gowns she wanted so badly and seldom had. Once, I made a book of the blank sides of last year's calendar and filled it with stories of rabbits and other animals; she illustrated it for me drawing the animals in intricate detail, dressing them in bonnets, aprons, slippers and bows. Ah, what a keepsake that book would have been! Like so many other things, it slipped through the keyhole of time. Our mother was not very strong, and the constant child-bearing didn't help her any. Athey did much of the cooking, and took her place in the fields with the rest of us. She hated field work; more often than not, tears mingled with the sweat on her face as we dug weeds from the cotton rows on those rocky hills. Small wonder she said 'yes' when a young man, brought up in a foster home and eager to establish one of his own, asked her to marry him. She was only 17, but many local girls married young. After all, what else was there to do, no further schooling and no jobs available. You were born, you went to school only in winter while there was no tilling or harvesting to do; if you were interested, you finished the seventh or eighth grade ... too many miles to the nearest High School, not to mention expenses.

At 12 or thereabout, you were expected to join the church and be baptized. Some, no doubt, experienced a genuine conversion, others just went along with the custom. After these things had been accomplished, you started looking for a mate. All-day singings with dinner spread on cloths on the ground, week long revivals, with plenty of courting going on in the back pews ... these, and an occasional barn dance when the winters got too long, were the hunting grounds. Few bachelors escaped. Saturday night before the wedding, Papa came home with a fruit jar full of White Lightening; local moonshine, strong enough to knock a bull down and down was how he stayed for the next week. He was not what you'd call a drinking man, often going for years without a drop. When he did go on a bender, he was a mean, sick man, under stress and seeking escape via the bottle ... or canning jar, to be exact, no such thing as a State store then. Whiskey was distilled in the hills and hollers by a breed of men who opted to flout the law rather than slave all year for a greedy landlord. Now we have the state waxing fat on the sale of alcohol while caring groups labor with alco- holics, drucken drivers, & drug pushers kill people and the Surgeon Gen. of the U.S. climbs on his soap box to blame it on cigarettes! But I digress -- Papa made no objection to his first-born daughter's marriage ... with nothing better to offer her, how could he? And this is what tore him. After they left Sunday morning for the preacher's house, he called me out to the back yard, and, weaving on his feet, requested: 'Take care of me, I'm sick ... don't let me make a fool of us ...' I supported him to the corn crib, helped him lie down and left, closing the door. But he didn't stay there.

Mama was trying to cook a wedding dinner without watering pots and pans with her tears. Aunt Amanda got in the way more than she helped until we heard Papa stumble up on the back porch just as the wedding party came in the front door. She rushed out, ordered him to sit down and be quiet. When he refused, teetering dangerously near the edge of the high porch, she smacked him across the bend of his legs and sat him down. Thankfully for the rest of us, he passed out and stayed that way until his new son-in-law took his bride and departed. So ... Athey Virginia got married, the wedding feast went off without a hitch, gay with talk and laughter while Mama hid her tears. Athey made good use of her talents, in her home, and lovely dresses for her daughters, giving them names she wished had been given her ... Doris, Sylvia, Margaret, Janis, and Sonja. She died a few years ago on February 11, and was buried on Valentine's Day. Exactly two years later, also on February 11 her husband joined her and was laid to rest beside her; also, on Valentine's Day. May they rest in peace. copyright © Evelyn Campbell Evelyn Campbell

Mother at my wedding

Mother and Tammy

Mother of the groom attends my wedding April 28, 1972 at Utopia Baptist Church near Winston outside Villa Rica, GA.

Mother enjoyed having Tammy visit and help her water her plants.

Mother and Jeff

Mother, Tammy & Jeff

Mother was happy anytime I brought the kids to visit. She love to cuddle Jeff and give him his bottle.

As the kids got older they love to pose with Grandma Maner to have their pictures took.

A Psalm of David

23:1  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
23:2  He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
      he leadeth me beside the still waters.
23:3  He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the
      paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
23:4  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
      shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou
      art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
      me.
23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
      of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil;
      my cup runneth over.
23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
      days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of
      the LORD for ever.

Mother & Ron Garner

Mother, Gabe & Tammy

On the left mother enjoys holding grandson Ron Garner
while he, his mom and little brother Gabe visit.

On the right mother plays in the floor with grandbabies
Gabe Garner and Tammy Maner as Tammy and I visit the
same day.

Mother and Sharon (Liz)

Mother, Sylvia & Nick

Mother was sure to be tickled anytime her first grandbaby
could come for a visit down from Kingsport, TN.

On the right mother visits Liz's parents, Sylvia & Nick
at their home in Kingsport, TN. She loved the mountains
and foggy valleys of North East TN.

Mother & Sylvia

Mother, Jewell & Ellen

Mother loved going to the beach but especially if that
beach was at the ocean. Here she points out over the
water while walking the wet sandy beach with second
daughter Sylvia.

On the right mother visits her sister Jewell in South
GA. She loved any place that had bodies of water or a
waterfall cascading down a hillside or over a dam as
in this photo with Jewell and her daughter Ellen Kaylor.

The Testimony by Jimmy Holcombe Feb 11, 1985 Jimmy Holcombe is the son of mother's sister Elsie Rush Newborn.

Jimmy Holcombe

copyright © Jimmy Holcombe 1985

Jimmy plays guitar and sings too. He further paid honor to his Aunt Athey by picking and singing one of her favorite gospel songs. By the Beautiful River by Jimmy Holcombe Click the Start control to play this selection.

The William B. Rush Family Tree

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Jerusalem, Isreal

Mother always wanted to go to Isreal and to Heaven.

She never made it to Isreal ...

In 1998 Joann Locklear recorded a piano rendition of "The Old Rugged Cross" for me to put on Mother's memorial webpage. Thanks Joann. Joann was the wife of David Locklear, a fellow employee that I worked with at Southwire Co. from 1995 to 2002. Click the player controls on the player below to hear Joann's rendition of "The Old Rugged Cross". Click the Start control to play this selection.

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   Renditions of "Portrait of Christ" and "Christ on the cross"
   are from Gregg Webb's pictures of Jesus web site.