KILGORE LINEAGE MONTHLY BIRTHDAY LIST

NOTE: Some names were left off this list because the birthday information was not known.  Divorced spouses are not listed, but present spouses are.  Starting with Virg and Sarah Kilgore, all deceased descendants are also listed and indicated in red. If there are any corrections, please contact Johnny Kilgore.  To find out from what part of the Kilgore family a person is from, please refer to the FB site: www.facebook.com/groups/kilgorecousins and click on ‘FILE” at the top; go to the Virg and Sarah Kilgore Lineage document.

It is interesting to note that there are five sets of twins in the Kilgore lineage, and there is one set of triplets.  They are Joe Williams, Jr. & Sandy Williams Hill, born November 30. 1963 to Frances Spain Walther and then, husband, Joseph Randolph Williams Sr.; John Chadwick (Chad) Schultz and Heidi Schultz Adams, born February 4, 1973 to Nelda Chadwick Schultz and husband, Ken; Abigail Rebecca McKeever and Erin Elizabeth McKeever, born November 2, 1996 to Neil McKeever and wife, Julie;  Richard Spencer Shober and Charles Thomas Shobar, born November 28, 1999 to Amy Prosch Shobar (daughter of Barbara Chadwick Calloway) and husband, Tom; and Norah Leigh Adams and Mason Smallwood Adams, born November 30, 2003 to Heidi Schultz Adams and husband, Lee.  The set of triplets are Sydney Erin McKeever, Katie Malia McKeever, and Logan Andrew McKeever, born March 9, 2000 to Chris Shane McKeever (son of Charles and Carolyn McKeever) and wife,  Darlene Waldrop McKeever.
             

       
        JANUARY

       Maci Streetman Hill (01/01/1981)

       Jamie Gordon Bailey (01/02/1978)

       Ciarra Isley Morris (01/06/2004)

       Amy Hunter Coury (01/07/1972)

       Betty Chadwick Powell (01/13/1936)

       Paul Biddle (01/15/1972)

       Elizabeth Rakowski Shawanesse ((01/16/1978)

       Lexi Ann Hackney (01/19/2009)

       Kaleigh McKenna Phelps (01/20/2004)

       Bobby Walters (01/21/1964)

       Braden James Tautkus (01/21/2002)

       Ordis McKleroy (01/22/1923)

       Dylan Ross Bartlow (01/24/2011)

       Gigi Tilley (01/24/2008)

       Karli Lampman (01/25/1999)

       Patrick McKeever (01/25/1966)

       Mary Beth McKleroy Bridges (01/26/1945)

       Ethan Michael Johnson (01/27/2006)

       Joe Gordon (01/28/1955)

       Cesley Nichole Carter (01/29/2008)

       Karli Tilley (01/29/2002)

       Jason Irvin (01/29/1971)

       Darlene Waldrop McKeever (01/29/1973)

       Jeffrey Wayne Kilgore (01/30/2002)

       Jimmy Frick (01/30/1956)

        FEBRUARY

        Ian Zachary Layton (02/01/1990)

Denise Williams Meyeraan (02/02/1961)

Chris Schultz (02/04/1973)

Sarah Noles Kilgore (02/04/1883)

Christina Brito Johnson (02/06/1967)

        Dolly Kilgore Gordon Sherer (02/06/1909)

        Neil McKeever (02/06/1963)

        Jinoke McKeever Peters (02/09/1969)

        Sandy McKleroy Hunter (02/13/1947)

        Frances Spain Walther (02/14/1937)

        John Marshall McKeever (01/15/2002)

        Lexi Guthrie (02/18/2002)
        Savannah Kay Tatum (02/19/1990)
        Rachel McDuffie Brown (02/18/1991)

        Dr. Billy Chadwick (02/20/1934)

        Chris Prosch  (02/21/1990)

        Savannah Tatum (02/19/1990)

        Jacob Allen Walters (02/22/1990)

        Jerdy Romans (02/23/1894)

        Marshall Tilley (02/23/2006)

        John Grant Gordon (02/25/1984)

        Leah Chadwick Graham (02/25/1965)

        Patricia McKeever Phelps (02/27/1938)

        John Wesley Virgil Kilgore (02/28/1880)

      

        MARCH

        Rebecca Sweeney Allen (03/02/1979)

Charlie (Tog) McKeever (03/04/1944)

Gina Powell Lee (03/04/1957)

Blake Gordon (03/05/1988)

Michael David Streetman (03/05/1958)
Cathy Postma Schultz (03/07/1979)

Dustin Canez (03/07/1986)

Katie Malia McKeever (03/09/2001)

Logan Andrew McKeever (03/09/2001)

Sydney Erin McKeever (03/09/2001)
Josh Matthew Moses (03/10 /1991)

Chrisina Joan Canez (03/15/1991)

Eddie Brown (03/15/1973)

Nettie Hadder Kilgore (03/15/1911)

Bridger Alan Lewis (03/18/1993)

Emily Victoria Jenkins (03/18/1993)

        Jake Briscoe (03/18/1988

        Aaron Dale Sharit (08/23/1981)

Cecil W. Kilgore (03/24/1921)

Levi James Sharit (03/24/2011)
Hugh Francis McKeever (03/25/1939)

Kenneth Scott Johnson (03/25/1992)

Lisa McKeever Hollingsworth (03/26/1960)

Holly Kilgore Prince (03/27/1985)

Dr. Joe Neil McKeever (03/28/1940)

APRIL

        Ashley McKeever Johnson (04/01/1986)

Jessica Mae Peters (04/01/1991)

Kenly Kate Irvin (04/02/1996)

James Lawson Wade (04/04/1996)

        Gordon Denniston (04/06/2009)

        Lisa Hunter Layton (04/06/1970)

        Madison Bri Phelps (04/06/2000)

Sarah Elizabeth Graham (04/6/1997)

Shane Kilgore (04/07/1976)

Rani Greer (04/08/2003)

Bryant Irvin (04/10/1941)

Pat Colvin Kilgore (04/10/1944)

Lee Adams (04/10/1965)

Kathy Smallwood Cook (04/11/1956)

Carl J. McKeever (04/13/1912)

Misha Bynum McKeever (04/16/1970)

        Chloe Isabella Morris (04/17/2008)

        Kat Harris Bartlow (04/17/1971)

        Dr. John McCoy Kilgore (04/20/1979)

Josh Cagle (04/20/1979)

Graham Isaac Allen (04/21/2014)
Mark Tatum (04/22/1967)

        Phoebe Sherer Lewis (04/24/1959)

        Butch Tatum (04/26/1946)
        John Pounders (04/29/1993)

        Mabry Smith (04/29/1939)

        Jon Cagle (04/30/1981)

        MAY

         Emily Dzierski Prosch (05/02/????)
         Carol Key Sherer (05/03/1938)

Dr. Joel Hearn (05/03/1946)
Patrick Connell (05/07/1992)

        Alan Tatum (05/11/1965)

        Johnny Chadwick (05/12/1908)

        Thomas Treadwell (05/13/2002)

        Evana Elizabeth Irvin (05/14/1998)

        Jenny Rebecca Smith (05/14/1985)

        Jackie Gordon Gentry (05/18/1927)

        Rachel Chadwick Tilley (05/19/1974)

        Cayden Samuel Allen (05/20/2009)

        Ken Schultz (05/20/1939)

        Michael Evan Brown (05/20/1990)

        Haley Riggins (05/21/1993)

        Annette Spain Walters (05/24/1940)

        Carolyn McKeever Lampman (05/25/1942)

        Marty McKeever (05/27/1966)

        Rene Walters Biddle (05/27/1968)

        Dwain Denniston (05/29/1981)

        Greyson Tatum (05/29/2009)

        Grant McKeever (05/30/1994)

        Kevin Snelson (05/30/1977)

        Celia Spain Johnson (05/31/1942)  

        JUNE

        Deborah Cordes Thomas (06/01/1950)

        Sara Ann McKleroy Marchiafava (06/01/1950)

        Haley Cheyanne McKeever (06/03/1999)

        Wilson Kilgore (06/04/2005)

        Payton Grace Phelps (06/05/2005)

        Samantha Shober (06/06/1997)

        Margaret Henderson McKeever (06/09/1942)

        Lexie Johnson (06/12/2004)

        Cimaron Nicole Prosch (06/14/1993)

        Jessica Anthony Bartlow (07/17/1979)

        Tom Shober (06/17/1963)

        Ricky Kilgore (06/20/1953)

        Judy Cordes Tatum (06/21/1946)

Ruth Kilgore Spain (06/23/1918)

        Silvia Ann McKeever (06/23/2004)

        Trey Lampman (06/23/2007)

        Ashleigh Luck Brown (06/24/1972)

Charles Macon Jace Wade (06/24/1989)

        Daryl Kilgore Hearn (06/24/1959)
        Gemma Catherine Brown (06/25/2013)

        Lee Beth Kilgore (06/26/1975)

        Grady Kilgore (06/26/1904)

        Matthew B. Morris (06/27/1985)

        Mark Johnson (06/29/1962)

        Sawyer Wray Allen (06/29/2011)

       JULY

       Martin Lampman (07/02/1973)

       Mike Kilgore (07/02/1947)

       Samuel Treadwell (07/05/2005)

       Jon Prosch (07/07/1988)
       Rylan Kilgore (07/07/1982)
       Joan Spain Irvin (07/08/1944)

       Lyle Guthrie (07/08/1983)

       J.P. Hollingsworth (07/09/1958)

       Haley Elizabeth Brown (07/10/1991)

       Jerry Wayne Kilgore (07/10/1950)

       Chris Prince (07/11/1982)

       Ken Tilley (07/12/2004)

       Karen Appleton Johnson (07/13/1965)

       Lois Kilgore McKeever (07/14/1916)      

       Olivia Woodard (07/16/1987)

       Sammy Carter (07/16/1977)

       Tommy Treadwell (07/17/1974)

       Darilyn Samantha McKeever (07/18/1997)

       Charles Domnic McKeever (07/20/1998)

       Jack Joseph Shawanesse (07/22/2004)

       Amy Noesser Lee (07/24/1987)

       Debbie Irvin Canez (07/24/1961)

       Brenda Clark Gordon (07/26/1954) 

       Jeremy Allen (07/26/1976)

       Tatem Shafer (07/26/2004)
       Levi Snelson (07/28, 2014)

       Alyssa Diane Hallman (07/30/2004)

       Tyler Prosch (07/31/1993)

        AUGUST

        Candace Williams (08/02/1987)

Sandi Tau Williams (08/05/1971)

Barbara Chadwick Calloway (08/07/1937)

Dr. Lee Greer (08/07/1971)

Margaret McKeever Taylor (08/08/xx)

Van Lampman (08/08/1944)

Jonas Michael Shawanesse (08/09/1980)

Kelly Kilgore Treadwell (08/09/1974)

Randy Layton (08/09/1964)

Dorothy Steele McKeever (08/12/1938)

Glenn McKeever (08/15/1936)

        Jeffrey Wayne Kilgore (08/ 15/1978)

        Chuck Prosch (the third) (08/16/1988)

        Ronald J McKeever (08/16/1935)

        Drake Bailey (08/16/2009)

        Sam Bailey (08/16/1979)

        Steven Micah McKeever (08/17/1987)

        Wayln Isaac Carter (08/17/2012)

        Candace Lynn Wade (08/18/1967)

        Haley Streetman Sharit (08/20/1984)

        Jim Gordon (08/20/1956)

Wanda Johnson Kilgore (08/20/1951)

Adam Chance Lee (08/21/1984)

Jeffrey Alexander Johnson (08/21/1986)

Jerrod McKeever (08/22/1974)

Rebecca Elizabeth Marchiafava (08/22/1983)

Tracy Bishop McKleroy (08/23/1966)

Tom Lee (08/23/1957)

        Vickie Yvonne Kilgore (08/30/1956)

        SEPTEMBER

        Richard Canez, Jr. (09/01/1961)
        Dallas Tim Pounders (09/03/1954)

        Jerry Powell (09/03/1927)
        Camille Elizabeth Guthrie (09/04/2013)
        Margie Willis McKeever (09/04/1973)

        Chris McKeever (09/07/1972)

Braelyn Bailey (09/08/2006)

        Donald Trent Kilgore (09/10/1979)

        Jared Hill (09/10/1998)

        Johnny James Gordon (09/10/1949)

        Kelly Andrew McKleroy (09/10/1989)

        Doug Morrison Cook (09/11/1958)

        Russ McKeever (09/12/1968)

        Chuck Walters (09/13/1940)

        Johnny Gordon (09/13/1903)

        Steve McKeever (09/15/1956)

        Michael Laughton McKleroy (09/16/1985)

        Jack Sherer (09/18/1895)

        Tim Marchiafava (09/22/2004)

        Isaac Graham (09/24/1999)

        Chad Schultz (09/25/1967)

        Heidi Schultz Adams (09/25/1967)

        Karen Annette Walters (09/25/1992)

        Alan Dale Sherer (09/26/1937)

        Kattie Kilgore (09/27/1990)

        Clay Scott Johnson (09/28/1963)

        Peggy Jacobs McKeever (09/28/xx)

Doris Kilgore Crocker (09/29/1934)

        OCTOBER

        Danny Phelps (10/01/1980)

Jordyn Rebecca Hollingsworth (10/01/1993)

Jennifer Phelps Hackney (10/03/1984)

Harry Johnson (10/04/1928)

Kandace Kilgore Carter (10/04/1980)
Hudson Powell Lee (10/05/2015)

Deanna Karen Phelps (10/06/1960)
George Evan Brown (10/07/2015)

        Bailey Cameron Hill (10/08/2006)

        Julie Gatwood McKeever (10/08/1964)
        Cassandra Leigh Koubek Prosch (10/09/1989)
        Charlotte Hill Denniston (10/09/2012)

        Chuck Prosch (10/09/1958)

        Ted Spain (10/09/1916)

        Jesse Wade Hill (10/11/1987)

        Mark Tilley (10/12/1965)

        Nancy McKeever Streetman (10/12/1958)

        Thomas Robert Hill III (10/12/1979)

        Leah Carla Peters (10/15/1989)
        Abigail Kay Johnson (10/16/2010)

        Barrett Prosch (10/16/1996)

        Ruby Kilgore Chadwick (10/17/1911)

Whitney Gordon Denniston (10/17/1981)

Jacob Wesley Hill (10/18/1990)

Sharon Smallwood Faircloth (10/18/1957)

James Phelps (10/19/1936)

Charles Bridges (11/22/1948)

Stephen Michael Bartlow (10/22/1970)

Johnny Bartlow (10/26/1973)

Austin Powell Lee (10/27/1986)

Lindsay Grace McKeever (10/27/1990)

John McKeever (10/28/xx)

        Sandra Riley Kilgore (10/28/1948)

Lou Etta (Sis) Kilgore (10/31/1906)

        NOVEMBER

        Doug Wade Hill (11/01/1961)

Herbert Kilgore (11/03/1928)

Sharon McKleroy Frick (11/07/1952)

        Mozell Frederick Kilgore (11/11/1933)

        Kimberly Weston Shafer (11/14/1984)

        Carolyn Martin McKeever (11/15/1947)

        Jamie Phelps (11/15/1958)

        JoAnne Lauren Peters (11/15/1997)

        Lane Adams Kilgore (11/18/1979)

        Miriam Posey Gordon (11/18/1947)

        Sondra Andrews Sherer (11/18/1940)

        Beth Gordon Guthrie (11/20/1985)

        Scott Prosch (11/20/1960)

        Chaz Michael Layton (11/22/1988)

Glenn Patrick Graham (11/24/1961)

        James Gordon (11/23/1928)
        John Laughton Rakowski (11/24/1979)
        Liam Nathaniel Layton (11/25/2013)

        Abigail McKeever (11/27/1996)

        Erin McKeever (11/27/1996)

        Stephanie Sligh Lampman (11/27/1974)

        Charlie Shober (11/28/1999)

        Richard Shober (11/28/1999)

        Debbie Martin McKeever (11/29/1955)

        Kevin Kilgore (11/291980)

        Amy Prosch Shober (11/30/1966)

        Bill Faircloth (11/30/1963)

        Joe Williams, Jr. (11/30/1963)

        Lisa Lampman Atcheson (11/30/1967)

        Norah Leigh Adams (11/30/2003)

        Mason Smallwood Adams (11/30/2003)

        Sandy Williams Hill (11/30/1963)

        Taylor Alyssa Hill (11/30/2000)

        DECEMBER

        Kerry Rhodes McKeever (12/03/1971)

        Anna Katherine Brown (12/04/1993)

        Beatrice Manasco Kilgore (12/04/1924)

        Jessica Hollingsworth Morris (12/04/1983)

Boyce Crocker (12/06/1935)

William Laughton Shawanesse (12/08/2010)

        Johnny Warren Kilgore (12/10/1944)

        Johnie Thomas Kilgore (12/12/1913)

        Keely Megan Quinn Irvin (12/16/1974)

        Pat Shubert Kilgore (12/17/1956)

        Jimmy Donald Kilgore (12/18/ 1946)

        Dr. Nelda Chadwick Schultz (12/19/1940)

        Erena Alice Silva McKeever (12/19/1963)

        Michelle Lee Kanke (12/21/1993)

        James Treadwell (12/22/2006)

        Michael Ray McKleroy (2/ 24/1957)

Natalee Briscoe (12/24/1991)

        Mildred Wilson Gordon (12/25/1928)

Dr. Reena Kilgore Greer (12/25/1969)

Rebecca Kilgore Smith (12/26/1948)

Linda Kennedy Kilgore (12/27/1949)

        Lorene Kilgore McKleroy (12/29/1923)

        Landyn Michael Layton (12/29/2011)
        Shepard Tilley (12/29/2015)

        Michael Coury (12/30/1974)

We wish everyone a very happy birthday, and may God richly bless your lives!

With Love to all,

Johnny Kilgore

HAPPY EASTER THOUGHTS

As I get older, special occasions such as Easter trigger memories of my childhood.  Those memories come in small vignettes of thought and imagery.  This morning as I was writing a short note in an Easter greeting card, some childhood remembrances of Easter came flooding into my consciousness.

When I was a child, Easter was my second most favorite holiday of the year.  For every child, Christmas was number one. But when springtime came, there were certain traditions that made Easter the second most anticipated holiday in the year.

 Easter meant going to the Fair Store in Jasper where Aunt Dolly worked, and purchasing some new clothes.  Another store we patronized was Engell’s, where we bought our new Buster Brown shoes. In my small eyes, it was a big, big store.  With the purchase of my new Buster Brown shoes, I would receive an additional free gift--an Easter baby chick, dyed in bright spring colors of yellow, purple, orange,  cotton candy pink, pastel green or soft sky blue.  I really didn’t care about the shoes; I just wanted a baby chick.  For a child who did not get to make many choices, it was something really special to select the color of the baby chicken I wanted, and to take it home.  At that time, dying little baby chicks and owning them as pets was not considered an inhumane act.  Looking back on the practice now, I know it was.  The little chicks were kept in a cardboard box where water and feed were provided for them.  Regrettably, the Easter pets did not live very long.  Inhumane or not, it was an annual highlight for a little boy from Nauvoo.

Another Easter tradition was that of dying eggs.  Mother would let us children help with this project.  It was so much fun sitting around the table and decorating the eggs.  At that time, during the late 40’s and early 50’s, there were not such things as shiny colored plastic Easter eggs.  We used the real thing.

The first step in preparing the eggs for dying was boiling them, which of course Mother did.  After that, she prepared different liquid egg dyes in bowls or cups in which we would dip the eggs.  The eggs would be dyed in an array of rainbow colors.  To acquire a deeper color, we would dip the egg into the dye more often.  It was important to let the eggs dry in order for the color to set.  After the eggs had dried, then appliqué stencils were used to place different designs on the dyed egg.  The end result was a beautifully decorated Easter egg.  Those eggs were placed into Easter baskets filled with green artificial grass, which cradled the beautiful eggs.  The baskets also held various candies for the season, and a stuffed toy rabbit.  The basket would be totally covered with colored transparent cellophane wrapping with a big bow on top. Of course, the Easter basket, with all its accessories, was store-bought with the exception of the eggs we decorated.  These were added to the basket after our dying and decorating them.

After the Easter baskets were opened, and all the goodies were either consumed or removed, they were used on Easter Sunday to gather hidden eggs.  We would hunt eggs at church.  The eggs we found were ours to keep and to eat.  I didn’t care for boiled eggs, except for hiding and finding. I would let someone else eat them.  We would also hide and hunt eggs at our house as a family. There were so many great places to hide the eggs around our place, which made finding all the eggs difficult.  I can recall that on one occasion, an egg was hidden so well that we did not find it until the following Easter!

Easter rituals have changed through time, but churches do continue to have Easter egg hunts.  There is still Easter candy and Easter baskets.  There are plastic eggs now, to be filled with special treasures.  Easter baskets now hold goodies instead of real eggs. I suppose that says something about today’s world. 

 But Easter is more than a tradition.  It is more than memories.  Though the word “Easter” does not appear in the Bible, it is the acknowledgement of the risen Christ.  In fact, every Sunday is an acknowledgement of His resurrection.  Jesus came as a baby born in a manger;  He died on the cross for our sins;  He was buried in a borrowed tomb; and on the third day, He arose.  A suggestion—read First Corinthians Chapter 15, known as the resurrection chapter.  In conclusion, reflecting on Easter the way it once was is fun to do, but the importance of Easter and what it represents has never changed.  Happy Easter, everyone!!!!!

GRANDPA KILGORE'S PEDDLING MEMORIES BY RONALD J. MCKEEVER

Cousin Barbara shared some comments on Grandpa Kilgore's peddling (see previous blog post). We lived in the house where our current house stands, having moved there in 1936.  The next four kids were born there, including the baby that died.  Pop worked the coal mines near Nauvoo when they worked, walking 5 miles one way to work, then walking back to the country when the shift ended.  

When the war started, the coal business picked up and they began working 5 days per week and Pop decided that walking 10 miles round trip was hard after working 8 hours, so he rented us a house just outside the coal camp of Brookside Pratt Mining Company's No. 2 mines.  We moved over there in 1941.  

Grandpa would load his wagon (later, he got a pickup truck) with any veggies in season, apples, watermelons, eggs, often chickens that they needed to cull the flock and occasionally, a yearling that he needed to sell.  He would drive the 5 miles to our house and Glen and I would load up with him and it was our job to go house-to-house to see what anyone needed from the traveling store.  If there was anything left of value, Grandpa would then swing around to Nauvoo and we went house-to-house again.  I remember that when he got his pickup, we could cover more territory but it was a job to wash off, what we thought were freckles, but was juice from his tobacco that he spit out the window while we traveled.  

In 1947 the mines closed and Pop found a job in West Virginia and in the summer, we moved.  I remember Grandpa writing to Mom that he hated to lose us boys because it placed more work on him in peddling.   Other than coming home for a short vacation each summer, we never worked with him again and were saddened to learned of his passing in December 1949.  

When we spent the night with Grandpa Kilgore, I remember him reading his Bible by a kerosene lamp.  He grew some tobacco to mix with the store-bought chew and as far as I knew, he never smoked.  In those days, most of the men chewed and many of the women dipped snuff.  Granny Kilgore never dipped but her mother did and any kid roaming the yard was sent to the woods to get dogwood limbs to make the brush she dipped it in before chewing on it with snuff.  As I have gotten older, I have many memories of those days but have trouble remembering where I put my car keys.  What a life! ! !

KILGORE FAMILY MEMORIES BY BARBARA CHADWICK CALLOWAY

Sunday, March 17, 2013    9:30 pm

I have just talked with Barbara Chadwick Calloway, daughter of Johnny and Ruby Kilgore Chadwick, who lives in Longview, Texas.  Barbara’s purpose in calling me was to share some fun memories of family.   Barbara chose to communicate by phone because, due to her arthritis, she has difficulty typing and posting.  She does not know why exactly, but these particular memories are a part of her vivid remembrances.   The indelible source for some of them is from occasions when all the women gathered to quilted at Granny Kilgore’s. Barbara’s mother, Ruby was the source of other memories. Then, some memories Barbara experienced first hand.  Each little tidbit was a small window into the humor of life.  I had a hearty good time hearing Barbara tell me these nuggets of family lore.  They may be new discoveries for some of our kin.  They surely were for me.   It was a gift to hear Barbara’s voice.  What she told me was priceless.

The first memory shared was one that Barbara did not have knowledge of first hand, but was told to her.  “Grandpa had a still.”  When Barbara disclosed this fact, my mouth dropped.   It did not sound like the PaPa Kilgore I knew!   Barbara was quick to point out that in that day, alcohol was used for many purposes, such as “animal care” and medicinal reasons.   I wondered if PaPa Kilgore was doing something illegal. But I know it was a different time when everyone raised and made what they needed to sustain a farm.  

Now to the rest of the story.  It seems that Grady, the oldest of PaPa’s children, and some of his teenage friends thought the still would be good for something besides animal care, such as human consumption.  When PaPa Kilgore found out, he blew up the still!

During the war years, maybe 1943 or 1944, Barbara, her parents, and her siblings moved to the country to live near PaPa Kilgore and Granny Kilgore, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  The Chadwicks sold their home in Birmingham and moved to the farm to live. It had something to do with a job loss and the war years.  It was quite an adjustment for the Chadwick children to move from the city to the country.  In the city, they had all the conveniences.  In the country, there were very few. In the move to Nauvoo, they brought their electric refrigerator with them.  There was only one problem.  The area did not have electricity.  Barbara’s dad converted the electrical appliance into a kerosene power source, making it functional. During their two or three year stay on the farm, Barbara remembers riding a school bus to school. Riding a school bus driven by Mr. Wilson was a new experience for a young girl raised in the city. 

During that time, Barbara had a first hand memory of “Grandpa and his chewing tobacco.” It has already been verified by a recent post from another cousin, Ronnie McKeever, that during those early years, PaPa did raise tobacco on his farm, providing the source for his chew.  Barbara’s fun memory during this time in her young life was riding in the back of PaPa’s pickup truck.  As he was driving his pickup and chewing his tobacco, it came time when he needed to spit.  He did just that, out the window of his truck, the tobacco spit in turn, landed in Barbara’s face!

 

Another country memory was told to Barbara by her mother, Ruby, about Aunt Ruth.  It seems that “Ruth begged for store bought food”.   The family had to work hard for all the food they ate, so store bought food would mean less work. Some of that work involved PaPa’s apples.  PaPa raised apples, and there would be basket upon basket of apples to be peeled so they could be dried.  The Kilgore girls would sit on the porch, peeling away with no end in sight.  As soon as one basket was completed, another one would appear.  It was never-ending work. Ruth’s solution to the problem was to take the peelings and place them on top of an unpeeled basket of apples, hiding the apples not peeled.  PaPa, not suspecting that there were unpeeled apples there, would then take the basket and feed what he believed were just apple peelings to the pigs!

Other memories of Grandpa Kilgore that Barbara shared with me are one-liners:

     “Grandpa put two younger brothers through school.”  Responding to this statement, I told Barbara I knew on of the brothers, and had visited in his home in Jasper.  His name did not come off the tip of my tongue at that time, but it was George Kilgore.  George Kilgore had been principal for Dora High School in Walker County, Alabama for a number of years. 

     Grandpa Kilgore was a “local banker.”  Barbara remembers Granny Kilgore saying, “a lot of people owed him a lot of money, and at his death everyone had paid him.” 

     “Grandpa peddled to the miners in Nauvoo.”  Lois and Carl McKeever lived near the area.  Grandpa Kilgore would drop Barbara off to visit Lois and Carl while he was peddling, and then picked her up on his way home.  I am sure there were other grandkids that enjoyed that ride also.

One special memory that Barbara disclosed was about Aunt Sis.   (Sis was married to Grady Knoblet on February 1, 1925.)  Sis was living with her husband’s family.  The husband was abusing her.  Grandpa Kilgore got wind of it some way, and rescued her.  The marriage was annulled.   About that time, Sis lost all her teeth.  Sis lived without teeth for many years.  She learned to effectively eat her food with only her gums, and did so for a long time before getting dentures.  Even after Sis had use of false teeth she would still take them out to eat because she had become accustomed to eating that way.  Barbara recalled seeing Sis taking out the entire heart of a watermelon during our 1982 family reunion on Smith Lake.  Barbara was thinking how great it is to be that age and do what you want to do.   Barbara also recalls Aunt Sis taking her on “toothbrush hunts.”  They would search for a particular kind of tree, and break off some short sticks from it, fray the ends of the stick, and dip it in soda to brush their teeth.

 

Barbara can remember being at Granny Kilgore’s when my daddy was getting off the school bus as he came home from military service. She heard Granny Kilgore shout to my mother across the holler, “Cecil is home!”   By the way, this would have been in October of 1945.

The last memory Barbara shared with me was about a circuit preacher, her parents, and Grady and Nettie. During a protracted church meeting, Johnny and Ruby were scheduled to have the preacher come for lunch—fried chicken and all that.  Besides the refrigerator, the Chadwick’s brought with them from Birmingham a complete silver plate setting.  For the special occasion of having the preacher come for lunch, Ruby got the silver out.  On that same day, the preacher was scheduled to have supper at Grady’s and Nettie’s.  After the silver was washed and dried from the wonderful lunch that Ruby served, it was then transported up the road to Grady’s where it was used for the supper meal.

I am grateful we now have these memories written down for posterity.  After Barbara and I hung up, I could not resist writing her thoughts down while everything was fresh on my mind. I stayed up past my bedtime doing so.  When I got to back, I was so wound up and excited that I could not sleep.  Barbara, please call me again anytime.  You made my week!

Postscript:

I appreciate my sweet wife, Pat for editing this post.  I was planning to post this on Monday, March 18, but it did not work out that way.  Before this post was totally completed, it was time for me to leave the house for a meeting with a long time friend of mine.  I was gone from 10:00 am until 4:40 pm visiting Jesse Lee Martin.  At the end of that visit, a March storm came in—heavy rain and strong winds.  As I was traveling down I-459 in the storm toward home, I got a call from Pat.  She called to tell me that the power was out, and there was no phone service.   She was calling on her cell phone.  That power outage was from Monday at 4:00 pm until this morning, Wednesday, March 20 at 4:30 am.  So here I sit, completing the task at hand—one dear to my heart.

Johnny Kilgore