Saturday, February 21, 2015

MEMORIES OF RUTH KILGORE SPAIN by Ron McKeever

The memories of Ruth go back into the early '40s when the Spains and McKeevers would camp out on Clear Creek.  Mom and Ruth were almost like twins...probably due to the Spain's four and McKeever's six kids.  I remember when they lived up near Poplar Springs old school location, and Ted was off working, and I went up or was carried up to spend the night with them.  The highway was a block in front of their house, and Gypsies were bad to roam the countryside back then.  The night I was there resulted in Ruth firing a 22 rifle through the door because she heard a racket outside.  It was reported at the garage in Poplar Springs that you had better never walk past Ruth's house at night unless you were singing real loud, or you could get shot. 

 
When we moved to West Virginia in 1947, we always came back to Alabama as soon as school was out, and Pop would come when the mines shut down in July for vacation.  That gave the kids lots of time to be entertained.  Camping out all night on Clear Creek was a high point of the vacation.  We never had to worry about animals or varmits with ten kids running loose.  Ruth kept us entertained with ghost stories.  

When we moved back to Alabama, the Spains had moved to Guntersville and it was my privilege to escort Granny Kilgore up there during the summer as soon as the crops were ripening.  She was afraid of bridges, and to get to Guntersville from Double Springs, you had to cross the mile-long Arab causeway.  Granny always wanted me to get the bus driver to let us off and we would walk across.  Even if we did (which we never did) we would have been a couple of miles from the Spains house. 

 
Ruth was always laughing, telling jokes or wanting to hear them.She was a delightful person and I have fond memories of visiting with them when they moved to Graysville as Forest Ranger for ABC company.  I was honored to conduct both hers and Ted's funerals.  What sweet memories! ! !

Thursday, February 5, 2015

KILGORE MEDICAL HISTORY & DUPUYTREN'S DISEASE by Johnny Kilgore

Almost all of my blogspots focus on memories of our relatives—parents, grandparents,  aunts, uncles, and cousins.    Remembering the “good old days”  is the main  reason for the “Kilgore Cousins” blog.  This particular posting has a different twist, and at the same time, centers on a subject that is a part of the Kilgore family heritage.

During the Fall 2014, my wife, Pat and I went to Orange Beach, Alabama with a wonderful group of people from our church.  During our time there, Pat and I visited  in the home of our cousins, Ken and Nelda Schultz of Gulf Shores, Alabama.  We had a wonderful meal and sat around and talked about family.  During the conversation, Nelda  mentioned to me the possibility of using our Kilgore Cousins blog and FB site to acquire data on the different diseases, illnesses, and causes of death that runs in our  family ancestry…in other words,  chronicle the Kilgore medical history. 

As you know, when we go to the doctor’s office, one of the multiple forms we usually have to fill out is our medical history.  I believe Nelda’s idea  carries merit.  Therefore, at some point in the future, with the help of Nelda and her daughter, Heidi,   we plan  to make inquiry from all the relatives to see if we can make inroads to documenting just that—the medical history of Virge and Sarah Kilgore and their descendants.  It will be a rather large undertaking.  It is difficult to retrieve family information such as this because we tend to be very private people—a trait that our grandparents exemplified.  Certainly there is the right to privacy in matters such as this, but  any information may be helpful to our children down the road. 

Let me give you a perfect example of what I’m talking about.  There is a disease that is a part of the male members of the Kilgore family’s genetics that has already made its presence known in my father, Cecil Kilgore, my brothers, Mike and Ricky Kilgore, and my cousins, Herbert, Jimmy, and Jerry Kilgore.  My personal physician is even keeping a close look on me because I have the early signs of the same hereditary disease.  Needless to say, I’m very concerned.  It could possible affect my playing the piano if it were to show its ugly head in full force. But right now, I’m fine.   

What is this disease?  It is called Dupuytren’s Contractor, or Dupuytren’s Disease, or sometimes Celtic Hand Disease.  My daddy had a severe case of Dupuytren’s.  My two brothers have had hand surgery because of the severity of the disease.  That is also true of my cousins, Herbert and Jimmy Kilgore.  If you wish to know more you can connect to the following link:




You can “Google” search, or “bing” to find  additional information on the subject.  This may be the first time you have every heard of the disease.  We Kilgore’s tend to not talk about what ails us.  It seems to be a part of our DNA.  My brother, Mike was the first one to educate me personally about Dupuytren’s Disease.  I wasn’t even aware that my daddy had the same thing.  Although the use of his hand was greatly hampered, he compensated in a way that allowed him to function.  I’m grateful that I know about Dupuytrn’s because that awareness  will help to determine and explain future directions in treating it.  I’m sure that can be true of other tendencies that are part of our medical makeup.  Think about it, and we will see what unfolds in the months ahead in acquiring family information such as this. I would to hear what you think of this idea.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.