Sometimes life is sad...

 On October 26, 1956, a Friday afternoon, I had a small son. I started losing my water so Dr.

Crow put me in the hospital, but it didn’t help. He lived only an hour and

weighed about three pounds. Back then there wasn’t much that could be done

for premature babies. It is amazing today what is being done for them and how

many lives are saved. We named him Stephen Anthony and Gene had a funeral

for him. Mama came to stay with me for a week. Mama was always there

when we needed her. Daddy would bring her and then come back for her. We

were sad but we did have Deborah and Timmy. 

Of course,  I did not go back to work at this time.  

Pictured below :  many years later, my family added this monument to his grave site at the Thompson Chapel Cemetery. (990 Thompson Chapel Road, Spartanburg, SC)  

The back side has the death notice engraved from the 

Spartanburg Herald-Journal,  Oct. 27, 1956. 

Life with Timothy, our second child

 On October 21st, 1955 we had a son at the Crow Clinic. He was just as

precious and sweet as our little girl. He weighed 7 pounds and 5 ounces. The

same nurse that was with me when Deborah was born was still at Dr. Crows.

Timmy at 5 months 

 

She was so sweet and really took good care of me. Her name was Mrs. Guyton.

We named our son, Homer Timothy, after his dad. I knew that he would never like that first name.

Timmy had a nickname and it was “Butterball”. He was a happy and jolly little boy. I nursed him for 

awhile and then went back to work. 

Timmy and Martha 1956

I had not been working long when I got pregnant again. In the meantime, Deborah had taken pneumonia and also the measles. Dr. Stack put her in the hospital. She was about three years old at this time. She was in quarantine and Gene stayed in the daytime and I stayed at night. Mama and daddy came and got Timmy and took care of him for a week. Mama said that he was good while they kept him.

The doctor did a tracheotomy to save Deborah’s life because she could not

get enough oxygen to breath. The doctor said that it would not leave a scar, but it

did. I think that she has always been embarrassed of this scar, but we would not

have her today if it had not have been done. But she still wasn’t rid of her cough

and sometimes we thought it was the whooping cough. A little later we had her

tonsils removed.

Deborah Jean  OCT 1956 

Life in Cowpens attending Central Baptist Church

 In 1954, Gene fell in the Clifton mill and hurt his back, He was in the

hospital for several days but never did have surgery. 

(Note: This would cause many back issues throughout the rest of his life -Tim )

CENTRAL BAPTIST IN COWPENS, OLD AUD (R)

At Central Baptist Church, where we attended, I had been playing the

piano for a long time. So after Deborah came along two of the teenage girls,

Sandra Vess and Patsy Green took care of her so I could play. Mrs. Shepherd

tended to her part of the time. Sometimes Gene would hold her while we sang.

When she was two and a half, I went to work at Burton Mfg. at Spartanburg and

I paid Mrs. Franklin 2.00 a day to tend to her. But I did not get to work too long.

I became pregnant. In the meantime we moved to Cowpens on the mill hill. We

had a house by ourselves.

A little bit about my mother and father

John Sherman & Ethel Mae Rice 1960

 

I don’t think I have mentioned my Mama’s name. She was such a precious, caring person. She loved the church and did everything she could to help the church to grow.   I have always hoped to be like her. Her name was Ethel Mae Allen Rice.

 My dad’s name was Reverend John Sherman Rice and he preached many years in the mountains and in South Carolina.  I was so proud of him. 

Mama had someone make many pretty dresses for Deborah. She did other things for us too.

Life with Deborah, our first child

 

Tim (1) and Deborah (3)

When my first baby was eleven months old, I quit nursing her. Deborah would cry to nurse, but I would let her use a cup with a top on it. I would almost give in because I had so much milk, but we finally won the battle and she did real well.  She learned to do many things at an early age and we would brag on her. So one day when our pastor, Reverend John Kent, came to visit us, she ran to get her potty we had trained her with. She was going to show him how she could use it. Naturally, we persuaded her to wait.

At this time Gene was on the third shift. Each day at 3 pm I would go up the stairs and call his name to come to eat. So Deborah started going up the stairs and calling “Gene, Gene”. I had to remind her that he was her daddy.

Our First Child is Born on April 12 1953

We had been married for six months and I thought I couldn’t get pregnant.  Back then if you didn’t get pregnant soon people thought something was wrong with you. So we were overjoyed when I did get pregnant. On April the 12, 1953, I had a beautiful little girl. We named her Deborah Jean after her daddy. Mama came to stay with me for a week and she said the first thing that I said was “What did Gene say?”. You know back then we never knew what our baby was going to be until it was born. But he was thrilled too.

The night before she was born Doris and J.D. Earley (the couple that we had our double wedding with) came to see us and brought their six month old little girl. She got pregnant on their honeymoon. I was glad to see them, but I was already in labor pains so I couldn’t enjoy their visit as much. I had cleaned house all day and made a chocolate cake. People used to say that would happen when you had worked so hard. Our precious baby girl weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces. I came home from Crow’s clinic the same day and mama stayed with me a week. She was always there for me. I wonder if I ever thanked her enough for all she did for us through the years. By the way we nicknamed Deborah “Tippietoe”. 

 

Pictured at right,  Deborah is a few months old, with Martha and Grandma Mattie Bell Franklin at the old homestead in Clifton SC  

Our Life in the early 1950s

Clifton Mill no. 2 built in 1889

read about the history of the Clifton mills at this link 

After four weeks, we found a mill house to rent. Gene worked in the mill in Clifton for many years after we married.  We didn’t have much but we were so happy to have a place of our own. In the summer of 1952, we bought us a Frigidaire. Boy, were we thrilled! We had been using block ice to keep things cold. 

1947 Frigidaire

Then mama (Ethel Allen)  bought us a beautiful dinette suite. The color was gold and we loved it! I want to add what a good cook Gene’s mom (Mattie Bell) was while we lived with her . She would cook a good meal and then make a cobbler or a fried pie. She really did spoil me. 

Mattie Bell with Martha and Deborah - 1953 

           

 I joined Central Baptist Church where Gene had been going for a long time. He led the singing and after a while they needed a pianist so I began playing.  I was glad to do what I could for the Lord.  Gene was also a deacon, Sunday school teacher, Supt, R.A. Director and for some time cleaned the church, and he got some pay for this. 

            I taught Sunday school and had the G.A.’s. When we were first married I was shy and stayed that way for a long time. But I learned from the Linder’s, Robin’s, Coleman’s, Mosses, Reynolds’ and others through the years.