Pinecrest Cemetery, Mobile, AL - Billy Marion (or Grandpa Bill to some) was barely 14 when his mother
Catherine (AKA,Katherine) passed away 12 days before Christmas, 1928. She was just four months shy of her 50th birthday. This modest gravesite, with its no-frills concrete slab tombstone, yielded a rather sad addendum to the tale of our Marion grandparents. Stay tuned.... wom
I come in second, and all I get is this
lousy road sign?!?
Note: UDC stand for United Daughters of the Confederacy, as previous discussed on this site.
Sunflower, AL - Down South, they still revere their Confederate President, having named US-43 (which runs from Mobile north) after him. On the other hand, we Yanks have the Lincoln penny, the Lincoln Memorial, the Lincoln Center, the Lincoln Tunnel, the Lincoln Continental, etc., etc., even "Lincoln Lincoln Bo-BincolnBanana-fana fo-Fincoln Fee-fi-mo-Mincoln
Lincoln!" as featured in Shirley Ellis' classicly catchy tune The Name Game, which you can watch her perform right here and now (but don't bother listening for any rhyme using "Davis." Ain't there. Sorry Jeff)...
Neither snow nor sleet nor...
Leroy, Alabama - Unlike the vintage post office in nearby Sunflower (see below), this weathered
old wooden structure -- datingfrom 1896 -- has long since seen its last customer. Both the
Marions and the Pruitts likely ducked in here from time to time to send and receive and chew the fat and pass the day....wom
Picture Perfect.
.
Leroy, AL, High science teacher Roy Schell displays the results of his school's recent football schedule: undefeated and state champs for a third straight year. WJM was captain of the Leroy football squad back in the early 1930s (see below) that started the tradition of Bears'
success on the gridiron.
Deliverance.
The Marions once lived here in Sunflower, just down the road apiece from Wagar. And this relic of a post office? It's still in business, as it has been for decades on end.
A vile vestige of the Deep South.
Grove Hill, Alabama - Segregation even occurred on the book shelves in this part of America.
Pvt. Pruitt, I presume?
This is the only known photograph of WJM's grandfather, Miles Pruitt (for more info on him, see just below). It was emailed to us by our new friend Miss Ellen Williams -- yes,the same Ellen Williams who is the president of her local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy and who, ever optimistic, signs her emails "God Save The South." wom
But wait! There's more!
Bethel Church Cemetery, Clarke County, Alabama - As if having one Johnny Reb in the family isn't humbling enough, here's rock-solid proof that we also have another, and he, too, is a great-grandfather. Jerome B. Marion (aka, J.B.) was the father of Mitford Cole Marion who, in turn, was the father of William Jerome Marion who, in turn,was the father of Michael Jerome Marion (and several other non-eponymous offstpring). As you can see above, J.B.was in Company C of the 21st Alabama Infantry, C.S.A. (Confederate States of America).Note: Like a pitbull on the tail of a pomeranian, Linda tenaciously tracked down this gravesite, and for thatwe are deeply in her debt. Either that, or she's the one to blame. wom
PS The symbol at the top of the stone is The Southern Cross of Honor, typically used on the graves of Confederate Veterans who served honorably.
Skeletons in the Closet...
Leroy, Alabama - This headstone depicts the final resting place of our maternal great grandparents on thePruitt side (in other words, the parents of WJM's mother, Katherine). What is remarkable about it (other than the fact that we found it at all), it that it provides a startling clue about our Southern ancestors. Perhaps, you'll guess what that is before I have a chance to open the closet, as it were....wom
Note: We've been informed by Ellen Williams -- president of the local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy (Leroy, Wagarville, Sunflower and vicinity) and our newfound friend -- that Miles served in Company G, 17th Alabama Regiment.
The original Leatherheads.
Leroy High Bears, LeRoy, Alabama, 1935*
You won't find halfback Billy Marion in this vintage shot -- it was taken the season after he graduated. But here's the way it looked back in those early days on the gridiron of old Leroy High when Billy was starring both on offense and defense (as a linebacker). This photo was given to us by Mrs. Ruth Everette (Miss Ruth to you) who graduated with WJM in 1934 and whose future husband (who played with Dad) was on the squad pictured above.
*This was just 15 years after the NFL was founded.
,
Couldn't fit all of the article about the game between Clarke County H. S. and Leroy in this shot, but it is posted (and enlarged for easy reading) just below. The story describes how the locals lost their clash with LHS holding Leroy to a "Single Touchdown." (Although the headline suggests a Clarke County win, Leroy got the w -- though for CCHS, losing by such a tight score to such a great team appears to be, at least, a moral victory of sorts.)
Guess who scored the only TD? wom
BONUS
February 2009 - Before heading into Alabama and Leroy, Linda and I started out with a long weekend in New Orleans, a must detour, given its proximity (just 75 miles) to Biloxi-Gulfport airport, where we flew in. It had been more than three-and-a-half years since Katrina, but Lousiana (and Mississippi for that matter) were still staggering to rebuild the communities that once flourished on the Gulf of Mexico and environs...
Still hurting, going on four years later...
Lower Ninth Ward houses, New Orleans, LA, February 2009
Katrina blew through here in August 2005 and utterly devastated this area. Now, all this time later, it continues to lay in ruins, with the occasional home fully renovated and up and running. But all up and down the streets, you find mainly hopeless shells like the homes above. Truly a heartbreaking nightmare that has no end in sight. wom
Lower Ninth Ward levee with Crescent City Connection bridge and New Orleans' cityscape in background.
Saw this bumpersticker around town: "Drove my Chevy to the levee and the levee was gone."
Colonel Short's Villa...
New Orleans, LA, 2/8/09 - This has to be one of the world's great fences, with its finials of corn, a cast-iron creation of the highest artistic order. (Sort of the opposite of a chainlink fence.) Can be viewed upfront and personal in the Garden District, a several square-block neighborhood with ante-bellum architectural gems all along the way. Fortunately, this historic area of the city was, for the most part, spared wrath of Katrina, as it sits on higher ground. wom
