Press Release: A Mother’s Dying Wish – A Daughter’s Heartfelt Promise - Daughter gives her dying mother her wish and gets her writings published.

A Mother’s Dying Wish – A Daughter’s Heartfelt Promise

Daughter gives her dying mother her wish and gets her writings published.

New York, NY - Pauli Rose Libsohn made a promise to her mother before she died to get her writing published and she has delivered four times on that promise.

In her new book, What is Love, Pauli Rose Libsohn chronicles her parents 60 year love affair, the secret writings that made that love so strong, and the promise to tell the world their story.

The story behind What is Love had its beginnings in the 1930’s at the beach in Far Rockaway, Queens, NY. A true-life narrative of a love affair that encompasses over 60 years, beginning with a 12 year old girl named Mitzi, who fell in love at first sight with David, the handsome lifeguard, and her years pursuing him. It tells a captivating tale of emotions, desire, and a bond never broken between a man and a woman, a husband and wife, and a promise kept by a daughter.

A story of incredible odds, Mitzi and David succeed through inner strength and perseverance of a love so strong that it overcame all obstacles. The compelling story of their life-long passion and a love confirmed and reconfirmed throughout the years. A story of romance and commitment, which in today’s world is almost non-existent. The message of love and the question – What is love?

The author of What is Love is the daughter of Mitzi and David, Pauli Rose Libsohn, who has written an enthralling and fascinating biography about a fairytale that DID come true.

Pauli Rose has published 3 books, Immortal Kisses – Confessions of a Poet, Songs of You: A Postscript, Silhouettes: Literary Passageways, based on the poetry and writings of her talented mother Mitzi, that tells the story of their love, the bond that was never broken and Pauli Rose’s promise to tell the story of love to the world.


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To Our Baby Girl

 

Dear Baby Girl, my sweet Dorian, 

Twenty-five years ago today, you were born into Heaven. My heart died that day right along with you. I prayed for you, to have you, to hold you. I wanted you so desperately. I only had you long enough to know that He heard my prayers and then you were gone. Born asleep, never to know the pain that this life holds, but to also never know my complete love for you, which grieves me to this day. 

What would you have been like? Would you have had my eyes, my hair? Would you have liked to watch the birds, too? Would you have been a bashful beauty? Or, would you have been like your daddy, blue eyes, a sense of humor, an outgoing personality, and able to speak in public? These are things I will never know. 

What I am sure of is that you would have loved to read, just as your sisters and brothers do. I think that you would have loved My Little Pony, too. Maybe. The others are three against one on that one. 

On this day of I miss yous and what would have beens, I wanted to let you know that you are still very much a part of my heart. The two weeks of grief that I was allowed to have and still be considered normal and not a mental case are long past. Saying good-bye to you has become a part of who I am. You are not here. I won’t see you again until Heaven, however long or short a time that may be. Until then, my heart cries for you. 

I love you, baby girl. Have a beautiful birthday up there with all of our family. Please hug the folks for me.  

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.” –Washington Irving 

 Image Source: Pixabay

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Book Review: Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging by Melanie P. Merriman

Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging by Melanie P. Merriman

By now we have read all sorts of books about aging in place, end of life care, and so forth. Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging by Melanie P. Merriman actually provides a backspin on all of those.

I, David, have been in two nursing homes since 2012. Suzanne and I realize that no matter how hard these people try, a nursing home is as close to prison as most of us will ever get. One day I said to our friend Jerry that I had been in a nursing home, had never been to prison, but imagined that the nursing home was as close to prison as most of us will ever get. Jerry said he had been in both and the nursing home is worse.

This book is an enthralling story of one family's struggle with their mother’s end of life and how they dealt with it. But there is a backspin. The backspin is that the author had been a hospice professional for years and knew most of the ins and outs of how the system works, or doesn’t.

This family wasn’t hurting financially, but still had to deal with at least some of the heartache many families have to deal with when putting their loved ones in rehab. Merriman was able to see first-hand how Medicaid patients are treated far differently than others, even though the nursing facility does its best to provide top quality services for all.

We feel that all rooms in all medical facilities should be private, not semi-private. How good are our privacy walls when we share a room with another person and their visitors?

This is a book you will want to read without stopping. You won’t want to put it down. The author shows us how scared her mother is in all of this. The author was scared and lost; her sister was, too. How could they help their mother?

We give Holding the Net all five stars. It is very well-written and very informative. It is written in a very readable style. If you or someone you love will be facing end of life issues any time soon, you will want to read this book.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book. We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.  

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.
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Book Review: Three of Cups by Kathy Wilson Florence

Three of Cups by Kathy Wilson Florence

I was a bit concerned about reading this book due to the use of tarot cards early on in it, but I am glad that I gave it a chance. It is a great book!

Three of Cups is the story of the lives of three women of two different generations. There is love, family, war, deceit, and tragedy. There is laughter and there are tears.

I (Suzanne) couldn’t put this book down. It had my mind going on hyper mode trying to put it all together, making connections between this person, this situation, and that one. It kept me wondering how the author would pull it all together for resolution at the end, and would it have a happy ending or would lives be ripped apart.

Kathy Wilson Florence is a great storyteller who weaves us in and out of the timelines and lives of the three main characters and support people along the way.

There is minimal use of profanity (and none of the major profane words) and there are no graphic intimate scenes. I give Three of Cups 5 stars and think that you will find it hard to put down, too!

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book. We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.  

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

Three of Cups
By Kathy Wilson Florence
Available 1 July 2018 on Amazon.com
ISBN: 978-0998678122


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Happy Mother's Day

to all of you beautiful ladies out there!

I chose an elephant to honor my fore-mothers (and fathers) from my Oliphant line. Elephants are beautiful. They are also very strong, just like mothers have to be.



Image source: Pixabay




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Book Review: My Family Record Book: The Easy Way to Organize Personal Information, Financial Plans, and Final Wishes for Seniors, Caregivers, Estate Executors, etc. by Harris N. Rosen

My Family Record Book: The Easy Way to Organize Personal Information, Financial Plans, and Final Wishes for Seniors, Caregivers, Estate Executors, etc. by Harris N. Rosen

On our How to Manage Your Monkey blog, we have been discussing end of life planning. My Family Record Book fits into that very well.

This book gives the family’s financial person the information they need to create a step-by-step guide regarding the location of important papers and accounts.

My Family Record Book kicks this up a notch by helping us create a step-by-step guide to tell others what is where and how to do what the dearly departed used to do by memory.

We saw how important this was during my recent surgery and resulting stay in multiple hospitals and a nursing home. We keep our information in a document sharing program that allows those who need access to the information to get to it from anywhere.

My Family Record Book is very well-written and thought out very well. This is one book you can’t afford to pass up. We give it all five stars. We think it is extremely important you, and all your family, read this book!

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book. We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.


Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.
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Book Review: Jaybird’s Song By Kathy Wilson Florence

Jaybird’s Song

By Kathy Wilson Florence

If you like smiles, you’ll like this book. If you like books that make you cry, you’ll love this book.  All the way through, Jaybird’s Song was an emotional experience.

This book does a bit of time travel in that in one chapter, you’re in the turbulent 1960s and in the next chapter, you’re in 2003 and 2004.  This was a bit frustrating for me at first because I tend to prefer chronological order.  But, it grew on me and the back and forth rhythm became a bit of a comfort, a respite from the sad parts of one time frame or the other.

There are lots of smiles and tears shared, along with memories of events during the Civil Rights movement, integration, and personal family heartbreaks.  We get to witness some of the trials of the teenage years, some rather graphic, and those of the not-so-very young years.

Jaybird’s Song ultimately becomes about the struggle of the little girl inside of a hurting middle-aged woman, struggling to reconcile the love and the hurt of her family’s past and bringing that love - and forgiveness - forward to share with her children.

It is a great book and I give Jaybird’s Song all five stars. It has made me do a great deal of soul-searching myself.  Maybe it will do the same for you.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.
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Book Review: We Burn on Friday: A Memoir of My Father and Me By Richard Manieri

We Burn on Friday: A Memoir of My Father and Me

By Richard Manieri

 

There are books out there about people we did not know that are very interesting and entertaining. We Burn on Friday: A Memoir of My Father and Me by Richard Manieri is one of those books.

Here we have a story of the life of the author as he struggles to get into television journalism and his father who tries to help him and is his biggest fan.

Not only do we have that, we also have the story of a young man as he struggles with several issues and as he finds God in his life.

This is good and bad at the same time.  Good that we hear how Richard Manieri finds God.  It is bad, though, that this would-be very powerful message is eroded by multiple uses of God’s Holy Name in vain.

It is odd that the author will use euphemisms for the F word and the S word, but feels comfortable using God’s Name as curse words and expletives.

We Burn on Friday is very well-written and very entertaining.  We see Manieri’s relationship with his father and how much his father loved him and meant to him.

We would love to give We Burn on Friday all five stars.  However, the message sent is confusing.  Is Mr. Manieri sharing his struggle to find God and learn more about his father or is he still fighting the ways of the world?

We think We Burn on Friday would make a much more powerful message if the author had chosen to stick with those new-found Christian values and kept the profanity and use of God’s Name in vain out of the book.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Notice: This post contains affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.
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Who Do YOU Think You Are?

Suz, 29 April 2011

What do you do when you find out that you are not fully who you thought you were?

What would you do, think, or feel if that happened to you?

Sometimes our body fluids have a way of telling us something different than what we grew up believing about ourselves.

For instance, I was raised as a white person and have done a pretty good job of passing, though some of my features have indicated that I was not fully white.

I knew that I had a Native American heritage, specifically Cherokee ancestry.

My spit says otherwise.

According to the AncestryDNA test, I am 0% Native American and 0% Caucasian.  The test indicated that I am 97% European and 3% Middle Eastern.

So, I am mixed, but apparently not fully the mix that I thought I was, at least not according to this test. The test also indicates potential error when it comes to Native American ethnicity, as I understand it.  I am still holding onto that Cherokee heritage until I can find absolute proof that I am not part Cherokee.

And, the Middle Eastern bit is an absolute, total surprise!

Are YOU really who you think you are?


Discover your ethnic origins with AncestryDNA. Use my link - you'll save 10% and I'll get $10.

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Happy Birthday!

Please be sure to visit David over at Random Thoughts and Observations.  

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Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Who Is Your MRUA?

To learn more about this weekly genealogy challenge, please click the image below. Thank you, Mr. Seaver, for hosting this!

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number on your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name. 

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed? 

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a comment on Facebook or Google Plus.

My response: 

Number 31 on my Ahnentafel List is Maggie ? Williams.  I do not know her parents' names as I have not been able to pin down her maiden name.  Her parents are Numbers 62 and 63 on my Ahnentafel List. The obituaries of her daughters do not agree on her maiden name nor even where she was born.  The maiden names listed for her on her daughters obituaries are: Robinson, Roberson, and Frazier.  Birth places listed vary and are Gaston, Alabama and South Carolina.

Without a maiden name for her, I have no idea where to go.   Because of the listing in the 1900 census showing a single sister living with her with the last name of Robinson, I tend to believe that Robinson is the correct maiden name. One thing that I have learned over these years, though, is that what seems the correct and logical assumption often is not.

Here is the information that I do have on her:
Born: 1 July 1863 (Gaston, Sumter, Alabama, USA)
Died: 30 May 1926 (Magnolia, Calhoun Falls, Abbeville, South Carolina)

I have a copy of Granny Williams' death certificate saved in my tree on Ancestry.com.  Her death certificate lists her birth place as Gaston, Alabama, and her birth date as 1 July 1862.  For the names of her parents, it says "Don't Know".   I cannot fathom why my great-grandfather Julius Jared Pressley (her son-in-law and the informant on record) did not know the names of her parents, but maybe there was bad blood and she never talked about them. Who knows.

Her death certificate says that she was buried in Latimer Cemetery, in Calhoun Falls, Abbeville, South Carolina.  Find-a-Grave says she is buried at Salem Cemetery, Abbeville County, South Carolina. I know that bodies get moved sometimes, and churches get renamed, as my great-grandfather was also initially buried at Latimer Cemetery. 

She was married to Oliphant Williams who died in the year 1900, before the census.  According to the 1900 census, she bore him six children and only four were living at the time of this census.  I have the names of these four and no clue about the other two. I didn't even know there were two more until I found this census listing.  I don't even know the gender of these other two children or where they fit into the timeline of the other children.  Emma and Carrie (my great-grandma) were twins. Then came Sallie and Mattie.  I only know what became of Carrie, Sallie, and Mattie.  They grew up, got married, and were the foremothers of about a zillion other folks, including me.

If I were back home in South Carolina, our local library had quite an extensive collection of family histories in the local history room. But, that is over a thousand miles away from where I am now.  I have a subscription to Newspapers.com that has helped me a great deal in finding information on other family members, but not this one, not Granny Williams.  I will keep looking because they add new newspapers and more editions each day.   I am always on the hunt for more information about her as well as what happened to Emma and the other two children.

The last thing that I know about my Granny Williams is that my maternal grandma, Maggie Pressley Spence, absolutely did not like her.  She said that her Granny Williams was a mean, red-headed Irish woman.  She didn't go into any details.  Grandma was about nine years old when her grandmother died. She told me that when they told her of her grandmother's death, her response was, "GOOD!" 


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Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Large Subjects

To learn more about this challenge, please click here.

The following photos are from our family archives.  The first one was originally in black & white. I just upped the black a bit. This photo was taken in Shiner, Texas, in 1963, on David’s grandpa’s farm. It is a cotton picker and these things are huge. Seated on the ground is David’s Uncle Glenn. The man standing on the other side of the tractor is David’s grandpa, Leon Wallis Roberts. Seated on the tractor is David’s daddy, Robert Bruce McClendon. He is holding David. In front of them stands David’s older sister, Sandra. We believe that David’s mother took this photo.

Bruce, David, and Sandra McClendon with Leon and Glenn Roberts. Shiner, TX, 1963.

The following photo was originally taken in color. It is of an entirely different kind of large subject.  It represents the big love of a grandpa for his granddaughter and hers for him.  This photo was taken at our oldest daughter’s first birthday party, which was held at McDonald’s in Anderson, South Carolina. My daddy, Jimmy Ray Gunter, is holding our little Laynie. She is wearing a dress that was made by David’s mother, Merle Roberts McClendon, the daughter of Leon Wallis Roberts (in photo above).  David took this photograph.

Jimmy Ray Gunter and Laynie McClendon, 7 December 1991.

Please be sure to see David's contribution over at Random Thoughts and Observations. Thanks!


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Throwback Thursday - 1960-something

Grandma and Grandpa Spence, Aunt Carolyn, me (yellow dress), my brothers (twins), my cousins Debbie and Johnny. I think the baby in Grandma's lap is my little sister, but am awaiting confirmation on that. Taken late 1960s. If the baby is my little sister, then the year is 1968.


Please visit David's Throwback Thursday post over at Random Thoughts and Observations. Thank you!

Please Pray

Please pray for the family of Alex Hill. On January 8, this young man was hit and killed by a car that didn't even stop to check on him. His funeral is today.


OBITUARY

Alex Hill

Lexington, SC

A graveside service to celebrate the life of Michael Alexander “Alex” Hill, 21, of Lexington will be held 2:00 PM, Monday, January 18, 2016 at Quaker Cemetery, 713 Meeting Street, Camden, SC 29020. The family will receive friends at 12:30 -1:30 PM, prior to the service, at Kornegay Funeral Home, Camden Chapel, 1112 Fair Street, Camden, SC 29020. Memorials may be made to the Thiel-Myer Pet Adoption Center, 128 Black River Road, Camden, SC 29020.

Michael Alexander Hill passed away on January 8, 2016. He was born December 14, 1994 in Lexington, SC, the son of Michael Hill and Holly (Hutchinson) Hill. Alex adored people of every age from the early years of his life. He was a very expressive, fun loving person who adored getting on stage every season for 8 years at Lake Murray Baptist
church to perform “A Man Called Jesus”. Alex graduated from Lexington High School in 2013.

In his high school years and after, he enjoyed discovering Bee Keeping, volunteering at SC state offices, cooking amazing dishes to share with friends, and stepping up to care for animals in need. In the last year, he moved to Houston, Texas and took up ice skating while working as a Master Waiter in fine dining; he enjoyed serving people. Alex met and developed many friendships in Texas, calling them his “Houston family.“ This world will be a dimmer place without the love and life of Alex Hill; we were blessed with him for such a brief time.

He is survived by his parents; his brother, Adam; his maternal grandmother, Betty Hutchinson; and his paternal grandmother, Pat Hayes all of South Carolina. He also leaves behind many friends and coworkers in Houston and his beloved four legged dog, Ginger. Alex was predeceased by his maternal grandfather, Bill Hutchinson.

Kornegay Funeral Home, Camden Chapel, is in charge of the arrangements.

Online condolences may be sent to the Hill family by visiting www.kornegayfuneral.com.

There is also a video about what the news media is saying about his death in Houston and the continued search for the person responsible.

http://abc13.com/1156784/

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

A Family Timeline

Have you ever created a timeline for your family? David and I are working on one that includes our great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, us, and our children. I wanted to see which of our various ancestors were alive at the time of our births and the births of our children. Something that David said yesterday prompted this particular quest, but at the moment, I can't remember what that was. I have a big case of CRS (can't remember stuff)!

Five of our grandparents were living when our first two surviving children were born. Both of our paternal grandfathers and David's maternal grandfather had passed away already. David never got to know his paternal grandfather (Robert Bruce McClendon, Sr.) as he died before David was born. His maternal grandfather (Leon Wallis Roberts) died the year before we got married. My paternal grandfather (Andrew James Gunter) died the year that I turned 15.

Between our first two and last two children, we said good-bye to three of our grandparents. Both of my maternal grandparents (William Howard Taft Spence and Maggie Pressley Spence) and David's paternal grandmother (Ruby Fowler McClendon) left us during this "between" time. Yes, both of our paternal grandmothers were Fowlers before they got married. Finding their connection, if any, has been a quest of mine since I learned they had the same maiden name!

By the time our last two surviving children were born, only my paternal grandmother and David's maternal grandmother were living. His maternal grandmother (Mary Bushnell) died in 2006. The last of our grandparents, my paternal grandmother (Evelyn Fowler Gunter), died in 2010. Our oldest son had been in the US Navy almost six years at this point. I was very fortunate to have grown up living near all of my grandparents and had them long enough that I would be able to remember them. Not everyone is so blessed.

Like David, our children grew up without their paternal grandfather. David's daddy (Robert Bruce McClendon, Jr.) died just two weeks before our oldest son's first birthday. He has no memory of his Papa Bruce. Unfortunately, due to misfortune in our family, our youngest children have no memory of my daddy (Jimmy Ray Gunter). He lived until 2012, but the last 15 years of his life were taken from us. At the time of his passing, we lived over a thousand miles away. They do not remember him. This saddens me greatly.

David created a chart for me in Excel (this program hates me…the feeling is mutual!) to show where our lives intersected with those that came before us. It will be fun to add world events along the timeline as well. Boy is it going to take a lot of paper to print this and a lot of wall space to display it!

Have you ever created a family timeline? How did you lay it out? Please share your feedback and ideas in the comment section. Thanks!


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Empty Nest

On 21 August 2015, we delivered the last of our children to her new home away from home. Our baby is attending a university over three hours away from our home. Our oldest daughter is over two hours away at her university. Our youngest son is over 7,000 miles away in Japan with the Marines. Our oldest son is somewhere under the sea with the US Navy. Now, our lives are free of the day-to-day responsibilities of having children at home, but full of emptiness because they are not here to talk to nor are we there to see a whole new batch of firsts in their lives. 

Our youngest, Maggie, has a dorm room way cooler than anything David or I could have imagined back when we were in college. Her dorm is more like an apartment. Below is her "New Home Tour" video. Please watch it through to the end. This girl is one of a kind!



How did you like the tour? She gave three very important safety tips. Did you catch them? Let me know down in the comments.

Have a blessed day!


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You're Gonna Miss This

I am sorry to have been gone so long and hope that this year has been great to you all so far. It has been a year full of pondering and reminiscing for me.

This week has two pretty big, "This is the first day of the rest of your life" moments. On Tuesday, I had my 50th birthday. Friday, David and I will be empty-nesters, at least until Christmas vacation. It will be just the two of us, the two dogs, and Xerxes the cat.

For the last couple of days, the song stuck in my head has been Trace Adkins' song, "You're Gonna Miss This".

I don't know how to feel, what to feel about all of these changes. Part of me is fine with it because I want them to be able to go on with their lives and chase their dreams. They can't do that here and asking them to stay would be the same as clipping the wings of a butterfly. But, the part of me that has been a mama with children in the house for the last nearly 30 years is not. I have been here to protect them, as best I could, since they were born...before then, really. Now, I won't be there with them to make sure no bad guys interfere with their dream chasing. How does one suddenly go from a houseful of kids to silence? How does one eat a cookie without little eyes staring back with that, "Can I have it?" look? How does one go to the bathroom without someone following you in or standing there looking at you? Will I be able to potty without an audience?

I guess, like it or not, I'll soon be finding out these things. Maybe I'll also rediscover the me that has long since been buried under the wonderful years of mommyhood, get reconnected to her, and get on with this next stage of life, chasing dreams of my own with the man of my dreams.

But for now? I'll be hiding in my room, wondering in a puddle of tears, how this time passed by so quickly and how they could possibly be old enough to live without me.




I couldn't have said it better myself.



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31 Days in the Moment - Uncle Bobby Joe, Part 2

27 October 2014

Uncle Bobby Joe served in the US Army in the early 1960s. He was stationed in the Mannheim, Germany area.
One day, my grandparents got a telegram that no parent wants to receive. It told them of the death of Uncle Bobby Joe. They were devastated and I do not believe that either one of them ever fully recovered from the loss of their firstborn.






Uncle Bobby Joe's captain wrote the following letter to my Papa Gunter:

Uncle Bobby Joe had been riding a streetcar and slipped off. He was dragged to death by the streetcar. The Statement of Casualty issued by the US Army describes injuries that, to me, must have caused him a tremendous amount of pain. I can only hope that it happened so fast that he didn't feel any of it or that shock prevented him feeling the pain of his injuries. Here is the description from the Statement of Casualty:

He was only twenty-four years old. To my knowledge, he never married nor had any children. I am awaiting verification on that information.

Now, he lies buried with his parents and his brother, my daddy.

31 Days in the Moment - Uncle Bobby Joe, Part 1

26 October 2014

Today brought lots of interesting things in the evening. I am working with one of my paternal cousins on our family history and she has started sending me files regarding our Uncle Bobby Joe.

Bobby Joe Gunter was born 14 September 1938, in Anderson, South Carolina, to Andrew James Gunter and Evelyn Floree Fowler Gunter. He was my daddy's oldest, and only, brother.

I never got to know this uncle as he died a little more than two years before I was born. He died in a streetcar accident while stationed in Germany with the US Army.