I met Gene at Mt. Victory High School when I was 14.  He was visiting 
his grandparents and came to school with his uncle Joe and Aunt Bernice 
Wright. His school at Harlan, KY was dismissed for KEA (Kentucky 
Education Association). He wrote to me when he got back home and we 
continued writing letters for about a year. Gene came to see me several 
times during that time. I found him to be a very special boy and friend.

At the end of his Junior HS year 1943, Gene decided to volunteer for 
the Army. And we had decided that we were in love. He asked me to wait 
for him to return from the war. I have a box of his letters he wrote to 
me.

Gene came home from the war, (WWII) in January 1946 just before his 
21st birthday and enrolled in school at Harlan, Ky to finish his senior 
year. We had a correspondence courtship. He was a really good writer! 
He came to Mt. Victory to see me several times and gave me an 
engagement ring on Valentine's Day. We talked about a June wedding.

His school at Harlan dismissed for KEA  so he wanted us to get married then. I 
agreed.  So with little time to make plans, I remade a jacket dress 
into a suit, bought a blouse, hat, shoes etc.for my wedding attire. 
Gene didn't have a dress suit, so we borrowed one that my brother 
Vernon had left at home.

Daddy arranged with Rev. Charles Hogg, a Methodist minister to do our 
wedding service.  Rev. Hogg was also an auto mechanic, so the wedding 
was set for Friday evening, which was Good Friday. Gene and I were 
married in a small chapel at the Somerset Methodist Church.

My Daddy drove us and on the way we picked up Gene's Aunt Bernice. Just 
as we arrived in Somerset, we met Dan and Mildred on their way home 
from U of K.  That was the wedding party.

Dan and Mildred treated us to dinner

Gene passed away September 27th, 2009.  We were married for 63 years 
April 12, 2009.  Today would have been our 65th Anniversary. I was 
blessed to have married such a devoted man!  And to be the mother of 
his three wonderful children.

Grace and Peace Abide with You,
Emily

A Very Special Day!

It was on Friday January 8th 1954.  We lived at Owl's Nest at Hyden, KY 
where Gene was Extension Agent for U of K.  Leslie County. Gene was 
working in town that day. He had been out of town all week.  I was at 
home with Russell almost 6 and Carol Lynn 26 months old.  I had been 
having some discomfort most of the day.  I cooked soup beans (pintos) 
for supper.  As we were eating, I told Gene I probably needed to go to 
the hospital after supper.  He immediately began to get ready to go. He 
called a neighbor to stay with Russell and Lynn.  Then he made a pan of 
warm water and washed my feet!  We went to Frontier Nursing Hospital 
which had a midwifrey nurse training school. Midwifrey student nurse 
Ruth Brown took care of me. (No anethesia) Gene was with me and little 
Stephen Douglas was born at about 9:30 P.M.

We stayed in the hospital for about 8 days and the baby was beside me 
during the day and was taken to the nursery at night. We were in a 27 
bed ward with most of the mothers needing special attention. That was 
an experience not to be forgotten! The nurse midwives delivered most of 
the babies at the homes of the mothers. They made follow up home visits 
for about a month to be sure mother and baby were doing well.

Nurse Brown gave me a delightful warm sponge bath after the baby was 
born! She planned to work on the missionary field in Africa when her 
training was finished.

Gene took Russell and Lynn to stay with my mother at Mt. Victory.

Steve is a beloved son and  a wonderful man.  Gene and I were very 
blessed to be his parents.

EVH

August 31, 2010

Mom made dinner for Alan and Lynn tonight.  She said that she was glad we gave her an excuse to cook.  It's a change she's dealing with.  How to "be" as just one person.  She's rethinking how she eats and how she keeps food on hand.

For the last couple of days she's been working in the back yard with some help from Valdis. She's getting the garden winterized, working on gutters, and thinking about some landscaping changes she may want to do.  One of the things she's working on is a new raised bed in the garden.  She's going to plant some winter crops soon.

Hershey is becoming much calmer these days.  Sometimes she's still doing the excitability peeing, but it is really much, much better.  The vet told Emily that it was a submissive behavior, so perhaps she's becoming more confident.  She will also come into the house and lay on the floor in the kitchen while Emily works.  She's lots of company in the back when Emily is working in the yard.  One of her favorite things to do is swing with Emily no matter what time of day.

August 22, 2010

Yesterday was my 83rd birthday! I had a very nice day. Steve came to spend most of the day. Lauren and Madison came by on their way to Atlanta, Lynn and Alan joined us for lunch. Lynn and Alan remembered that Gene always got me red roses for any occasion. So here came Alan with a dozen beautiful red roses!

I received many beautiful cards and there are sooo many wonderful face book messages. I'm still working on them! I really must get with this face book thing!

We all enjoyed playing with Madison while Mommie Lauren had a short nap. Having them here made for a very special day.

After lunch Steve, Lynn, and I took three roses to the cemetery for Gene. The cemetery looked beautiful.
The sod is growing well. Three more rows have been added since Gene. We all agreed that it is comforting to have a lovely place so nearby.

The hot weather zapped the second green bean crop so I've begun taking the wilted vines down. Tomatoes, peppers and maybe some eggplant are still coming on.

Hershey is still growing and still really energetic! How can I teach her not to jump up on me and everyone else? She just loves attention.

I need to get her inside now . Since her surgery last week, I've been letting her sleep inside (in her cage}

August 21, 2010

Today was Emily's birthday.

Steve came up to spend some time with her, and Lauren dropped by with Madison on her way to Atlanta.

Emily made a crustless quiche for lunch and Alan and Lynn joined the crowd.   After lunch Steve and Lynn went with her to the cemetery.

She took three of her birthday roses that Alan brought her to the cemetery. 

August 20, 2010

Lynn and Alan treated me to a birthday at Red Lobster tonight. We enjoyed our meal then went to Babies "R" Us to shop for a baby shower gift for Sarah and Ryan Fetz' baby Jacob Dennison who will be here around October 12th!

Whipped Cream and a candle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple and Ice Cream Dessert!

How thoughtful of Lynn and Alan to make this day and tomorrow special! I'm amazed tp have reached the age of 83 years so quickly. It seems only yesterday that I was growing up at Mt. Victory.....seeing my brothers and Gene go off to WWII...graduating from High School.... attending college at S E Teachers College at Cape Giradeau, MO...home for Christmas. Gene home from the war. Getting married that April 64 years ago. Well my Daddy used to say "Life is only a drop in the bucket",  so I hope I have been a good drop so far!

Valdis came and helped me trim one of the cypress trees at the back of the house and did some other jobs. He is a hard worker and very strong. I am very glad to have his help.

Hershey is learning to behave fairly well in the house. I've been letting her go outside for short times and she is staying in the den and kitchen pretty well. She wants to supervise anything I'm doing.  She was 5 months old on the 13th and weighed 33.3 lbs!. She has long legs and jumps at least 3 ft. off the floor. I wonder how much bigger she will be.

Steve will be here for most of the day tomorrow. Lauren is bringing Madison to spend next week with Steve and Pat and will stop for a short visit on the way to Atlanta.

I am looking forward to their company on my birthday!

August 19, 2010

Yesterday at 7:30AM I took Hershey to the vet for her spaying & shots. I picked her up at around 3:00. Hershey is doing well. Then I went to the Wednesday evening dinner and Bible study at 5:30.
Hershey is supposed to stay inside for a few days. She is being pretty good. But I can't seem to teach her not to jump on me and others. She loves attention so much. She is sleeping in her cage at night and getting a little outside time during the day.

The engine light on my Volvo has been staying on. I had taken it to B&F but it came back on. When I took the car for the emissions check, it didn't pass. Today, I took the car back to B&F. They needed to keep it so Lynn came and brought me back home.

Lynn drove by the cemetery as we came home. There are now two more rows of graves below ours. The grass looks good. They have closed the road up to Gene's grave site so we will have to park on the main road and walk up the hill a little way.

Valdis and his girl friend Kallie came by for a visit this afternoon. I was glad to see them. He is going to help me with some outside work tomorrow.

July 16, 2010

We are having a great time in Atlanta.  Lynn and I came down on Thursday to Steve and Pat's house. We went to IKEA today and had a great time.  We found the bed that Liga wants for her new apartment and were quite taken with the adventure of being in the IKEA store.

Hershey came along on this trip and she's giving us some challenges with her potty manners.  If there are any dog whisperers out there we could use some advice.  Last night after we had gone to bed she was very unhappy and barked and barked and barked.  About midnight Lynn decided to go down and see if she could get her quieted.  She put Hershey's cage by the sofa and laid down and put her hand down near the cage, and Hershey gave a big sigh and dropped right off to sleep. 

This morning we visited Sarah and Ryan's new townhouse and she gave us a tour.  The baby's room is coming along and is going to be so cute.  She's got an elephant motif going right now.  Homer (as Steve is callling him) is going to love his room!  And Sarah is so cute.  She looks like Pat did with her first pregnancy - from behind, you can hardly even tell that she's pregnant! 

July 7, 2010

The baby wrens fledged on Monday.  I could see the mother bird in a bush in the back yard and could tell that she was making sure they had gotten off to a good start.  One little fellow got crowded in the nest and didn't make it. I have a little cedar wren house and plan to put it near where the wren nested. I hope she will come again! It was fun to watch the mother as she faithfully cared for her babies!

I drove the truck to church today to work in the library for a couple of hours.

 The TV and computer service has been disrupted since Monday afternoon.. A nice young man , Zach came from Comcast this afternoon and got it going . I sure had some quiet days! Not too bad.

Lynn and I are thinking about going to visit Steve, Pat and family soon.

July 6, 2010

Sarah and Grace Wright came over and did some yard work for Emily this afternoon.  Mom thinks the older Wright girls may be getting old enough that they will go on with their own interests and may not have enough time to work for her.  Grace is twelve now and is just getting to that age when she will want to have work to earn spending money.  It's great that they have been able to help her take care of "the place".

Later this afternoon, she and Liga went shopping.  Liga is moving into an apartment at the end of the week and Emily wanted to do a little something to help her out.  They went to a couple of stores and ended up at Walmart where she helped Liga get a starter set of dishes.  Liga was thrilled, and Emily seemed to have a good time with her granddaughter.

This evening Emily and Hershey came up to have dinner with Alan and Lynn.  Hershey enjoys the dog food that is Sophie's daily fare much more than Sophie seems to like it! After dinner the dogs played out front and the human adults sat on the front porch and visited. 

Emily remembered that today is the one year anniversary of when Gene was transferred from Erlanger to Kindred.  Looking back on that event is very sobering.  Each day of this first year without him seems to bring a memory of something. 

July 4, 2010

July 2,2010

So Emily has a Carolina Wren raising her family on the back porch. 

Gene's hunting hat had a smell which is supposed to attract deer (and probably other wildlife as well)!

So she hung it outside, right out the back door where she keeps her mops and brooms. 

The other day she noticed a mother bird coming and going so she took a look.

Let's take a close up view!!

Emily thinks that they'll be ready to fly by the end of next week. 

June 27, 2010

Emily attended church this morning and then went with the lunch group from church to the Epicurean Restaurant. It's a family style Greek restaurant and has been a local favorite for lots of years here in Chattanooga. Well, it's actually in the little suburb of East Ridge. This afternoon she mostly rested - catching up on some rest as she didn't sleep well last night.

This evening she went to dinner with Alan and Lynn to celebrate Mommy Anne's upcoming birthday. Mommy Anne's sister Miriam and her brother Arvin and wife Lil joined the group as well as Liga and Valdis with his girlfriend Kalie.

It was a lovely evening. Just as it got dark, she visited Lynn with some of her first harvest of Cherokee Purple tomatoes. They were growing kind of low and she was concerned that Hershey might try to "harvest" them.

June 25, 2010

I have a surprise! There is a Chattanooga ball cap hanging by the back door. There are 4 baby Carolina Wrens in the cap!

I will probably can green beans tomorrow.

June 24, 2010

Emily has been busy with her responsibilities for Bible School at Cumberland Presbyterian Church this week. The Bible School is in the mornings, they have a sea faring theme and there is a great set in the big social hall. Up on the stage there's a boat hull and a wheel, as well as a large sail. It looks like it would be lots of fun.

Tonight Emily is spending the night at NHC with Mommy Anne. She's not able to stay by herself anymore and so she is taking a turn staying with her. Hershey is spending the night with her good friend Sophie. They played out on the circle with about 3 of their doggie friends for about an hour and a half.

June 21, 2010

Tom Stebbins wrote to Lynn about his address to the Master Gardeners at the dedication of the Teaching Garden.   He said that he knew that Gene would have written a poem for the occasion and he felt like Gene was presenting him with a challenge to write a poem.  Below is the poem that Tom wrote in response to that challenge. 

A Garden is a Place…    

 by Tom Stebbins 

A garden is a place to grow

the food for those in need

We plow, plant, rake and hoe

so all our friends can feed

A garden is a place to teach

the lessons of the land

Master Gardeners give a speech

or teach or lend a hand

A garden is a place for birth

where seeds pop through the soil

We harvest from the holy earth

with all our sweat and toil

A garden is a place for peace

to watch the busy bees

The garden chores will never cease

its time to pick the peas

A garden is a place for fun

to grow some giant roots

Children laugh and play and run

and try new plants and fruits

A garden is a place for plants

to grow toward the sun

We also see some tiny ants

but they will hurt no one

A garden is a place to seed

corn, lettuce and tomato

The Master Gardeners take a creed

to give, to plant, to show

Dedicated to all the Hamilton County Master Gardeners at the Grand Opening of the Evelyn Davenport Navarre Food Bank Teaching Garden.— June 18, 2010 

June 20, 2010 - Father's Day

Yesterday the Chattanooga Area Food Bank dedicated it's new green house and teaching garden.  The Hamilton County Master Gardeners were very involved and were there for the dedication.  Very soon after Gene and Emily moved to Chattanooga, Gene became involved in the Master Gardener program.  At first he may have been a bit put out that he had to complete the 40 hours of classes, but he did it with his usual good attitude.  From there on he was a fixture on the Master Gardener scene.  For several years he volunteered every Monday morning at the County Extension Agent's office.  He helped set up and man the display at the county fair every year, and he helped teach the Master Gardener Classes every year after he got the title himself. 

Yesterday at the dedication, Tom Stebbins, an extension agent at the Hamilton County Extension Service, was a speaker - friends of Alan and Lynn were in attendance, and called to say that Tom had chosen to talk about Gene.  He spoke of Gene's dedication to the Master Gardener program, of his stories that everyone wanted to hear - he said that when Gene spoke, no one really wanted him to stop. 

Gene loved being a Master Gardener.  His involvement in that program was one of the things that really helped him acclimate to the move to Chattanooga. The County Agent's Office saw what he had to offer and were eager to have him involved in their work.   Thanks to Tom Stebbins and the Master Gardeners.

June 19, 2010

Emilly is back home from her visit with her sisters and great niece Hannah. 

Yesterday they drove from Lexington to Elliot County where Grandpa and Grandma VanSant are buried by way of Morehead University and returned by way of  Natural Bridge. 

Then last night they went to a performance of the music department of the University of Kentucky.  They seemed to really enjoy that. 

This afternoon traveled with Joyce back to Knoxville where she had a rest and a cup of coffee before she journeyed back to Chattanooga before dark.  

Tomorrow she is helping with the church program which will be done by the children of the church in honor of father's day.  She's the elder representative on the religious education committee.  So she's got a lot of  responsibility with that.

June 17, 2010

Emily got those beans picked today!

Emily went to the doctor today to have her thumb checked out.  He says that she should slowly begin to use it and that she doesn't have to come back unless it bothers her.  She won't need therapy! 

After her doctor appointment, she was determined to get the beans picked.  She is headed to spend a couple of days in Lexington.  Hannah V-O is visiting Frances and Bob and Emily picked Joyce up in Knoxville then headed to Lexington for a couple of days.  She plans to be back in plenty of time to help the young people on Sunday.  They are doing the church service for Father's Day.

She sent Hershey up to let Sophie puppy sit for a few days.

A nice and very special day with Lynn. We went to Pet Smart at Hamilton Place Mall. Hershey needed a new collar and ID tag. Lynn got one for Sophie too, along with some other doggy things. Lunch at Red Lobster was very nice. It is so special to have a time like this with my daughter!
Back home for a few minutes and it was time to head over to Erlanger for Lynn's LAST HERCEPTION INFUSION! She is also able to discontinue the cumadin. How we have looked forward to this day! I am so thankful for her progress! What a year!!

Tonight Lynn and Alan went to church with me. We are having a Bible study using the Andy Griffith Mayberry stories from the TV series. Tonight's lesson was on mercy.
I have a sour cream pound cake in the oven. It bakes @ 300 degrees for 90 minutes.
I didn't get the beans picked. There was a rain and wind event late this afternoon. Hope it cools us off a bit 94 today!