2018 Christmas Letter Activies

 Well, another year has come and gone. Hope you and your family had a good year!

We had a lot going on this year. 

Enclosed are some of the activities our family did this year. 

(We had lots of cold weather in Jan & Feb)

Jan 9, Day Trip Hubby and I rode to Decatur Wildlife Refuge

Jan 15, Day Trip Hubby & I rode to Dodge City

Jan 25, Attended Wade Hall Post Cards @ Florence Library 

Jan 31, Trip to Saraland & Dolphin Island with my friend Wanda

FEBRUARY 

Feb1-4 Cruise to Cozumel, Mexico with my friend Wanda 

Feb 1, Boarded Ship 

Feb 2, Fun Day @ Sea

Feb 3, Spent day at Cozumel, Mexico 

Feb 4, Fun Day @ Sea
Feb 5, Traveled home 

Feb 9, Worked @ Killen Book Store 9-1 PM

Feb 19-21 Trip Hubby & I stayed @ Christmas Inn Pigeon Forge, TN

Feb 14, Valentine Brunch @ CBS

Feb 21, Grandson Jake Hughes's BIRTHDAY DINNER

Feb 24/25 Trip Hubby & I stayed @ Joe Wheeler Lodge for Wildlife Photo Weekend.

MARCH

Mar 2, Children's Museum of Shoals with Great Granddaughter Ava Grace 

Mar 1, Attended Get Dirty @ Library Petals & Pollinators

Mar 6, Hubby & Rode to Waynesboro  

Mar 8, Attended Get Dirty @ Library Vegetable Garden & Seed Swap

Mar 9,  Worked @ Killen Book Store 9-1 PM

On March 10, I attended the Coloring Alabama Class by Laura Murray @ Florence Library.

Mar 11, Attended Wedding Shower Granddaughter Hannah
Mar 12, Attended Bi-Centennial Party Florence @ Wilson Park 

Mar 19, Bought Nissan Murano @ Landers McCary Nissan Huntsville

Mar 22, Attended Get Dirty @ Library Garden Landscapes & Pest Management

Mar 25, Attended @ Help with my dad’s 91 Birthday party @ Cloverdale Senior Center

Mar 27, Attended Appreciation dinner @ Killen Senior Center 

Mar 28, Day Trip to Huntsville with Hubby to Landers McCary Nissan, ate lunch @ Mama’s Taco Community of Providence & Red Stone Arsenal  

Mar 29, Attended Get Dirty @ Library Urban Forestry & Tree Maintenance 

Mar 30, Served @ Passover Sadar @ Killen Baptist Church 

Mar 31, Attended Ava Grace’s 3rd Birthday Party 

APRIL

April 1, Easter Sunday Service

April 3, Day Trip Hubby & I rode Lawrenceburg Davey Crocket Park 

April 4, Hubby & I played Bingo at Chick-fil-a

April 7, Walking Tour Florence Federal Courthouse, Library & Kennedy Douglas Museum

April 10: Had tint put on the new car & Attended Hansel & Gretel Play @ Florence Library.                                                   

On April 11, Hubby and I attended the Social Security Retirement Dinner at Red Lobster.

On April 12, I worked at Killen Bookstore 9-1 PM

April 13, Stormed all day

April 17, Day Trip Hubby and I rode to  Huntsville UAH, Ditto Landing, and Red Lobster.

On April 20, Hubby and I attended Hansel & Gretel Play at UNA 

April 21, Attended Blue Star Dedication Train Depot Museum Decatur 

April 28, Attended Walking tour Athens State University Library, Delmore Museum & Founders Hall

MAY 

May 2, Music in Wilson Park with Justin Holder

May 7, Dolores Hydock @Muscle Shoals Library It’s The Little Things

May 9, Music in Wilson Park with Mike Curtis & Garrett Miles 

May 11, Worked Killen Book Store 9-1 PM 

May 13, Mother's Day: I enjoyed a steak meal@ Ron’s Wind chimes, flowers, a gift card, and a potting plant. 

May 16, Music in Wilson Park with Shannon Knight

May 17: Enjoyed listening to Kate Campbell Music Hall of Fame from 3-4 PM and Josh Goforth Florence Library from 5-6 PM

May 18, Attended Storytelling Festival at Shoals Theater at Legends

May 19, Attended Storytelling Festival at Shoals Theater at City Hardware

May 23, Music in Wilson Park with Joseph Baldwin 

JUNE

May 29-June 2 Trip to Gulf Shores

June 2 Birth Anthony River Hughes Great Grandson

June 8, Worked Killen Book Store 9-1 PM

June 8, Wedding Rehearsal Hannah Hughes & Chad Menard

June 9, the Wedding of Hannah and Chad Menard

June 9, Lecture of Winstons @ Helen Keller Library 1:30-11:30 AM 

June 10, Day Trip Nashville Airport 

June 16, Day Trip NASA @ Big Spring Park & RSA 

June 29, Crows, Chirp, & Bray Wildlife @Helen Keller Library 11-12 PM

JULY

July 6, Echoes and Howls Wildlife Program Sheffield Library 10 AM

July 10, Day Trip Veterans Museum & Rollo’s Cafe Huntsville 

July 13, Killen Book Store 9-1 PM

July 18, Day Trip Franklin Toured Carter, Lotz House & Carton Plantation Museums

July 23, Summer Solos with Tosha Hill 11;30-12:30

July 24, BEHIND THE MUSIC – SONGS & STORIES OF THE KGB SERIES 1 2-3 PM

July 25, BEHIND THE MUSIC – SONGS & STORIES OF THE KGB SERIES 2 2-3 PM

July 26, BEHIND THE MUSIC – SONGS & STORIES OF THE KGB SERIES 3 2-3 PM

July 27 Songwriters Showcase Series #4 2-3 PM MARK NARMORE & 

Aug

Aug 6-8 Trip Little Rock, Arkansas 

Aug12, A Brief History of Education in Florence 2-3 PM

Aug16, Day Trip South Haven, MS 

Aug 22, Day Trip to Tupelo, MS 

Aug 23, Get Dirty at Library Fall Vegetable

Aug 30 Get Dirty at Library Cut Flowers

Sept

Sept 2, Kept great-grandson River Anthony Hughes

Sept 6, Get Dirty at Library Backyard fruits

Sept 14, Worked Book Store 9-1 PM

Sept 15, New Bethel Reunion 9-3 PM

Sept 16, Lecture Native Americas at Indian Mound 

Sept 20, Kept great-granddaughter Ava Grace

Sept 22, Day Trip Toured Weeden House & Huntsville Depot  

Oct

Oct 5, Day Trip Oktoberfest and Museum Cullman with sister-in-law

Oct 6, Oktoberfest St Florian

Oct 7, Lecture Life in the Highlands with George Makowski 

Oct 9, Day Trip to Dickson, TN 

Oct 12, Worked at Book Store 9-1

Oct 14, Tuscumbia Art Museum lecture Truths and Legends TVA

Oct 15, Day Trip GPS System checked & Oil change at Nissan of Huntsville ate Red Robin at Bridge St 

Oct 19, Took Ron and Ava Grace (great-granddaughter) to Home Depot, Lowes & Halloween Store to see Halloween Displays 

Oct 21, Lecture at Florence Library about James VI & I 

Oct 24, Lecture at Florence Library Doctors of Death 6-7 PM

Oct 25, Class Diabetes & Healthy Cooking 11:30-12:30 Florence Library 

Oct 28, Watched River and went to Renaissance Faire

On the 29, Hubby and I took Ava Grace to treat Elgin

On the 30, Hubby and I took Ava Grace to the treating Town of Killen

Nov 

Nov 1, Healthy Cooking Florence Library 11:30-12:30 PM

Nov 3, Forks of Cypress Tour, Shoals Business Expo and Cruising Wheeler Lake 

Nov 4, Athens Cemetery Stroll 

Nov 6, Day Trip Natchez Trace, Leipers Fork and Cool Springs Mall Franklin, TN

Nov 8 Cooking for High Blood Pressure Florence Library 11:30-12:30 PM

Nov 9, Worked Killen Book Store 9-1 PM

Nov 11-16, Trip to the Smoky Mountains with cousin Sherry & Aunt Bobby

Nov 16, Tidwell’s Thanksgiving dinner

Nov 19, Took Mike for Colonoscopy at ECM Hospital 812 Lunch Five Guys 

Nov 22, Thanksgiving Dinner @ Mike’s (my son)

Nov 24, Worked at Killen Book Store 

Nov 25, Trees of Christmas TVA Museum And Addressed Christmas Cards & Wrapped presents

Nov 27, Tinsel Trail Big Spring Park with Hubby

Nov 28, Legend of Toyland Roxy Theater Russellville with Hubby

Nov 29, Kennedy Douglas Art Museum Quilt Display

Dec 2, Trees of Christmas TVAA

Dec 2, Took Ava Grace to Santa Land Elgin with Hubby

Dec 4, Went to Nashville to see Grinch Ice, Opryland Hotel 3 Gardens decorated for Christmas and Opry Mills Mall

Dec 7, Took Ava Grace to Killen Town Hall for Christmas Program and see Santa

Dec 13, Christmas Dinner and Listen to storyteller Dolores Hydock at Club Florence

Dec 15, Hubby and I attended the Leipers Fork Christmas Parade

Dec 17, Hubby and I visited North Pole Christmas Tree Stroll, Madison Magical Christmas Tree Stroll, Madison’s Christmas Card Lane, Wheeler Wildlife Refuge, and Enchanted Forest Christmas Tree Stroll Decatur and enjoyed a Grinch Pancake at IHOP. 

Dec 21, Christmas Dinner at Tidwell’s

Dec 22, Christmas Dinner at Mike’s 

Dec 25, Breakfast at Mike’s 

I try to journal all my activities and take several pictures it helps keep my memories alive. 

I hope each and everyone enjoys the holidays.

May the new year bring good fortune, good health, and love.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our house to your 

PS: MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR 2019

Me & Santa @Incredible Christmas Store in Pigeon Forge, TN 

2016 October 22, Saturday, Memosa Cemetery Stroll Lawrenceburg, Tn

The Lawrence County Public Library sponsored a Cemetery Stroll at the Mimosa Cemetery.

Many people gathered to hear the stories of people buried here and people that should have been buried here.
Our speaker was wearing wireless headphones with a wireless transmitter and receiver (so everyone could hear him) and he was carrying a Sealtest Crate to stand on(so everyone could see him).

Before we began our stroll the speaker told the founding story of Mimosa.
The speaker said Mimosa was formed because no one knew who was buried in the city cemetery.
The city needed a cemetery with the order.

Everyone followed the speaker into the cemetery.
Our first stop was at Mayor James D. Vaughn 1864-1941 founder of Southern Gospel Music

James D. Vaughn 1864-1941

Annie Green Kirk 1832-1910- her husband fought in the Civil War and was killed by Union soldiers after the war.

The gravesite of Annie Kirk. Her husband was killed by Union Soldiers

Senator Fred Thompson 1942-2015- Senator, Actor, born in Colbert County, Alabama at Keller Hospital and lived and is buried in Lawrenceburg. TN.

The group gathered near Fred Thompson's grave He has no marker yet!

Nettie Stewart 1874-1922

 Nettie's family was all dead when she was found in a Nashville Hotel.
Nettie was a dreamer, and she foretold her own death.
She was found lying on the floor of her apartment clothesless. In her room was a trunk full of her dream journals. She was brought back to Lawrenceburg and buried with her family in Mimosa Cemetery.

Nettie Stewart the dreamer

Captain William J. Gilbreth -Served in the Spanish America War
1864-1934. He lost a daughter while he was in the war and never got over the loss. He became a nonbeliever.

William Gilbreth a nonbeliever after the loss of a child

Mayor James W. Garrett won the election by one vote.
1859-1929. There were tornado warnings during the election.

Private Elliott Crews  1894-1918 About a young man's life cut short in World War I.

Half logs mean life is cut short. Crews KIA

John B. Kennedy 1841-1913- A Civil War Soldier and College man.

John B. Kenned is a college graduate. 

James H. Stribling 1863-1951- Mr. Stribling lost a daughter, she was age 5.
Mr. Stribling was comforted by a Christian man David Lipscomb and because of him, Mr. Stribling became a Christian.
Mr. Stribling built a school for the children of Lawrenceburg with his own money, with one stipulation, that it have a bible class.

Stribling Family.  Stribling five-year-old daughter is the middle tombstone

Everyone has a story whether dead or alive. Whether great or small.
I encourage everyone to visit a cemetery and learn more about the people that are buried there.
You might find someone you know or a relative.
I have many journals and hope someday, someone will read my stories.

2016 Sunday, April 17 Athens Character Cemetery Stroll

Sunday from 2-5PM

Athens Cemetery

Caroline Page

Mrs. Caroline Preston Peck 
This strong woman settled in Rowland now Tanner with her family after the War of the south of Independence. She relied on her Methodist faith to keep the family together. 
The Peck families came from the north to settle in Athens. 

Rebekah Thompson Davis 

Mary Mason 
Mary served as one of the strongest supporters of the United Daughter of the Confederacy. Miss Mary explains the Confederate Circle and the Confederate monument.

Confederate Circle and Tombstones
The Confederate Circle in Athens City Cemetery contains graves of over 50 soldiers killed in or around Athens during the WBTS, 8 unknown. Around 1898 ladies of the local UDC were working in the cemetery when bones, believed to be soldiers, were found. The ladies felt these soldiers deserved a proper burial. In 1901 the local UDC chapter placed markers with initials of the soldiers on each grave. In 1994 the Chapter researched and ordered new markers with full names and Military Service. The markers were replaced with the joint effort of the SCV Camp 768 and UDC Chapter 198

Kristi Valls

Mary Norman Moore McCoy
She was twice President of what is now Athens State University when she was as a single young woman and later as a mature widow with four stepchildren. 

Frank Travis

Ortho Frazier
He was born a slave but was able to buy his freedom. He was a cobble that mad and or repaired shoes and boots for Confederate and Yankee troops and civilians.

Kathy Horton Garrett

Rebecca Maclin Hobbs
Mother of Captain Thomas Hubbard Hobbs and a very stalwart supporter of the Athens Female Academy and the Athens First Methodist Church 

Dr. David Griggs

Thomas Turpentine
He joined the Confederate Army at the age of 13 and served until the surrender of his regiment in Selma. He lived in Nashville after the war in the newspaper business but upon his return to Athens, he went into the grocery business with his father. 

Glenn Hall

Jonathan Adams
He originally bought his family to Limestone County on a flatboat down the Elk River before it was legal for a white man to buy land. The Federal soldiers arrested him and burned his house and crops. He later returned was able to legally buy land and settle here

Athens Dulcimers

First formed in 2003 they meet the First and Third Monday of each month to play and practice. 

Dana Hickman

Emily Horton Sr
Her husband was a Confederate Soldier and later Probate Judge of Limestone County but her son Judge JE Horton Jr became world-famous for his brave ruling int he "Scottsboro Boys" trial. 

Carol Cordero 

Kathy Lane Townes 
A local girl who married one of the officers of the Union Occupation forces. 

Al Elmore

Chief Justice Thomas McClelland 
He served as a register in the chancery of Limestone County from 1874-1876. Served Alabama Senate for two terms. In 1884 he was elected State Attorney General. He became Chief justice in 1898 and served until his death in 1906.

Peggy Allen Towns

Emily Frazier
She became a land-owning free black lady. The soldiers were admonished to leave her and hers alone. 

Joe Curtis

General Hiram Higgins
He was a brick mason, a freemason and an archaic who organized and led a company of soldiers and fought in the Mexican-American War. 

Beth Ham

Margaret Beckham Nixon
She stood her ground in refusing to give all her meat stored in the smokehouse. 

Billy Ward

Robert Beaty Mason
Grandson of Robert Beaty who served in General Roddy's "Bull Pups" when he was 16. He started the development of the town of Bismarck. 

Jerry Barksdale 

Daniel Barksdale
He was a Secessionists until after the occupation and "Sack of Athens" by Union Soldiers under Colonel Turchin. 

Robert Reeves

Robert Donnell 
He was a Cumberland Presbyterian Circuit Rider and one of the founders of the Athens First Presbyterian Church