All Gave Some . . . .
Some Gave All . . . .
We remember and celebrate the service of these brothers who gave … and we are grateful that they were not required to give ALL, but returned to our families!
From top left:
George Brandon Emerson (1918-2001)
Roland Lynwood Emerson (1922-1999)
Chester Ashley Emerson (1925-2005)
Sherwood Carleton Emerson (1933-)
Jackson Oliver Emerson (1920-1989)
Thomas Nelson Emerson (1923-)
Charles Franklin Emerson (1926-1989)
Remembering Rebecca Oliver Emerson
May 29, 1892 – August 22, 1984
An excerpt from “Life and Times of George and Rebecca Emerson”:
The Premarital Life of Rebecca Oliver
On May 29, 1892, Rebecca Oliver was born at the Oliver home in Coke where she lived until her marriage in 1916. The Oliver home offered a stable family environment undergirded by strong religious convictions.
Gloucester County experienced an epidemic of scarlet fever during the 1890s, and several members of the Oliver family, including Rebecca, became victims of this plague. Rebecca’s case was extremely severe; at one point there was no hope of her survival; Jack and Lulie, thinking that death was imminent, laid out her funeral clothes. At the deepest point of despair, Rebecca’s fever broke, and she began to recover. One aftereffect of the sickness was loss of memory and speech; she later recalled, “I had to learn to talk all over again; I had to relearn my ABCs; I even had to be taught to say, ‘Pappy.'” Another side effect was the loss of hair; Rebecca said, “My hair came back straight, but Edith’s came back curly.”
Access to public education was almost an impossibility for the Oliver family during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Jack Oliver solved this problem by building a schoolhouse in the yard and hiring a school teacher. Neighbors’ children attended this school as well as the Oliver children. The first teacher in the Oliver school was Miss Maude Brandon. After teaching several years, Miss Brandon married William Hogge and moved to Cappahosic.
After Miss Brandon moved away, Jack Oliver employed Mr. S. P. Brohawn as schoolmaster; Mr. Brohawn lived in the Oliver home and clerked in the Oliver store when school was not in session. Mr. Brohawn had a unique system of discipline; on the first day of the school year, he lined up all the students and gave each one a paddling, saying, “If you don’t need it now, you will before the year is out, so let’s get it over with.” The spelling bee was a prominent part of the school’s curriculum, and Rebecca excelled in this exercise. That system of instruction must have worked for when Rebecca was in her nineties and her memory had failed in most respects, she could still spell the most difficult words.
Many years after Rebecca’s schooling, when an application form asked for “grades completed” in school, she was somewhat perplexed, saying, “We didn’t have any grades; we all studied in one room with the same teacher.” When asked, “If you had no grades, when did you graduate?” “We didn’t graduate,” she replied. “If you didn’t graduate, when did you know you had finished school?” “I went to school until I knew as much as Mr. Brohawn did, and then I stopped,” she replied.
Over the years, Rebecca developed a respectful attachment to Mr. Brohawn, who remained with the family after “the family school” was no longer necessary. During Mr. Brohawn’s final sickness, Rebecca attended his needs under the doctor’s instructions, cleaning and bandaging sores. The doctor said that she had a natural talent to be a nurse, but Jack Oliver scoffed at the idea thinking that nursing was not a respectful occupation. As Mr. Brohawn’s condition worsened, Rebecca contacted his family in Maryland; a letter dated July 2, 1914, addressed to Rebecca T. Oliver, Coke, Va., was written in response to Rebecca’s efforts to maintain contact with Mr. Brohawn’s family.
For a while, Rebecca worked as a governess in the home of her former school teacher, Maude Hogge. Mrs. Hogge had become an invalid, and Rebecca’s job was to oversee the education and general upbringing of the Hogge’s two children, a boy and a girl. Rebecca became very fond of the Hogges, and her first born son, Brandon, was named after Maude Hogge’s maiden name.
ODE TO SAINT BALDRICKS
Hair today, gone tomorrow, it’s pride before the bald,
Does vanity dare hold us back, shall we refuse the call?
Of God’s most precious children held in vicious grip
On the edge of eternity, we must not let them slip.
For they do suffer pain and sickness, their life a living hell,
Shall we not get a haircut to try and make them well?
If one of these were your own child, what exactly would you give
To slay this monster inside of them and give them a chance to live?
You’d give an arm, you’d give a leg, no price would be too high
To keep this child you love so much alive and let not die.
So do your part and dare to share like these children were your own,
And one day they might return the favor when they’re fully grown.
It’s on the wheel you know the deal we get just what we give,
So open that wallet and your heart with you they might just live.
Joel Emerson
St. Baldrick’s Organization donates more money to fight childhood cancer than anyone except the US government. People shave their head in solidarity with children fighting cancer and other folks (you) lend support by opening their wallets. Give like your life depends on it. One day it might.
Website address is http://www,stbaldricks.org/get-involved. Go here and mention my name Joel Emerson, I am having my head shaved for this cause, I have a goal of $2500.00 for head and mustache. Shave date is March 15th, 2014.
Thanks to Betty McCartey for the phtos!
Congratulations, Joe, for being the third place winner in a national short story writing contest.
Click photo for web site and details. (Scroll down to Mainstream/Literary Short Story.)
Photos courtesy of Teeny Emerson
EMERSON FAMILY REUNION
COME CELEBRATE THE ANNUAL TRADITION
OF FUN AND FELLOWSHIP
BY ATTENDING OUR 2013 FAMILY GATHERING
Place: Home of Amy Moore
Date: September 15, 2013
Beginning at 1:00 PM
Activities: boating, crabbing, Children’s pool
Covered-dish dinner; all paper products and plastic-ware are provided.
Bring lawn chairs and beverages.
PLEASE INVITE YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS
Parking permitted on the street or in the yard on the RIGHT side of the driveway.
Send your favorite photos from the 2012 Reunion to sbeb.cs@gmail.com and I’ll post them for the family to enjoy!
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