SILVER THREADS

 

Written and Published Online by John Silver

w/contributing articles by various Silver cousins

 

 

Warm weather is finally here!

 

I can feel it in my bones. It’s good to get out again. I must confess, we have had an extremely mild winter here in Delaware but I’m the first to greet spring and summer.

I have to give out several “back pats” this month. I have bragging rights, too, y’know!

To my granddaughter, Lauren Silver, who graduates high school in June and will be entering Texas Christian University in the fall as journalism major. Lauren is now the proud possessor of a second-degree black belt and holds fourth place in the world for her Tae-Kwan-do abilities in her age class. She also teaches Tae-Kwan-do full time after school. Keep up the good work, Lauren.

To my grandson, Nicholas Silver, who graduates from Virginia Commonwealth in June with a degree in accounting. Great job, Nick, we knew you could do it!!!  Now dad, Bob, has only three to go!

To my nephew, Dane Christian Sagerholm, who graduates from the USNA in June. Dane will be reporting as a Second Lieutenant, USMC, to flight training in the fall. Dane follows in the foot-steps of his father and grandfather who were graduates of the USNA.

Congratulations to you all !!!

A Very Proud
Cousin John

 

 

We received a nice letter from Shelli Marie Silver:

 

Hi John, my name is Shelli Marie Silver and I’m writing to let you know that my sister Shannon Rene’ Silver and her husband, Aaron E. Lindsey just had their first child April 4, 2008. 

His name is Aaron E. Lindsey Jr. (aka AJ) He was 7 lbs 13 and 19 ½ inches long. If you would, please put in the newsletter so that she can put it in her scrapbook. We read your letter every month and love it… Thank you for doing it.

Just so you know who I am I copied the genealogy tree you did in my Son Blayn’s newsletter in February of 2006.

 

 (George Silver Sr. > George Silver Jr. > Rev. Jacob Silver > Alfred Leonard Silver > Tilman Blalock Silver > George Delbert Silver > Willie Conley Silver > Willard Conley Silver > John Allon Silver > Shannon Rene’ Silver m. Aaron E. Lindsey > Aaron E. Lindsey Jr. (AJ).

 

(We are happy to include your letter and to congratulate Aaron and Shannon on the arrival of Aaron Jr. Also, thank you for the kind words. We appreciate them. Barney and John)

 

 

I received a great letter from Kit Weaver, who, you’ll remember, is a grandson of Colonel Sam. Kit lives on the beautiful Lake Ward in Olympia, Washington. Kit is 93 years young.

 

4/10/08 Good Morning;

I need to apologize one thousand times and a few more. I sure goofed your call the other day. I have a one-track mind, and it is off the track half the time. I was on a ladder changing a light bulb when you called. I thought it was my daughter wanting a ride. She just had breast cancer surgery. So when I picked up the wrong phone, I did not hear your name and was too dumb to ask again. Afterwards, I went to the good phone with the caller I.D. and punched the wrong button, and lost your number. How dumb can I get???

Anyhow, the daughter is getting set up for Chemo, but not till after 4/25. That is opening day of the fishing season. Two days after that I go in for some lip surgery. And I have not smoked since 5/61.

Opening day is a big get-together for family and neighbors with a big breakfast next door. Everyone brings food and the non-fishing wives cook. And the fisher people lie about the big ones.

My shooting is good for this old fuddy. I feel very lucky to still be able to shoot in the middle of the pack. I shoot International type trap. That is like the Olympic shooters do.

My bench rest shooting is a fun game. I’ll stick in a bragging target. We have a sheet of 25 targets. Shoot once at each. We have 25 minutes to shoot. My best target had ten like the bragging one and ten that touched the bull’s eye ring. Then I through one clear out in the 6 ring. And I lost. OH WELL, next time.

Well, enough chatter. Hope you have not crossed me off your list. Hope some one can do you some good on your back.

My best to all, Kit.

 

The shooting is done at 50 yards and 50 meters. (I tried to scan Kit’s “bragging” target to show the readers. Unfortunately, my scanner just does not do it justice. But, it is almost a perfect bull’s eye. If I could shoot that well, I’d give up this newsletter and just go shooting every day. Ed.)

No apology is needed Kit. I just caught you off guard. Be careful of those ladders. I avoid them. They hate me!

 

 

While going through my files, I found the following jewel. I think you will enjoy it.

 

The Atlanta Journal
Monday, June 4, 1979.

 

Georgia Rambler by Charles Salter

When Dancing Was a Sin, Lipstick Taboo

 

TOWN CREEK, GA – Mrs. Victoria Foster stood with her faithful dog on the porch of her Pickens County farm home and looked at the picturesque, green pastures and mountains.

Her husband, Mark, and their son, Elmo, were clearing a field with a tractor and a bush hog.

Soon, she would fry a mess of crappie for dinner. In the country the meal you eat when the sun is directly overhead is still called dinner.

I took a breath of fresh, clean, downright delicious mountain air and admired the countryside, too.

The only sounds of that moment were coming from a songbird and a passing car.

The mountains look just the way they did when Mrs. Foster was born in 1904, only five miles down the then unpaved road. But, life in the country was dramatically different in that period.

Young folks living in towns today would shudder at the thoughts of enduring hardships, inconveniences and long days of work in the fields. Teen-agers in 1979 must wonder how people survived without electricity, running water, indoor toilets and wads of greenbacks to spend for pleasure.

And, it would be unthinkable to live in a world without hotdogs, hamburgers and pizzas – and of course, television and movies.

Mrs. Foster chuckled and explained folks managed somehow in those days.

She is a mother of a son and two daughters, but her parents raised nine children. She was born in a three-room house and moved with the family into a seven room dwelling when she was a teen-ager.

“That three room house was mostly bedrooms,” said Mrs. Foster, who will be 75 on May 28. “One room was the kitchen and we cooked and ate there. We sat and had beds in a sitting room. Beds were in the other rooms, too. People back then didn’t have much furniture. Usually only beds, a dresser and straight chairs. On the walls hung a calendar, maybe an enlarged picture or two, and a picture of Jesus.”

For reading material, they could pick up a Holy Bible, a Sears-Roebuck catalog and perhaps Grier’s Almanac or a seed pamphlet.

Paris, London and even Atlanta must have seemed as distant as the moon. A kid dreamed of seeing the ocean someday.

Her father grew cotton, corn, peas, hogs and cows and everybody worked in the fields – usually from sunup to sunset.

It was a big event for a child to ride in the horse-drawn wagon to Talking Rock or Jasper for supplies.

“Mother made our clothes,” said Mrs. Foster. “People didn’t have many clothes or shoes back then but we had as many as anybody around us. I believe people back in them days were more on equality than they are now. Nobody had much money.”

Hog killing was a big event on a cold winter day. Her parents salted and cured hams in a smoke house and canned sausage.

Oranges were rather exotic fruits seen only at Christmastime.

I felt terribly hungry hearing her speak of the marvelous breakfast menu – fried ham or sausage, biscuits, cream gravy (still called sawmill gravy in South Georgia). Toast was still unknown.

“We girls worked in the fields and in the house,” said Mrs. Foster. “We went to the spring to wash our clothes and heated water in two big pots. We hung them on the bushes or on a line back at the house to dry. Mother made the lye soap. Dresses would fade if you weren’t too careful.”

Water was carried in buckets a quarter-mile uphill to the house and understandably was used sparingly.

“The men and boys went to the creek to take baths,” said Mrs. Foster. “Not more than once a week. The women used a washtub in the house. Of course, we washed our feet when we came in from the fields.”

Milk was kept cold in churns lying in the mountain spring. Also, when a calf was killed, it was salted down and put in large containers in the creek for as long as two weeks.

“We had three big meals a day always,” said Mrs. Foster. “There were no sandwiches in those days. No hotdogs. Never heard tell of one and no hamburgers either.”

Ice cream was a great treat enjoyed perhaps at singing conventions in Jasper, but back home in the winter the kids made snow cream. “I guess I was grown before I tasted real ice cream,” she said. “But, we gathered in snow, put sugar and flavoring and milk or cream, mixed it up, and ate snow cream.”

Mrs. Foster smiled and said she remembered when women who wore lipstick and rouge, or even dared to cut their long hair, drew stares of great disapproval from the church-going mountain folks. She was grown and married before she tried lipstick for the first time.

“In those days almost anything was called a sin” she said. “We weren’t allowed to go to dances or for a boy to kiss a girl – that was a bad-bad thing back in those days. Not on the first, second, third or fourth date, kissing was not allowed. If he got to hold her hand, he was lucky.” Surely a few really courageous couples broke the tradition under a full moon.

Her father managed to maintain discipline in his home without using a hickory stick. “We didn’t do much giggling or talking after bedtime,” she said. “Our daddy was a mighty strong somebody and we knew to mind him.” If he said for us to be quiet, that was all he had to say. He never whipped us. He didn’t get after us and didn’t quarrel. We just somehow or other knew to mind him.”

(George Silver Sr. > George Silver Jr. > John Jackson Silver > William Riley Silver > Silas Silver > Lorenzo “Ranzy” Silver > Victoria Area Silver m. Marcus Ed “Mark” Foster.)

    

 

Lauren Silver fares well in UIL journalism contest

By Stefanie White, McKinney Courier-Gazette

 

Lauren Silver has spent much of her high school career making headlines, but not in the Paris Hilton or Britney Spears sense. The McKinney North High School senior and editor-in-chief of the school’s yearbook instead creates headlines.

On April 12, Silver placed fourth in headline writing at the University Interscholastic League Class 4A Regional Competition. For the competition, Silver had to write six headlines in 45 minutes, only getting a small portion of the story for each one.

“Sophomore year, I did the exact same thing so I was hoping to elevate the score,” Silver said. “But I thought it was good because it means I’m doing something right.”

Silver said she looks for something that is creative and catchy to readers when coming up with a headline.

“First of all, I look at the story,” Silver said “I first try to find a pun or something funny. I also use alliteration.   Headlines are where you can get creative.”

When Silver is not coming up with witty headlines, she spends most of her time leading the yearbook staff, which she considers a full-time gig.

“The best thing about yearbook is that it is a student publication the entire school sees,” Silver said. “The best thing I like about yearbook itself is the writing.”

Silver said when she writes her stories, she prefers writing feature articles over the hard news stories.

“News you can get from the headlines. It’s very factual,” Silver said. “Headlines and leads you can get the who, what, when, where, why.”

One of Silver’s favorite feature stories is one she wrote about academics and the science department.

“It was one of my first stories,” Silver said. “What they had done is built marble machines for physics. The people I talked to were very charismatic. It was a very funny story.”

Silver said one thing she enjoys about yearbook is getting to know the different people at her school.

“That’s one cool thing about journalism, you get to know all aspects of people,” Silver said. “I know nearly a good chunk of people at school.”

This year has been a good one for the yearbook staff. There were four returning staff members and 13 new ones. Silver said she has enjoyed the challenge of having a new staff.

“What I like most about this year, I like the fact we got to train them,” Silver said.

The new staff has fared well. Silver said many of the new staff members have grown in their position and continue to improve.

“It’s crazy to see how they’ve evolved,” Silver said. “A couple of them were terrified to get people out of class. A couple of the people were scared to go out and shoot on the field.”

She was also happy to see the several other familiar faces as well, all of whom she credits for helping make the yearbook look good.

“You saw what talent these people had,” Silver said. “You saw what strong points these people had. I thought everybody did a really great job this year. The people who are returning have talent and a really great work ethic.”

Contact staff writer Stefanie White at [email protected].

[Source: http://www.courier-gazette.com/articles/2008/04/24/mckinney_courier-gazette/news/jnews05.txt]

 

 

And, unfortunately, some bad news from Barbara Gregory:

 

Here is part of a letter from Shirley Nelson. All of you know Shirley and Allen Nelson from the Silver and Parker reunions and from doing the website on Frankie Silver. Please remember all of that family in your prayers. You can go to the website below and view all the details.

Barbara,

 

Two members of my family were killed on April 5^th. Another one is still in the hospital. His condition has been upgraded from critical to stable. The family members are Denise’s (my sister) son and her two grandchildren. Her son, Phillip Aaron Bass, 30, and her grandson, Tristen Bass (10) were killed. Her other grandson, Ashton Evans (5) is still in Children’s Hospital in intensive care. He suffered head injuries and is in a coma. We’re hoping and praying for his recovery.

Phillip Aaron was driving on a rain slick highway and lost control of the car hitting a big truck almost head on. Thank God that the driver of the other vehicle wasn’t injured.

Here is a link to the accident report by one of our local TV stations:  [Sorry, the link has already expired.  BVK]

Martha Eller wants to thank all the family for their prayers, calls and cards during the death of Wilton, her brother. So many of you remembered Martha and her family and she says a big THANKS.

I hope to see all of you at the Parker reunion Saturday.

Shirley Nelson

 

 

 

 

Obituaries

 

wILTON WHITLOCK

 

The Banks County News
April 2, 2008

    

Wilton Julian Whitlock, 66, of Demorest, died Monday, March 31, 2008, at Kindred Hospital, following a brief illness.

He was born in Banks County on April 12, 1941, the son of Bobbie Nix Whitlock and the late Julius “Buck” Whitlock, and was retired as a maintenance director with the Habersham County School System with 25 years of dedicated service. Mr. Whitlock was a veteran, having served in the United States Navy and was a lifetime member of the VFW Post #7720. He also enjoyed the outdoors, loved ones stated.

Survivors in addition to his mother, include sisters and brothers-in-law, Sharon and David Baskin, Cornelia and Martha and Andrew Eller, Demorest; two nieces and two nephews.

Funeral services were held Wednesday, April 2, in the chapel of McGahee-Griffin & Stewart Funeral Home with the Reverend Mickey Umbehunt officiating. Burial was in Mt. Carmel Baptist Church Cemetery in Banks County with full military honors provided by the Rabun County D.A.V. Chapter #15 and Habersham County American Legion Post #84.

McGahee-Griffin & Stewart Funeral Home, Cornelia, was in charge of the arrangements.

George Silver Sr. > Jacob Silver > Charlie Silver > Nancy Silver m. David William Parker > Rethar Elizabeth Parker m. William Barrett > Bertha Mae Barrett m. Stephen Whitlock > Julius “Buck” Whitlock > Wilton Julian Whitlock.)