This bio is written by Allan Lewis Bentley her son.
My mother and father met through my father's sisters, PAULINE and LILLIAN BENTLEY. My grandmother, ODIE TABOR STRICKLAND, was working at the cotton mill in Lindale, Georgia. My Aunt MATTIE BENTLEY had married CLARENCE FULLER (who also worked at the cotton mill). MATTIE moved back home to Moultrie, Georgia while her husband CLARENCE was in the army during World War II. MATTIE told her two sisters (PAULINE and LILLIAN) about the work at the cotton mill when she was at home in Moultrie, Georgia. Both sisters found work at the mill and moved to Lindale to work. My grandmother, ODIE, trained both sisters to work at the mill and because the sisters did not know anyone in Lindale, my grandmother would invite them to her home to visit. It was at this time that my father was working at the laundry or citrus canning plant at Lake Wales, Florida. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY, asked my father to come home and help him harvest the tobacco crop. So while my mother was visiting with my Aunt's PAULINE and LILLIAN my father came home to harvest the tobacco and met my mother..
My father is CLYDE LEVON BENTLEY the son of BENNIE (BENJAMIN) DEXTER BENTLEY and BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY. CLYDE BENTLEY was born October 6, 1924 in Autryville, Colquitt County, Georgia. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY was born in Henry County Alabama on November 20, 1885, the only son of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BENTLEY and CARRIE LUCILLE VINSON. My Grandmother, BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY, was born in Terrell County, Georgia, June 17, 1891, the fifth child and second daughter of IRVIN ZIMMERMAN DAUGHTRY and MATTIE MORGAN CRAFT.
My mother and father were married on December 24, 1945 at the court house in Rome, Georgia. After their marriage, they moved to Lake Wales Florida to live with the Trulucks for two weeks until they found a furnished apartment to move into. BERTHA'S sister, MARY ELIZABETH, married GUSSIE LEE TRULUCK.
Mother and father lived for a short time in Lake Wales and then moved back to Lindale, Georgia to work at the cotton mill. Then they moved a short distance north to a town called Shannon, Georgia. My brother and I were both born in Rome, Georgia and lived at Shannon until my brother was six years old. During this time in Shannon, Georgia my father and mother were working at the cotton mill in Shannon named Brighton Mills, while my father was taking a correspondence course in electricity. Mother worked in the spinning room while dad worked in the card department. When my father successfully completed the electrical correspondence course he was promoted to an electrician at the mill. After working as an electrician there for a couple of years, the mill refused to give him a raise so his brother-in-law, DOUG REYNOLDS (married to dad's sister Pauline) persuaded him to try to get a job at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia where he was working. At first he was turned down for having a hernia (he was also turned down for military service, after being drafted for service in World War II, for this same hernia), but he had a successful operation so that when he reapplied for employment at Lockheed he was hired. So the family packed up and left our small town in the Georgia foothills in 1955 and moved to Marietta so father could be close to work. My father continued to work at Lockheed off and on (there were several layoffs where father had to find other work; selling welders, and doing appliance repairs for Hotpoint) until he injured his back in an accident at Lockheed. Mother went to work part time for the Smyrna Post Office for a while and then went to work for the Dairy Queen full time on South Cobb Dr. In Smyrna, Georgia.
I can recall several incidents from my youth in Shannon, Georgia. I remember that my brother and I had watched some movie on TV about "bombs over Toyko". As children will do, we went out to play in the back yard and upon finding some bricks around the yard we decided to throw them onto the roof of the house and play "bombs over Toyko". Everything went just fine until my brother and I became too involved in our play and got out of step with our "bombs". While I was leaning down picking up my "bomb" to toss back onto the roof, my brother's "bomb" came smashing down on my head! I was stunned for a moment and then felt the pain. I reached up to rub my head and when I stopped to look at my hand it was covered with blood. I screamed at the top of my lungs! All I can recall after that is mother trying to calm me down and cleanse the wound to see if I might need stitches.
I can also recall being quite an obstinate and willful child. I can recall being held by my mother in a doorway while she ordered my brother to "spank me" for something I had maliciously done to him. I had quite a temper as a child and even ran away from home once, returning when I got to the woods and thought of being there in the dark. I don't think mother even missed my brief absence. After that failed attempt at running away I tried something new. The next time I got furious with mom, I hid under the bed and did not answer her calls. I soon fell asleep and when I realized that I had been disobedient for such a long time I became scared that mom would give me the whipping of my life. I listened until I heard how upset she was that I might be hurt or lost and then I crawled out from under the bed and told her I was sorry for being so bad. I think she was so relieved to see me that she forgot all about punishing me she was so happy to see me alive and in one piece! I used this manipulative act several times in my future years until mom and dad got wise to it and gave me the proper punishment I deserved.
I vaguely remember one Christmas we had at Shannon. I was so thrilled to get a pair of toy guns with a cowboy holster just like the ones I saw on TV used by my favorite cowboys ( Roy Rogers, Hop-a-Long Casidy, Lash Larue, Wild Bill Hickok). You can just imagine the many fantasy bad guys and Indians I must have shot with those dual pistols.
There is one more incident that I remember from that time we lived at Shannon. One Christmas I got my first tricycle. The house we lived in at the time had a large front porch surrounded by banisters, except at the wide front steps. There were approximately 10 to 12 steps from the ground to the front porch. I decided it would be great fun to ride my tricycle down those steps and took off down them with great disregard for my safety. I tumbled head over heals but my father recalls rushing outside to my blood curdling screams to find me screaming my lungs out at the bottom of the steps clinging to the handlebars of that tricycle refusing to let go of the object of my great love.
My family has always been of the Baptist religion and my father has been a Mason as long as I can remember. I can still recall his Masonic ring that he always wore at all times. My brother Don was a member of the Demolay for a short time until his sports activities did not allow him to participate in the Demolay activities any longer. I can remember attending the Olive Springs Baptist Church on Austell Rd in Marietta. My father often sung in the choir. At one time I had a perfect attendance record for one year at that church and I still have the gift of a bible I received for my perfect attendance.
My mother was always known for her beautiful red hair. I can remember when I was a child looking at old photos of her and thinking that she must have been a movie star. She has always had a great love of horses. Before she married she trained horses and still adores horses to this day. I can recall a trip our family took to a park that offered horseback riding. Mother had a broken arm at the time and we didn't expect her to ride, but to our surprise she picked out a large horse to both our protest and the owners! She convinced the owner she knew what she was doing and proceeded to climb onto the horse. To our utter horror the horse reared back on it's two back legs and I think my heart stopped. Mother was not the least bit shaken. She readily stayed on the horse and galloped off easily toward an open field with all of us stunned to silence with our mouths hanging open.
Mother died in the nursing home (Pine Ridge) in Rockmart, Georgia, January 6, 1998, after a year long bought with lung cancer that had spread to her liver. She was not a smoker.
The funeral was at Winkenhofer Pine Ridge, 2950 North Cobb Parkway, Kennesaw, Georgia.
Mother is buried next to her father, Lewis Holden Strickland.
My mother and father met through my father's sisters, PAULINE and LILLIAN BENTLEY. My grandmother, ODIE TABOR STRICKLAND, was working at the cotton mill in Lindale, Georgia. My Aunt MATTIE BENTLEY had married CLARENCE FULLER (who also worked at the cotton mill). MATTIE moved back home to Moultrie, Georgia while her husband CLARENCE was in the army during World War II. MATTIE told her two sisters (PAULINE and LILLIAN) about the work at the cotton mill when she was at home in Moultrie, Georgia. Both sisters found work at the mill and moved to Lindale to work. My grandmother, ODIE, trained both sisters to work at the mill and because the sisters did not know anyone in Lindale, my grandmother would invite them to her home to visit. It was at this time that my father was working at the laundry or citrus canning plant at Lake Wales, Florida. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY, asked my father to come home and help him harvest the tobacco crop. So while my mother was visiting with my Aunt's PAULINE and LILLIAN my father came home to harvest the tobacco and met my mother..
My father is CLYDE LEVON BENTLEY the son of BENNIE (BENJAMIN) DEXTER BENTLEY and BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY. CLYDE BENTLEY was born October 6, 1924 in Autryville, Colquitt County, Georgia. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY was born in Henry County Alabama on November 20, 1885, the only son of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BENTLEY and CARRIE LUCILLE VINSON. My Grandmother, BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY, was born in Terrell County, Georgia, June 17, 1891, the fifth child and second daughter of IRVIN ZIMMERMAN DAUGHTRY and MATTIE MORGAN CRAFT.
My mother and father were married on December 24, 1945 at the court house in Rome, Georgia. After their marriage, they moved to Lake Wales Florida to live with the Trulucks for two weeks until they found a furnished apartment to move into. BERTHA'S sister, MARY ELIZABETH, married GUSSIE LEE TRULUCK.
Mother and father lived for a short time in Lake Wales and then moved back to Lindale, Georgia to work at the cotton mill. Then they moved a short distance north to a town called Shannon, Georgia. My brother and I were both born in Rome, Georgia and lived at Shannon until my brother was six years old. During this time in Shannon, Georgia my father and mother were working at the cotton mill in Shannon named Brighton Mills, while my father was taking a correspondence course in electricity. Mother worked in the spinning room while dad worked in the card department. When my father successfully completed the electrical correspondence course he was promoted to an electrician at the mill. After working as an electrician there for a couple of years, the mill refused to give him a raise so his brother-in-law, DOUG REYNOLDS (married to dad's sister Pauline) persuaded him to try to get a job at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia where he was working. At first he was turned down for having a hernia (he was also turned down for military service, after being drafted for service in World War II, for this same hernia), but he had a successful operation so that when he reapplied for employment at Lockheed he was hired. So the family packed up and left our small town in the Georgia foothills in 1955 and moved to Marietta so father could be close to work. My father continued to work at Lockheed off and on (there were several layoffs where father had to find other work; selling welders, and doing appliance repairs for Hotpoint) until he injured his back in an accident at Lockheed. Mother went to work part time for the Smyrna Post Office for a while and then went to work for the Dairy Queen full time on South Cobb Dr. In Smyrna, Georgia.
I can recall several incidents from my youth in Shannon, Georgia. I remember that my brother and I had watched some movie on TV about "bombs over Toyko". As children will do, we went out to play in the back yard and upon finding some bricks around the yard we decided to throw them onto the roof of the house and play "bombs over Toyko". Everything went just fine until my brother and I became too involved in our play and got out of step with our "bombs". While I was leaning down picking up my "bomb" to toss back onto the roof, my brother's "bomb" came smashing down on my head! I was stunned for a moment and then felt the pain. I reached up to rub my head and when I stopped to look at my hand it was covered with blood. I screamed at the top of my lungs! All I can recall after that is mother trying to calm me down and cleanse the wound to see if I might need stitches.
I can also recall being quite an obstinate and willful child. I can recall being held by my mother in a doorway while she ordered my brother to "spank me" for something I had maliciously done to him. I had quite a temper as a child and even ran away from home once, returning when I got to the woods and thought of being there in the dark. I don't think mother even missed my brief absence. After that failed attempt at running away I tried something new. The next time I got furious with mom, I hid under the bed and did not answer her calls. I soon fell asleep and when I realized that I had been disobedient for such a long time I became scared that mom would give me the whipping of my life. I listened until I heard how upset she was that I might be hurt or lost and then I crawled out from under the bed and told her I was sorry for being so bad. I think she was so relieved to see me that she forgot all about punishing me she was so happy to see me alive and in one piece! I used this manipulative act several times in my future years until mom and dad got wise to it and gave me the proper punishment I deserved.
I vaguely remember one Christmas we had at Shannon. I was so thrilled to get a pair of toy guns with a cowboy holster just like the ones I saw on TV used by my favorite cowboys ( Roy Rogers, Hop-a-Long Casidy, Lash Larue, Wild Bill Hickok). You can just imagine the many fantasy bad guys and Indians I must have shot with those dual pistols.
There is one more incident that I remember from that time we lived at Shannon. One Christmas I got my first tricycle. The house we lived in at the time had a large front porch surrounded by banisters, except at the wide front steps. There were approximately 10 to 12 steps from the ground to the front porch. I decided it would be great fun to ride my tricycle down those steps and took off down them with great disregard for my safety. I tumbled head over heals but my father recalls rushing outside to my blood curdling screams to find me screaming my lungs out at the bottom of the steps clinging to the handlebars of that tricycle refusing to let go of the object of my great love.
My family has always been of the Baptist religion and my father has been a Mason as long as I can remember. I can still recall his Masonic ring that he always wore at all times. My brother Don was a member of the Demolay for a short time until his sports activities did not allow him to participate in the Demolay activities any longer. I can remember attending the Olive Springs Baptist Church on Austell Rd in Marietta. My father often sung in the choir. At one time I had a perfect attendance record for one year at that church and I still have the gift of a bible I received for my perfect attendance.
My mother was always known for her beautiful red hair. I can remember when I was a child looking at old photos of her and thinking that she must have been a movie star. She has always had a great love of horses. Before she married she trained horses and still adores horses to this day. I can recall a trip our family took to a park that offered horseback riding. Mother had a broken arm at the time and we didn't expect her to ride, but to our surprise she picked out a large horse to both our protest and the owners! She convinced the owner she knew what she was doing and proceeded to climb onto the horse. To our utter horror the horse reared back on it's two back legs and I think my heart stopped. Mother was not the least bit shaken. She readily stayed on the horse and galloped off easily toward an open field with all of us stunned to silence with our mouths hanging open.
Mother died in the nursing home (Pine Ridge) in Rockmart, Georgia, January 6, 1998, after a year long bought with lung cancer that had spread to her liver. She was not a smoker.
The funeral was at Winkenhofer Pine Ridge, 2950 North Cobb Parkway, Kennesaw, Georgia.
Mother is buried next to her father, Lewis Holden Strickland.
This bio is written by Allan Lewis Bentley her son.
My mother and father met through my father's sisters, PAULINE and LILLIAN BENTLEY. My grandmother, ODIE TABOR STRICKLAND, was working at the cotton mill in Lindale, Georgia. My Aunt MATTIE BENTLEY had married CLARENCE FULLER (who also worked at the cotton mill). MATTIE moved back home to Moultrie, Georgia while her husband CLARENCE was in the army during World War II. MATTIE told her two sisters (PAULINE and LILLIAN) about the work at the cotton mill when she was at home in Moultrie, Georgia. Both sisters found work at the mill and moved to Lindale to work. My grandmother, ODIE, trained both sisters to work at the mill and because the sisters did not know anyone in Lindale, my grandmother would invite them to her home to visit. It was at this time that my father was working at the laundry or citrus canning plant at Lake Wales, Florida. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY, asked my father to come home and help him harvest the tobacco crop. So while my mother was visiting with my Aunt's PAULINE and LILLIAN my father came home to harvest the tobacco and met my mother..
My father is CLYDE LEVON BENTLEY the son of BENNIE (BENJAMIN) DEXTER BENTLEY and BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY. CLYDE BENTLEY was born October 6, 1924 in Autryville, Colquitt County, Georgia. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY was born in Henry County Alabama on November 20, 1885, the only son of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BENTLEY and CARRIE LUCILLE VINSON. My Grandmother, BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY, was born in Terrell County, Georgia, June 17, 1891, the fifth child and second daughter of IRVIN ZIMMERMAN DAUGHTRY and MATTIE MORGAN CRAFT.
My mother and father were married on December 24, 1945 at the court house in Rome, Georgia. After their marriage, they moved to Lake Wales Florida to live with the Trulucks for two weeks until they found a furnished apartment to move into. BERTHA'S sister, MARY ELIZABETH, married GUSSIE LEE TRULUCK.
Mother and father lived for a short time in Lake Wales and then moved back to Lindale, Georgia to work at the cotton mill. Then they moved a short distance north to a town called Shannon, Georgia. My brother and I were both born in Rome, Georgia and lived at Shannon until my brother was six years old. During this time in Shannon, Georgia my father and mother were working at the cotton mill in Shannon named Brighton Mills, while my father was taking a correspondence course in electricity. Mother worked in the spinning room while dad worked in the card department. When my father successfully completed the electrical correspondence course he was promoted to an electrician at the mill. After working as an electrician there for a couple of years, the mill refused to give him a raise so his brother-in-law, DOUG REYNOLDS (married to dad's sister Pauline) persuaded him to try to get a job at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia where he was working. At first he was turned down for having a hernia (he was also turned down for military service, after being drafted for service in World War II, for this same hernia), but he had a successful operation so that when he reapplied for employment at Lockheed he was hired. So the family packed up and left our small town in the Georgia foothills in 1955 and moved to Marietta so father could be close to work. My father continued to work at Lockheed off and on (there were several layoffs where father had to find other work; selling welders, and doing appliance repairs for Hotpoint) until he injured his back in an accident at Lockheed. Mother went to work part time for the Smyrna Post Office for a while and then went to work for the Dairy Queen full time on South Cobb Dr. In Smyrna, Georgia.
I can recall several incidents from my youth in Shannon, Georgia. I remember that my brother and I had watched some movie on TV about "bombs over Toyko". As children will do, we went out to play in the back yard and upon finding some bricks around the yard we decided to throw them onto the roof of the house and play "bombs over Toyko". Everything went just fine until my brother and I became too involved in our play and got out of step with our "bombs". While I was leaning down picking up my "bomb" to toss back onto the roof, my brother's "bomb" came smashing down on my head! I was stunned for a moment and then felt the pain. I reached up to rub my head and when I stopped to look at my hand it was covered with blood. I screamed at the top of my lungs! All I can recall after that is mother trying to calm me down and cleanse the wound to see if I might need stitches.
I can also recall being quite an obstinate and willful child. I can recall being held by my mother in a doorway while she ordered my brother to "spank me" for something I had maliciously done to him. I had quite a temper as a child and even ran away from home once, returning when I got to the woods and thought of being there in the dark. I don't think mother even missed my brief absence. After that failed attempt at running away I tried something new. The next time I got furious with mom, I hid under the bed and did not answer her calls. I soon fell asleep and when I realized that I had been disobedient for such a long time I became scared that mom would give me the whipping of my life. I listened until I heard how upset she was that I might be hurt or lost and then I crawled out from under the bed and told her I was sorry for being so bad. I think she was so relieved to see me that she forgot all about punishing me she was so happy to see me alive and in one piece! I used this manipulative act several times in my future years until mom and dad got wise to it and gave me the proper punishment I deserved.
I vaguely remember one Christmas we had at Shannon. I was so thrilled to get a pair of toy guns with a cowboy holster just like the ones I saw on TV used by my favorite cowboys ( Roy Rogers, Hop-a-Long Casidy, Lash Larue, Wild Bill Hickok). You can just imagine the many fantasy bad guys and Indians I must have shot with those dual pistols.
There is one more incident that I remember from that time we lived at Shannon. One Christmas I got my first tricycle. The house we lived in at the time had a large front porch surrounded by banisters, except at the wide front steps. There were approximately 10 to 12 steps from the ground to the front porch. I decided it would be great fun to ride my tricycle down those steps and took off down them with great disregard for my safety. I tumbled head over heals but my father recalls rushing outside to my blood curdling screams to find me screaming my lungs out at the bottom of the steps clinging to the handlebars of that tricycle refusing to let go of the object of my great love.
My family has always been of the Baptist religion and my father has been a Mason as long as I can remember. I can still recall his Masonic ring that he always wore at all times. My brother Don was a member of the Demolay for a short time until his sports activities did not allow him to participate in the Demolay activities any longer. I can remember attending the Olive Springs Baptist Church on Austell Rd in Marietta. My father often sung in the choir. At one time I had a perfect attendance record for one year at that church and I still have the gift of a bible I received for my perfect attendance.
My mother was always known for her beautiful red hair. I can remember when I was a child looking at old photos of her and thinking that she must have been a movie star. She has always had a great love of horses. Before she married she trained horses and still adores horses to this day. I can recall a trip our family took to a park that offered horseback riding. Mother had a broken arm at the time and we didn't expect her to ride, but to our surprise she picked out a large horse to both our protest and the owners! She convinced the owner she knew what she was doing and proceeded to climb onto the horse. To our utter horror the horse reared back on it's two back legs and I think my heart stopped. Mother was not the least bit shaken. She readily stayed on the horse and galloped off easily toward an open field with all of us stunned to silence with our mouths hanging open.
Mother died in the nursing home (Pine Ridge) in Rockmart, Georgia, January 6, 1998, after a year long bought with lung cancer that had spread to her liver. She was not a smoker.
The funeral was at Winkenhofer Pine Ridge, 2950 North Cobb Parkway, Kennesaw, Georgia.
Mother is buried next to her father, Lewis Holden Strickland.
My mother and father met through my father's sisters, PAULINE and LILLIAN BENTLEY. My grandmother, ODIE TABOR STRICKLAND, was working at the cotton mill in Lindale, Georgia. My Aunt MATTIE BENTLEY had married CLARENCE FULLER (who also worked at the cotton mill). MATTIE moved back home to Moultrie, Georgia while her husband CLARENCE was in the army during World War II. MATTIE told her two sisters (PAULINE and LILLIAN) about the work at the cotton mill when she was at home in Moultrie, Georgia. Both sisters found work at the mill and moved to Lindale to work. My grandmother, ODIE, trained both sisters to work at the mill and because the sisters did not know anyone in Lindale, my grandmother would invite them to her home to visit. It was at this time that my father was working at the laundry or citrus canning plant at Lake Wales, Florida. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY, asked my father to come home and help him harvest the tobacco crop. So while my mother was visiting with my Aunt's PAULINE and LILLIAN my father came home to harvest the tobacco and met my mother..
My father is CLYDE LEVON BENTLEY the son of BENNIE (BENJAMIN) DEXTER BENTLEY and BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY. CLYDE BENTLEY was born October 6, 1924 in Autryville, Colquitt County, Georgia. My grandfather, BENNIE DEXTER BENTLEY was born in Henry County Alabama on November 20, 1885, the only son of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BENTLEY and CARRIE LUCILLE VINSON. My Grandmother, BERTHA VICTORIA DAUGHTRY, was born in Terrell County, Georgia, June 17, 1891, the fifth child and second daughter of IRVIN ZIMMERMAN DAUGHTRY and MATTIE MORGAN CRAFT.
My mother and father were married on December 24, 1945 at the court house in Rome, Georgia. After their marriage, they moved to Lake Wales Florida to live with the Trulucks for two weeks until they found a furnished apartment to move into. BERTHA'S sister, MARY ELIZABETH, married GUSSIE LEE TRULUCK.
Mother and father lived for a short time in Lake Wales and then moved back to Lindale, Georgia to work at the cotton mill. Then they moved a short distance north to a town called Shannon, Georgia. My brother and I were both born in Rome, Georgia and lived at Shannon until my brother was six years old. During this time in Shannon, Georgia my father and mother were working at the cotton mill in Shannon named Brighton Mills, while my father was taking a correspondence course in electricity. Mother worked in the spinning room while dad worked in the card department. When my father successfully completed the electrical correspondence course he was promoted to an electrician at the mill. After working as an electrician there for a couple of years, the mill refused to give him a raise so his brother-in-law, DOUG REYNOLDS (married to dad's sister Pauline) persuaded him to try to get a job at Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia where he was working. At first he was turned down for having a hernia (he was also turned down for military service, after being drafted for service in World War II, for this same hernia), but he had a successful operation so that when he reapplied for employment at Lockheed he was hired. So the family packed up and left our small town in the Georgia foothills in 1955 and moved to Marietta so father could be close to work. My father continued to work at Lockheed off and on (there were several layoffs where father had to find other work; selling welders, and doing appliance repairs for Hotpoint) until he injured his back in an accident at Lockheed. Mother went to work part time for the Smyrna Post Office for a while and then went to work for the Dairy Queen full time on South Cobb Dr. In Smyrna, Georgia.
I can recall several incidents from my youth in Shannon, Georgia. I remember that my brother and I had watched some movie on TV about "bombs over Toyko". As children will do, we went out to play in the back yard and upon finding some bricks around the yard we decided to throw them onto the roof of the house and play "bombs over Toyko". Everything went just fine until my brother and I became too involved in our play and got out of step with our "bombs". While I was leaning down picking up my "bomb" to toss back onto the roof, my brother's "bomb" came smashing down on my head! I was stunned for a moment and then felt the pain. I reached up to rub my head and when I stopped to look at my hand it was covered with blood. I screamed at the top of my lungs! All I can recall after that is mother trying to calm me down and cleanse the wound to see if I might need stitches.
I can also recall being quite an obstinate and willful child. I can recall being held by my mother in a doorway while she ordered my brother to "spank me" for something I had maliciously done to him. I had quite a temper as a child and even ran away from home once, returning when I got to the woods and thought of being there in the dark. I don't think mother even missed my brief absence. After that failed attempt at running away I tried something new. The next time I got furious with mom, I hid under the bed and did not answer her calls. I soon fell asleep and when I realized that I had been disobedient for such a long time I became scared that mom would give me the whipping of my life. I listened until I heard how upset she was that I might be hurt or lost and then I crawled out from under the bed and told her I was sorry for being so bad. I think she was so relieved to see me that she forgot all about punishing me she was so happy to see me alive and in one piece! I used this manipulative act several times in my future years until mom and dad got wise to it and gave me the proper punishment I deserved.
I vaguely remember one Christmas we had at Shannon. I was so thrilled to get a pair of toy guns with a cowboy holster just like the ones I saw on TV used by my favorite cowboys ( Roy Rogers, Hop-a-Long Casidy, Lash Larue, Wild Bill Hickok). You can just imagine the many fantasy bad guys and Indians I must have shot with those dual pistols.
There is one more incident that I remember from that time we lived at Shannon. One Christmas I got my first tricycle. The house we lived in at the time had a large front porch surrounded by banisters, except at the wide front steps. There were approximately 10 to 12 steps from the ground to the front porch. I decided it would be great fun to ride my tricycle down those steps and took off down them with great disregard for my safety. I tumbled head over heals but my father recalls rushing outside to my blood curdling screams to find me screaming my lungs out at the bottom of the steps clinging to the handlebars of that tricycle refusing to let go of the object of my great love.
My family has always been of the Baptist religion and my father has been a Mason as long as I can remember. I can still recall his Masonic ring that he always wore at all times. My brother Don was a member of the Demolay for a short time until his sports activities did not allow him to participate in the Demolay activities any longer. I can remember attending the Olive Springs Baptist Church on Austell Rd in Marietta. My father often sung in the choir. At one time I had a perfect attendance record for one year at that church and I still have the gift of a bible I received for my perfect attendance.
My mother was always known for her beautiful red hair. I can remember when I was a child looking at old photos of her and thinking that she must have been a movie star. She has always had a great love of horses. Before she married she trained horses and still adores horses to this day. I can recall a trip our family took to a park that offered horseback riding. Mother had a broken arm at the time and we didn't expect her to ride, but to our surprise she picked out a large horse to both our protest and the owners! She convinced the owner she knew what she was doing and proceeded to climb onto the horse. To our utter horror the horse reared back on it's two back legs and I think my heart stopped. Mother was not the least bit shaken. She readily stayed on the horse and galloped off easily toward an open field with all of us stunned to silence with our mouths hanging open.
Mother died in the nursing home (Pine Ridge) in Rockmart, Georgia, January 6, 1998, after a year long bought with lung cancer that had spread to her liver. She was not a smoker.
The funeral was at Winkenhofer Pine Ridge, 2950 North Cobb Parkway, Kennesaw, Georgia.
Mother is buried next to her father, Lewis Holden Strickland.
Bio by: Allan L. Bentley
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