I remember visiting the home of my grandparents during my childhood and afterwards. The photo I have added was in a large oval mahogany frame looking down from the wall of the living room of their home. As we sat together after the evening meals, my grandfathers, (maternal) John Wesley Ardis of Foreston, and (paternal) John Thomas Ardis of Pinewood would tell us stories of Grandmother Hulda. Her first husband, Milton Robert Graham died as a result of injuries during the Civil War. After the war ended, many families in the Sumter/Clarendon County area were forced to live with relatives because almost everything had been lost. What was not burned, was taken away by the soldiers of the northern army.

Widowed Hulda, married John William Ardis, whom she had known from childhood. Our Great Grandfather John was a veteran of The War. They made a loving home for the Graham children and were blessed with children of their own.

Although she was baptized as a very young child in the Episcopal Church to which her parents belonged, the Methodist Church in the center of Pinewood, became the center of their friendships, family and social activities. I have taken my grandsons to worship there and reminded them as we knelt at the altar rail of the lives of their great grandparents and how they loved their family and church. I hope they will never forget and when we look into the face of Grandma Hulda, I hope that we will always remember and cherish her, as well.

When the Lord called her home in 1915, she was buried by her family at Weeks Cemetery (FAG has made it a part of Pinewood Cemetery) near the graves of her parents, Dempsey and Alicia Griffin. Over time, the homemade marker has been lost; but, our love for her will always keep her memory alive and well as we visit her resting place and honor her life.
Barbara Ardis Coker
Contributor and Great Granddaughter