"The lawyers dwell on small details." ---- Don Henley in "The End of the Innocence."\
With this newspaper gig has come an interesting conundrum. A head-scratcher - should I knock on the front door or the back? Before long the answer becomes clear as a bell. Wandering up the path to the front door at the lovely home of Ron and Mercer Brumfield in Franklinton’s East Acres for a long-anticipated visit, I was kindly corrected by Cousin Ron upon entry, "Family comes through the kitchen." It was then that I felt right at home.
Naturally so, for we have always been close to Mr. Ron and Ms. Mercer. I must admit that I had on prior occasions entered through the kitchen.
Ron's grandfather Louis Lafayette Brumfield (1864-1941) and my great-grandfather Thomas Hezekiah Brumfield (1861-1931), on my maternal side, were brothers. Our forebears, they were the children of Thomas Colter Brumfield (1826-1884), my grandfather's namesake, and Sophronia Magee Brumfield (1835-1897), the daughter of William and Harriet Bickham Magee. And their remaining siblings were William Brumfield (1859-1900), Marcus Barksdale Brumfield (1867-1960), Ludie Brumfield (Stafford) (1857-1948), and Henrietta Brumfield (Hobgood) (1853-1900).
My mother Margie Nell Brumfield Ellzey relied on her close Cousin Ron Brumfield in both life and death. A tide of memories. He was her attorney for the duration and then her eulogist, upon her sudden passing in the summer of 2011. Composing and delivering the most beautiful eulogy, in less than a day's time --- something only family, and a lawyer, could manage --- Mr. Ron was told afterwards by an older, seasoned family friend, a Franklinton native turned out-of-towner, that he had been to hundreds of funerals and heard hundreds of eulogies but this one was the best he'd heard. Of course, Rodney, Betsy and I, seated on the front row at Crain's, could not have agreed more. Cousin Ron's eulogy for Momma was second to none.
Digressing, I do hope I haven't done him in --- according to my husband's cousin, who has done an inordinate number of eulogies, the role is sort of self-propelling. Once you've given an excellent eulogy, an admittedly tricky task, you begin to get asked for a repeat performance.
Back to the beginning, Ronald Jones Brumfield was born in Baton Rouge in July of 1943, to Elma Smith Brumfield and Willie Jones Brumfield who hailed from Washington Parish.
According to Mr. Ron, his mother Elma --- known to all as Big Mama --- was infatuated with Ronald Reagan so he was naturally named for him. And his middle name Jones derived from the doctor who delivered his father, Willie Jones Brumfield. Mr. Ron's beloved mother and father were natives of the Hayes Creek Community in Washington Parish. As the story goes, Dr. Willie Jones drove by horse and carriage through a rain storm to deliver Mr. Ron's father Willie Jones Brumfield, who was born on August 15, 1911, which was the year of the first Washington Parish Fair.
The old Brumfield homestead was situated near Hayes Creek on the Old Columbia Road. The original house was constructed by Mr. Ron's grandfather Louis Lafayette Brumfield and grandmother Ella Carnegie Brumfield, also known as "Miss Babe." Family lore has it that "Louis was quite a rounder." A farmer and dairyman, he deftly played the fiddle while his wife Ella played the accordion at dances which were called "frolics" back in that day. Interestingly, their grandson Ron Brumfield has that accordion and it still makes melodious music.
From what I gleaned, frolics continued to be popular down through the generations. Mr. Ron's own parents --- Willie Jones Brumfield, who was exceptionally tall, and Elma Smith of Warnerton, who was really small --- met at a frolic in Clifton. As Mr. Ron explained, his dad really couldn't dance so his mother danced around him. Likely love at first sight, the couple wed in 1938.
But back to Red Stick, the family moved there around 1942 so that Ron's dad Willie Jones Brumfield could work for Standard Oil of New Jersey. He retired in 1973 after thirty years. Ron was the middle of five children; he had two older sisters Peggy (Coarsey) and Sue (Johnson), who were born in Washington Parish, and two younger brothers Gregory and Mark Brumfield, both of whom also were born in Baton Rouge.
While astonished by the numbers acquired next, I was not surprised that Mr. Ron possessed the remarkable information. As relayed in the introductory quote above, Don Henley said it best in the lyrics in "The End of the Innocence." Mr. Ron, a well-known attorney in Washington Parish, presented me with the details of his delivery -- the original statement for services rendered in 1943 at Baton Rouge General Hospital. It had been given to him by his mother before her death. Dated July 24, 1943, the total charge was $34.35 which included a room rate of $3.50 per day for four days and an operating fee of $10.00. A steal, if you ask me, but that's a topic for another day.
•Stay tuned for next week's column, Part 2 picking up with Mercer Adese Riche Brumfield.
