Part 1
When entrusted to tell someone's life story, it's as if the weight of the world is on my shoulders especially when it's an illustrious journey. That of local R. W. Magee (1899-1985) and his bride Winona Schexnayder Magee (1911-2004) is a premier example. Color me lucky, I came into a boat load of materials detailing their union and life together in Franklinton, courtesy of their only child Anita Magee Nicholson, wife of Dr. Steve Nicholson of Baton Rouge. Friend Anita generously loaned me a valuable bounty of books, with photographs and documents, including but not limited to, "A Story of Olide Paul Schexnayder and Family" by Winona Marie Schexnayder Magee retold by her daughter Anita Magee Nicholson; "A Little Kid Without a Church" by Anita Magee Nicholson; and newspaper articles pertaining to R. W. Magee - all of which I utilized in my writing.
The importance of the Magees' life story wasn't lost on me, an only child and native of Franklinton. My hope is to do it, and them, justice.
Starting at the beginning - on October 8, 1899, Robert Wellington Magee was born to parents Hastings Obanion Magee (1863-1947) and Sarah "Sweetie" Rester Magee (1874-1952) near Magee's Creek, between Warnerton and Tylertown. According to Haste, as he was known, and Sarah's granddaughter Anita Magee Nicholson, it was a humble beginning. The son of Alexander Magee (1829-1910) and Melissa/Leslie Morris Magee (1830-1907) who married on December 9, 1850, Haste had been born on Feburary 23, 1863. He was one of nine children. The daughter of John W. and Mary Jane Fitzgerald/Fitzjarrel Rester, Sarah had been born in 1874.
In addition to their son Robert Wellington, also known as Willie and eventually R. W., Haste and Sarah had a daughter Loney (1893-1918) together with two boys Chancey (1889-1931) and A. C. (1891-1971), which Haste had from a prior marriage to Susan F. Rester (1868-1892) who was Sarah Rester's sister. Dedicated to the Lord and to one another, the family was Baptist, placing their focus on God and family and education.
Willie traipsed many miles to school for a solid education, for what was to become his life-long vocation. But he started out, in the early 1900s, walking and carrying a biscuit or baked sweet potato for his lunch, returning home after school for chores on the family farm. After some time, the Magee family moved from the Magee's Creek area where Willie was born to Plainview where his grandparents lived. In addition to farming, Haste found work at Great Southern Lumber Company in Bogalusa where he was the supervisor in the boiler room. And the family remained devout in the Baptist faith, worshiping the Lord and attending Sunday School and Church on Sundays. Willie had his life's foundation, joining a Baptist Church in Bogalusa and becoming a Sunday School teacher.
When he was twelve years old in October of 1911, Willie dressed up in his Sunday finest to attend the First Washington Parish Fair, with his family, in Franklinton. It was a fun gathering of friends and neighbors on South Main Street - my own grandparents were there, surely congregating with Willie and his family. By the fall of 1919, Willie moved to a boarding house in Franklinton so that he could attend Franklinton High School where he was most interested in government and history. Graduating from FHS in 1920, Willie planned to matriculate at Baylor in Waco, Texas. With finances an issue, the plan was for Willie to attend college, working while there and returning home to work some more to fund additional semesters.
Studying Educational Administration and Supervision and Social Studies, Willie worked hard to stay at Baylor, toiling in the cafeteria and taking in laundry for pay. Upon his return to Louisiana, he worked in a bank and also drove a streetcar in New Orleans. This back and forth from Baylor to work in Louisiana lasted approximately nine years. And prior to graduating from Baylor with a degree in Science and Social Studies in 1929, from 1924 to 1928 he taught school in rural Washington Parish which brings me to his bride Winona Marie Schexnayder.
Winona was born on September 11, 1911, to Olide Paul Schexnayder (1871-1944) and Martha Alice Vial Schexnayder (1881-1950) on the Lone Star Plantation in Luling in St. Charles Parish. Olide (pronounced O Lee Day) and Martha had been married on April 26, 1905. For background, Olide, the son of Elysee Paul and Aimee Becnel Schexnayder of Edgard, Louisiana, was a famous photographer in and around Edgard, and Martha, the daughter of Adolph and Louise Bossier Vial of Hahnville, was selected the "Most Beautiful Young Woman" in St. Charles Parish in a contest in 1899. As their granddaughter Anita Magee Nicholson revealed in her book, the Lone Star Plantation where her mother Winona was born was situated "in a field of white gold" which, in South Louisiana, references sugar cane. Schexnayder was a German, then French, name, and the family was Catholic. Winona was one of eight children, born into the family though one did not survive infancy.
•Stay tuned for next week's column, which continues with the story of R. W. and Winona Schexnayder Magee.
