The daughter of a U.S. Army colonel, I'm not one to lollygag. Apparently, in the military, even if you're on time, you're late. It must be so in literature, also, as the great William Shakespeare once said, "Better three hours too soon than a minute too late."
Submitting my column weeks in advance keeps me out of trouble and ensures that I not miss a thing. So, when a last-minute expedition or antique hunt materializes, I can pack my bags without worry. But, in this business, there are pitfalls to being too eager with submissions. News grows stale. And events, joyful and sad, sometimes occur after my self-imposed deadline.
In this instance, it was the latter. After the submission of my remembrance columns, touching on Franklinton folks (those that I knew) who left us last year, Keitha Casanova Burris (1928 - 2023) succumbed at age 95 on the 28th day of December. She was a fixture in Franklinton and a friend to many. I counted myself in that number though, while my mother knew Keitha always, I did not meet her until late in life.
The daughter of Thomas A. Casanova, Sr., and Viola Wallace Casanova, Keitha was baptized at age 17 by Dr. A. W. Robbins at First Baptist Church of Franklinton. Three years later, she married Robert Nathan "Bobby" Burris, and thus came the connections. Plural. Keitha was the mother of Kim Burris, Richard Mark (married to Monika Marie) Burris, and Nathan Kevin Burris (late wife Melanie). My husband Rodney and I attended a couples Sunday School class with Kevin and his wife Melanie for many years at First Baptist Church of Mandeville. It was then that I first became aware that Rodney and Kevin are cousins. My mother pieced the puzzle together, for us.
Keitha's husband Bobby Burris (1925-2003), a U. S. Navy veteran of World War II who worked as a pharmacy technician at Babington Drug Store forever and a day and then at Forshag's, was born in 1925 to Nathan Benton Burris and wife Gladys Bateman Burris.
After Nathan Burris died, when Bobby was still a little boy, Gladys married widower Mark Stafford (1894-1968). Mark Stafford had married Beulah Burkhalter (1901-1935), and together they had a daughter named Hilda Stafford, born on March 20, 1925. So, Bobby Burris and Hilda Stafford, step-siblings who were still quite young when their parents married, effectively became brother and sister. And Gladys Bateman Burris Stafford (1899 - 1987) was my husband Rodney's grandfather Robert Hugh Bateman's sister, making Rodney and Kevin cousins.
Hilda Stafford was one of my mother's closest childhood friends. Graduating together from Franklinton High School in 1942, Hilda was salutatorian and Momma was valedictorian. Digressing, in June of 1950 in the Nativity Catholic Church in Washington, D. C., Hilda married Joseph Patrick Mayer who worked for the United States Treasury. Hilda had been in the contingent - Janella Simmons, Evelyn Simmons, and a Miss Morgan -- who, after graduation, headed to Washington, D. C., where they married men who worked for the F.B.I. My mother saw them off at the train station when they departed Franklinton. Close friends with Hilda, Janella, Evelyn and maybe Miss Morgan, she perseverated, sharing the story throughout my childhood. Drawing from an old memory, I hope I got the facts - people and places - straight. If not, forgive me. I lamentably don't have anyone to ask.
Back to Ms. Keitha, after she and Mr. Bobby married in 1948, they lived on Varnado Street, in a house that her dad Thomas A. Casanova helped build. She was employed by Burris Brothers, the Registrar of Voters, WFCG Radio, and the Council on Aging. She told me that her daughter Kimberly Marie was named after Ms. Marie Moore, with whom she worked at Burris Brothers. Speaking from my own experience, everyone loved Miss Marie Moore.
It was not long before June of 2018 when I ran a column about the burial of Eugene Bunch that Keitha Burris reached out to me with interesting information on the brigand. While Bunch's grave has long been situated at Morris Cemetery about a mile south of the courthouse, this is not the original burial site. Bunch's original gravesite was located on one side of a gully with Hangman's Graveyard on the other. And this site became part of the property of Bobby and Keitha Burris on Varnado Street. In March of 2018, she kindly took me near the spot of Bunch's original burial, keeping me spellbound with stories along the way.
And it was that day that I learned of Ms. Keitha's devotion to her family - her children and grandchildren, Rachel B. and Craig Seippel; Dustin and Nicole G. Burris; Darin and Austin Burris; Douglas and Brittany J. Burris; and Brandon and Katherine Burris. And her great-grandchildren - Casen and Cade Seippel; Joshua Burris; Sydney Burris; Sadie Burris; Kayden Burris; and Nash Burris.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Keitha's pets - the plethora of cats and the puppy, named Ludie. Its name made me chuckle for Mark Stafford's mother - Ludie Brumfield (1857-1948), who married James Stafford (1854-1924) - was my kin. Aunt Ludie. The connections continue.
