While it was only in recent years that I really got to know her, in actuality I had known Althea Magee all my life. The wife of the late Robert E. "Bobby" Magee, a prominent Franklinton businessman and community leader, Ms. Althea was his partner in all endeavors. Together, they were the proprietors of Magee-Pettit Firestone and Magee Motors. And they were avid volunteers and founding/charter members at Hillcrest Baptist Church where Ms. Althea was a devoted member of the hostess committee and Bowling Green School where the Magee children were educated.
This was how I initially knew Ms. Althea, from Bowling Green where I went to school with her children. Her youngest son Mark, in my husband Rodney's class, was close in age to me. Then, some years later, I attended Tulane Law School with Mark's older brother David who was a 3L when I was a 1L. And there were Mark and David's older sisters --- Tammy (Magruder), Connie, JoEllen (Voinche), and Dianne (Dillon) - that I looked up to all my life.
But my real connection with Ms. Althea came in 2014. I don't recall the particulars, but I do remember being invited to the beautiful Magee home, near Hillcrest. A delightful day, I spent with Ms. Althea, reminiscing about old times. It was exactly as Walt Whitman said, "I have learned that to be with those I like is enough."
Ms. Althea had known my late parents. Two years apart in age and graduates (1945 and 1942, respectively) of Franklinton High School, she and my mother had known one another all of their lives. In fact, it was there at FHS that Ms. Althea had been a stand-out basketball player.
So, given Ms. Althea's generation, it didn't surprise me that in the course of conversation she steered it to World War II. Her brother Corporal Odie Crowe never returned from the war. And with the Second World War my father's war and with Ms. Althea my friend, I began mining for material, researching and writing about Odie Crowe. My column ran on May 21, 2014, for Memorial Day.
To recap, Odie Crowe was part of our National Guard unit, at that time the 105th Coast Artillery Battalion, an anti-aircraft artillery battalion attached to the 1st Infantry Division. The Franklinton unit was designated Battery D and Bogalusa Battery C. Twenty-one-year-old Odie, volunteering for unloading duty, lost his life during Operation HUSKY --- a major campaign which liberated Sicily from the Axis. As my father the late Col. (ret) Cecil Ellzey was a former commander of the local National Guard, I managed to find in his desk National Guard papers which revealed a description of the mission.
Ms. Althea was beside herself. On subsequent visits to her lovely home, she said that she had been waiting for this all of her life, for her brother's recognition and honor. Of course, Odie Crowe had been a distinguished recipient of the Purple Heart for paying the ultimate price, but I think what Ms. Althea had her heart set on was remembrance of him as a hero at home, in "The Era-Leader." And if I'm recalling correctly, she confided that she didn't have his Purple Heart.
So, just for Ms. Althea, who succumbed in May of this year, I'm recounting the heroic mission. She shared that Willis Ezra Corkern, another local, was also killed. Landing in Sicily on July 10, 1943, the Allies faced nine Italian divisions and four German divisions, which included the Goring PANZER Division, for a total of 405,000 men. But the Allies were undeterred. "Operation Mincemeat," on Netflix, portrays the lead-up to the invasion.
Quoting, in part, the National Guard papers:
"The landing at Sicily was the first use of LST's (landing, Ships, Tanks). With antiaircraft guns perched atop the LST's, all four line batteries of the 105th protected the landing of the 1st Infantry Division at Red Beach, Gela, July 10, 1943. When a German bomb hit LST 313 about fifty yards from shore, twelve men of Battery D were killed, and seven more were wounded. The battalion moved into central Sicily with Bradley's II Corps, six men of Battery C receiving wounds at Nicosia on August 1."
Odie was one of the twelve casualties. He was never forgotten by his family and definitely not by his sister Althea Magee. They were the children of Norvel Archie Crowe and wife Arie Melissa Crowe Strahan, and stepfather Newey Strahan. They were the siblings of Delma Crowe, Daisy Smith, Exie Graham, Bobbie Johnson, and Evie Varnado.
Ms. Althea was devoted to others - her large family (spouse, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren), her church, and her community. Active in the Winterset Club, she orchestrated the creation of annual fair floats for the organization. And Ms. Althea also was a baker and gardener who shared her talent. No surprise, on my visits she produced delicious cake and showed me her garden.
And she was one of the founders of the annual Franklinton Christmas Coffee, begun thirty something years ago by a coterie of ladies who gathered in each other's homes after Sunday night service at Hillcrest Baptist Church. From what I gleaned, one Sunday night at the Magee home, Odell Jenkins proposed hosting the first, annual Christmas Coffee at her beautifully decorated home on Main Street. Other founders included Frances Knight, Evelyn Magee, and Audry Stafford. Held in hostesses' homes and other local venues, the Christmas coffee has always been a festive event of great anticipation and remembrance.
Back to Ms. Althea, she always saw me to my car, asking me to come back anytime. Writer Walt Whitman was right. I may not have connected with her until late in life, but I miss my friend Althea.
Merry Christmas to all!
