"For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crost the bar."
---"Crossing the Bar" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Washington Parish lost a legion of lovely ladies and gentleman last year. While I issued special remembrance of close friends and family, it is my custom to remember more. I wish I could write about everyone. But for many - life details, I don't have. And for others, I missed the opportunity. With the grandbaby's impending arrival in the northeast, my routine was upended in the second half of the year. My sabbatical began late summer. But the following remembrances, of those who passed away in the summertime, I had written beforehand. Once again, reverence and appreciation are the theme.
Dorothy Allen Gill, a well-known resident of Mt. Hermon, passed away on June 25 at age eighty-nine. Born to J. Y. Allen and Mamie McNabb Allen in September of 1934, she was the sister of Keith Allen and James Allen. Dorothy was a graduate of Kentwood High School. Ms. Dorothy was married to Billy Ray Gill, her beloved husband of seventy years, who lamentably died not long afterwards on August 28, also at age eighty-nine. He was born in February of 1935 to Robert and Elsie Gill. Mr. Billy Ray and Ms. Dororthy dairy farmed for sixty-five years and raised three children - Kenneth Gill (Melody), Mike Gill (Betty), and Sherry Gill Simpson (Ricky). I knew them through the Ray and Kitty Bergin family, the Gill family's close friends and neighbors. In fact, my first date was to the wedding of Sherry Gill and Ricky Simpson at Mt. Hermon Baptist Church where the Gills were dedicated members. Mr. Billy was a long-time deacon. In all candor, my father let me go to the wedding for two reasons. First, he descended from William "Billy" Frank Ellzey, one of the early members and clerks of Mt. Hermon Baptist Church, and second, he knew and respected Sherry's father Billy Ray Gill. I believe they may have been in the National Guard together, but please don't hold me to that. But I can say with certitude: Ms. Dorothy and Mr. Billy Ray were congenial and kind.
Tragedy befell our community on July 3 with the tragic loss of husband and wife Carley and Beverly Ann Stokes, eighty-one and seventy-five years old, respectively. Residents of Mt. Hermon, they had been married fifty-seven years when their lives were taken.
While I didn't know the couple personally, I knew exactly who they were. Carley was the son of Otto and Cora Lee Lebow Stokes and the brother of seven siblings. Ann was the daughter of Gordon C. and Faye Crowe Duncan and sister of Janice D. Smith (Paul) and Bobby Duncan. Mr. Carley had been a deacon at my childhood church, First Baptist Church of Franklinton. Having served as a U. S. Marine, he worked for CLECO for thirty-five years after which he was employed by WSTE. And Ms. Ann was a beloved nurse at St. Tammany Parish Hospital where she worked for thirty-eight years. The Stokes were survived by their son James Stokes and family.
Also in July, on the sixth day, came the passing of Phillip Harrell Smith, husband of Sylvia Kelly Smith. He was eighty-seven years old and the brother of Qua Smith (Judy) and Wayne Smith (Amy Jo). I had known Mr. Phillip, the son of Sam and Juanita Smith, all my life. Not only was he our CPA, but he was our friend. I imagine many felt this way. Active in his church, Mr. Phillip was a charter member of Hillcrest Baptist Church, where he served as a head usher, deacon, Sunday School teacher, and treasurer. And he was also active in the Franklinton Rotary Club and the Franklinton Chamber of Commerce. What I did not know was that long before that, he played the clarinet in the LSU Band, the Golden Band from Tigerland.
Mr. Philip also served as a Morse Code Operator in the U. S. Army, during which time he was stationed in Germany. Also of interest was his time in Houston and New York City, where he worked as a CPA. I have trouble picturing Mr. Phillip living and working in the Big Apple. Like me, he had a Southern drawl, stretching his vowels. Perhaps that's one reason why I always felt comfortable with him. n addition to his wife of over fifty-nine years, he was survived by his daughter Shanda Leigh Smith Addison (Byron Wayne) and son Matthew Harrell Smith (Monica).
On August 17 Glen Dale Graves, husband of Sylvia Brumfield Graves, of Hays Creek passed away at the age of eighty-three. The son of Thomas Jasper and Jesse Graves, he was the brother of Thomas Loyd Graves, Carey Lester Graves, and Buddy Graves (Mary Sue) and of sisters-in-law Emma Graves and Claire Graves. Glen was a graduate of Franklinton High School, where he proudly played in the Demon Band. And Mr. Glen was well known at Dairyman, Inc., where he enjoyed a long, successful career, retiring as a supervisor. He also farmed and cared for his cows. A dedicated member of Hays Creek Southern Baptist Church, he and wife Sylvia, to whom he was married for fifty-nine years, had two children: Misty Wyble (John) and Gregory Glen Graves. It was his wife Sylvia, the daughter of Louis L. and Ina Wood Brumfield, that I know best. Visiting with her at a Brumfield Reunion at the Skeet Club, I realized right away that she was close kin, the descendant of the relative my mother fondly referred to as Uncle Louis.
All will be greatly missed here in Washington Parish.
