The children of Martha Mattie Lovelace and Thomas Tucker T.T. Alexander: James William "Bill" Alexander.

(MARTHA LOVELACE9, JAMES ALBERT8, SAMUEL7, BARTON6, BENJAMIN5, JOHN4, THOMAS3, WILLIAM2, UNKNOWN1). He was born in August, 1869 in Tennessee, and died some time after 1939. He was called variously by the nicknames "Willie" Bill and Alec. A future project is to try to track down his vital statistics. He married the former Lula Reed, probably in Cobb County, Georgia, ca. 1890. She was born in October 1869 in Georgia, a daughter of William and Mary Reed. Bill Alexander later (1895) moved with his family to Dallas, Texas, and was a successful minor-league baseball player, at one time for the "Oil City Oilers", the Corsicana (Dallas, Texas) team, which was part of the "Texas League". Bills son Walt Alexander also played baseball, for five years (1912-1917), for the major-league St.Louis Browns and the New York Yankees [q.v.]. Here follows a reprint of an article from the internet (detailing events of the 1902 season), which can be found at the site http://www.attheyard.com/InRetrospect/article_699.shtml : 1902: Corsicana's Finest Hour, by Brad Del Barba Corsicana's player-manager Big Mike O'Connor. The details are as fuzzy as the images left behind, but the record stands for all to admire. The year was 1902 and the Texas league reinvented itself with six clubs taking stock in the Class D circuit. With the "oil boom" sweeping through the Longhorn State, J. Doak Roberts saw the opportunity to bring professional baseball to Corsicana. Armed with oil money, Roberts enlisted veteran manager Big Mike O'Connor to guide the Oil City Oilers for their inaugural campaign. The Oilers would feature future major-league infielders J. Walter Morris and Hunter Hill, along with the league's top hurler, William "Lucky" Wright. Texas League veterans from an earlier era, Ike Pendleton and third baseman George Markey, also graced the roster. The Oilers grabbed an early lead in the standings, as fans crowded into Oil City Park, situated on the south side of town. Along the way one miscalculation on Roberts' behalf arose, as the owner mistakenly scheduled a game against [the] Texarkana ["Casketmkers"] on Sunday, June 15 [1902]. Local "blue laws" prohibited most businesses from operation on Sundays, leaving the owner in a quandary. After taking inventory of options, Roberts found that Ennis, a town 35 miles to the north, had a ballpark and no blue laws. With the promise of a

split gate, Texarkana and Corsicana played in a ballpark that saw the rightfield foul pole reach a distance reported to be anywhere from 140 feet to 210 feet from the home plate. Taking the mound for the Casketmakers was a pitcher named DeWitt, who was either the owner of the Texarkana club or the owner's son, as reports are sketchy. Nevertheless, DeWitt took the mound in what was to be the greatest whipping in Texas League history. The star of the day turned out to be catcher Jay Justin Clarke, a 19-yearold Canadian who dark complexion led to his un-politically correct nickname of "Nig." The left-handed swinger found the cozy conditions at the Ennis ballpark much to his liking, as Clarke enjoyed one of the biggest offensive days ever in the history of minor league ball. Clarke's outburst included EIGHT home runs in eight at-bats, as the catcher drove in anywhere from 16 to 20 runs on the day, according to various reports. Legend has it that a wealthy cattleman came out of the stands and pressed a $50 bill into Clarke's hand, while the traditional passing of the hat which accompanied home runs netted $185 for the young slugger that day. Corsicana's Bill Alexander and Pendleton each reportedly collected eight hits in the game, while Malarkey and player-manager O'Connor both scored seven runs. At the end of the titanic struggle that lasted a reported two hours and 10 minutes, Corsicana routed Texarkana, 51-3! While no box scores can accurately determine the validity of the day, former Texas League historian William Ruggles substantiated the claims in a series of interviews. Clarke confirmed the account, as the day was his greatest of his 25-year playing career, which included nine seasons in the majors. Corsicana would proceed to finish the season 86-22, capturing first place by a whopping 28-1/2 games ahead of the second-place Dallas Griffins. The Oilers established Texas League team records for most runs (51), hits (53), singles (26) and home runs (21) in the drubbing. Clarke's records for home runs and RBIs still stand as individual marks that will most likely never be equaled. Though the Corsicana franchise would eventually fold following the 1905 season, history was made on June 15, 1902, enabling the Oilers and Jay Justin Clarke to live atop the annals in Texas League history. [emphasis added]

Another web-site, at http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/milb/history/top100.jsp?idx=51 while relating essentially the same account as given above, also provides a little more biographical detail concerning James William "Bill" Alexander, in addition to a 1902 photograph of him with his team-mates (shown below): He played second base (mainly) and sometimes doubled as catcher. He "played 15 seasons with nine teams and holds the Texas League record for the longest span between his first and last appearances, 34 years (1895, 1929)." In the 1902 season mentioned above (with the Oil City Oilers of Corsicana), his stats were as follows: "position: second base, catcher," "GP: 42," "batting average: .250" In the 1902 game described above, he had one home run and eight hits. His team-mates referred to him as "Alec" Alexander. In the above photo, we are not yet sure which one of the men is him.

1902 Corsicana team

From the above stats, a basic outline of his career is observable: He moved to Texas and began his career in 1895 at the age of 26 (his last child had been born in Marietta in April, 1894); His last appearance as a professional ball player in a game was in 1929, when he was at the astonishing age of 60! I am in possession of a photograph of him some ten years later, in 1939 (when he would have been seventy). The occasion was perhaps the death and funeral of his brother Dr. Omer R. Alexander in Marietta, Georgia. The photograph is a group photo, including the then-retired Bill Alexander, two unidentified ladies presumed to be his wife and a daughter, his sister Lillie May (Alexander) McConnell, and his half-sister Hattie (Alexander) Dobbins. The printed date on the reverse side is "February 28, 1939". In the photograph, he is tall and lanky, with his hands crossed in front of his belt-line, and bears more than a passing resemblance to my Dad and even to myselfwhich is interesting, considering our rather remote relationship from him. Note also the strong resemblance he bears both to his late uncle, Evan Loveless, and to his (Bills) nephew Jack G. Kelly. Nothing of Bill Alexander is known at present after this 1939 photograph was taken.

James William Bill Alexander (born 1869) in the 1939 photo with his siblings.

Though I have not been able to determine when or where he died, an entry in the U.S. Social Security Death Index may possibly refer to him: James Alexander, born 30 August, 1869 [no location listed]; died July 1963 in Dallas, Texas. [This man was almost 94 years old.] This was the only person by this name listed in this index who was born in 1869 and who died in Texas. Given the fact that Bill was healthy and fit enough to still play in a professional ballgame at the age of sixty in 1929, that he may have lived to the age of 93 is not impossible. (His sister Lillie in fact did live to be 93and she was no fit and active ballplayer.) The April, 1947 obituary for his brother Greer, however, does not list him as a surviving relative. Only his wife is mentioned: Mrs. J.W. Alexander, Dallas, Texas. Unless that was a mistake, it would seem to indicate that Bill had died prior to April, 1947. Further research in this area is definitely needed.

Dr. Omer Rocellous Alexander, Sr. (MARTHA LOVELACE9, JAMES ALBERT8, SAMUEL7, BARTON6, BENJAMIN5, JOHN4, THOMAS3, WILLIAM2, UNKNOWN1). He was born on 19 November, 1872, in Cobb County, Georgia, and died on 27 January, 1939, at the Meese Hospital in Dunedin, Pinellas County, Florida. The Florida Death Records Index confirms that he died in Pinellas County, Florida. He (like his siblings) was raised in the Fair Oaks section of Marietta. His fathers (second) housein which Omer was raised--was just across the road on Austell Road from where the Forrest C. Brooks home would later be built (the home of his half-sister and brother-in-law). Dr. O. R. Alexander, Sr. graduated in 1891 from the old Atlanta Medical College (which later became part of Emory University). This is according to his youngest son Henry, from a telephone conversation I had with him around 1989. He married Willie Pearl McAfee in Cobb County, Georgia on 13 November, 1895. She was born on 3 June, 1878 in District 34 (Lemons), Cobb County, Georgia, a daughter of Robert Newton McAfee and his wife Armanda Eva Merritt. She died on 19 March, 1973, in Fulton County, Georgia, long after her late husbands passing. Again according to his son Henry, Dr. O. R. Alexander was a M.D. and a pharmacist, with an office in Smyrna, Georgia. According to a family legend reported by Jack L. Alexander, Dr. Alexander also operated as a dentist: while [his] brother Greer was visiting on one occasion, he (Greer) was asked to look after the office while Dr. Omer went on an errand. A little while later, a man came into the office and insisted that his pain-causing tooth be pulled immediately. So Greer obliged him by pulling the tooth. But when Dr. Alexander at last returned, it turned out to be the wrong tooth that had been pulled! Dr. Alexander moved to Winter Haven, Florida some time prior to 1903, as his son Robert was born that year in Florida. Years ago, I remember an Alexander cousin (Charlotte McCoy Earwood) telling me a story to the effect that one of the children of Thomas Tucker Alexander [1850-1929] used to bring him citrus fruits from Florida as occasional gifts when he (Thomas) was an elderly man. It was probably his son Dr. Omer R. Alexander who did this, as he did in fact live in Florida for a number of years, and Jack Alexander reports that Dr. Alexander did, in fact, own an orange grove in Florida. The descendants of Dr. Omer R. Alexander will be listed below.

India Isabel Izzie Alexander. (MARTHA LOVELACE9, JAMES ALBERT8, SAMUEL7, BARTON6, BENJAMIN5, JOHN4, THOMAS3, WILLIAM2, UNKNOWN1). She was born on 16 June, 1874, in Cobb County, Georgia. She married Zephediah "Zeph" Hooper on 21 December, 1890 (probably also in Cobb County), who was born in September 1859, in Lemon's District, Cobb County, Georgia, a son of Hiram W. Hooper and his wife Frances Caroline Johnson. Izzie had five children, and died young (like her mother) at the age of twentyeight, on 26 April, 1903, in Goddard, Marion County, Alabama, about two months after having given birth to her last child (Hice). Marjorie Brown Morehead, however, insists that Izzie (her grandmother) died near Kensington, Walker County, Georgia. This town apparently no longer existsit is not on any map that Ive seen. Marjorie (who is of as sound a mind as anyone Ive ever seeneven in her eighties) seems pretty darned sure of this statement. Im therefore inclined to accept her word.

A rare photograph of India Isabel Izzie Alexander, wife of Zeph Hooper, with her eldest child Mattie Lee, ca.1892. Note the strong resemblance to her sister Lillie.

Zephediah Zeph Hooper, husband of India Isabel Izzie Alexander.

George T. Alexander. (MARTHA LOVELACE9, JAMES ALBERT8, SAMUEL7, BARTON6, BENJAMIN5, JOHN4, THOMAS3, WILLIAM2, UNKNOWN1). He was born on 13 July, 1876, in Cobb County, Georgia, and died on 10 January, 1878, also in Cobb County. He lies buried beside his parents at the Milford Church cemetery. One wonders if he died from Leukemia, like his brother Greer later would. It is so very sad to visit his grave, or view this photo of him, as he was such a beautiful and promising child. His death must have deeply grieved his parents.

Close-up of the only known photo of baby George T. Alexander, circa December 1876 (note the hole in his stocking!)

(MARTHA LOVELACE9, JAMES ALBERT8, SAMUEL7, BARTON6, BENJAMIN5, JOHN4, THOMAS3, WILLIAM2, UNKNOWN1). He was born on 3 November, 1878 in Cobb

Greer Montgomery Alexander, Sr.

County, Georgia, and died on 2 April, 1947, also in Cobb County. He was a carpenter by profession, and married twice, first to Grace Lizzie Bundt, ca.1898 in Cobb County, and second to Mary Alva Beatrice Horn Shaw, on 17 April, 1910, in Marietta, Cobb County.

Greer Montgomery Alexander (1878-1947) Circa 1897 (?) Approximately age nineteen.

Greer had several children, and many of his descendants still live in Cobb County. His youngest (and last-surviving) child Jack will be 90 years old in the year 2012should God grant him to live that long. Grace Lizzie Bundt was born in 1878 in Cobb County, and died in 1907 in Cobb County. Mary Alva Beatrice Horn, a daughter of Van Vert Horn II and his wife Hettie Parizade Duckett, was born 25 December, 1880, in De Kalb County, Alabama, and died 18 August, 1966, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She lies buried in Kennesaw Memorial Park, Marietta, Georgia. In 1923 Greer and Mary moved from the Horn farm on Austell Road in Cobb County to Atlanta, where they lived until 1935 when they returned

to care for her mother. Greer died in 1947, [in] Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, [and is] buried [at] Milford [Baptist] Church, Cobb County, Georgia. While there is no tombstone to mark his grave, Greer is known to be buried in the Milford cemetery, and it is thought that his grave is just outside and beside the long cement curbed plot of [his father] T.T. Alexander. (per Jack Alexander)

Greer Montgomery Alexander (1878-1947) circa 1897 (age nineteen?)

His widow Mary later lived with a daughter in New Orleans. While Mary was with her daughter in Louisiana, the [Greer Alexander] home place remained unoccupied until her death in 1966, at which time her oldest son [from a previous marriage] Charles Shaw inherited the property. (ibid.)

Greer Montgomery Alexander (1878-1947), circa 1889, at the approximate age of eleven.

Greer worked at his carpenters profession until about the end of World War II, at which time he gradually became sick. He began to be unsteady on his feet, and subject to passing out, so his wife Mary made him stop working, according to their son Jack, because his profession required him to be up on ladders, high off the ground at times, and his wife didnt want him to have a bad fall. At the time, no one knew what was wrong

with him, and according to his son Jack, no doctor in Cobb County was then capable of diagnosing what was wrong with him. So Greers oldest daughter Fay, who then lived in California and whose husband was in the U.S. Army, got him admitted to an Army hospital out in California for tests. The family back in Cobb County put Greer on a plane to California for this purposeprobably the only time in Greers life he had ever flown on an airplane. The result of the tests confirmed that Greer had Leukemia. Greers boarding pass for his flight to California in 1946, so he could be examined at the Army hospital.

Greers 1937 Social Security card.

Greers 1942 Draft Registration card (front).

(rear).

(following page) Letter from the Army staff doctor who examined Greer in 1946:

The bill for Greers funeral and burial in 1947. Albert M. Dobbins was, of course, Greers brother-in-law.

In happier times: Greer with his second wife Mary in 1929 at the occasion of the wedding of their daughter Mary Frances to Albert A. Guest.

Greer and second wife Mary with granddaughter Judy in 1945.

Lillie May Alexander. (MARTHA LOVELACE9, JAMES ALBERT8, SAMUEL7, BARTON6, BENJAMIN5, JOHN4, THOMAS3, WILLIAM2, UNKNOWN1). She was born on 24 April, 1881, in Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, and died on 7 August, 1974, in East Point, Fulton County, Georgia. Without a single exception, the people who remembered her in the decades after her death spoke of her as a tall, graceful, elegant, and stunningly beautiful lady: Its a good thing she was a Christian. said her granddaughter Barbara Newton once. And a Christian she was, indeed: a fine, graceful, beautiful Christian lady.

Lillie May Alexander (1881-1974) Circa 1897 (?)

Approximately age sixteen.

Lillie May was raised in the Fair Oaks section of Marietta, and lived in her fathers household there until her first marriage in 1902. Thereafter, Lillie lived in Carrollton, Georgia (where her first husband was from, and where her son Jack would be born in 1905). By 1915, Lillie May was residing in Haleyville, Alabama (where her daughter Martha would be born that year). In the 1920s, Lillie and family were residing at a home in Atlanta, at 246 Stewart Avenue SW (until at least 1925, when her first husband died there). Lillie had moved back to Haleyville, Alabama for several years, about 1929she and daughter Martha were in the 1930 census there, and Martha graduated from the high school there in 1933, and in the later 1930s and 1940s, Lillie resided in various homes back in Atlanta, first at 1440 Lakewood Avenue SW (in 1937), then at 922 Stewart Avenue SW, then at 556 Grant Street SE, and finally at 989 Deckner Avenue SW. It was in this final residence that I remember seeing her, when I was a small boy in the 1960s.

Lillie May married first, on 26 October 1902, in Cobb County, Georgia, Henry Persons "Top" Kelly (1876-1925), a printer and newspaper editor who was born in Carrollton, Georgia, the youngest son of John McPherson Berrien Kelly and his wife Sarena Ann Gilbert. Top Kelly died of Cancer in his home on Stewart Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of forty-eight (perhaps due to his heavy cigar-smoking). I do not yet know how or where Lillie first met him.

Lillie May remarried ca.1930 to Kendred Balatka "Mr.K.B." McConnell, of Haleyville, Alabama. He was born in May of 1867, and was perhaps a friend or associate of her late first husband, as they had resided in Haleyville while he (Top Kelly) was still living. Kendred B. McConnell and his wife Lillie May appear in the old Atlanta City Directories as follows: in 1937, he was listed as a clerk working for Southern Feed Stores, and was residing at 1440 Lakewood Avenue SW, Atlantapossibly the same house where Lillies son Jack Kelly was residing at the time. By 1940, Kendred and Lillie were living at 922 Stewart Avenue SW, in the household of Lillies daughter Martha and son-in-law Homer. There, they continued to reside until after 1941. Kendreds occupation in 1940 was given as salesman, whereas in 1941 he was a clerk again. In 1942, with a new job (at the age of seventy-five) with a company called Kitchens Feed Store, Kendred apparently felt secure enough to move himself and Lillie back out on their ownthis time to a house at 556 Grant Street SE, Atlanta. My Dad has told me that this was a rented duplex apartment.

Lillie May ca. 1900

There they continued to reside until about the early part of 1949, at which timeperhaps due to loss of his jobthey moved back in with Lillies daughter Marthathis time with her new husband, Ralph Bunn. Kendreds job description changed rapidly during those (apparently troubled) years: he appeared variously as a driver, helper, clerk, and salesman.

Lillie May with four-year-old daughter Martha in 1919 at Atlantas Grant Park.

Lillie May with daughter Martha, ca 1916.

Evidently, Mr. K.B. was bothered by some things which troubled his peace of mind, as he (sadly) committed suicide in Atlanta's Grant Park (where the Zoo now is) on 20 December, 1949, causing much silent, unspoken tragedy in his family for many years. My Dad Frank has told me several times how, on the day Mr. K.B. shot himself, he first spoke to Franks mother Martha (Kendreds daughter-in-law), who then came into twelve-year-old Franks sick-room (he was home from school that day due to illness) and informed him: Mr. K.B. wants to say good-bye to you. And then (according to my Dad) Kendred slowly came into the roomlike a ghost, and said, in a flat, emotionless voice: Good-bye, Frank. My Dad said that, although he didnt realize at the time what was about to happen, he could easily tell that his step-grandfather Kendreds thoughts on that brief occasion seemed a thousand miles away. Obviously, he was looking directly into eternity at that moment. Had he perhaps intimated to his daughter-in-law Martha what he was about to do?

Marthas comment to her son Frank about Mr. K.B. wanting to say good-bye opens an uncomfortably great, wide space for a number of troubling questions questions I personally would rather not even consider. I will only say that I feel only the utmost compassion and sorrow for this poor man who was obviously chased by some sort of demons to the point of deciding to take his own life, thereby causing much pain for those who loved him and whom he left behind. He was eighty-two years old. He should have lived out his last years in peace and happiness. What went wrong? My Dads first cousin Barbara Newton (daughter of Jack Kelly and granddaughter of Lillie) provided the answer to this puzzle: It seems that sometime during the year 1949, Lillie had what appeared to be a psychotic episode: Barbaras father Jack received a telephone call one evening from Mr. K.B. (his step-father), informing him that his (Jacks) mother Lillie was lying on her bed saying that she was flying in Heaven with the Angels and not otherwise normally responding to people around her, or to questions put to her. In other words, she appeared to be out of it. An Ambulance was called, and Lillie was taken out of the house (perhaps her daughter Marthas housewhere she was staying about that time), in a catatonic state. Lillie ended up not recovering from her psychotic, delusional state for

some time (about a year), and ended up being committed for about a year, according to Barbara, in the State Mental Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia. It was while housed there (and still in a state of psychosis) that Lillie received a visit from her husband, Mr. K.B.. According to Barbara Newton, when Mr. K.B. walked into his wifes room, the only thing she said to him was Who are you, and why are you here? Barbara said that this broke Mr. McConnells heartevidently he loved his wife very much, and was devastated to see her in this state. Barbara believes that Mr. K.B. was of the opinion that his wife was never coming back to sanity at that point, for only a few days after that ill-fated visit (and only a few days before Christmas), he went out to Grant Park, sat down on a park bench, placed a loaded revolver in his mouth, and pulled the trigger.* Barbara told me recently that she has always been sad at Christmastime, and she now realizes it was because of this sad event which happened just before Christmas, 1949, when she would have been about ten years old. Kendreds step-daughter Martha (Kelly) Bunn wanted the grandchildren to attend his funeral, but (according to Barbara) her father Jack--normally a quiet, unassuming man-put his foot down and said an emphatic No! He felt that it would be a very sad occasion, and not suitable for young children. He did not want to run the risk of scarring them for life by allowing them to witness something like that. Andin one of the rare times in her life when she actually listened to and obeyed her brotherMartha acquiesced. My father Frank has also said of Kendred that he was the best story-teller for young children that he (Frank) could remember. Frank said that Kendred could take a child into his lap and literally keep him enthralled for hours with tales of Jesse James and other outlaws and bandits, some of whom Kendred claimed (perhaps with a little exaggeration) to have known personally. Many centuries ago, the wise Roman sage Seneca once wrote words to the effect that no man can rightly judge his neighbor, because none of us is ever in the position to be able to see into that persons heart, to know all the pains and sorrows, tragedies and triumphs, which motivate men to their actions. How can any of us judge or condemn Kendred for what he did? We do not know how much pain and suffering that man might have had to endure. We really and truly have no idea. We can only agree that it was a tragedy for all involved.

* My father Frank has told me that many years after this tragedy (sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s), Ralph Bunn gave this cursed revolver to Frank for Frank to dispose of as he saw fit, which thing my Dad (Frank) says he promptly did.

A rare photograph of the young Kendred Balatka K.B. McConnell.

Lillie May Alexander (1881-1974) Photographed circa the 1940s

We know at the very least that Kendred cannot have been a bad person deep inside, given the fact that he inspired love and devotion among those who knew and remembered him: my Dad Frank is now nearly seventy years old himself, yet still struggles to hold back tears whenever he talks about his step-grandfather Kendred McConnell. After this terrible tragedy (and after her release from confinement), Kendreds widow Lillie May continued to reside with her daughter and son-in-law Martha and Ralph Bunn, at their former residence at 989 Deckner Avenue SW, Atlanta, Georgia. She was never told why her husband really died. I guess the family felt her mind was too fragile to handle the truth. She was told he had died of a heart attack. On a more positive note: Lillie May Alexander, besides being a beautiful Christian lady, was also a gifted writer, and composed several poems, short, pithy anecdotes, kept a diary (which I now possess) and wrote at least one religious tract entitled "In Green Pastures", which was actually printed and published (I possess several original copies of it). She also possessed a fine intellect and a mechanical aptitude, which she passed on to several of her descendants. Her granddaughter Dianne Byrd has told me that on occasions when Lillie's sewing machine might happen to quit working, Lillie would simply take it apart, down to "nuts and bolts", fix what was wrong, and then reassemble the whole thing. Heres another short anecdote of hers: Well, now I want to tell you something that will give you the horselaughjust a short time ago, my Missionary Pres. Tried to prove by a room full of other members right in my presence that I was the prettiest woman that ever walked down the aisle of our church. Just look at that face, she said, and there I was, in a cheap dress of the past, cheap shoes of other days that were slightly [worn] down sideways at the heel; fingers, eye-brows, and hair just like God made them. All eyes flashed on me. No! It didnt make me feel big; a rat-hole was all I needed. This event perhaps took place in the 1930s or 1940s (see photo, next page).

Lillie May, ca. the 1940s.

Lillie May Alexander, alas, also had a life filled with much sorrow and sufferingsome of which has been mentioned above. Some of this is reflected in a few of her writings. Her final, very senile years (after she fell and broke her hip) were spent in much squalor and misery (mostly due to loneliness, senility, and physical infirmity) in a "nursing home" in East Point, Georgia, which is where she finally, mercifully, passed away at the age of ninety-three.

I remember all the old people (surviving half-sisters and brothers-in-law) and all the many cousins who attended her funeral in Atlanta in 1974 when I was an eleven-year-old boy. I wonder now how many of them knew about her earlier problems. Her grandsonin-law (at that time) the Rev. Kenny Fuller Sr. sang a solo rendition of Going Home. I remember riding in the limousine with my parents and grandparents, following the mighty black funeral hearse from the funeral chapel to the cemetery in Atlanta (Westview). I was mightily impressed that my "Ban" (the nickname we called her by) would have drawn such a large and impressive crowd, since her last years had been spent largely in isolation, comforted only occasionally by visits from her daughter and grandson "Frank" (my Dad). To his great credit, my Dad took my sister and I to see our great-grandmother frequently in her final years, and I can truly appreciate it now. A small boy at the time, I used to always hug her, tell her I loved her, and say (with childish navet), I will always remember you. This is how I remember her.
Circa 1956 (?)

And indeed I have truly never forgotten her: she and her beautiful, sweet, gentle and graceful spirit which influences me still. When I see tall, stately, and graceful trees especially oaks, her favorites, I feel her presence again. She used to take us children on walks up the street from her house as far as the train tracks at the top of the hill on Deckner Avenue. And then we would turn around and walk back home, she talking to us and telling us stories the whole time. How I wish I could remember them now! Very often, she would stop, pick up an acorn from the ground, remove the top of the acorn, and tell us that this was Jack, taking off his hat to the ladies! It was she who first taught me

the song Yankee Doodle, though I doubt I could now remember very many of the words. Some of her pet phrases included tee-hee whenever she felt like teasing anyone, or the ancient English phrase la, la, la whenever she wished to express clucking dismay or regret. As mentioned below, whenever one of the baby greatgrandchildren might happen to choke and splutter momentarily while bottle-drinking, Lillie would humorously and sardonically (but also gently and lovingly) comment, Whats the matter? Did it have bones in it?

Close-up of the full-length photo (see succeeding pages) taken around 1905. Here she looks very much like one of the so-called Gibson Girls of the early Twentieth Century (and astonishingly lovely and beautiful).

Photo of Lillie with her son Jack Kelly, ca. 1956, Atlanta, Georgia. This is my favorite picture of both of them.