BROTHERS - BRADLEY, ZEB, & RHONDA

I just received this photo from my Uncle Rhonda Shook. I don't know when it was taken, but I am inclined to think it must have been at their father's funeral back in November, 1985. If anyone knows different, let me know. The photo was taken in Grandma & Grandpa's front yard. The bush behind them still stands.

(Bradley, Zeb, Rhonda Shook)

(Posted by Tanya Shook Wilder)

HOYLE, GRACE, AND TOM

Taken at the family reunion (circa 1955/56) at Tom and Ada Shook's house, this is one of the two photos I've seen of the Shook siblings together in their adult years.

(I'm noticing that in each of the photos taken that day, the person on the left (as we look at the photo) is a bit blurry and out of focus. It must have been the camera since all the shots are that way.)

One of my (now) fondest memories of Aunt Grace is one that took place one day when Billy Rominger (Audrey Shook Rominger's younger son) and I were sent to pick up Aunt Grace to bring her over to Pigeon Roost for a family gathering. I don't recall what the get-together was all about, but Billy and I, who were about 16 at the time, for asked to drive up Grandfather Mountain Road to Aunt Grace's house.

Evidently, she was unaware we were coming. Maybe she didn't have a phone back then. I distinctly remember Billy knocking at the screen door, hearing Aunt Grace shuffling around, looking in through the screen, and seeing her coming to the door with a shotgun in her hand! She thought we were there to break in her house or something, and she wasn't going to let that happen. Billy and I turned to each other and started screaming, "Aunt Grace, it's Audrey and Zeb's kids! We've come to pick you up to take you to Pigeon Roost!! Aunt Grace, we're Hoyle's grandchildren!" We were petrified!

It took a some convincing, but Aunt Grace finally agreed to get in the car with us and go "over to Hoyle's." As I recall, Billy was driving, and he went really slow down the road, through Banner Elk, and over to Pigeon Roost. I sat in the back seat, not knowing at that point in time whether I was going to laugh out loud or cry!

To this day, Billy and I laugh about our escapade with Aunt Grace. Shortly thereafter, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away, but the memory of that day will be with Billy and me forever.

(Posted by Tanya Shook Wilder)

JACK MICHAEL'S FAMILY

Jack Micael, his wife, Dot, and their children, Terri and Tim, live in Georgia. Jack is Grady Michael's youngest child. I remember him and Dot bringing the kids to visit us in Boone when Myra and I were little and the happiness their visits always brought my father. Here are a couple of photos Jack recently emailed me. (I apologize for the small photos, but Blogger reduced the jpeg size automatically.)

(Tim, Terri, Dot & Jack)

Jack & Dot's grandchildren and great grandchildren

~Front Row L-R:
Jarrett (Tim's oldest), Baby Mattie (Holly's youngest) (The girl holding is a friend, Lindsey), Jasper (Heather's oldest)
Second Row L-R
Holly (Terri's youngest) Katie (Holly's oldest), Tanner (Heather's youngest), Amelia (Tim's youngest), Heather (Terri's oldest)~

(Posted by Tanya Shook Wilder)

SISTERS - RUTH & ADA

I love these photos of Ada & Ruth. I think the first was taken at the Matney Community Center for Grandma's (Ruth's) 90th birthday. I'm not sure where or when the second was taken, but obviously, it was a few years earlier.

(Posted by Tanya Shook Wilder)

SISTERS - ETTA & ETHEL

I have no idea when this picture was taken of (Mary) Etta Beard Michael and Ethel Beard Triplett. I have a vague memory of Aunt Ethel from when my family would go over to Cove Creek to visit Aunt Ethel's daughter, Mae Edmisten and her husband, Howard. (I always called them Aunt Mae and Uncle Howard, and I knew them fairly well since they attended our church in Boone and my dad fished a lot with Uncle Howard.)



Does anyone have any stories about Grandma Michael and Aunt Ethel? And, can anyone answer the question as to their last name? Is it Baird or Beard? Somewhere along the way, I've heard that Beard got changed to Baird, but I don't know the accuracy of that memory.

(On an entirely different note, I again invite anyone to add a post to the family blog. It's really quite simple. E-mail me for instructions if you lost the ones I sent when I started the blog, and I'll give you a really easy tutorial. Or you can leave a comment on the blog, and I'll get in touch with you from there.)

(Posted by Tanya Shook Wilder)

YOUNG SHOOKS

Here's seven of ten of Ruth and Hoyle's children. This was taken during the Depression years, probably around 1934 or 1935, based on the fact that Zeb was born in 1920, and he looks to be about 14 or 15.

(Back row: Pauline, Mildred, Zeb

In front of them: Audrey, Bradley, Larry

Rhonda in front by himself)

Question: Would anyone know anything about the history of this photo? Who might have taken it? etc.

(Posted by Tanya Shook Wilder)

GRADY & MYRTLE MICHAEL & FAMILY

The youngest child of Etta & Green Michael was their only son, Grady. He, his wife, Myrtle, and children, Betty Ann, Paul, and Jack lived in Maryville, TN, a good ways away from their relatives back up around Banner Elk.

In a recent email to me, Betty Ann wrote, "He (Grady)was so cute, and I loved him so much... short in stature and full of humor.. said he had to get out of Banner Elk because of the rocks he had to hoe out of the mountain side for a garden made him so short. He used to wake us up with an old trumpet. His favorite saying... "Get up, get your feet on the rock, it's not too late but it's 4 o'clock"... Figure that one out, we couldn't... "

Thanks to John Michael, Grady's grandson, for the photo below. The second one is one that I found in my parents' old album. I don't know the history of either.

(Myrtle & Grady Michael)

(Betty Ann, Myrtle, Paul, behind his brother, Jack)

(Posted by Tanya Shook Wilder)