Family Stories
Bobby and Grandpa Green
When our
Grandpa Green Fuller died, he still had several young children at home. His youngest was his little
son, Bobby Fuller. The day Grandpa died, our Mom being older, about 17
years of age, had to stay at home and look after her little brother,
Bobby.
Grandpa died at home in his sleep and the coroner of the area came
to the log cabin home where Grandpa lived and died to pick up his body to
prepare him for burial. Now, Bobby was only about 3 years old but he was
very close to his Daddy and loved him very much.
Little Bobby was
grief stricken beyond belief that day and he told our Momma,
Ida Fuller,
with tears running down his little face to please take him out on the
porch and hold him up so he could see his Daddy for the last time.
He knew they were taking his Daddy away and he would never see him again, so
Momma took him out on the porch and Bobby watched in grief until his Daddy
was out of sight.
After our Grandpa Elijah Green Fuller's burial,
Momma said little Bobby would be lying on Mammaw Leona's big
feather bed and he'd reach up his little hands gesturing towards something
that no one else could see. Bobby
would hold out his little hands with palms up and say in his little
child's voice, "come here, come here" and then little Bobby would pat the
bed beside him.
All the while, Bobby's eyes would follow the spirit of his
Daddy to the bed beside him and when he rested beside Bobby, Bobby
would take his tiny little hands and pet his Daddy's face that only Bobby
could see.
He would laugh and giggle and talk to his Daddy and he would
put his tiny head on his Daddy's chest. Bobby was happy as could be as he
spent time with his Daddy again. Momma said he did that for a long time
after their Daddy, Elijah Green Fuller died.
I believe our
Grandpa, Elijah Green Fuller, came back to comfort his little son, Bobby
until his son was old enough and able to handle his Daddy's untimely death.
Grandpa Green Fuller and the Death of his
Little Sister, Alverty Fuller
Written by
Annette Potter, d/o
Creed Flannery Potter
and Ida Fuller (Ida was d/o
Green Fuller and Leona Smith):
I never had the privilege to meet my grandfather, Green,
but our mom, Ida Fuller Potter, spoke of him with great love and affection. She
said that her mom, Leona Smith Fuller, said that Grandpa Green, who mother
called Dad, was the handsomest man in those parts when she married him.
Mom (Ida Fuller Potter) said that
Grandpa Green was a hard worker and that he was a carpenter by trade. He
would fell the trees in the forests around them and that one awful day,
he rolled the log that killed his little sister, Alvery Fuller. He was
very hurt and broken by this and it bothered him his whole life. Mom
said that Grandpa Green's step mom was Martha Amburgey and that he loved
her, because, unlike his 1st step mother, Susan Combs, Martha was kind
to him. His 1st step mother, Susan Combs didn't care for him and plotted
to harm him by arranging an ambush to have him killed.
The fact that he
cared so much for his step mother, Martha, made it all the worse for the
accident which caused Alverty's death. Martha threw her own body over
the little girl to save her life to no avail. It was a terrible tragedy
for the family. Grandpa Green Fuller died in his sleep one night after a
day of working in the forest. Mom told us a story about her little
brother, Bobby's reaction to them taking away her father's body after
his death at home.
Leona Fuller Smith Danced for Us
Written by Nevalyn Gross Thompson, d/o Larcena Smith (Larcena was
d/o
Thomas Smith and
Vinabelle Smith) and Vernal Gross. Vinabelle Smith was sister of our
grandmother, Leona Smith
Fuller.
I received the following from cousin, Yvonne Jent Maggard d/o
Chester Jent and Oma
Smith (Oma was d/o
Thomas Smith and Vinabelle Smith). She received it from cousin,
Nevalyn Gross Thompson, d/o Larcena Smith (Larcena was d/o
Thomas Smith and
Vinabelle Smith) and Vernal Gross. Vinabelle Smith was sister of our
grandmother, Leona Smith Fuller. Calculating the year this meeting took
place, I would say it was perhaps in 1965 (although... our grandmother
died in 1966 of cancer, with which she lingered ill for months, which
leads me to believe it may have taken place somewhat earlier than 1965).
Nevalyn is now 61 and she was 18 at the time of her meeting my
grandmother, Leona Smith Fuller, so that would have taken place about 43
years ago: Nevalyn Wrote: I'm Nevalyn (Gross) Thompson, this is my story
of meeting Aunt Leona Smith for the first and only time, she came to
visit my mother (Larcena Smith Gross) at her cousin's boarding house,
which I lived in a basement apartment right after I got married, I was
eighteen at the time, I'm guessing Leonna was near or maybe passed 60
(she was 81 in 1965), she told me I was very pretty, but didn't hold a
light to my mom when she was young. mom said I should have seen her
dance when she was young, in which she quickly said "young nothin I can
still cut a rug", and mom said "let's see if you can" and she started
off doing clogging and danced all over the living room, I don't remember
how many dances she showed us but she was a very spry women and mom just
loved her and bragged on her a lot, I never met her again but loved her
from just one meeting, I'm sixty one now an wished I had met more of mom
and dad's people, loved the old stories they used to tell me, hope you
enjoyed this, Yvonne, love ya! cuz nev
