More Pictures In Search of Stories

I have Carol (Keithley) Baird to thank for the images below. 

 Like many "old" pictures, they were  produced from cameras some of which would today be viewed as relatively "stone-aged" when compared with the stark clarity of images produced by even the most ordinary digital device today (even our cell phones).  Gleaned from family albums and various shoe boxes of loose snapshots, they -- along with the stories that often lie behind them -- often provide us with essentially all we know of life in the Bluff during the 1920s and '30s, years when those of us "of a certain age" were youngsters not yet old enough to swim in the Prange canal.

Occasionally, they seem to startle the eye with their classic revelation of curiosity and levity -- evidence of the quality of life of those times, most notably the 1930s, in and around Crockett's Bluff. 

 Like the one of the five young ladies in "Remembering Hazel," the one below of four young men posing on a log is a perfect example: (L-R) Gus McDonald, Joseph Keithley, Russell Marrs, and his brother Herman.

 Though the photographer is unknown to me, the image has all the qualities of a posed portrait: similar flat caps and hands similarly folded, they stare seriously and curiously and unsmilingly into the camera. [There's obviously much to be known about these figures. Russell Marrs, in the decade after his return from the service during World War II was a great influence and inspiration to me, and I'm working on his story for this site.  I seem to recall that Gus McDonald lost a leg in that war.]

L-R: Edna Prange, Alice Keithley, May Bowermaster, and Rose Gosnell

Barbara Cochran, Ida Marilyn Butler, Donna Knowlton, Carol Keithley, Ann Johnson, and "probably Peggy Schwab."

Yvonne Terry, Mary Lou Graves and Carol Keithley

Joe and Alice Keithley and Rose and George Gosnell  (1950s or 60s?)

These images were scanned from photos, some of which are perhaps seventy or more years old.  Although there are ways of improving their clarity somewhat,  some are of subjects too just too far away from the camera to survive enlargement.  Other such images -- with or without the stories behind them -- are welcomed and appreciated for this site.  As I have recently written to Carol Baird: "When folks like us become too senile to identify the subjects in such pictures, they die, along with the stories we know about them."  Preventing such "deaths" is the primary purpose of this site.  Once they are written down they have a fine chance at being passed along to future generations.

Remembering Hazel

Hazel in Her Teens   
Blanche Bowermaster,  Hazel Marrs, Mabel Bowermaster, Hallie Keithley and Rafie Crawford.

Hazel Lee (Townsend) Marrs Barr: December 4, 1920 - February 28, 2012

Visitation: Saturday March 3, 2012 from 10:00 to 12:00 at Clarendon Missionary Baptist Church, Clarendon, Arkansas
Service: Saturday March 3, 2012 at 1:30 P.M. at Clarendon Missionary Baptist Church, Clarendon, Arkansas
Burial: Crockett’s Bluff Cemetery, Crockett’s Bluff, Arkansas


Obituary:
at Houston House Nursing Home, Houston, MO.  She was the daughter of Jeff and Alice Murphy Townsend. She spent her childhood with her family moving up and down White River on a houseboat. Her father was a commercial fisherman and woodsman. Hazel was one of six children, four of who precede her in death along with her parents.

As a young mother.

Hazel married Herman Marrs in 1935 at Crockett’s Bluff where they made their home. To this marriage, four children were born; Joe, James, Glenn and Jeanie.

Hazel will be remembered as a great mother. She was a Christian and joined the Crockett’s Bluff Baptist Church shortly after her marriage. She was faithful in attending along with her children and husband. Hazel taught a Sunday school class there for many years..

Hazel was a very productive mother; she worked hard with her husband to help insure the family had all their needs. She worked in the fall of the year picking cotton along with her children. When the wild pecans in the river bottoms fell, they picked them up to help pay for school supplies. During duck season, Hazel would pick and clean ducks each day to help through the winter and Christmas. She sewed all the families’ clothes and quilts. She sold the duck feathers and the rest she would make wonderful pillows and feather beds.

She raised her family during the depression and post war hard times. Hazel always raised a large garden each year, fattened hogs to eat, made her own soap and rendered her cooking lard.

With a Sunday School Class: Sept. 1955

In the late 50’s, Hazel went to work at the local shoe factory and later worked as a nurse’s aide at the hospital. She worked many years sitting with the elderly in their homes. Hazel also volunteered at the senior citizens center and was a member of the ladies American Legion.

Hazel sold her home in Crockett’s Bluff and moved to Clarendon living close to her sister. She joined the Clarendon Missionary Baptist Church.

Hazel will be remembered for her kindness and giving heart.

Note: I have Hazel's daughter Jeanie (Marrs) Vasseur to thank for forwarding this obituary and for the pictures. DPW