Aunt Opal's Memories - Chapter 1 - Part 4

                                           JE'SUS VEGA

Je'sus mother died when he was born. He was mostly raised by Alicia and Anna (sisters). His stepmother was very young and had a baby just eleven months younger than Je'sus. His father died when he was twelve. He lived with Chinto and Juanita and their five children. A neighbor brought the Adventist message and about one half of the children accepted.

He then stayed with Anna and family and went to academy in San Juan. The principle told him about Madison. Chinto helped him some, Alberto gave him an old suit and he arrived at Madison with three dollars. He could read English but couldn't speak it. That's all the help he ever got. He graduated with lab and x-ray credits.

When he returned, I took the train from Oregon where Teresa, David and I had been staying with my parents.  We got to spend a lot of time with Viola and Harley Witt and family. We came before Je'sus did and we visited Bob and Pat. While there David had what the doctor said was an ear ache. We came on to Collegedale and David got worse (he was having seizures by this time and spent two weeks in the hospital with meningitis). We took him to Thompson's Children's Hospital in Chattanooga.

   DAVID, KIETH AND TERESA VEGA WITH THEIR GRANDMA LAWRY

The college told Je'sus he had to take more classes than he thought, David was sick, got better but it took two years to be potty trained, etc. Je'sus was discouraged and we moved to Puerto Rico to be in charge of the lab at the Bella Vista hospital. A doctor there encouraged him to go back to school. He had his GI bill to use so we went to Nashville and he earned a Masters Degree in Biology.

We went back to Madison where he taught at the academy. Theresa started first grade there. Before the year was up they needed him in the lab so he went. The doctor who encouraged him to go to Madison still encouraged Je'sus to go to Loma Linda. He applied and was accepted. We bought a better car loaded all we could in it and took off!  It was 1961 and we had Eric, one year old, Keith, two years old, David, five years old, and Teresa, seven years of age.

         THE VEGA'S ON THEIR WAY TO LOMA LINDA, CALIFORNIA

While at Loma Linda I finally had to learn to drive. My mother tried to teach me in my teens but I had no interest. With Je'sus in school and all, I had to learn. The Oldsmobile was automatic and that helped a lot. Je'sus rode his bicycle to school. (I hear that Danika and David skateboarded to school and to work!). It is hard to believe they are living where we lived so long ago.

They hadn't completely finished the new hospital when we left. They tore down the old original before we left. Lola Fay took classes in it. We spent eight years there. Four years in medical school and four years internship.

When we arrived a friend was leaving and he could have taken his job at a very good salary by working every weekend but he chose not to work on Sabbath. He could also come home evenings and be with the family. Instead he worked part time as a lab tech and for the first four years he got $200.00 per month from Puerto Rico. That's why we went to Puerto Rico to pay it back. He lost the GI bill by going to Peabody.

Later, Lola Fay and girls came to Loma Linda where Lola took Physical Therapy. We had lots of good times together, us and our four kids and her and her two. In the Oldsmobile, we would go to the desert and camp or to the forests. Twice we went to the mountains for a white Christmas. His niece Ruth from Puerto Rico stayed with us a year. Dino and Fay settled there and we enjoyed them and Gracella came and fell in love and married there.

Je'sus finished in 1969.  We shipped our stuff to Puerto Rico.  We found this used Cadillac, drove to Kansas to visit my family, stopped in Florida and visited Donna and Bill. We stayed in their camper and watched the first shuttle to the moon. Then in our motel in Miami on TV we saw them land.

I am glad we spent time in Puerto Rico as the kids got to know their Spanish heritage and learned to speak the language and to know and love our other family and you know the rest of the story.


To read the rest of the story go to:

Aunt Opal's Memories Chapter 1 Part 1

Aunt Opal's Memories Chapter 1 Part 2

Aunt Opal's Memories Chapter 1 Part 3

Aunt Opal's Memories Website

Carnton Plantation

C is for Carnton Plantation.  Recently on our way to Ootelwah, Tennessee for my Aunt's 85th birthday party, we stopped in Franklin, Tennessee.  My sister and her husband from Missouri were also heading to the same party.  We called them to see where they were, and they just happened to be in Franklin.  We got together for lunch at the Franklin Mercantile Deli.  After lunch we toured the Carnton Plantation.

Carnton was built in 1826 by former Nashville mayor Randal McGavock. Throughout the nineteenth century it was frequently visited by those shaping Tennessee and American history, including President Andrew Jackson. Carnton was a working plantation of 1,400 acres of which 500 acres was used to raise wheat, corn, oats, hay and potatoes. After his father died in 1843, John McGavock took possession of the property and continued to farm it until his death. Under his direction, Carnton grew to become one of the premier farms in Williamson County, Tennessee.  John McGavock married Carrie Elizabeth Winder in December 1848 and they had five children during the subsequent years, three of whom died at young ages.  The surviving children were Winder and Hattie.  Here is a photograph of them from 1865.

Beginning at 4 p.m. on November 30, 1864, Carnton Plantation saw one of the bloodiest battles of the entire Civil War. The Confederate Army of Tennessee furiously assaulted the Federal army entrenched along the southern edge of Franklin. The resulting battle was the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War.   The Battle of Franklin lasted barely five hours and led to some 9,500 soldiers being killed, wounded, captured, or counted as missing. Nearly 7,000 of that number were Confederate troops. Carnton served as the largest field hospital in the area for hundreds of wounded and dying Confederate soldiers.

As we toured the home, you could see blood stains on the floors from the surgeries and amputations done during that time.  A staff officer later wrote that "the wounded, in hundreds, were brought to the house during the battle, and all the night after. And when the noble old house could hold no more, the yard was appropriated until the wounded and dead filled that also"

Hundreds of Confederate wounded and dying were tended by Carrie McGavock and her family. Her two children, Hattie (age nine) and son Winder (age seven), provided some basic assistance to the surgeons as well. Over 300 Confederate soldiers were cared for inside Carnton alone. Hundreds more, were spread out through the rest of the property, including in the slave cabins.

Carrie McGavock described the scene at Carnton after the Battle of Franklin this way. "Every room was filled, every bed had two poor, bleeding fellows, every spare space, niche, and corner under the stairs, in the hall, everywhere. And when the noble old house could hold no more, the yard was appropriated until the wounded and dead filled that. Our doctors were deficient in bandages and I began by giving my old linen, then my towels and napkins, then my sheets and tablecloths, then my husband's shirts and my own undergarments"

Author Robert Hicks wrote a historical novel based on the life of Carrie McGavock titled The Widow of the South. A review of the book by Anne Rivers Siddons states,  "A memorable, many-faceted account of one of the definitive events of our history. To read this thrilling story is to encounter and recognize something essential of the worst and best about ourselves. What a wonderful story Robert Hicks has told. It speaks powerfully to us today." I haven't read the book yet but I am planning to.

In early 1866, John and Carrie McGavock designated two acres of land adjacent to their family cemetery as a final burial place for nearly 1,500 Confederate soldiers killed during the Battle of Franklin. The McGavocks maintained the cemetery until their respective deaths. Today, the McGavock Confederate Cemetery is a lasting memorial honoring those fallen soldiers and the Battle of Franklin. It is the largest privately owned military cemetery in the nation.

I really enjoyed touring Carnton and the surrounding gardens.  Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. If you are ever in Franklin, Tennessee I highly recommend a visit to Carnton Plantation.   Here are a few pictures taken at Carnton.

The ABC Wednesday Meme is a fun way to see some great blogs.