The Hudgins-Burton side of my family or as we say in the South, "my father's people "
My Grandfather, Jack Hudgins and his family were from Low Gap, in Saint Clair county and my Grandmother Lila Burton's family moved to Chandler Mountain (aka the Steele, AL area) around 1910. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the Hudgins' of Low Gap at this time.
The Burton Girls and Brother at the family homestead.
Mamma Burton
Poppa Burton
Esther
Naomi
Jim (a Mr. Miller)
Jessie
Lila (the baby)
Featured prominently in the center of the picture is Stella Redden Burton. She was my fathers grandmother and I only remember seeing her once or twice when I was a child. I believe the reason for the gathering is the funeral of her husband, Box Burton. All those people gathered around her are her sons and daughters and their kids.
In the deep south we call it Decoration Day. Other areas call it memorial day but what it is, is a time of remembrance of those who have died. Tombstones are cleaned and polished and a picnic dinner is cooked. This is a picture of my Grandmother Lila and her sister sitting in the cemetary in all their finery, notice the hats and gloves. It is a homecoming of the "Upper Church" and anyone that has ever been a member or any of their families are invited to have dinner (on-the-ground) outside, to come for the gospel singing and to see all those people that they remember from their childhood. The Upper Church as it is called is a Congregational Methodist Church at the top of Chandler Mountain. Both sides of my family attended there at one time or another in the past 100 years.
Above: Dyanne (my mom), Lila and me
Left: Jack Hudgins, Danny Hudgins (his son) and me (the daughter, Jacqueline is missing and there are no pictures available at this time)
My grandfather is remembered by everyone as a good man. He was always known as a hard worker and at times worked out of town only coming home on the weekends. I believe that was when he was working for NASA in Huntsville (Redstone Arsenal). What most people forget to mention is just how smart he was. He could build a house or re-build a car's engine. He liked his coffee strong and black, and would tell people that made weak coffee that "it doesn't take entirely that much water to make coffee."
He died when I was only 7 or 8. He went to the doctor the day before he died of congestive heart failure. The doctor pronounced him healthy and sent him home.
Left: Larry Hudgins (my dad) and me (1965)
To the left is a picture of me and my dad, unfortunately, he moved away to Wisconsin when I was only a little older than this pic. He divorced my mom and in actuallity I never saw him very much after that. He died when I was only 17.
Grandmother would have never admitted that any of her kids did anything wrong, there was a strong streak of pride in her. I don't think I really understood her until after she died. She taught me so much. It is hard to say just how much because I was fortunate enough to have her in my life for 28 years.
I really think that a great movie could be made with Lila as a central character. Proud and determined. A leader in the community and utterly devoted to her family. The strange thing is that I never heard from her that she loved me until she was on her deathbed. When she died, I told one of her neighbors that I would probably not even go to the funeral. The neighbor, a cousin, gasped and said,"you can't be serious, she absolutely worshipped you and talked about you all the time." I said, "she did?" Always hard for me to believe but I heard the same story again and again at her memorial service. People that I did not know would come-up to me and say identically the same thing. I am just sorry that 8-months before she died we had an argument and I refused to visit her.
