The Hineston Chronicles
Volume 13 Number 2
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Carolyn's Corner
Edna Taris BONNETTE (Dyess)
On a cold day - January 9th - (my mother, Edna Taris Bonnette Dyess, went into labor. Alas! It was while my dad, Oscar Carl Dyess, was at work at Camp Claiborne (A WWII Army Training Camp) as an orderly in the military hospital.
Fortunately, mother had an uncle (Ollie Bert Lewis) who was an ambulance driver and he drove her to the Huey P. Long (Charity Hostpial) in Pineville, Louisiana. It was there I entered the world and especially into her world! Daddy got to the hospital after I was born and the first thing he said, “Oh, Ed (short for her name Edna), she has your hands!” I don't have much that looks like my mother; but, I do have her hands for sure!
One of the first memories I have of my mother was learning she grew up without a mother. Her mother (Lola Alice Pamilla Lewis Bonnette) died when mother was eight years old. She was the oldest of three children.
When I had my first child, Joseph Carl Bales, I kept thinking about my mother on the day she was in labor with me. I know I wanted my mother there with me and I know Mother did also. As I continued my life and even today I think about my birth and my heart breaks because she didn’t have her mother with her on that important day! To add to that - Daddy was at work and he couldn’t be with her at the delivery. How alone she must have felt!
After her mother’s death, her father (Clifford Morgan Bonnette) was left with three young children - mother (Edna Taris Bonnette)- 8 years old - a 5 year old son (Trenton Clifford Bonnette); and, an 18 month old son (Ennis Morgan Bonnette). A cousin moved in with Clifford and helped with the children. She did this until Grandpa Bonnette fell in love with Minerva Shows and married her. For about one and half years my mother had a step mother; and, then the unimaginable happened, Her father passed away. Mother was ten years old.
At the day of the funeral people started walking away from the grave side to go home. A friend of the family (Pauline Bessie Henry) told me the saddest memory - as the people were walking away someone looked back at the grave and there stood three little children all alone! Cora Bonnette Lummus (Clifford’s sister) went back, gathered the children and took them home with her along with her husband (Bill Lummus).
Later some of the family learned of an insurance policy and decided they wanted the three children. They went to court. Apparently at the end of the day, the judge became weary because people couldn't decide where the children were going. The Judge told them the children could either go home with the mother’s (Lola Alice Lewis Bonnette) parents (James Albert and Minnie Minerva Terrell Lewis) or they were going to an orphanage.
My great grandmother (Minnie Minerva Terrell Lewis) had a lot of children of her own and she was not well. She had Palsy. She didn’t want the children because of her health; she wanted Cora Bonnette Lummus to have them because Cora had no children. Again the judge made the ruling - home with the Lewis family or go to an orphanage. Grandma Lewis agreed to letting the children come home with them.
The three children were raised in a home with Aunts and Uncles. One of them was the ambulance driver (Ollie Bert Lewis) who drove my mother to the hospital when she was in labor with me. Life was hard; food was scarce; and, Grandpa Lewis used all the insurance money for wine, women and song!
One of the things I learned from my mother she did not show us that she felt sorry for herself. She took life as it came and went. She took life as it was something happening and you dealt with it. Her belief - move on! There were times she would “scold” daddy and me for not moving on as quickly as she thought we should for our own mental health.
Mother had a lot of sayings that my sister, Lola Kay Dyess Owens Desormeaux, and I use at least one of them each day. She was raised in a household where superstition was alive and well. While mother didn’t “beat them into our heads” she certainly had a way of getting her message across and Lola and I are “tainted” with some of the superstitions.
One is the number 13! I really don’t remember what was so bad about it; but, it must have been something! I won’t stay in a motel room #13. I avoid number 13 as much as possible. My sister is probably worse than I am. She will not get an iPhone 13! I have one! There were so many. It would make my daddy upset and tell her there was nothing to those superstitions. But it didn't change her!
There are so many things I remember about my mother. One that involved my well being was she was a great cook! She didn’t know how to deal with left overs! Out the door the food went to daddy’s many dogs. She didn’t know how to sew; but, she made sure Lola and I learned to sew, play the piano, and get an education. One of her favorite sayings was "if we got hungry enough we would learn to cook". Again, she was right!
Mother was very proud of my accomplishments! She didn’t understand my hyper activity personality. She didn’t understand my ability to get in trouble at school for laughing until they had to call daddy to come and get me from school. She did, however, understand my determination to get things done and get them right! She would say, “you are just like your daddy. You won’t quit until you have made it work”.
At the end of her life it was an honor to take care of her. When the day was over and I was tucking her in bed, she would tell me she loved and appreciated me. Mother was not comfortable with a lot of touching, hugging, and continuing to tell you she appreciated you. Yet, she loved deeply! She would have given her life for me! She was the most giving person that I know.
Because she didn’t know a lot about her dad’s family, I have tried to do a lot of research on her family. To help us, I have done my Mitochondrial DNA, (mtDNA). The mtDNA has Hypotype Groups. Mother's is Hypotype Group is I (Iris). Mitochondrial DNA is the mother's line going straight up the female line.
To honor Mother on a mother’s day, I created a group picture of the youngest to the oldest pictures I had of her female line. She would have been so proud.
Has anyone done the mtDNA test? If so, is there anyone with an I (Iris) Hypotype Group? Would love to hear from you.
Left to right - Taylor Grace Strother (my great granddaughter), Hannah CarolAnne Rubenstein (My Granddaughter), Karen Kay Bales (My daughter), Terris Kay Duncan,(My great granddaughter) Carolyn Dyess Bales (ME) , Edna Taris Bonnette Dyess,(My Mother) Lola Alice Lewis (My grandmother) , Minnie Minerva Terrell (My great grandmother).
Deaths
Rose Wedgeworth Brodnax, 94, of Alexandria, passed away on April 11, 2023. Burial was in Fellowship Cemetery, Elmer, LA
James “Buddy” Guffey, 64, of Melder, passed away on April 16, 2023. Burial was in Pine Ridge Baptist Cemetery, Melder, LA
David Paul Johnson, 55 of Pinrville, passed away on April 20, 2023. Burial was in LaCamp Pentecostal Church Cemetery, LaCamp, LA.
Donald Eugene Boothroyd, 83 of Boyce, passed away on April 20, 2023.
Ora Belle Stringer, 98, of Duncanville, TX, passed away on May 4, 2023. Burial was in Waco Memorial Park, Waco, TX.
George Keith Dion, 88, of DeRidder, LA, passed away on May 23, 2023. Burial was in Camp 8 Cemetery ,Otis, LA.
Sybil Nadine Sanderson, 79, passed away on May 28, 2023. Burial was in New Hope Cemetery, Elmer, LA.
Ida Gwendolyn Peavy, 74, of Leesville, passed away on June 16, 2023. Burial was in Walnut Hill Cemetery, Slagle, LA.
Hershel Samuel Williamson, 79, of Melder, passed away on June 30, 2023. A private graveside service will be held at a later date.
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