A to Z April Challenge: R is for Racey

“We need to get together more often and not at a funeral.” How many times have you and a cousin said that? Funerals are much like a family reunion. You can learn a lot about a family just by looking at who showed up. Using my grandparents’ guest books and sympathy cards, I’ll be exploring “Who came to the funeral?”

is for Racey, Leota Clarice Sullivan Racey, to be exact. She attended her cousin Orvin Davis’s funeral in October 1963. She signed in just after her older sister Elta Sullivan Farrar and ahead of her older sister Floral Sullivan Merica.

Leota was the baby of five girls born to Will and Laura Sullivan Jollett. In a time when many girls did nothing after high school except marry, the Sullivan girls found employment.  Pearl taught school for a brief time; Floral was a bookkeeper and bank cashier; and Leota was a stenographer for the family grocery store.

Leota about 1920-23

In 1930 Leota married Forrest Racey, a minister. In 1940 they lived in the Ashby District of Rockingham County, in other words, Dayton. Leota worked as a bookkeeper in the office of Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music and Forrest was the college’s business manager.

Later Leota was promoted to treasurer, and Forrest served as president of the college from 1956-1969.  He completed the work of the previous president to move the college from Dayton to Winchester.  A dorm was named in his honor.

from GenealogyBank.com
July 11, 1961
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)

As a minister and as a college president, Forrest’s name was in the newspaper frequently. But Leota made the news in 1961 when she and Forrest were involved in a two-car collision. Forrest was listed in poor condition at the hospital following face and back injuries.  Leota suffered a number of cuts and broken jaw, satisfactory condition.

The Sullivans and Davises were always close. Their mothers were the best of sisters, so that affection spilled over to their children as well. Even in their older years, the cousins made a point of getting together with one another.

Left to right: Leota Sullivan Racey, my grandmother Lucille Davis,
Pearl Sullivan Strole, Floral Sullivan Merica, Elta Sullivan Farrar

Leota died in 1981.  Forrest remarried, and the three of them are buried happily ever after in Winchester, Virginia.

Rush right over to the A to Z April Challenge for some roaring good reads, romances, rhymes, and reviews.

© 2015, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

A to Z April Challenge: F is for Floral

This is Day 6 of the A to Z April Challenge.  My theme is women with unusual names although I must cheat now and then or I’ll have a name but no story.

is for Floral.

Floral May Sullivan Merica was my maternal grandfather’s cousin, therefore my first cousin twice removed. 

She was the third of five daughters born to William and Laura Jollett Sullivan. 

Seated: Minnie Sullivan
Standing in the back:  Pearl Sullivan
Standing in front:  Floral Sullivan

Growing up, I always thought it ironic that Laura had a lovely and refined name but she had selected the most old-fashioned old-lady names for her own girls:  Minnie, Pearl, Floral, Leota, and Elta.  On reflection, those were probably cutting edge names in their day while “Laura” had assumed the title of “old fashioned.”

They must have been a fun bunch, judging by the number of photos my grandfather and his sisters had from their younger days spent with their cousins.

Unknown gentlemen
outside the Sullivan gate
1924

While there seemed to be lots of men calling at the Sullivan house, Floral did not marry until late in life.  She completed four years of high school and achieved success as an assistant cashier and later THE cashier for the local bank in Shenandoah, Virginia.

Sometime between 1940 and 1954, Floral married Cletus Homer Merica (now THAT’s a name!).  Those dates are based on the 1940 census when she was single and living at home and a 1954 city directory for Alexandria, Virginia, in which she appears as “Floral S. Merica” alongside Cletus H.

Left to right:  Floral Sullivan Merica, Lucille Rucker Davis (Grandma),
Pearl Sullivan Strole, Leota Sullivan Racey, Elta Sullivan Farrar

There were no children, and Floral outlived her husband.  She died in a nursing home in Chesapeake.  My guess is that this was most convenient for her only living sister and survivor, Elta Sullivan Farrar.

Tombstone at EUB Church Cemetery
Shenandoah, Virginia

For more F Fun, Find your way over to the A to Z April Challenge.  

© 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.

Tombstone Tuesday: The Sullivans

Tombstone Tuesday is a daily prompt at Geneabloggers which asks bloggers to create a post including an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors; it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor.

At Coverstone Cemetery
Shenandoah, Virginia 2011

My great-grand aunt Laura Jollett Sullivan and her husband William J. Sullivan are buried in Coverstone Cemetery (formerly the EUB Church Cemetery) in Shenandoah, Virginia, along with most of her brothers and sisters, as well as four of their five daughters.

SULLIVAN

William J.                             Laura E.

Jan. 13, 1866                       May 30, 1865

May 22, 1942                      July 30, 1947

Close by are the tombstones of their daughters Floral and husband Cletus Merica, 

MERICA 

Cletus H.              Floral M.

Feb. 23, 1899      Mar. 4, 1895

Oct. 11, 1971      Feb. 14, 1987

Pearl and husband Clyde Strole, 

Pearl Strole

June 9, 1891

May 29, 1986

Minnie and husband John Wesley Breeden, 

BREEDEN

Minnie B.             John W.

1887 – 1952         1879 - 1961

and Elta and husband Lewis Farrar.

FARRAR

Lewis G.               Elta G.

1898 – 1970         1899 - 1991

Leota is buried with her husband Forrest Racey and his second wife in Winchester, Virginia.

RACEY

Forrest S.             Leota Sullivan

June 9, 1902       Dec.  24, 1901

June 8, 1988       Jan. 28, 1981

©2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.