It’s That TIME Again

Sunday, March 13 was that time again--time to “spring forward” one hour in time, set our clocks ahead and lose one hour of much-needed sleep in the process.

If you’re like me, you are probably still feeling the effects of this time disorientation, the loss of sleep, and in general getting your body in tune with a new schedule that means arising earlier, and, if you’re wise, going to bed earlier.

Researchers are now conducting research to see how healthy time changes in the spring and in the fall are for us. Not absolutely confirmed yet, with more research progressing, scientists who study the effects of time change on individuals have unveiled some interesting data.

The thesis is that shifting our internal clocks twice a year has adverse effects on health and well-being. In the spring-forward mode, sleep deprivation is a big loss which affects nearly everyone. Most people do not get enough sleep at best, given factors that rob of rest and sleep. When a “required” loss of sleep, such as moving the clock forward a whole hour occurs, it takes the body days, even weeks, to adjust. It is not likely in the fall when we “fall back” an hour, that the body will adjust any better to new sleeping patterns. Sleep deprivation, then is one of the first and most marked health issues of time changes.

Another finding published in the “Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology and Economics” found that abrupt time changes adversely affect mental function. For example, when a control group of high school students in Indiana were given the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) shortly after the spring time change, the group dropped 16 points in total test scores following the loss of an hour of sleep. Sleepy children in schools and less-alert workers at jobs also take tolls in mental acuity and work production.

Several studies have found that traffic accidents increase by a sizeable percentage (in Canada, by 8%) after the spring time-forward. Likewise, studies show that traffic accidents increase in the fall when dusk comes early and as persons drive home in the dark after a long day at work are much more prone to have accidents.

A study in Sweden revealed that heart attacks increased by at least 6% following the time-forward adjustment in spring.

I did a little research to see when and why the laws adjusting time in spring and fall came about in the first place. Go back a long time for the idea for this law, although it took years for the Congress and Presidents of the United States to act on the idea. In 1784, America’s venerable Benjamin Franklin, inventor, writer and U. S. Ambassador to France, came up with the idea for Daylight Saving Time. It happened like this. Franklin had seen a demonstration of a new kind of oil lamp in France that made a big difference in how a room was lighted. Franklin, who was 78 at the time he wrote his tongue-in-cheek essays about time, also liked to stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing chess and other board games with his French friends, one of whom was Antoine Francois Cadet de Vaux, editor of “Journal de Paris.” Because of his late-night habits, Franklin seldom saw the sun rise, but slept until noon or after.

After having seen the famous oil lamp and how much light it furnished, Franklin awoke, thinking the lamps were on in his room. But he had awakened early enough to see the dawning, with his shades open. He conceived the idea of how thrifty it would be to make use of more daylight time rather than using so much fuel to furnish artificial light. And hence came the concept of moving clocks forward to take advantage of daylight in the spring, and moving them back in the fall for the same reason. His friend, Cadet de Vaux, published the essays in a series entitled “An Economical Project.”

It was not, however, until World War I that Franklin’s ideas, proposed in 1784, were actually adopted. On April 30, 1916, Germany and Austria advanced clocks one hour. Several European countries followed suit, and the United States changed time two years later. The first law here about moving the clocks forward an hour in the spring was made effective on March 19, 1918. President Woodrow Wilson overrode the rule in 1919.

During World War II, to save fuel and other economic aspects in the war effort, Daylight Saving Time was enacted from February 9, 1942 through September 30, 1945. President Franklin Roosevelt endorsed it. Never completely happy with the time change, citizens after World War II wanted “the old time” back. Again in 1966 with the Uniform Time Act, the forward and backward setting of the clocks was again enacted. The law was revised in 1972 to move forward an hour on the first Sunday in April and to move backward the last Sunday in October. In 2005, the Energy Policy Act began the time change on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November, as the changes still occur.

Complain about it as we may, have trouble adjusting to it as we do, and fearing the hazards to our health that research scientists have revealed, time changes seem to now be a part of how we are ordered to do things. And so, like it or not, we adjust…and mark our hours of daylight and darkness. Some believe time change obliquely affects even the economy--not only in saving electricity and other fuel for lighting, but to provide more daylight hours for shoppers to go to stores and make purchases, thus boosting our struggling economy.

Flowers and plants turn their heads to follow the sun and gain every ray possible from the light. As we in turn spring forward and fall back at the appropriate times, we, like the natural world, are trying to follow a way to get more benefits from sunlight hours.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published March 17, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

PLANTING ~ GOING BY THE SIGNS

For those of us who grew up on a farm in this mountain area, we were accustomed to hearing our elders discuss spring planting “by the signs.” This did not mean the normal signs of warmer days and nights, longer days and climate that might mean the danger of frost was by. “Planting by the signs” was a long-held belief in the signs of the zodiac and how these astrological characteristics helped to guarantee good yield from garden and field. What was needed was a good Almanac, such as “Old Farmer’s Almanac,” “Grier’s” or “Ladies’ Birthday Almanac,” as well as a good knowledge of what the signs meant in relationship to planting, cultivating and harvesting.

With spring in the air on some of our warm March days, we turn our thoughts to this lore that was learned from our Scots-Irish forebears and from their experience with “planting by the signs.” Also, consult any one of the above-mentioned almanacs for 2011 for a wealth of information concerning when to plant what for best yields.

The Zodiac, defined, is believed to be “a belt through the Heavens about sixteen degrees wide within which lie the paths of the Sun, Moon and principal planets” (cited from “Ladies’ Birthday Almanac,” p. 4). Divided into twelve parts, the Zodiac got its name in ancient times. Each sign is believed to be related to a part of the human body. Ancient astrologers assigned names and symbols to the signs and gave them relationships according to an assigned symbol, the body of a person and their times in the year as follows:

Aquarius, waterman, the legs, January 20-February 18;

Pisces, fishes, the feet, Feb. 18-March 20;

Aries, ram, the head and face, March 20 to April 20;

Taurus, the bull, the neck; April 20-May 22;

Gemini, twins, the arms, May 22 to June 21;

Cancer, the crab, the breast; June 21 to July 23;

Leo, the lion, the heart; July 23 to August 23;

Virgo, the Virgin, bowels (or stomach): August 23 to September 23;

Libra, a balance, the kidneys, September 23 to October 23;

Scorpio, the scorpion, the loins: October 23 to November 22;

Sagittarius, the archer, the thighs, November 22 to December 22; and

Capricorn, the goat, the knees, December 22 through January 20

These astrological signs throughout the year are used to help plan events according to the placement of the sun, moon and planets in the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

And that brings us to another interesting observation. Within each month’s moon and sun phases, the twelve signs are active and specific. Take for example, March, 2011. Consulting the ever-popular “Old Farmer’s Almanac” for this year I note on page 122 the following signs for the dates in March: 1, 3, 29, 30 - Capricorn; 2, 4, 31, Aquarius; 5, 6, 7, 8 - Pisces; 9, 10, - Aries; 11, 12, 13 - Taurus; 14, 15 - Gemini; 16 - Cancer; 17, 18, 19 - Leo; 20, 21, 22 - Virgo; 23- Libra; 24, 25 - Scorpio; 26, 27 - Sagittarius.

Every good farmer and gardener knows, in observing these monthly “signs of the moon“ and remembers: Never, ever plant in the barren signs of Gemini, Leo and Virgo. If you want to do something productive in these signs, dig up weeds or otherwise destroy them. They will not come back readily and drown out your crops if weeded in these “barren” signs.

And remember to plant in the “New of the Moon” for best results from your crops. Those who plant by the signs avow that plants, trees and vegetables planted at the “New of the Moon” grow lushly and vigorously. When time to harvest, gather on the “Old of the Moon” for more flavor and for vegetables and fruits that store and preserve better.

Obviously, we do not plant in the mountains during all twelve months of the year. How then are these signs read and how do they become guidelines to help us know when the best time is for putting seeds in the ground? Just go by your faithful almanac! It’s worth the cost for all the “signs” spelled out for the avid gardener. And besides, you will enjoy the folklore, stories, personal testimonies, and sure-fire remedies for this and that, not only about the best time to plant and harvest, but for healthful living in general. At a time when experts were not easily available for these common concerns of an agrarian lifestyle, our ancestors worked out their own systems by the signs given in nature. Maybe they had a handle on how best to do things.

According to ancient astrologers, good times for planting are the days of Pisces (February 18 to March 20) for spring planting and early harvests. Plant in Cancer (June 21 to July 23) for summer and fall harvests. Then, in warmer climates when you plant some hardy crops for winter growth, the time to plant is Scorpio, from October 23 through November 22.

I wish I had listened more to my father, a master farmer, the first in Union County to grow 100 bushels of corn on an acre back in the mid-twentieth century. He “went by the signs“ for his planting. And always he put great store in planting on Good Friday. Since it comes this year on April 22, most of the danger of frost should be past.

Good gardening and farming to you!

c2011by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 10, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

John Andrew Moore and Rev. John Ferry Moore (Moore Family—Part 5)

Last week we traced some of the family of Christopher Columbus Moore (known as “Lum”) and his wife Mary Elizabeth Swanson Moore. You will recall that this account of the Moore family began with early settlers to Union County, Albert and Sarah McClure Moore. These meager accounts in no way cover all the spreading branches of the Moore descendants. This entry centers on two, John Andrew, the fourth child of Christopher Columbus Moore, and a son of John Andrew, the Rev. John Ferry Moore. Perhaps these five views of the Moore family will prove a springboard for further research for descendants who might not have known some of the facts given in these articles about these hardy settlers to our mountain region of North Georgia.

John Andrew Moore was born on December 25, 1871, a fine Christmas present for his father and mother, Christopher Columbus Moore and Elizabeth Swanson Moore. At the time of the new baby’s birth, he had older siblings James, Hanibal and Lavada to welcome his birth. Later, four more children were born to Lum and Mary Elizabeth: Lillie, Lola, George and Arthur.

Focusing on John Andrew Moore, he met and married shortly after his eighteenth birthday (date of marriage January 5, 1890) the very young not quite fifteen-year old, Emily Estalee Teem of Rabun County, Georgia. To this couple were born Forrest Columbus (b. May 7, 1891), Gretchen Manassas (b. March 26, 1894), Gaither Grayson (b. April 17, 1897), Noel Arvis (b. February 21, 1901), Hazel Prudence (June 1, 1902), John Ferry (b. September 14, 1905), Doctor Garland (b. October 1, 1907), Prince Hodson (b. December 7, 1912), and Lady Rhea (b. May 19, 1918). It was a happy day for John Andrew and Emily Teem Moore when they moved by wagon from Rabun County, Georgia back to Towns County in 1919 where John A. could be near his aging parents at Woods Grove. For twenty-two years they were happy farming and entering into the life of the “home” community at Woods Grove. But progress (as the world terms it) moved in, and John Andrew Moore had to sell his acreage for the building of Lake Chatuge as the Tennessee Valley Authority opened a series of dams and power plants for the production of electricity.

John Andrew and Emily Teem Moore relocated to Habersham County, Georgia. There John died June 20, 1950 and Emily died February 12, 1966. They were interred in the Hazel Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, in Habersham County.

Their sixth of nine children was John Ferry Moore, born September 14, 1905 in Rabun County, Georgia. He married Esther Tatham of Towns County on November 2, 1929. She was born April 16, 1909. They lived happily in Towns County until 1941 when their land in the Woods Grove community was purchased by Tennessee Valley Authority for the building of Lake Chatuge. They relocated to a good farm purchased in Habersham County, Georgia.

Children born to John Ferry Moore and Esther Tatham Moore were son Lynn Tatham Moore (1930), Barbara Jeane Moore (1934) and Frances Esther Moore (1947). Then in 1948, after much soul-searching, John Ferry Moore surrendered to the call to gospel ministry and was ordained a Baptist preacher. Lower Hightower Baptist Church in Towns County was his very first church to serve as pastor which he accepted in June, 1949. The next ten years found him faithfully serving churches in the mountains in Towns, Rabun, Stephens and Habersham counties. He was known as a good and solid Bible preacher and one who cooperated in the work of Baptist associations in each of the counties where churches he pastored were located.

In 1959 he accepted the call to a church in Coffee County, Georgia. Then in 1966 he and Ester moved back north to Hall County, Georgia where he accepted the pastorate of Springway Baptist Church. The last three years of his ministry before retirement were spent back in south Georgia, Randolph County, at Vilulah Baptist Church.

In retirement, he and Esther moved back to Habersham County to live His previous record as a good preacher put him in line for engagements in several churches as pulpit supply and interim pastor. One of his very happy appointments was back at Lower Hightower Baptist Church in Towns County in 1981, the very first church he pastored when he began his long career as a Baptist preacher in 1949.

This five-part view of the Moore family of Union, Towns and surrounding counties barely scratches the surface of the contributions this family and its descendants have made in the building up and strengthening of the way of life that has evolved since the first Moore cabins were erected in these mountains prior to 1840. For over 170 years Moore family members have either remained here or gone out to other places to make a difference where they took up residence and plied their work.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Mar. 3, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Christopher Columbus Moore Served the Confederacy and the Union (Moore Family, Part 4)

With a name like Christopher Columbus Moore, the third child of nine born to Albert and Sarah McClure Moore must have been destined for a noticeable life in his future. Perhaps like his namesake, who discovered America in 1492, Christopher Columbus Moore (born May 2, 1843 in North Carolina, died September 26, 1920 in Towns County, Georgia) would lead a life worth notice.

When the Civil War broke out, Christopher Columbus Moore was still at home with his parents in the Woods Grove Community of Towns County. He helped his father work on the farm. The political climate in this northern county was both pro-South and pro-Union, with sentiments largely favoring the latter. Few slaves were owned by farmers who, at best, had only small holdings in cultivated acreage.

Christopher Columbus Moore probably walked from his home at Woods Grove to the county seat town of Hiawassee. There, on March 1, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate Army, joining Company E, 52nd Regiment, Georgia Infantry. For whatever reasons, whether his political leanings or dissatisfaction that he might have been defending slavery, “Lum” Moore (as he was known) was found to be away-without-leave from his regiment several times. Not so good a record, especially for anyone who might have thought of receiving a good conduct medal.

He was at the Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and there he was taken a prisoner of war by the Union on July 4, 1863, along with others in the command of Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton, Confederate States of America. Evidently plans were in the works to allow any of the imprisoned Southern soldiers who would do so sign an oath of allegiance not to take up arms again against the United States, and thus be released from prison. Christopher Columbus Moore signed the vow of allegiance and was released as a prisoner of war on July 6, 1863, only two days after his capture. He was no doubt still in pain at the time he was imprisoned and released. Lum Moore lost his right forefinger in fighting at Vicksburg—a very useful finger to lose.

Following his release at Vicksburg, he probably returned home to Woods Grove for awhile. But then, whether because of his loyalty to the Union or because he could be paid for his services if he enlisted, Christopher Columbus Moore journeyed to Cleveland, Tennessee where he signed up for a year in the U. S. Army on August 5, 1864. Where he served and in what battles is unknown to this writer, but before his year of enlistment was up, the war had ended. Christopher Columbus Moore was discharged from the Union Army at Nashville, Tennessee on July 16, 1865. Evidently his two enlistments were not something he wanted to discuss. Descendants note that their grandfather was silent about the war for the rest of his life.

The same year as his discharge from the Union Army, Christopher Columbus Moore and Mary Elizabeth Swanson were married on December 14, 1865. Her parents were Anderson Clifton and Mary Brown Swanson. She had been born June 29, 1840, the eldest of the Swanson children. Her parents had migrated from Wilkes County, NC to Union County, Georgia in 1849. Lum Moore’s father-in-law had also served as a blacksmith in the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Christopher Columbus Moore and Mary Elizabeth Swanson Moore had eight children:

(1) James (01/07/1867) married Sadie Boyd and Sallie Williams
(2) William Hannibal (04/10/1868) married Jennie Wood
(3) Laveda (04/06/1870) married Albert Welborn
(4) John Andrew (12/25/1871) married Emily E. Teem
(5) Lillie (10/25/1873) married William Nicholson
(6) Lola (10/20/1875) married John Philyaw;
(7) George (04/21/1879) married Pearl Parker
(8) Thomas Arthur (04/09/1882) married Mae Johnson

As we learned from Part 3 of this Moore Family story, Christopher Columbus Moore and his wife Emily looked after his parents in the declining years of their lives, as Lum’s father had specified when he deeded him land along Long Bullet Creek, Towns County, “for taking care of Albert Moore and his wife Sarah and keeping as part of the family during their natural life.” This contract Lum and Emily Moore faithfully kept until Albert died in 1897 and Sarah died in 1899.

The old Civil War veteran of two sides, Lum Moore, lived mainly in Towns County for the remainder of his life, engaging in farming and perhaps harvesting timber from some of his acreage. But there were two brief periods when this couple lived elsewhere. For five years they lived in Habersham County, Georgia at a place called Arnold’s Mill. They also lived briefly in Macon County, North Carolina. Each move may have been because of living nearer some of their married children.

But they moved back to Woods Grove to live out their days. It is interesting that a post office once operated from the old homestead of Lum Moore’s father, and this post office was not called Moore—after the people who lived on that land—and not Woods Grove, as the community then and since has been known, but the post office that operated there for a decade from 1890-1900 was Campagne, Georgia.

Christopher Columbus Moore and Mary Elizabeth Swanson Moore died two months apart—he on September 26, 1920 and she on December 29, 1920. Their marked graves are in the Woods Grove Cemetery, Towns County, Georgia.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 24, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Continuing with the James and Albert Moore Families of Early Union and Towns Counties (Part 3)

Continuing with two of the families cited in the article published January 27, 2011 (Part 2) on Moore families in early Union County, we learn that when Towns County was formed in 1856, at least two of the Moore families living in Union in 1850—those of James and Albert—were within the bounds of the new county, Towns.

In 1850, the household the census taker numbered 627 in Union had only two people in residence, James Moore, age 70 and his wife, June Moore, age 67. Six years later this couple at age 76 and 73 respectively found themselves within the new county of Towns, living in the Woods Grove section. They had not moved. The new geography had just absorbed them as citizens of Towns.

James Moore was born July 10, 1779 in Rowan (maybe Iredell) County, North Carolina. His mother and father had migrated to America from Ireland prior to the American Revolution. James Moore married June Stevenson. She was born in 1783. They first made their home in Haywood County, North Carolina on a little farm alongside Crabtree Creek. The children born to them were named Harriet who married Hiram McLean, Clarissa Ann who married David Sellers, Aveline who married Samuel Sellers, and Johial, Terzey and Marcella whose spouses (if any) are unknown, and then the seventh child, Albert Moore who married Sarah McClure (more about this family later).

Sometime prior to the 1850 Union County, Georgia census, James and June McClure left their Crabtree Creek home in Haywood County, North Carolina and moved to the new and burgeoning Union County and settled in the Woods Grove community. Perhaps it was their youngest son, Albert, who convinced his elderly parents to move when Albert and Sarah decided to settle in Union. But James and June Moore did not have many years remaining in their lives in Union/Towns. June Moore died April 17, 1857 and James Moore died May 30, 1862. Their bodies were interred in North Carolina soil at Ely in Clay County in the Old Union Cemetery there.

Albert and Sarah Moore were registered by the census taker as living in household numbered 234 in Union County in 1850. Albert was born in Haywood County, NC on August 7, 1819. He married Sarah McClure, born April 3, 1822, a daughter of John and Sarah Cathey McClure. We learned from Part 2 in this account of this Moore family that seven of their nine children had been born prior to the 1850 census. Later, Albert and Sarah would have two more children. Their children were:

(1) Talitha Caroline (July 19, 1839-May 30, 1930) married on May 15, 1856 to Jehu Parker
(2) Nancy Ann (b. 1842) married Andrew James (“Jim”) Burch on Nov. 4, 1875
(3) Christopher Columbus (May 2, 1843-Sept. 26, 1921) married Mary Elizabeth Swanson on Dec. 14, 1865
(4) Altha (b. 1845) married George Tipton
(5) Andrew Americus (b. 1846) married Mary A. Green on March 3, 1867
(6) Sarah Jane (b. 1848) married a Parker
(7) Mercilla Arlene (b. 1850) married William L. Townsley on August 31, 1870
(8) Tursey M. (b. 1852) and
(9) Clarissa Melvina E. (b. 1854) married M. Henry Brown of Walker County

Albert and Sarah McClure Moore settled into life in the new county of Towns after they were absorbed into it by virtue of where they lived when that county was laid out in 1856. Then the Civil War came, and Albert Moore served with the Confederate forces during the war.

After the war, in early 1871, Albert Moore added to his already-held property by purchasing 150 acres from Marcus Kimsey for $300. The property was in Land Lot 50 of the 17th District along Long Bullet Creek. Records show that Albert Moore sold 80 acres in 1887 to his brother-in-law George W. Tipton for $300, receiving as much as he had paid earlier for the entire tract of land.

In 1895, Albert Moore deeded to his third child, Christopher Columbus Moore (known as “Lum”) the remainder of his land. The deed had a stipulation that Lum Moore would take in and care for his parents, Albert and Sarah McClure Moore, for the remainder of their lives. As was customary in that era, Lum Moore was true to his father’s wishes and provided a good home for his parents until their deaths.

Albert Moore died June 8, 1897 and his wife Sarah died almost two years later on March 18, 1899. They were interred at the Woods Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Towns County, Georgia near where they had made their home since migrating from Haywood County, North Carolina to Union County prior to 1850.

c2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 17, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

To Nagasaki after the Atomic Bomb Blast

Significant events in the history of our country and World War II—the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan respectively on August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945—led to Japan’s unconditional surrender signed aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

At the Potsdam Conference held July 26, 1945, leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Japan for unconditional surrender. Japan’s leader refused to surrender. President Harry S. Truman made the crucial decision to bomb two Japanese cities. It is almost certain that if that decision had not been made, the United States would have invaded Japan and many more people, both American, our allies, and Japanese, would have died in a bitterly-fought extended war after the peace in Europe had been signed.

RSp3 Grover D. Jones and buddies Harlor, Bridges and Jack Jones,
shipmates, on a mountain outside Nagasaki, Japan, 1945.

Navy Radioman Third Class Grover Duffie Jones and his crew were ordered to Nagasaki Bay for occupation duty shortly following the dropping of the bombs. Their mission was to restore communications. From his autobiography he wrote about this assignment. Because of the significantly historical nature of his (my husband’s) account, I share from it here:

“Occupation duty would be dangerous, even though fighting had ceased. Little did we know how very dangerous the assignment would be, for the aftermath of atomic fallout had not been studied extensively by scientists.”

Deployed from their main troop ship from a harbor in Hawaii, the radio crew and their officers and the radio equipment they needed were loaded onto an LST (Landing Ship Tank) and made the treacherous journey from Hawaii through storms at sea, finally arriving at Nagasaki Harbor.

Grover Jones continues in his journal: “A US Marine crew had arrived at Nagasaki some days before us and had established a base out in the mountains some few miles from the docks. The facility had been a prisoner of war building until the surrender of Japan.

“We were assigned to occupy what had been the customs building about six miles toward the entrance of the harbor. We quickly unloaded and were able to set up quite comfortably in those quarters.”

He follows with details of how they established radio communication. Then about the destruction from the atomic blast in the area where the Marines and Navy detachments were housed, Jones wrote:

“During my stay in Nagasaki, I made only one trip into the edge of the city. That part of Nagasaki was on the outer edge of the area struck by the atomic bomb. It had relatively small damage compared to the worst-hit sections. The people there who had survived the blast had unbelievably high respect for the American armed forces. They had brought an end to the terrible war the country had suffered for several years.

“A short distance from the part of the city we were in was utter destruction. Nothing remained. Within walking distance from the dock was the metal framework of a giant two-story building. It looked as if a giant hand had reached down and pushed the building toward the ground. The metal framework was twisted in every direction. No vegetation survived near the building.

“No warning was ever given to us that atomic radiation was there and might affect our bodies and possibly cause death or disease.”

The Navy detachment was successful in its mission to restore communication from Nagasaki to other American forces and ships in the general Pacific area. With that task completed, Seaman Third Class Grover Duffie Jones and his crew were sent on the long journey through stormy seas on a hospital troop ship back to the United States. They landed in Seattle, Washington in the midst of a bitter winter storm in January of 1946. Even his deployment from Seattle to Jacksonville, Florida for discharge from the Navy was frought with true stories of survival during a blizzard and severe winter weather in his westward travels on his way home.

His niece Betty Wilson salutes her uncle, RSp3 Grover Jones

He was honorably discharged from the U. S. Navy on February 11, 1946. He had been inducted on December 11, 1943 and entered active service on December 18, 1943. His record reads that he had a period of active service of two years, two months and one day. He wrote this at the end of his autobiographical sketch of his Navy service: “I returned home much older than the eighteen-year-old lad who left in the midst of wartime, and, I hope, much wiser for my experiences.”

Throughout several months of 1946, he suffered from a severe attack of painful arthritis, which rendered him unable to walk and in bed most of the time. He suspected, but neither he nor the doctors knew for sure, that the arthritis may have resulted from atomic fallout during his months in Nagasaki Bay. A faithful family doctor in Gainesville, Georgia where he then lived worked hard to pull him through that health crisis. He recovered enough to walk normally, but arthritis in one form or another was an ailment from which he never fully recovered for the remainder of his life to age 85 when he died on January 26, 2011 at Georgia War Veterans Home.

RSP3 Grover Jones was one of “The Greatest Generation,” that lofty, patriotic, brave group of servicemen whose love for God and country stand out as exemplary in the annals of our nation’s history.

c 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 10, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

SALUTE TO A SAINTLY MAN

Rev. Grover Duffie Jones
October 5, 1925 – January 26, 2011

Early on Wednesday morning, January 26, 2011, my beloved husband of sixty-one years departed this earthly life. Ours had been a partnership of sixty-one loving years. I recall here some of the highlights of his life that qualify him as a saintly man, one worthy to be remembered.

We met at Truett McConnell College, Cleveland, GA in the first year of that school’s operation. I recall the first “official” visit he made to Union County in the winter of 1948. He was editor of the school yearbook, then called the “Gannetaha.” He, another yearbook staff member, Jane Lindsey of Morganton, and I were on an ad-buying trip to Blairsville for the yearbook. We went by my Aunt Avery and Aunt Ethel Collins’s house in Choestoe to eat lunch and also by my father’s house for Grover and Jane to meet him. My Dad, always getting right to the point, said, “Are you one of the preacher boys at Truett McConnell?” At that time, though Grover said later he was dealing with the call to preach, he responded no to my father’s question. As it turned out, my father’s query was a prediction, for Grover did surrender to the call to gospel ministry.

We graduated in the first class from Truett McConnell College in May, 1949. We worked, he with Meadors Distribution Company contacting various stores as a route salesman in North Georgia and I in my first year of teaching at Choestoe School. We were wed at Choestoe Baptist Church on December 23, 1949.

Grover and Ethelene at her father’s house – 1950

In 1950, Grover announced his call to preach. We entered Mercer University, Macon, in the fall of 1950 to complete our last two years of college. Antioch Baptist Church at Blairsville called him as pastor, and we made trips twice a month where he fulfilled his preaching appointments and weekend visitation to members. By request of Antioch Baptist Church, he was ordained at Choestoe Baptist Church on August 19, 1951. This was the beginning of his work as a saintly and humble pastor, continuing at Antioch, then at Harmony Baptist Church, Eatonton; Union Hill at Gray; Mt. Hebron at Hartwell (his first full-time pastorate), McConnell Memorial at Hiawassee, and First Baptist Church, Epworth. For 21 ½ years he did the work of a pastor. From those six pastorates, many testify to his godly influence upon their lives and salute him as a saintly man.

His seminary training at Southern and Southeastern Seminaries was not on a full-time basis but might be described as “piecemeal,” as he went to “J” terms (January, June, July). Those studies were geared to assisting in-service pastors hone their skills in the pulpit and delve more deeply into the Scriptures. He became known for his saintly insights into the Word and his compassionate care for members of his congregation.

In October, 1972 he began another direction in his work. He became director of missions for the Morganton Baptist Association, Blue Ridge, Georgia. Later, the Mountaintown Association was added to his assignment, as well as being representative of the Georgia Baptist Convention to the Gilmer-Fannin Association.

Retirement Celebration – June 1988
Other minister, Dr. Maurice Crowder, was host of Grover’s "This Is Your Life"

For 16 ½ years he worked in associational work until he retired June 30, 1988. Even then, he could not give up the work he loved and for four years was a North Georgia consultant to churches and associations for the Georgia Baptist Convention. His gentle way with people combined with wisdom and insight, served him well in the capacity of denominational representative, speaker and consultant.

1983 - with his grandchildren Paula, Matthew, Elizabeth, B. J., Christie, Crystal, and Nathan

In the meantime, he was a saintly father and grandfather. Son Keith was born in Macon in 1952 and daughter Cynthia in Anderson, SC (while we were at Hartwell, GA) in 1957. They grew up, married, and gave us seven wonderful grandchildren. Grover was a loving father and grandfather, continuing his saintly qualities in family relationships and seeking to demonstrate Christian qualities before them by precept and example. Even though he was ill when his five great grandchildren began to come along in 2006 and since, all of his descendants rise up and call him saintly.

1943

His battle with health began shortly after he was discharged from the US Navy following World War II. A vicious arthritis attacked him in the summer of 1946. He dealt with that malady for most of the rest of his life. In 1993 his heart received a physical makeover with five bypasses heart surgery. In January, 1996 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He spent from early 2007 through his death January 26, 2011 in the special care unit of Georgia War Veterans Home, Milledgeville. Through sickness his saintliness was still in evidence. But even more evident was provision for his care during the sixteen years of his journey with Alzheimer’s.

Grover and Ethelene's 50th wedding anniversary, December 23, 1999

As his beloved wife of sixty-one years, I attest to his goodness and compassion. I gratefully acknowledge his devotion as my life companion and the facets of his ministry and wide influence. We brought his body back to the enfolding hills of Choestoe for burial. But in my heart of hearts I know that he is not dead. His influence will live on in my heart and in the hearts of those especially touched by his kind and compassionate ministry. To God be the glory.

c 2011 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published Feb. 3, 2011 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville, GA. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.