Austine Hunter Wallis (1927-2006)

This evening I was checking on line the Union Sentinel weekly newspaper of the Blairsville, Union County, Georgia, area, for this week when I read about my old friend Austine Hunter Wallis dying last week.

I was in Union County yesterday and was within a half mile of her homeplace and thought about dropping by paying her a visit but didn't.

Austine spent her life as an educator, as her husband George and her son Andrew. I am not sure about her daughter, I know she graduated from the university of Georgia but not sure if she is an educator as the rest of her family.

In my early years of research Austine called me late one night out of the blue and gave me some valuable information about my great-great grandfather Jason Henderson Hunter, and he was the son of John Hunter, who was also Austine's ancestor. That was the first time me communicated.

We have been communicating off and on since.

The first Sunday of June was the John Hunter Descendants Reunion in Union County. Austine was there in a wheelchair with a nurse and her son tending to her. She invited us over to her homeplace afterwards, which we followed them.

Her son Andrew gave us a tour of the house and how they are restoring to look as much as possible as it did when it first built in 1838, keeping the integrity of the kind of nails, lumber, bricks, design, etc.

Austine was weak, so she stayed in her room as we toured. When we came back we had a nice conversation. But at times during our conversations I saw her close her eyes. I don't know if she was in pain or tired.

I was told she had a tumor on her brain.

I carried to the reunion that day a book I printed from a genealogy program and had binded. I had plans of having it in case to point out to any one just how we were related and any other thing they might find interesting in the book about the Hunters that I dug up.

I didn't put it out for people to paw over. Instead, I gave it to Austine. I am glad I did, I don’t know what she did with it but I know she put it to good use.