Sadly, yesterday I learned that my 104 year old distant cousin Dora Hunter Spvia had died in Blairsvile, Georgia.
Her 104th birthday was exactly two weeks ago. She was born February 10, 1905, and died February 24, 2009. Her parents were James Andrew Hunter (1847 – 1912) and Martha Lucinda Souther (1866-1937). James Andrew’s parents were William Johnson Hunter (1813 – 1899) and Margaret Elizabeth “Peggy” England (1819 – 1925) and William Johnson’s Hunter’s father was John Hunter (1775 – 1848), or common progenitor.
Dora first married Frank Allison (1891-1969) and secondly Daniel Spiva (1900-1985).
About a week or so ago I thought she might have passed on. My counter on my blog showed more traffic than usual to the posts that featured her. I checked what papers for her obituary and she wasn’t mentioned.
After all, she was over 104, the numbers were against her living many more years.
It was always a pleasure when I talked to her. She was always lively, witty, and outspoken…and clever as a fox as far as remembering names. She carried herself and carried on as someone much younger.
I met her in about 1978 and 1979 when I went to the first Descendants of John Hunter in Blairsville. Since then I felt she gave off the radiance of knowing me all my life. Of course I am the most forgettable character anyone has ever met, so each year that I attended the reunion I could tell she recognized seeing me before but not really speaking my name until she got a good look at my name tag.
Thank God for name-tags!
I was told by a neighbor that was a student of Dora that her niece told my neighbor that the night before a high school reunion she studied the year books to get the faces with the names so recognizing them the day of the reunion looked as if she remembered them – which many she did, she were closely related to many of them… but even the ones she had to cram over a year book the night before, that took some studying only a sharp mind could do.
I will miss her seeing her at the reunions.
She was buried at the Choestoe Baptist Church in the Choestoe Community of Union County, Georgia.
4 comments:
She was pretty, too.
And graceful too.
Hi Eddie,
I will miss Aunt Dora too. I hope to see you at the reunion again this year. It will seem strange not to have Aunt Dora there..... Does this mean we have another half a century ahead of us?!!! I am afraid those are strong genes and tough shoes to fill. (Hmmm.....I believe I prefer to go barefoot!)
:-)
Hope to see you in June.
Dani (Hunter cousin from CHA)
Dani,
This is a pleasant surprise. Thank you. Yes, the reunion will not be the same this year with Dora and also Tommy Alexander gone.
We hope to go but we are dealing with my mother-in-law's health issues at the moment, which is not knowing what the next day (or hour) will bring.
I have been thinking about running the Hunter genealogy over my blog in about ten or more segments and was going to contact you over email about John Hunter's parents.
Eddie
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