Russ and Helen's new home. circa 1949/50 |
Russ took a photo of Helen in front of their new home |
She would have nothing to do with his flirty way. She had been told about sailor boys. But he persisted and they courted, it went well and in time they eloped to Clayton, Georgia.
And Helen took a photo of Russ |
A house was built on the hill for them with materials bought by his mother Pearl. It was a big house, oak hardwood floors, knotty pine paneled walls with six bedrooms and two baths.
Perhaps, Pearl expected a gaggle of grandchildren, that was the way in the mountains but Russell and Helen decided two were enough, a boy and a girl. Darlene Bales Brett was the second-born, and me? I was the first.
Russ and Helen spent their entire 60 year marriage in this one home.
For decades this house and two seasonal rentals below it were the center of the family's universe. The absolute center. And times were good. It was a happy family that celebrated over 50 Christmases in a big way in the living room that looked out on the rest of the world.
Russ with squirrels |
But on Monday evening, November 28, all the homes and support houses in this story and in the photographs along side burned to the ground in a matter of minutes. Such an inferno, even the grass was charred away.
All of it gone.
The detritus that's left? Only ashes, cinder blocks and cobblestones carried up from Baskins Creek, our hereditary water.
But this is but one home and the one story that it contained. Hundreds of homes burned to the ground that horrific night in Gatlinburg and Sevier County. Other families lost so very much more. Feel for them. Help them. We lost the touchstones to 100,000 memories, but the memories are still there only the touchstones are gone.
We miss you Mom and Dad. Happy anniversary.
So many pictures taken on those steps. This with Latham cousins, 1958 |
Winter snows, left 1966, Darlene right 1965 |
Left 1965, Darlene and friend Donita right, 1962 |
The last time I saw the old homeplace standing, November 2015 |
© 2016 From the upcoming book,
"Vintage Gatlinburg:
The Transformation of a Small Timber Town to a Mountain Resort
Family Remembrances 1899-1969"
The Transformation of a Small Timber Town to a Mountain Resort
Family Remembrances 1899-1969"
by University of Tennessee Press author and native son
Stephen Lyn Bales
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