Robert, Miss Willie's grandson, and his wife, Joyce, reside in Hattiesburg. Robert served as pastor for several years in Rota, Spain. Robert sent me the following e-mail which he is allowing me to post:
"Good to hear from you. No, we are not in Spain right now. You may be aware that we left there in August of 2005, but did not get home until over in September because Hurricane Katrina beat us here while we were still visiting our son in Rincon, GA. So we stayed with him about 10 days longer than planned. We joined Main Street Baptist Church in September and both started singing in the choir and Joyce started teaching a ladies Sunday School class pretty soon. Then about Christmas time, we learned that the church in Rota had stopped meeting after the pastor left amid controversy. We asked the few people left if we could help them find a pastor and come over for a couple of months to get them started meeting again. We left here the last part of January and got them (basically 2 families) meeting again. We left at the end of March when an interim pastor and his wife arrived. There were a few visitors while we were there, but no growth. However since we came home there has been some significant growth. Just last week however we learned that the pastor who was to come in June hopefully to be a permanent pastor will not be able to come. The current interim can not stay after June 20 because he is there as a tourist which can only be for 3 months at a time. We and they just found this out less than a week ago, so we don't know for sure what the next step will be. We would appreciate your prayers for the church.
I really enjoyed the Plantersville web site. I forwarded your e-mail and the link on to my sister, Elizabeth. I haven't heard from her, but I am sure she will be interested in it. You had told me once before about your mother being the one who delivered the message about Mack, Jr. We were living in Tippah county at the time, but I remember it although I was pretty young.
The article about my grandfather's murder reminded me of something. You mentioned that my grandmother was appointed Postmaster after his death. From the time my grandfather became Postmaster until I left the job of rural carrier there in 1985, at least one relative of mine worked in that Post Office in some capacity. After my grandmother retired, William Towery "Tack" Grant became postmaster. He was my grandmother's nephew. When he got the opportunity to do so, he took the job of rural mail carrier. He was in that job until I came to it in 1980. Incidentally during part of his tenure, the Postmaster was Carroll Mitchell who was my father's cousin on the Rogers side. So for the major portion of the 20th century I or one of my relatives worked in the Plantersville Post Office. That may not be of interest to anyone else, but it is to me.
I wish I knew when my grandfather became Postmaster. I remember my dad telling me that they were pretty sure who committed the murder, but there was insufficient evidence and as soon as the accused was released, he left the area for good. My dad told me that his father did not die immediately, but never woke up from the blow to his head. Apparently in his wounded condition he still managed to get the mail sack on the train that evening. After he was found, many people went up an down the railroad track trying to track down whoever had done it. My dad as a seventeen year old boy went one direction alone with the apparent murderer and told him what he would do if he ever found out who the guilty party was. He often thought later that at that moment he could have met a similar fate."
No comments:
Post a Comment