my great aunt edith robb
edith ranier george robb was born near mount ranier, washington in the early 1980's. her mother was a carr, i think; and her father was edgar george who had come perhaps from the kentucky valley and was employed in the lumber trade. i do not know much more about the george family origins, although i have read that "george" occurs as a last name primarily in wales and greece. i would guess that these are the welsh georges, possibly from south wales.
my grandfather, allen sumner george, sr., was born to the same parents a few years later in about the same location. there was a third sibling who was stillborn, and their mother died from complications of childbirth. sometime after that, edgar george was killed in, i believe, a logging accident.
edith and allen were sent to relatives back east, perhaps in indiana or illinois. they went on the train and had signs around their necks with their names and destinations. unfortunately, their relatives already had too many children to raise and sent them on to an aunt and uncle in newkirk,oklahoma, uncle cal and aunt lizzie, who raised them. cal and lizzie had participated in a famous land run in the oklahoma panhandle and took two city lots in newkirk. on one they built a house, and on the other perhaps opened a restaurant.
allen at least was trained on the piano. aunt lizzie attended all three protestant churches in town and was very religious. allen graduated from high school early, worked as a schoolteacher in the creek indian country, and eventually went into selling oil field drilling equipment. he married my grandmother, florence delia sudderth george, in nowata, oklahoma, and they eventually settled in texas.
edith went to nursing school. at some point she may have lived with allen and flo in texas, but eventually she moved to california where she married bob robb. they lived in san diego. sometimes they would come to texas, sometimes on the bus. after uncle bob was gone, edith continued to work as a nurse and then as a housemother in a dormitory for nursing students. after she retired, i visited her in san diego in 1961 after attending summer science camp in stockton, california. we went to disneyland, knott's berry farm, marineland of the pacific, the laguna beach art festival and tia juana to the jai alai games besides touring san diego. we did all of that by bus.
later aunt edie moved back to texas to be close to her family. she was an importnat and integral part of our gatherings. when she was in her seventies ( i am in my seventies now), i took her to the newly opened six flags over texas amusement park. we had a good time, but she almost lost her balance in a twisted house. other than that, she rode almost everything.
edie died in her 80's, living off camp bowie boulevard in west fort worth. she still rode the bus and attended two different methodist churches every sunday. one day she had a stroke and had to go to a nursing home. she lived for quite sometime. my aunt dorothea nesbit went to see her almost every day and took her stawberries in season. i was away in california at the time. she died, i think, in 1973 and is buried in greenwood park with her brother and his wife and their daughter dorothea or dodo. i have another aunt and uncle buried nearby, and it is not far to the urn burial plot where my father and mother and younger brother are interred.
edie was not very tall, about 5 feet. she dressed nicely, was thrifty, and sometimes had pinkish or blue whispy hair. mother was very fond of aunt edie, as was my aunt maxine. i have a chest of drawers here in my room that belonged to edie. it came from california.
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