UPSON COUNTY, GA - HISTORY  MEMORIES I Remember

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
Hartford Pryor

Mr. Pryor writes a column each month for the Upson Historical Society Newsletter.

MARCH 2002

In the year 1947 in the Roland Road
Community there was a family named Mr. &
Mrs. Nathan Pollard. They had 9 children:
Mondell, Mordeze, Roscoe, Paul, David,
Bill, Joe, William and Mattie Lou. They
all attended a 1 room schoolhouse named
Sunnyside where Mrs. G. H. (Ethel)
Phillips taught all 8 grades with a total
of 24 students.

Mattie Lou was a good speller and Mrs.
Phillips, who lived near the Pollard
family gave her special lessons at night.

The Atlanta Journal sponsored the Spelling
Bee in Georgia and Mattie Lou won in Upson
County. Mrs. Ella (Cloud) Joiner of 296
Easy Street said Mattie Lou beat her on
the word "COUNCIL." Next, Mattie Lou won
in Georgia, and Upson County came alive to
help her go to Washington DC.   Everyone
began to raise money   for Mattie Lou,
Mrs. " Pollard, and Mrs. Phillips, to buy
them clothes and to pay for the trip. On
the day they left, they almost missed
their train in Atlanta. Mr. Holstun, who
was to take them, got stuck in Upson's red
mud.

After sight seeing, it was time for the
Spelling Bee. In the sixth round, Mattie
Lou almost lost out on PEDIGRED.
Accustomed to Southern drawls, she
misunderstood the word. The judge ruled in
her favor. Finally, she won by spelling
CHLORPHYLL.

She became a celebrity.   Gordon Holstun
and Mayor Frank Binford met her in Atlanta
and presented her with a bouquet of roses.
A motorcade brought the party into town
for a big celebration at the Courthouse
that was led by Gov. M. E. Thompson.

Mattie Lou is now Mrs. Mattie Lou Cato and
lives in Stockbridge. She is 69 years old
and has 2 children and 3 grandchildren.