ky-footsteps Wednesday, 3 September 1997 Volume 01 : Number 211 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: WRFC71A@prodigy.com (MRS BEULAH A FRANKS) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 22:11:49, -0500 Subject: KY-F: NEWS: 100th Birthday, Cherry, Mrs. Kate - Jefferson Co KATE CHERRY CHALKS UP A CENTURY Smoke from the pipe she puffs wraps Mrs. Kate Cherry in a haze. What she's thinking about is her secret. "She's only this way with strangers," says Mrs. Mayme Robinson, operator of the nursing home. "She visits everybody in every other room every day. She keeps asking for work. Sometimes we let her wipe off the tables. At the rate she's going she'll live to be 105. "Grandma" Cherry picks that up quickly. "Another 100? Heavens, no, I don't want that!" Grandma, you see, will reach her first 100 on Tuesday. Her daughter, Mrs. Ella Steinmetz, 76, of 513 Baxter, has already ordered a cake. It will have two tiers and one candle for one century. "Don't want no fuss," says Grandma. "Just want my pipe. "How long have I smoked it? Why, all my life. Went to a baseball game once with my grandson. That day I smoked a whole pack of cigarettes." Says Mrs. Steinmetz: "Mama's just changed in the past two months. Only six weeks ago she did the twist one night when we had company. "She was living with my sister, Mrs. Nettie Burns. They'd lived together a long time. Then Nettie died last month and Mama seemed to lose her gumption. "Two years ago when she was 98 she decided to put a new chimney on her house (6667 Sylvania). "She climbed up on a ladder and took down what was left of the old chimney. Then she climbed up with one of those things full of cement that bricklayers use and she fell off. "My sister came running out in the yard and she said, "Mama, you really have killed yourself this time. She called the police and when they got there one of them knew her and he asked her what she was doing. "What does it look like I'm doing?" Mama said. `Can't you see I'm just lying here?'" "Anyway they took her to the hospital, and, do you know, she didn't even have one bruise? She went home and finished that chimney." Grandma says, "That's right, all I've ever done is work. I baked bread for people. And I did their washing. And I quilted. That's what I like....making quilts from little pieces." Grandma tells you other things that her daughter verifies. "I was born at the old City Hospital. My mother did the washing there. "And I went to school, but only for one grade. Because I used to run off. We lived down by the Point, and we were always moving when the river came up." Grandma's name then was Kate Ott. She married Fred Wilbanks and had four children. Mrs. Steinmetz is the only one living. After Wilbanks died she married William Cherry. Living in Louisville right now are Kate's 18 grandchildren, 200 great-grandchildren, and 29 great-great grandchildren. Since her birthday party is to be at noon, none of them will attend. "They're all working," says Mrs. Steinmetz. Besides, Grandma has made it clear to everybody, She "don't want no fuss." The Courier Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, August 25, 1963 >From the Scrapbook of Irene Wiley Judge Beulah Wiley Franks wrfc71a@prodigy.com ------------------------------ From: WRFC71A@prodigy.com (MRS BEULAH A FRANKS) Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 22:11:37, -0500 Subject: KY-F: NEWS: Atwood, Mr. & Mrs. William W. - Woodford Co THE ATWOODS...CITY FARMERS. When spring approaches each year, many citizens of Woodford County begin to anticipate a visit to a neat, well-kept little white house near the eastern edge of Versailles. The unmistakable sound of goat bells, a nostalgic but unfamiliar sound in these parts, often greets the visitor who arrives at the entrance to the home and greenhouse of Mr. and Mrs. William Wesley Atwood on Wilson Avenue. The Atwoods are well-known suppliers of vegetables and flowers for many customers, not only locally, but in the surrounding area as well. Born in Liberty, Kentucky in 1893, William Wesley Atwood left his home in 1919 to work for nine years on a farm. In 1928 he bought his present home here in Versailles. During the next 25 years he worked as an employee of both the county and the state, primarily in the road department, and also worked at the Cleveland Home as maintenance man. In 1916 Mr. Atwood married 19-year-old Mary Mariah Bertram, a resident of Wayne County, Ky. Five children were born to the couple over the next several years: Irene Byers, now of Cincinnati; Lula Faulkner, now of Lexington; William Atwood, now of Santa Mario, Cal.; Eunice Atwood, now of New York City; and Mildred Holt, who, with her daughter, Paula, now resides with her parents in Versailles. The Atwoods have eight grandchildren, more than twice that many great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. William and Mary Atwood, the heads of this growing clan, were featured in the Woodford Sun last year on the occasion of their 58th wedding anniversary. The Atwoods began their greenhouse venture in 1953, shortly after his retirement. Mr. Atwood sold vegetables from a truck for 10 or 12 years and was a familiar sight on Main Street in Versailles. In the middle 60's the couple began to sell exclusively from their home on Wilson Avenue. A visit to the home and greenhouse of these two hardy individualists is a pleasant and an informative experience. They remind one of the real meaning of the words "private enterprise" and "excellence in performance." The Woodford Sun, Versailles, Ky. June 12, 1975. >From the Scrapbook of Irene Judge Wiley Beulah Wiley Franks wrfc71a@prodigy.com ------------------------------ End of ky-footsteps V1 #211 *************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genelaogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons.Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent.