Walter Wade Ezzell
and
Audry Barber Tompkins
Walter Wade EZZELL, son of James William "Willie" EZZELL and Lizzie Myrtle MASSEY, was born 15 Jun 1910 in Franklin County, Alabama, died 23 Jan 2004 in Country Cottage, Russellville, Franklin County, Alabama at age 93, and was buried 26 Jan 2004 in Belgreen Cemetery, Belgreen, Franklin County, Alabama.
Walter married Audrey Barber TOMPKINS, daughter of Rufus Alonzo "Lonnie" TOMPKINS and Vida Estella BARBER, 23 Dec 1939. Audrey was born 24 Feb 1911 in Belgreen, Franklin County, Alabama, died 1 Dec 2001 in her residence at age 90, and was buried 4 Dec 2001 in Belgreen Cemetery, Belgreen, Franklin County, Alabama.
Note from Pam Moore, granddaughter of Wade and Audrey Ezzell:
"Walter Wade Ezzell was a farmer, an iron ore mine worker, and a retired employee of Russellville Flowercraft. He lived from birth until 2002 less than one mile from the house in which he was born, near Williams Hollow on Little Bear Creek, with the exception of one year as a child when the family lived in Halltown. Walters's parents were James William Ezzell and Lizzie Myrtle Massey.
He married Audrey Barber Tompkins on December 23, 1939. He had their wedding date carved in the bottom of a bed he bought from a Mr. Andy McKinney. I have the bed with the date carved in it. When Walter and Audrey married, Louie and Opal, his brother and his wife stayed at Willie Ezzell's house, Louie’s daddy, and let Walter and Audrey stay at their house for their wedding night.
Both Walter and Audrey told that before they married they made an agreement when they had children they would not fuss in front of the children. Gay, my mother and the oldest daughter said she thought everybody got along as well as her mother and daddy did. She didn't understand until later that every household does not go smooth all of the time like she thought it did.
I lived with my grandparents and made every step that my grandfather made. He had a very dry sense of humor and would give the shirt off of his back to someone he felt that needed it.
Grandpa, mama and I would go fishing at the pond for hours. We would go and cut wood for the fire place, I helped load and unload it. I did a lot of things with my grandmother but I still can’t make those apple pies like she could.
Walter and Audrey lived in a little house past Louie Ezzell's house on the left of the old road which is HWY. 227 toward the water. It was built out of boards and well built. It had a living room, back rooms which were the bedrooms and also a front and back porch. In the little house, my grandmother Audrey made the curtains out of feed sacks and they were bright and pretty. These feed sacks had color imprinted designs. Sheets and pillow cases were also made from these feed sacks.
My grandmother Audrey cooked everything on a black wood stove. There was no electricity in the little house. They used kerosene lamps to read by. She would bake pies; apple, chocolate or egg custard. My aunt Joyce loved the crust on the pies. She would always save it to the end so she could eat it last. One time my grandmother thought she just didn't want the crust on the pie so she reached over picked up the crust and ate it. Joyce objected, but it was too late. Grandmother already had it in her mouth. She apologized to Joyce.
Gay remembers the first time they had electricity in the little house. There was one light bulb in the room but it seemed that the whole room gleamed with loads of light. This area of the county was the last to receive electricity and they always believed it was because of the political preference.
Grandmother had lots of flowers, especially holly-hocks and marigolds. Across from the side of the house is where my aunt Joyce and my mother Gay played. (This is where the Louie and Opals’ pavilion is now.)
Joyce and Gay would fashion clay pots and let them bake in the sun. My aunt Joyce Ezzell Davis remembers nothing bad ever happening there, she says it’s because she was so small and nothing was probably ever discussed with her.
Wayne Benson (my grandfather's nephew) and Charles E. Burrow (my grandmother's second cousin) came down to the little house a lot. Charles E. would ride my aunt Joyce on his back in the floor playing horses. Joyce states those were very fond memories. Joyce also had a stick horse named Dan that she kept behind the door.
One time while they lived there, there was a huge snow storm. Audrey Ezzell borrowed enough boots so everyone could go out into the snow. She wanted everyone to remember that huge snow, the way it looked and felt on your face. The way it felt when you walked in it. They walked from the little house to the wooden bridge which would have been about ¾ of a mile. Joyce states she still remembers that walk in such details.
Walter Ezzell went to school at Bradley’s Chapel, Sparks School House and Belgreen. In 1916 he went to Bradley’s Chapel, a school which is about 8 miles from his home, so he rode a mule to school. He tied the mule up to a hitching post for the day. Walter and his siblings walked to Sparks School house which would have been a total of about 3 to 4 miles.
One time he walked upon a skunk and tried to catch it. The skunk sprayed him, but he went on to school. Everyone at school was saying how they smelled a skunk and Walter went along with everybody saying he smelled it to. After going home that afternoon Vida, his mother, washed those clothes 3 or 4 times and never got the smell out and she finally buried those clothes.
In 1926 Walter went to Belgreen and he also had to ride a mule to school. At the Belgreen School there was a hitching post to tie the mules and horses. He went to Belgreen in the 9th grade at age 15. In the 9th grade he did a paper on the presidents of the United States. Each president has a picture and a short summary. I have this paper. Walter graduated in 1929. Walter was the first to get a regular diploma.
Louie and Vera, his siblings, dropped out of school. Vera married very young, barely 17 years old. I do not know if Icie and Ira got a diploma or not but they went on to college. Icie and Ira both taught for a while. Icie was the librarian at Belgreen until she retired.
After Walter Ezzell graduated at Belgreen High School in 1929, he borrowed some money and went to Auburn College by way of train. Walter had never been away from the Little Bear Creek area. He got home sick very quickly.
After three days in Auburn he decided to come back home, so he caught the train back to Belgreen. When his maw, Lizzie Massey Ezzell, saw him she cried. She said, “Son, all you will ever be able to do is farm these old hills and hollows.” Walter said, “Mama that’s all I ever wanted to do.”
Walter loved the land, he was very satisfied and content with farming. He lived his whole life within a mile of where he was born with an exception of one year in 1916 when his family moved to Halltown in hopes of having better crops. The entire family had the flu that year and crops did terrible. Since the crops did so bad they moved back after one year. He worked in Arkansas one time, only a temporary thing.
James William “Will” Ezzell, Walters’s daddy, had a sorghum mill. Walter helped with that. They got sugar cane off of some of the land across from Williams Hollow and made and sold molasses. After the sugar cane matures it is harvested by striping off the leaves, removing the head of seeds and cutting the stalk off close to the ground. After this process the stalk is all that's left. The cane is crushed and strained to remove pieces of the stalk and the juice is squeezed out . The juice is then boiled until it becomes thick. After this process you get to eat the finished product. My grandpa and I liked it with butter and hot biscuits.
Walter loved the land. He owned about 400 areas before TVA took control. He used to farm all of the bottom land. He had mules that he plowed with for years. I remember one mule he named “Ole John”. He sold him to this man that had been trying to buy him for a long time. A few days later the man called and said that John had died and wanted his money back. My grandfather gave him his money. My grandfather had a very dry sense of humor. He said, “Well, Ole John died. I guess he grieved himself to death.”
Walter Ezzell and his family farmed mainly cotton and corn which was the main livelihood of the family. They also grew other vegetables like potatoes. They farmed what was called 'the bottoms' which is mostly under the water now because of the TVA Dam construction.
They would go the fields by way of mule and wagon. They would cross the fords when the water was down (a ford is a shallow creek) and when the water was up, they would have to walk the foot log.
Audrey, Opal, Gay, Joyce and Donald would hoe the Johnson grass out of the corn, chop the cotton, which was planted at the place called the cherry tree piece, which is located across from the Williams Hollow Boat ramp. They ate under the cherry tree which was in the middle of the field and would rest under the tree on a quilt. When Opal and Audrey would get home, they would clean up breakfast dishes and cook and get ready for another long day in the field the next day. Most of the time Walter, Audrey, Gay, Joyce, Opal and Donald would work in the fields. Louie Ezzell, Walters’s brother, went to work at Reynolds.
One time when they were all in the cotton fields, Donald, Walter’s nephew decided he would pull a prank on everyone. We always took our lunch, because we left so early and didn't get back until late. They had only one water jug. Donald stated don’t drink the water I “tinkled in it”. Then later he said no he didn't, go ahead and drink, then someone would start to drink it and he said he did. Finely the water was poured out because they didn't know if he did or not. His mother and Uncle were not happy.
Another time, Gay and Donald raced to see who could pick the most cotton. Donald's weighed the most and when they poured out the bags, his bag had a large rock in the bottom of it.
One day Walter, Audrey, Opal and the kids started home from the fields and the children, Gay, Joyce and Donald wanted to go swimming in the creek. Walter told them they could walk on down to the creek but “Do NOT go into the water until I get there.”
When Gay, Joyce and Donald got to the creek, the fun in the water got the best of them so they decided to go on and swim in the creek. When Walter got to the creek he was not a happy camper. He cut a switch (a lean limb) and whipped Gay and Joyce on the legs, Joyce said that was the only spanking (whipping) that she remembered getting from her daddy. Gay and Joyce cried. The water was deep in this area, they could have easily drowned. Donald didn't get nearly as bad a whipping as they did she said.
Part of the time, Pa, Willie Ezzell (my mother and aunt called him Pa) would drive the wagon to the field. Gay, Donald and Joyce would sit in the back end of the wagon, Opal and Audrey in the front with Willie. One morning they started to the field, and the mules started acting up. There was a huge rattlesnake coiled up where our feet were hanging down. Willie stopped the wagon and killed the snake. Gay, Joyce and Donald did not hang their feet off the back for a while.
Walter and Louie bought a Case tractor and Louie liked the tractor and my grandpa did not, Louie worked at Reynolds so most of the time Pa (Willie) and grandpa (Walter) did the plowing. Sometimes they would hire some people to help in the fields. One time they hired the family of the Clarks that lived in Belgreen and another time some of the Scott family that helped with the fields.
In 1953, when Joyce was nine years old, Walter and Audrey moved up the hill to the house they spent most of their life. Walter got a job with Shook and Fletcher Mining Company. This mine was located by Jo and Peggy Taylor's and the Old Lee house which is on the left on HWY. 187 past the Belgreen School. He made 35 dollars per week which was really good money back then. He worked at the mining company for a few years. The mine shut down and moved to another state, Walter then got the job at Flower Craft until he retired.
Walter’s boss was a Mr. Nading; he was from the north, possible Wisconsin. He was a very nice man according to my Aunt Joyce. When the company moved, Mr. Nading wanted my grandfather to move with them. Walter asked Audrey if she would move with him. She told him she would, if that was he wanted to do. He really did not want to go and got the job at Flower Craft in shipping and receiving during this decision making period. Audrey always stated, her home would always be where Walter and the kids were.
Walter and Audrey didn't get married until 1938 because her mother, Vida was in such bad health. Walter Ezzell lived at his parent’s house which was located on the hill above the boat dock at Williams Hollow.
One time she thought if she was going to get him she had to do it because he would not keep on waiting. They were in the same class and high school sweet hearts. They were married on December 23, 1938.
Grandmother became pregnant in August of 1940 with twins. When her mother found out she was pregnant with twins she contacted Walter’s sister, Rosemond. She had Rosemond to promise that she would stay with Audrey during the birth and afterwards. Vida was very worried about Audrey. The twins, a boy and a girl were born on April 28, 1941. The boy was stillborn, the girl was named Barbara Gay Ezzell.
The boy was buried down on Pa (Willie) Ezzell place. This would be in Louie Ezzell’s back yard. Grandmother always worried about her son not being buried in a cemetery with a marker. My grandmother was very sick after having the twins. The only medication available at that time was sulfur drugs which she was given. It took weeks before she was any better and in later years it was learned she was allergic to sulfur.
My grandfather refused to talk about losing the son. He never discussed his death to any of our knowledge to anyone. When my grandmother was very sick she would talk about this child to my aunt Joyce. She told her she thought about the child all of the time. My aunt Joyce told her, “When you get to heaven, I think you will know that child as a child and an adult.” Grandmother wanted to know how can that be. Joyce told her I don’t know but I believe that. You will have that child waiting on you. This seemed to satisfy her and make her content. It was not unusual for people to lose one to two children at birth during this time frame.
Gay has always had tons of energy, excessive energy. I have always heard that twins who loss their partner may have excess energy. A theory about twins is when one loses their partner they have lots of energy. Elvis Presley was a twin and had loads of energy at least when he danced.
When Joyce was a small child, Audrey taught her to sew. When she was doing it wrong, she would make her take it out and do it again. Audry always said that this was the way her mother taught her and that was the way she was going to teach her daughters. You need to remember the underside always needs to look just as good as the outside. "
Photo and story contributed by Pam Moore
3rd Great-Granddaughter of
James Monroe & Sarah Ann (Hunnicutt) Ezzell
Created September 17, 2008
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