100th
Birthday for Bertha Payne
Family
and
friends held a reception in honor of Mrs. Bertha Payne's 100th birthday
at New
Tazewell's First Baptist Church on Wednesday evening. Five generations
of
family were represented at the reception. Mrs. Payne's only surviving
daughter,
Peggy Payne Chumley (pictured) and her son-in-law, Bill Chumley were
joined by
four of her grandchildren (Jim Chumley from Texas, Joe Chumley, Bill
Payne
Chumley and Margaret Schneider - all from Florida); 21 great
grandchildren and
two great, great grandchildren. Mrs. Payne's extended family includes
many
friends from church where she serves as an unofficial grandmother to
many of
the children. Photo by Ed Baldwin (More Pictures Here)
BERTHA
D
(Campbell aka "Mrs. Clarence C") PAYNE VISITS HER CHURCH AS ITS'
OLDEST MEMBER, ON HER 100TH BIRTHDAY
Bertha D. Campbell was the third child born
to Ewin & Martha Shumate Campbell. Her older brothers Lon, Neal and
younger
sister Eliza, constituted the family.
(Bear Creek is located SW of Lone Mountain near the old Walkers
Ford, on
the then Knoxville Road from Lone Mountain.)
Exactly,
one
hundred years later, on the evening of October 19, 2005, Bertha D.
Payne, an
amazing lady, AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 100, was honored at a reception,
which
proceeded the Wednesday night Prayer Service of the New Tazewell
Baptist
Church. She was the "oldest member in the recorded church history (so
we
are advised). The church memberships "CENTURY" celebration of her
birthday,
kinda spilled over into the Prayer Meetings allotted time.
Oh
well, no
one seemed to mind, as she seemed to again steam as the evening rapidly
waned.
For the first time in many years, she was out of the house to go to her
church,
instead of involuntarily being transported by ambulance to the
hospital.
She
visited
with a seemingly never ending group of the many well wishers attending,
some
traveled many miles, to honor this very inspirational lady. Many of
them, she
had not seen in many years
Bertha
is
well known & remembered by many, although, she says most of my
friends have
passed on, as she has lived in New Tazewell most all of her life, and
for many
years has served as the gathering center for the visiting Payne &
related
clans, which includes many nieces and nephews, that always visit with
Aunt
Bertha when in town. In fact, she spent most of the birthday on the
phone with
those that could not attend, but remembered her birthday
Due
to the
untimely death of Ruth Payne Lipton in Arkansas a few years ago, there
was a
gap in the other 5 generation set, but Bertha, Jane Lipton Wesson, Anna
Jane
Lipton McCormick and her son David L enjoyed the party.
Bertha has been adamant & determined, in
expressing her desires, as she says "I don't want anyone watching me
sleep", but has all of the companionship and care, that she will
accept,
in the form of her excellent & dedicated caretaker (Joyce Watson)
who has for
a number of years, kept close tabs on her (as much as Bertha P. will
allow her
to do), and is always on call. Joyce has always been there within
minutes, if
needed 24/7.
The
evolution of this celebration of the 100th was rather interesting, as
Bertha,
being the lady that she is, reserved the right and utilized, the
privilege of
changing her mind. After giving us the impression that she did not want
any
celebration of the 100th, she later, agreed to attend. We, at last,
realized
that she, in reality, was actually looking forward to it. After all,
it's
always been said that changing of the mind is a women's right.
A
few weeks
before the birthday, Kathryn Ault Watts (niece, South Carolina) called
Peggy,
saying: her daughter Judy Watts Breckenridge, (Greeneville, TN.) phoned
me to
see if you folks have planned anything to celebrate Aunt Berthas' 100th
birthday, and if not we would like to arrange something. Peggy
responded;
"Mother has so much difficulty understanding when more than one
conversation is going on, and she wants to talk to all, therefore
preferred
visiting with only a few at the time, and based on what she has
indicated to
me, may not be in favor of it."
During
these
days, some of the Lord’s messengers, Alex Pressnell, Chris & Nancy
Whitaker,
Rose Ann Clark, and some other local talents, were trying to get BP to
agree to
some festivities at the church.
She finally agreed to attend, for a couple of
hours before the usual Wednesday night prayer service, in fact, when
she indicated
to us, on the telephone that“ Bill, (son in law in Florida), and Gene,
(grandson in Texas), can get me into the car and take me up to the
church”, we
finally felt that it was a “go”!
Food,
decorations and a LARGE 100th Birthday Cake, were very graciously
provided by
the good cooks of the Church, and we all enjoyed the nostalgia that
exudes when
many “old” pictures from “by gone” days are relocated from all over,
are
viewed.
Thanks
to
e-mail and telephone, many of those attending from far off places, made
last
minute plans to get someone to “cover for them at work”, catch planes,
meet
planes and make the scene a memorable one.
Her
daughter-in-law, Sammie McCrory Payne (Widow of William G. “Bill”
Payne) came
from Welder, TX, with (her son) grandson William G. “Gene” and wife
Trudy Payne
from Dallas, TX, granddaughter Susan Payne & husband Harold
Cobbler, with
great granddaughter Jennifer and her fiancé Antonio from
Victoria, TX.
Her
niece
Kathryn Ault Watts from Union S.C., with her daughter Judy Watts
Breckenridge, and
one of their daughters, Audra, now residing in Greeneville, TN. (Judy’s’ husband, Dr. Rufus Breckenridge
made the scene also. He’s also good at changing flat tires, too!)
Mary
Ault
Cooper, grandniece from Alabama (grand daughter of Irene & Lawrence
Ault)
and her husband, Johnny
Her
niece
Amy Payne Potts, daughter of Roger & Alberta Cody Payne came from
near
Columbia, S.C.
Numerous
out
of town guests” visited with Bertha by telephone " finishing off
several
action filled” days, and she “weathered the storm” real well. In fact,
one
could surmise that it was really good for her!
The family
would like to express their most sincere appreciation to the NEW
TAZEWELL
BAPTIST CHURCH folks, on her behalf (and ours), for prevailing on her,
to allow
these festivities, hosting a celebration party, Chris Whitakers'
video show,
hospitality and food.
May
the
Lords’ blessing be upon those that worked so diligently to prevail on
her to
allow so many to see and honor her on that day, as she finally conceded
that
she too, in reality, did want it to happen.
Tn. "Post mortems" 'er something! June 26, 2007While I don't know where to start, ( and I'm trying to include so many) You'll just have to "bare" with me, as I, in my "elderly" condition have not recuperated yet, ( Peggy/mom, too!) but you can bet I"m/we're workin' on it!
Once again, we "ran the gauntlet" from Fl to Tn. to check on Bertha and see the "clan" and enjoyed all of it., and say thanks, once again, GOOD LORD, that we're able to make the scene
Recent research told us that in the past 9 years, we've averaged 6 trips per year, ranging from a high of 9 down to 3 trips per year, so we should be getting used to it! Unfortunately, since I had to quit flying the 3 1/2 hour trip, each one seems to be getting longer, in spite of my best of around 10 1/2 hours "car time" - but it's worth it, as Mamaw Payne seems to brighten up when she has company to look forward to, and it finally culminates, and this time we had a real bonus, with all of you that visited her..
Joyce (Bertha's "on scene" caretaker,) had "warned us" about the refrigerator "stinking" since somehow the freezer portion got "tuned off", resulting in one heck of a lingering stink.In spite of Joyce's cleaning, "de-stinking" etc. for a couple of weeks before we arrived. I bought and completely utilized .a BIG box of Arm & Hammer soda "de- stinker" stuff during the week, only to find that the stink outlasted the "destinker". It also lingered on during our entire visit, so we just left it, (we thought).
Not so, as we later found out, while heading south to Florida, it was accompanying us "capped up" in our "iced up" water bottle, as some of the residual remained in our ice cubes. Oh well. so much for that, needless to say, we endured in spite of that!
We understand that Mamaw enjoyed the visits of her company/family, and even expressed the thought that it was spread too thin. What does she expect? I'm not sure she would be happy, even if every one "lines up" in a "que" outside the nursing home so she can "talk" to each one individually. It seems that she gets distracted, by too many conversations going on at one time. Oh well, overall, I would score it rather high on the successful impromptu success ladder. I feel we are very fortunate to have her around at her almost 102 age, with the facilities that she continues to possess. In other words, thanks to all that found the time to visit her.
We arrived in Tn. on Tuesday, did our visiting with her, "doctored the refrigerator" took inventory, made the grocery store scene, and "settled in" . Wed was more of the same settling in; in fact, I even got some of the "big cooler full" of "old fashioned picture "slides" out of the car, and did some "slide shows", throwing out some of the more faded ones (also some that were pure bad photography, by you know who.
Thursday was a day of family arrivals, as Joe & Chryl with the dog I call ""Dust Mop"; Bill, Kathy, Dennis and their dog "Dingo", Margaret. Shannon, Mat & dog "Beau", Jane Lipton Wesson, Doug, Elizabeth, & Gene Payne, but Gene had to return to the Knoxville airport the next day to "rescue his bride, Trudy. Anna Jane, Clint and Landon (Janes' grandson from Arkansas) & Margarets' James with his buddy Anthony also arrived to enjoy the meeting of relatives. Hope I have not inadvertently omitted any one
While all of this was going on, it seems that someone saw fit to "push the lock in" on the downstairs bathroom door, and proceeded to close the door, thus effectively locking up the "potty room" for everyone.
Thursday night, after working on it for what seemed to me to be a long time (I was somehow under the impression, that we had one of the kids locked in there) the old "cold chisel with the accompanying hammer" finally worked, as they built locks like "Fort Knox" back in the 50's. However, the someone that I thought, was supposed to be "locked in" had magically disappeared. Thank the good Lord.!
Friday & Saturday saw a big "dent" made in Colonel Sanders Finger Lickin' Fried Chicken & the paper plate supply, so we didn't have much dish washing to do, leaving more visiting time for all.
Friday morning after all the "vittles" had disappeared, Joe and I started in on the "replacement job", which from past experience, I knew that "what had been standard" in 1950 had long ago changed We made the first of the ensuing three trips to the Ace hardware, buying a new door lock etc., along with a "jig" needed to enlarge an already existing hole with no solid "center", to start with. After returning to the house, it seems that we also needed a "rat tailed file/wood rasp to finish up the alignment of the "new" hole. Upon our return, we discovered that we should have also bought a 1/'2 inch wood chisel, too. So back to the store we went. We finally completed the job.
Margaret started vacuuming the downstairs, only to discover that the vacum cleaner was not "sucking" and was ready to go get a new one, when we decided to "let's look at this one to see if we can find what is wrong with it." We did and ended up, disassembling same to remove about an 8" long "plug" of stuff "stopping it up", then finished the job, late in the afternoon, thus somewhat limiting our proposed visiting. We did make a quick, but short, visit to Lone Mountain.
I thought I'd make it down to Knoxville, to see my "old cohort in crime" cousin Tom Ailey, but Margaret & I got involved in housecleaning and repairing the vacuum. (Mom later told me there was another one upstairs.)
Saturday afternoon, Mom & I were late getting started down to Lone Mountain, to do our "mingling" and getting there late, missed some of the "official" photographs.
We, later, were advised that there may have been some earlier "confusion", by a few, as to who should be included in some official pictures, made before Peggy arrived. How confused can one get, when allegedly stating, (or words to that effect): " Why are we waiting? The Chumley family doesn't belong in the picture!" They are not Payne's !"
I suppose you all realize that your mom ("Peggy" PAYNE Chumley) just happens to be the OLDEST LIVING, DIRECT (BLOODLINE), DESCENDENT of B.M. & A. Payne, but apparently some folks didn't realize it, as someone apparently didn't consider her, or you, as part of the PAYNE family. HELLO ! I believe someone may have had a lapse in memory, since we didn't see anyone else around there that had any more "Payne blood" in them than Peggy and you kids! So, we strongly feel that all do qualify.(or maybe we have been "divorced". Bertha is oldest Payne by name, but NOT a bloodline descendent.)
Of course Mom & my late arrival may have contributed to the "faux pas", as we had not arrived in time. the fact is that we didn't even know that there was to be an "official" photographer involved, or we would have tried to get there in a timely manner.
Oh well, although I may not be, Peggy & you are sure enough "blood line HALF PAYNE". I know I'm not, but for the last 62 years, I've always thought you were! Maybe some of the younger ones present, didn't realize that, and certainly some of the older ones should not have forgotten.
We really appreciate the folks, (Linda, David, Mike and all the others) that contributed to making it happen and giving us the opportunity to get together once again.
To all, the best, and we love ya all.
End of 1st 'spasm"- stay tuned to see what else evolves - if and when there is a 2nd "spasm"!
Love ya a bunch
Dad n Mom and to others whatever "turns ya on"
Joe Payne's Claiborne County
Website