Thursday, February 27, 2014

Guessed Right


Granted, there were many papers tucked in the packet that included the letter from my grandmother’s friend, Zemla Doke Griffith, about high school reunions and class gatherings in Fort Meade, Florida. While much of the material was organized and kept in one separate package by my grandmother, Rubie McClellan Davis, apparently one stray page escaped my attention until just last night.

It was a list, in order, of names of the members of the student body of 1912 as they appeared in the photograph commemorating that recognition night at Fort Meade High School in September, 1983.

When I first shared that photograph from an undated, unidentified newspaper source, you may recall that I had my guesses regarding the identity of the former Zemla Doke, my grandmother’s good friend (and evidently the official “Class Grumbler” for the Class of 1919).


Once quick glance at this page added to Zemla’s letter to Rubie confirms just which face matches up with her name—and gives us the opportunity to know the names of the rest of this group posing for their picture. Hopefully, just like you and me, someday some of their descendants will be searching for more information on them and will find this entry from Zemla gives them a peak into a bit of what went into the day to day lives of their ancestors, too.

Group picture:
Front row L to R.
Annabelle Lewis Wiggins
Maude Lightsey Jones
Zemla Doke Griffith
Maud McAuley (Don’s wife)
Edith McAuley Allen
Jeanette Rivers
Eva Rivers Sexton

Back Row L to R.
John “Buck” Enzor
Austin Clifton
Fred Bobbet
Lawrence Adams
Don McAuley
John Wingate
E. C. Botts
Wylie Rivers

3 comments:

  1. Excellent!

    And in other totally unrelated news, yesterday while doing a little research on Ancestry, I ran across a "Zelma" (which made me think of Zemla -- wonder if her parents meant "Zelma") and a "Flavius."

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    1. Really? That's incredible, Wendy!

      I had at first given that a thought myself--the possibility that "Zemla" was really a dyslexic "Zelma"--but apparently, everyone used to hearing her name spoken also spelled it that same way, so I'm presuming it really was Zemla.

      But to think of Zelma and Flavius...

      When worlds collide...

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  2. Does the snoopy dance that someone labeled the photo!!!!

    :) ...and is thankful you published it for others to find - hopefully their will be at least some!

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