A Home for Generations
Gladys Gives a Legacy of Love
Grace Phillips
Ashland Beacon
Have you ever thought about what life was like in 1920…103 years ago? Warren G Harding was president; WWI had ended a little over a year earlier; television had not been invented; home telephones were 10 years away; women couldn’t vote; it was the time of Prohibition, Kool-Aid and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were invented and the world was recovering from a pandemic of the Spanish Flu. It was also the year that Gladys Ann Davis was born on February 13th in a two- story log home that had been in the family for generations.
It is hard to imagine the changes in the world someone born then had witnessed. Gladys was the oldest of four children to Mike and Emma Davis. Her father was a farmer and carpenter. He soon began making additions to the original home in order to fit the needs of a growing family.
As a teen, Gladys met Ollie James McCarty and was married. Another generation began to raise a family in the old log house. Gladys and Ollie had four children: Gertrude, Emma Margaret, Michael, and Joann. Life was not easy for the young family. The Great Depression had gone on for more than a decade when Gertrude was born in 1939. That year was also the beginning of an event that would forever change the face of this family….the beginning of WWII. In 1943, Ollie McCarty answered the call to defend his country and joined the Navy leaving behind his young family. He was stationed on the USS Hoel, a part of the Taffy Three, tasked to the Philippine Islands. On October 25, 1944, in what has been called one of the most important naval battles in history, the USS Hoel sank in the battle of Leyte Gulf.
“I was only 5 years old, but I remember the men coming to the door to tell Mom the news,” recalled Gertrude Tackett. “It was so hard to try to understand. I was the oldest of the four. My youngest sister was just a baby.” Suddenly, Gladys was trying to raise a family single and alone.
The house was heated by coal with none of the conveniences of today...no bathrooms or running water. They didn’t have a lot, but Emma Helms commented that the one thing they had was love.
If that old house could talk, there would be some stories to tell. Two large porches had been added to each story of the house. Gertrude smiled as she remembers some of the antics of the McCarty siblings. “I look back now and honestly don’t know how one of us didn’t get killed. We would stand on the banister of the second floor porch and jump off. It didn’t matter that it would sting our ankles and legs. We just got up and did it all over again.”
In the coming years, Gladys met Edward Hicks, and they eventually married. As the years passed, each of the siblings married one at a time and started their own families. Another generation began to gather at the log house for holidays or summer picnics.
Gladys loved flowers, and she had quite the green thumb. She also loved to embroider and quilt. Ann Allen, a grandchild, remembered the embroidery paint pins she had. “We would sit and paint her quilt squares. She would always tell me to be sure and put the lid back on tight, so they wouldn’t dry out.”
Her oldest granddaughter, Ellen Keaton, said her first love for piano came from there. “Granny had an old upright piano on a side porch. It was out of tune, and the keys would stick. She had a beginner piano book, and I would follow the notes and pictures.” Those early years led to a lifetime of playing the piano and singing.
Tony Helms has many memories at the old log house. “A lot of them revolve around Christmas. Granny always made sure we had a good meal and a gift. It may not have been much, but everyone had something. There was always prayer before dinner.” He laughed as he recalled Granny on the porch watching him and his siblings play in the yard. “She would yell and say, ‘Stay out of the garden.’”
Tony’s sister, Debbie Riley smiled, “One of my funniest memories was when Granny told us not to go upstairs, but Mark, Chrissy and me had to take a peek. It was scary up there. It was also scary in the outhouse…I was always afraid a snake would bite me.”
Niki Webb and April Johnson, who are great grandchildren, have memories of markers, crayons and handmade Barbie clothes. Niki still has some of those today. Crayons seemed to be a standard because when Niki had children, you could still find Gladys coloring or playing dolls with the great great grandchildren.
Eventually, she moved out of the log house into her father’s home next door to care for him before his death. The property was sold, and the new owner removed all the additions. The log house stands today as the original home that was built over 200 years ago.
On her 100th birthday Gladys was asked what she thought gave her such a long life. She replied, “A lot of hard work and lots of love. Love had a whole lot to do with it.”
It is impossible to explain a life that spans 103 years in a few words. Her family gathered this past Sunday to celebrate 103 years of life…. a life of hardship, loss of two husbands and two children, but also happiness, love. In her lifetime, she saw the invention of television, computers, the internet, and phones you can carry in your pocket. The legacy that began with Gladys and Ollie James McCarty is great. Today, there are more than 120 direct descendants from their four children. Each generation has had their own name for her… ‘Carty Granny, Big Granny, Little Granny, Gran Gran. …Six generations all gathered in one room to celebrate the life of one special lady who will never be forgotten.
