Baker's Cabin Paradise, Paint Rock, Alabama

Everyone loves to see a log cabin resting on a ridge above a rippling creek, after the fall foliage has come to it's final resting place for the winter season. 

My dad, Herman Pickens, grew up with his first cousin, Bill Baker, in Jackson TN, where in their senior year of Northside High School, they joined the US Navy together, and if I recall my dad saying they both lied about being 18, and joined without permission from their parents.

After his stench in the Navy, Billy would land his first job in Huntsville Alabama with NASA. While in Huntsville, he met his soulmate, June, and together, they lived a God centered marriage, serving in their local Baptist Church. Not too long passed by, when they had their first born son David, followed a couple of years later, by their second child, Diane.

While on this earth, Billy designed and built many things with his two hands. He constructed & formed his own pair of water skis, which he proved to be pretty good on the north Alabama area lakes at slalom skiing. Here he is at age 70, skiing on a pair of water skis he himself designed & constructed in his home garage & shop.

Later on, he set his eyes on a log cabin, and Baker's log cabin became a reality, a dream of Billy's. He has since graduated to Heaven with his sweet wife, June, leaving their only son, David, to care for Baker's Cabin. David's sister, Diane shared the following history of the relocating of the cabin. The cabin was a dream & vision, coupled with hard work 💪, determination, an accomplishment of which doesn't just happen by accident. 

In the words of Diane Baker Simmons Peden

"Construction on the cabin began in the late 1970’s.  David and Daddy found the cabin, which was built around 1845, in Scottsboro, Alabama.  They took it apart log by log, labeled the logs and reconstructed it where it stands today.  They borrowed a dump truck from Burl Chandler, and moved the logs from the original site to the field below the mountain side.  They didn’t have any equipment, other than a riding lawn mower, a small trailer, a dolly, a pulley and some college friends of David’s, to carry the logs up the hill.  They would tie a log to the trailer attached to the lawn mower and tie the log to a dolly on the other end.  Dad would drive the lawn mower, and one fellow would sit on the front end of the mower to serve as a counter balance.  They would tie a rope to the front of the lawn mower, tie the pulley around a tree, and the other end around Derek.  He would run down the hill while the mower powered up the hill.  Each log was hauled up the hill in this manner.  After the logs were at the site, reconstruction on the cabin began.  It took all summer to put the logs back in place.  The roof was added, and the fireplace and chimney were built throughout the fall.  The bay window was put in hopes that Mama would come up and stay.  She did come for some day visits, but with no running water or electricity, it soon became a man trip.  Work on the cabin is never ending.  David still has plans to make improvements each year.  Many men and some brave women have visited and even spent a few nights in the great outdoors.  It has served many through the years as a hunting cabin.  If you spend the night in the winter, be sure to bring a warm sleeping bag, a Coleman lantern, matches to start a fire, food and plenty of hot chocolate and marsh mellows."

Here are some good photos I took back on December 30, 2011.

 

We don't know what awaits us on the other side: Will we have pretty green grass to run free in with our loved ones? Will we get to water skii, or glide down a snow packed mountain, have romantic evening meal looking over a lake where the sun glimmers to say "Good night!" 🌹

I'm glad only God knows, but it's exciting to consider the endless possibilities our Savior Jesus Christ has for His children who say yes to His call.

Today, Billy and June Baker 💕are both enjoying the splendors of Heaven. Maybe, they live in a quaint log cabin, along a crystal river, where Billy is water skiing on home-made wooden skis. Who's to say, but it's fun to imagine the possibilities, isn't it? 😊

Two Hearts Joined Together, at a Carnival

"Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" is the title of a song by Alfred Newman

The word "splendid", might just be the appropriate word to describe how a 1920's young couple, Clayborn Smith and Era Mae Chandler, began their life long relationship together!

When you think about it, we were all young at one time, and this photo, frozen in  time, proves my point.

Clayborn and Era met one another at Faith Tabernacle Church, quite likely by a parent taking them to church. During this time period, Clayborn was earning a few cents working for the carnival. We don't know the duration of their courtship, but we do know that Era Chandler agreed to marry Clayborn, which took place underneath one of the tents at the carnival.

What might Era been thinking as she & Clayborn were about to tie the knot beneath a carnival tent.

I doubt any young lady aspires to have their ceremony beneath a carnival  tent?

One of the granddaughter's, Kim Page, shares a memory, which her mother, Linda Smith Page, shared with Kim:
"I spoke with mom, Grandma and Granddaddy actually met at church.
They did marry under a tent at the fair/carnival. Granddaddy didn’t have the money for marriage license, so George Smith lent him the $11 for the license. George Smith went on later to own the George Smith Funeral Home’s here in Jackson TN. George was actually at Gramddaddy’s funeral and he told me the story of loaning the money to Grandaddy. George thought a lot of Grandma and Granddaddy!"

Why Clayborn worked at the carnival is not known, at least to me, but with a little calculating, the year would've been about 1920, considering he was born in 1905. Back in those days, very few families could afford to send their son off to college, so a young man had to resort to working wherever he could make a buck. In those days, the wage was a few pennies a day, so the carnival was easy fast money, and didn't require an education.
When Clayborn worked in the carnival, it's uncertain if he started doing so at the time the carnival came to their home town of Jackson, TN, or if he started out in another town. I also don't know where Clayborn grew up, nor his parents names.

For Jackson, Tennessee, and surrounding  Madison County Tennessee, a carnival provided cheap entertainment for all ages. For the the next few days, families could take a break from their busy lives and spend a few dollars tossing rings on coke bottles, pitching darts at balloons, shooting BB rifles at moving ducks, all to hopeful to win a large teddy bear for a sweetheart!
A fella could take his girlfriend up on the ferris wheel and hopefully hold hands for the first time, maybe even steal that first kiss! 😍 When the operator would stop the ride, hopefully when you were at the very highest point, you could seet the world! Who didn't like smashing the bump cars together? After a few days, the carnival would pack up their stuff, and move to the next town.

During this particular stop off in Jackson, TN, unbeknownst to Clayborn, and as God would have it, Clayborn would experience a change of direction in his his life! One evening, a cute young lady, named Era Mae Chandler, a twin herself, who lived at a quaint small house on East Chester St., went to the carnival where Clayborn was working. It could have happened that Era went to the carnival with a friend to see Clayborn.
Their courtship led to them marrying beneath the carnival tent with some carnival coworkers paying for their wedding rings.
Era Chandler Smith was my momma Patsy Jean Smith's mother, Grandma Smith, as we referred to her as.

It would be most enlightening if someone could find a journal where Era had recorded her love story!
Clayborn & Era Smith would go on to raise 4 sons, 2 daughters, on Kidding St.
They lived in a small 2 bedroom wood framed house, at 11 Liddon Street, the third house on the left. It had no indoor plumbing or AC.

They we're members of Faith Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church, just a few blocks west of their home, so who knows, maybe the Smith's walked to church on a pretty Sunday! 💓
I wonder which one of them committed their lives to Jesus Christ first?

Back in those days, on Saturday, a man went up town for a Saturday haircut. Clayborn's routine was to dress up a little, slip on a hat, then climb in his light blue Chevrolet, and drive a few miles on E. Chester St. to town and get his weekly hair cut, while chewing the fat with the other men stuck in the same routine! 😀

Grandaddy never had a gas powered lawn mower, but instead, he used an old fashioned manual "push reel" lawnmower. You could hear those razor sharp blades swishing and see them spinning, as you pushed it along.

We grandkids had to take baths in a #2 wash tub that water was warmed up on their gas fired space heater that set on the right side of their living room. My daddy, Leon as they would call him, sat me on that heater which made burn marks down my right calf, although I don't recall the incident, but mom reminded him of it.
Grandaddy Smith had a nasal spray or he kept on top of the shelf. We'd watch him sniffle, then grab the sprayer, which had a nozzle to fit his nose, and watch as he pressed the rubber bulb,getting a good whiff of whatever chemical was in the sprayer.

Their little 2 bedroom house had 2 rooms as you walk in from their wooden porch. The first room was the guest bedroom, and past the living room, into the dining room, sat the gas heater, and their bedroom to the right of that. It always seemed dimly lit to me. Once you stood inside their bedroom, I recall the wooden door leading to the attic. We dare not explore the attic, for we were warned that "bloody bones" lived up in the attic, so I never had the nerve to climb up the steep stairs to the attic.

Leon, my dad, was industrious, so he updated their house by installing them a bathtub, commode, and vanity sink. This was wonderful, for no longer did we have to go out back and use the outhouse!
Also, we didn't have to pump water from their water well to the right of the outhouse.
They never did get AC, but instead, every summer, would temporarily install a huge window fan in the dining room left side window. The summers got hot so we grandkids played outside. On Saturday evening, playing out in the front yard, at 6 pm, we'd be scared to death by the emergency siren that was tested every Saturday. I recall covering my ears, but it was still loud and frightening to me.
One Halloween, I recall some older kids at the end of Lidden St, had dressed up scary and were scaring us grandkids.

Another memory is that my older brother, Randy, seemed to have been befriended by the Townsend couple, like he was their own son or grandson. Their home was a nice dark red brick house on a large lot, maybe even having their own pond.

David Smith (grandson, son of Joe Smith, son of Clayborn and Era), shares this memory:
"Great I remember so many little things I remember grandpa covering the bath room in wall paper it was his first time it was the most beautiful little bowes of flowers one day about 6 Mrs after he showed everyone his great wallpaper Joe I happen to be there on a set morni g watching cartoons went to the bathroom as I set there I turned my head and realized that there were not bows on flowers on the wallpaper but instead it was turtles in the grass the whole room was done upside down I called grandma and showed her see called clayborn and he looked over turned his head sideway and said still looks like bowes of flowers to me they both were so funny together many great memories lol".

Clayborn "Grandaddy" Smith would outlive his sweetheart Era, and remarry to Bernice.

I'm sure he would never forget they wedded at a carnival, and how God would build a family who served God, how their love for one another, and Jesus Christ, would have a lasting impact, as their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren continue to serve Jesus Christ, even to this very day.

"Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Matthew 19:6

https://youtu.be/SMN5-1QYkN4

Herman Leon Pickens - A Few of Life's Stories

Herman Leon Pickens was born on February 22, 1933, to his parents Herman Lee & Nellie Crawford Pickens, of Jackson, Tennessee.

As I share his life's story, naturally I do so without his consent, considering that he passed to his Heavenly home on May 16, 2016.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/herman-pickens-obituary?pid=180030451

As I share my own memories of my dad, I will also include memories from others like my siblings, his wife, family, and friends, with their permission of course.

To begin with, I recall him telling me that when he was a young boy, he was fishing at a nearby pond off Cooper Anderson Road, West of Jackson, TN. They lived nearby on Ashport Road. I mention this in my video I shot of the old railroad saloon and train station called "Carroll Switch".
https://youtu.be/s_cmewISsoE

The way he described this boyhood incident is that he was playing/fishing with a colored boy his age who's daddy was sitting in the wagon watching the boys. Dad found himself being whipped at by the man's horse whip. When he got back home, he told his own dad, Herman Lee Pickens, that the black man was trying to hit him with the whip. Dad told how when the colored man drove back by with his wagon & son aboard, his dad, Herman, walked out to the road in front of their house,and confronted the man. He began to beat up the man getting him down on the fround, and if not for his mother, Nellie, he might've killed him. Granddaddy was a fist fighter, I hear tell. Why I've seen him hold a 8 lb sledge hammer straight with his arm outstretched, so I know granddaddy Pickens was strong!

Now, fast forward, to when he was about 17, in his senior year of Northside High School. He tells of the time of how he joined the United States Navy.
He said he and his 1st cousin, Billy Baker, both lied to the recruiter that they were 18. I'm sure their parents wouldn't have approved.

Here's a photo Chris (Herman's wife) shared where he looks to be about 18, mopping a ship's deck, possibly the USS Saint Paul, while serving his country during the Korean War. It's likely he got into trouble, and was ordered to mop the deck.

Chris Pickens memory:
"Remember the story about him mopping the floor with Bill Baker at school. Just months before they would have graduated. The principal caught them throwing water and told them to get a mop. Herman said if I'm going to mop I'm joining the Navy. I'm not sure that they didn't both sign up that day. I'm sure Nellie could have killed him.
That is so Herman!!! mister conformed😅"

When I see dad smiling and having fun in this USN picture, I think of him that way, always having fun, a good laugh, and wanting the best for his family, a great model for us men who watched him over the years!
He was a hard worker who never stopped thinking of possibilities of how something worked, or how to make it work better!

Herman was stationed aboard the USS Saint Paul, which made deployments off the coast of California, to places like the Phillipines, during the Korean War, 1950-53.
"The Korean War is often called The Forgotten War. It began when communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. When the war ended in 1953, Korea was still divided and it remains that way today."
Source: http://www.softschools.com/timelines/korean_war_timeline/36/

He mentioned he would study technical  and college books to pass the time. He told how he would scavenge surlpus electronic parts, then assemble a circuit of some sort. Using those parts, he built and tested a CW (Continuos Wave) AM transmitter, but he got afraid the FCC might catch him transmitting with it, so he threw it over board.
He told me he suffered some hearing loss by listening to shortwave radio with headphones, where tuning a Ross the radio band frquencies harmed his hearing abilities to high pitched sounds. This caused him to have to get hearing aides in his senior years of life.
He said when he got out of the Navy, 1953,and returned home, his parents informed him he had left a light bulb on in their attic for all those years he was away.
It doesn't surprise me since he always was curious how things work, especially with electricity, electronics, and mechanical things.

Dad was a teaser, aggravator, so I can imagine some of the trouble he might have gotten into when he was younger!
He wasn't big on conforming in a team group setting. 😊

Dad was a DIY man. At about 10, he had me crawling under the family car to help him change out the transmission, and had a love for cheap Volkswagens, where he showed us boys how to fix them.
When I was about 15-16, I recall dad taking our family to East Jackson Baptist Church, in Jackson TN.

My First Deer Was a Buck

My first time to ever shoot my first deer, a white tail deer, was near George West Texas, around 1978.
I had just started dating Connie Crisp at the time, and her mom's brother, Richard Bellows, let the Crsip family hunt the land, which was between George West and Three Rivers, TX.
To get their, Connie's dad, Tinker, would drive us there in the blue GMC Jimmy, in the dark early morning hours, down the dusty caliche gravel roads. Once we arrived, one of us had to jump out into the dark cold air, and unlock the gate, and pull forward a few feet in order to lock the gate behind us.Just inside the gate, on the right, was an old abandoned house, affectionately referred to as "the huntin' cabin"!
We'd hunt the morning until 0900,Zotac then meet back at the cabin to swap stories on what we saw, then hang-out around their until the afternoon hunt. The ole house had some old bedding we could rest on, but I never trusted the rat & mice families at the time, to fall asleep and chance a rat nibbling on my ear. 😁 "Uh, uh, ain't gonna happen!"

This being my first Texas hunt, I was excited to see if the deer were as large as I heard they were.
After the sun began to peek-out over the hill, I could make out the terrain much better, and the fallen rotten tree trunks weren't  what I thought they were. I finally heard something making it's way through the heavy brush, but couldn't ever spot it. What kind of animal would make itself know so easily? I'd never hunted deer before this day, or at least back in Alabama & Tennessee, I never saw a deer while using my shiney new lever-action scopeless 35 Marlin.
Finally, I got a glimpse of the animal making all that noise! It was a buck with some beefy looking antlers.
Using a 30-0-6 rifle Tinker loaned me, I drew a bead on him, and shot him once, twice, three times, I was so nervous & excited. I shot him standing, kneeling, laying down, even after he was dead.
The house said, "it sounded like a battlefield taking place of your way!"
I wanted to make sure he didn't get up and run!
Once I walked over to the deer, and examined him, he had 7 points on a heavy set of horns.
When Tinker, and his son Mark Crisp, and brother-n-law Brian Hatch got their, someone said, "someone else already wounded it, and it has Gangrene on it's front shoulder!"
All I took home that day were the antlers, of which Tinker showed me how to mount them using plaster-of-paris formed around the skull, then mounting it on a board, of which I cutout and routered.
All in all, I wouldn't trade the food memories of hunting with my family that day, and days beyond that period of life.
Since then, the Lord has called all these men on to their eternal home in Heaven with Jesus, and only Mark & myself remain to laugh about my Gangrene buck! <3 p="">

James Wallace Livingston-A Very Nice Visit

We all have lives full of experiences, mixed with incidents of joy, sadness, peace, unrest, times of good health, times of illness, great accomplishments, let downs and defeats, dreams realized, dreams shattered, and times of periods of unexpected experiences and surprises! There are times we have the opportunity to visit someone who is ill, needs cared for, or needs some encouragement. It's easy to get so busy that we forget about the forgotten, the widows, and the elderly who have lived-out a full life, and their retirement is spent in a nursing home or assisted living facility.

In October of 2012, I was surprised to learn my employer would send me to work in Kingsport, Tennessee, at Eastman Chemical.
While driving there, my mind reflected back to an earlier time in my life, the summer of 1976, which is when our family went to Blountville, TN, on a sad visit where my aunt Shirley Livingston's memorial service was held. When I was young, my grandparents took my sister Sissie and me to visit our Uncle Jim & Aunt Shirley Livingston, and their sons, Tracey, Troy, and Russell. Those visits were full of fun times and wonderful great memories!
Well, on this October work visit, I took the opportunity to take some time and drive by Jim and Shirley's old house.
I also drove by Shirley's graveside in the Memorial Gardens, across from the Tri-Cities Regional Airport, where Uncle Jim used to serve as an Air Traffic Controller. I spotted a air traffic control tower, and wondered if this was where he once help navigate jets in/out of the airport!

I learned from Uncle Jim's son, Troy Livingston, via Facebook, that Uncle Jim is currently residing at the nearby Greystone Health assisted living facility, which ironically, is across the pretty green hillside of the Memorial Gardens,where his wife Shirley is buried, and directly across from the Tri-Cities airport Uncle Jim worked at.

I took some time to visit with Uncle Jim Livingston, in hopes he might remember me. As I exited my car, I grabbed one of my harmonicas, thinking maybe I could play my uncle a hymn or two.
As I walked down the hall, I stopped-in at the office and met a young lady who was the assisted living manager. When I inquired about Jim Livingston, her eyes lit-up, and she said, "Oh, hes' such a sweet man, talks all the time, and a real blessing to us!" That was the Uncle Jim I recalled from years back!

As I made my way up to the second floor, I stopped by the nurse's station, and inquired of his health. They said he was fine, and would enjoy a visitor. Finding his room, I wasn't a little uneasy of his health, and not sure he would remember me. I hadn't seen him since 1976, which was 36 years ago!
As I entered his room, I noticed a 8 x 11" sheet of paper with his name hand written, "Jim's Room"! That was really neat, I might say!
Once I stepped inside the room, there he was, just sitting up in his bed eating his evening supper, around 6:00 p.m.


Uncle Jim didn't even look up to see who it was, but commenced to working on his food tray.
I sat down beside his bed on his walker bench, you know the kind with handles on each side, and a sitting bench in the middle, with wheels on it. I quickly said "Hello, Jim! How are you doing?" Still not looking up at me, to see who it was, I figured he supposed me to be just another health care worker.
I said, "Would you like me to help you cut-up your food for you?", and he replied "No, that would be alright." Well, I just figured that meant "If you want to, sure, go ahead". LOL
He had a egg salad sandwich and I noticed the bread was getting soggy, especially when he tried to pickup the wedged-shaped cut sandwich slices. I noticed he was fumbling with the sandwich, so I commenced to slicing his sandwich into smaller pieces for him.
I then took the fork and said to him, "Here, let me help you eat it.", to which I fed him some sandwich pieces with his fork. He took a few pieces, and chewed them up. I sorta felt like I was feeding one of my children again. Sentimental thoughts rushed through my mind, and God's Holy Spirit reminded me of the verses in the Bible, in Matthew 25:35-40, "for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink....‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?.... ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
As I fed him, I began rehearsing his past family history, recalling the names of his first wife, Shirley Pickens Livingston, his last wife, Annette, and Jim and Shirley's boys, Tracey, Troy, and Russell. I told him he used to be a air traffic controller at McKellar Airfield, Jackson, TN, and that he lived out their not too far from the airfield. I told him he was an air traffic controller at the nearby Tri-Cities Regional Airport, just across the street from his assisted living facility. When I mentioned his father and mother-n-law, Herman & Nellie Pickens, of Jackson, TN, they didn't seem to ring a bell with him.
After running all those names by Uncle Jim, I asked him, "How do I know all this about your life?", which he replied, "I don't know, I'm not sure?" There wasn't much point in attempting to push the memory issue, so I just acted like it was OK to me to not remember. Apparently, he' was dealing with a long term memory loss, dementia/Alzheimer, and couldn't connect with the names I was listing him. I said, "Look up at me, Uncle Jim. Do you know who I am?, and he just shrugged his shoulders. I knew the I was a stranger who just came by to visit him, after being out of his life for so long. That was OK in my mind for visiting my Uncle Jim ended-up being for me, and not so much for his sake, even though I wanted it to be.

I did make another trip to Kingsport, TN at the end of 2013 but didn't have time to visit Uncle Jim. I felt he was well cared for just by watching his interaction with the nursing staff, which he & they joked together while I was there.

Update: August 12, 2014
Uncle James Wallace Livingston graduated to Heaven on Aug 4, 2014, 38 years on the same day his first wife, Shirley Pickens Livingston passed. He would later in 1977 re-marry another beautiful lady, Annette Denton Livingston, and add to the Livingston "Brady Bunch" with her kids Don Petty & Lori Petty Worley.

Family & friends visitation held Friday Aug 8, 2014, at Blountville Christian Church, 5-7 pm visitation, 7-8 pm Services. Graveside Saturday Aug 9, 11 am at Tricity Memorial Gardens (across from Tri-city Airport).

Uncle Jim's family really cherished & loved one another, as witnessed at Jim's funeral services and the online Facebook page created by his eldest son , Tracy Livingston. The Facebook page is
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wallacelivingston/


Blessings on the family!
Barry

Yes, I Remember When They Were Little!

I'm just reminiscing today about when the kids were little, and running around the house, and at their granny & papa Crisp's house!

For some reason, I remember this song, as I reflect on some of my memories. I looked for it on YouTube, but nothing found!

~Please Take Time~

Mom and Dad I know you hurry though each day of work and worry.

But this is a reminder that I bring.

Just a little time I'm small,

Seems like hardly any time at all.

Soon these precious years will pass and so I sing.

Please take time to play,

Take the time to pray.

So quickly time will pass and I'll be grown.

Take time to take my hand time to love and understand.

Please take the time before the time's all gone.

When my life was all brand new,

God gave the job to you

To teach my how to love and how to live.

Teach me how to kneel in prayer,

Believing Christ will meet me there,

Trusting Calv'rys price my sins will all forgive.

Please take time to play,

Take the time to pray.

So quickly time will pass and I'll be grown.

Take time to take my hand time to love and understand.

Please take the time before the time's all gone.

Now while my heart is tender you can teach me to surrender,

For I look to your example and long to please.

But the time will someday come when opportunity is done,

And as the twigs were bent will grow the tree.

Please take time to play,

Take the time to pray.

So quickly time will pass and I'll be grown.

Take time to take my hand time to love and understand.

Please take the time before the time's all gone.

Please take the time before the tim's all gone.

And so it was, yesterday, I was singing that song, here in my hotel room in Williamsburg, VA "Mom & dad I know you worry...", which made me think of you kids. Yall would be running in/out of the granny & papa's house, and getting into all kind of trouble(j.k.). I was running the video camera all the time, while you kids would your imagination creating little home-businesses like, "Creative Christian Cards", "Flower pens", "Monster Preacher/mermaid", playing Uncle Barry's mystery searching games where I would hide a mystery note, which would lead you to the next clue, and so-on & so-on! How about you kids hanging from trees, swinging airplanes over your head, falling off BBQ pits, hunting easter eggs with money in them, cleaning deer carcasses hanging in the white shed, and the nurses-to-be would be playing with the deer's guts & heart.....should I go-on cherishing the thoughts that run through my mind?
I'll return here for more memories, but gotta run off to the paper mill, here in West Point, Va, and work the 7-7 night shift!
Stay tuned, and leave a comment of your memories, and I can respond to them!

Love,
Dad, aka Uncle Barry

Shirley Ann Livingston-Lived a Life of Loving her family

Shirley Ann Pickens Livingston made us kids smile, and had a winsome twinkle in her eye, and an endearing wink when she would catch us kids looking her way! 🥰

She was a gift from God to her own parents, as well as to her brothers Herman Leon, and Joe Pickens. Her only sister died of polio at 2 in 1937 whom Shirley never met, who wasn't born until 1939.

Here is Shirley with her older brother Herman Leon (middle child), and blonde hair younger brother Joe (left side).

Shirley would wink at us niece's & nephews, tease & tickle us, and gave us hugs.
It was evident she genuinely loved us. I was not fond of liking girls at that stage of life, and would easily blush, so I'm pretty sure I ran from her kisses & hugs. Of course, that was on the surface, because I really liked it, secretly, or I wouldn't have remembered the times!

Shirley was quiet a delightful aunt. Her presence was so pleasing, and I could tell she loved us nieces and nephews. She really loved Jim, her husband, and her boys, Tracy, Troy, and Russell.
I must have been no older than about 10, and now I recall something was different about Shirley. I now feel pretty confident as to why she was the way she was. Shirley loved Jesus and wasn't ashamed of it. She was a very talented lady, could cook good, and had a love for crafts and art. I'm not sure, but it seemed she did some decoupage artwork on wood, and did some paintings on pots and ceramics, but I could be wrong, for boys don't try to remember all that kind of stuff. I was busy playing with her sons, my cousins!
I barely recall Shirley, Jim, and a couple of boys, living in Jackson, TN, out by the airport. I sort of recall one Christmas, going to their home, and seeing a toy steel jetliner among the toy presents, which may have been my Christmas toy that year! The toy airplane would have been right at home at Uncle Jim's house, for Jim worked as a air-traffic-controller. He might have even worked close by, at McKellar Airfield, in Jackson, TN. Again, I maybe be wrong about that faint memory, too!

At the young age of 37, God had another path & plan for Shirley, who only God would know about, when back then, God said, "Shirley, I want you to come up here and be with Me!" Shirley took the Heavenly Father's hand and went home to her heavenly home! I can only imagine she met the loving & merciful arms of Jesus, with a twinkle and wink in her eyes, as she graduated to heaven on August 4, 1976.

Here's a writeup from the website of FamilySearch:

"Shirley Ann Pickens was born on 7 February 1939, in Jackson, Madison, Tennessee, United States. She married James Wallace Livingston on 22 May 1960, in Madison, Tennessee, United States. She died on 4 August 1976, in Elizabethton, Carter, Tennessee, United States, at the age of 37, and was buried in Blountville, Sullivan, Tennessee, United States."

https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LD9F-TPV/shirley-ann-pickens-1939-1976

Here's the grave marker for Shirley Ann Livingston on the Find A Grave website. 

When Shirley's health failed her, it was right after I had just graduated from Northside High School, Jackson, TN, May 1976. I recall the Pickens family living in Jackson, TN at the time, made the driver over to Kingsport, Elizabethan, TN area, and attended the memorial service, which was held at a white church. I recall hearing for the first time, Gaither song titled, "One Day At a Time", which still remains a favorite of mine!
As part of the memorial service, a family with kids sang, with their dad sang-out with wonderful declaration, "Yes, I love Jesus!, as they sang the following lyrics: 

DO YOU LOVE JESUS

Oh, Do you love Jesus?
(Oh, yes, we love Jesus)
Are you sure you love Jesus?
(Yes, we're sure we love Jesus)
Tell us why you love Jesus,
(This is why we love Jesus)
Because He first loved me.
CHORUS:
Oh, how I love Jesus
Oh, how I love Jesus
Oh, how I love Jesus
Because He first loved me.

I only wish I had other memories to share of Shirley Ann Livingston, and as my 5 siblings relay these to me, I may just include them in this blog. 💕

Shirley never got to meet her only older sister, Doris Ruth, because Doris died at 2 years old. However, the good news is that Shirley is knowing her sister, Doris Ruth, and they get to see one another every day, both being together in heaven, along with other family members. 😂

Shirley is experiencing the joys and splendors of that heavenly city. That is a promise we have from The Holy Bible, where God has prepared a place for us to live in forever and ever.

As an update to this story, 38 years after Shirley Ann Livingston departed this life, August 6, 1976, her husband James Wallace Livingston, a US veteran, AD3 US Navy, Korea, joined his late wife, Shirley, in Heaven, which no doubt was a wonderful reunion.  💖

Here's the grave marker for James Wallace Livingston on the Find A Grave website. 

I don't worry about tomorrow, or even about my Aunt Shirley, for in her brief life, she showed & loved people within her circle of influence, most notably Jim her husband, and those 3 boys. She fought a good fight to the end, and ever since she closed her eyes in this life, Shirley has been enjoying heaven with her Lord Jesus Christ. I haven't a doubt she would want us all to be saved by Jesus, so we too can join her in that heavenly city. 👏 

Yes, she smiled a lot, therefore it's very appropriate in describing & honoring Aunt Shirley with "She Smiled Alot | She Loved Even More"❤️