This was the only "grandparents and aunts and uncles" I truly ever knew. Due to my mother, Maybelle NICHOLAS Curlee’s death when I was 18 days old, when she was age 20, my maternal grandparents, “Papa and Mama” Otis and Alma SPAULDING Byers Nicholas raised me from six days old. “Mama” and I drove from Little Rock to Appleton one weekend a month to visit “Grandpa and Grandma,” and any other kin that happened to drop in. “Papa” only went on special occasions, since he owned and operated Arctic Ice Co. and it was open on weekends. I was totally grown, married, and working on my genealogy, before I actually knew how I was related to all these folks. Come to find out, I was a “grandchild” from another marriage that their daughter, Alma, just happened to inherit, by marrying my grandfather, Otis Nicholas. Well, not quite, Otis and Alma had married in 1934, and I came along seven years later. When Maybelle died, they didn’t have to take me to raise, there was my dad, Otis Curlee, who was now a single father and actually in no shape to take a newborn to raise, and many Curlee aunts and uncles, but the Nicholas family “wanted” me. I never even thought about it while growing up. I was raised in a very stable, and loved environment, and totally adored my “Papa and Mama.” There has never been a closer “mother and daughter.” I was always told about my “real” mother, and how much she was loved, but the stories about her were more a legend to me than reality. I have since studied “heredity vs environment” and have come to the conclusion that environment bears a stronger bond than heredity. It is my opinion that when you are surrounded by a family, you naturally take their characteristics, whether it be actual or adopted kinship, so that is still environment. Alma’s brothers and sisters were my “aunts and uncles,” and their children, my “cousins,” and were and are wonderful folks to know. I feel very blessed to have been part of this family.1 James Nathan 'Jim Spaulding b: 13 Sep 1870 Clinton AR-Van Buren Co d: 31 Oct 1951 Pope Co AR BURIAL: Crossroads Cem-Appleton AR-Pope Co .. +Martha Elizabeth Burkes b: 18 Dec 1873 Appleton AR-Pope Co m: 29 Sep 1889 Pope Co AR d: 25 Apr 1958 Pope Co AR ..... 2 William Walter Spaulding b: 27 Nov 1893 Appleton AR-Pope Co d: 27 Jan 1980 Russellville AR BURIAL: Oakland Cem-Russellville AR ......... +Alice Zelma Sartos b: 03 Aug 1894 Silex Community, NW of Dover-Pope Co m: 14 Sep 1913 In John Byers Sr home d: 14 Nov 1995 Russellville AR BURIAL: Oakland Cem-Russellville AR ..... 2 Honor Monroe Spaulding b: 25 May 1896 Appleton AR-Pope Co d: 04 Oct 1973 Russellville AR ......... +Virgie Margarette Richardson b: 20 Feb 1900 Pope Co AR m: 12 Aug 1917 ..... 2 Geneva Elzory Spaulding b: 24 Jan 1898 Appleton AR-Pope Co d: BURIAL: Crossroads Cem- Appleton AR-Pope Co ......... +W Elmer Williams m: 26 Dec 1915 d: 01 Sep 1962 91y 5m 22d BURIAL: Crossroads Cem-Appleton AR-Pope Co ..... 2 Leonard Lee Spaulding b: 24 Feb 1900 Appleton AR-Pope Co ......... +Eva Newell Hallum b: 23 Mar 1903 m: 09 May 1920 d: 17 Apr 1973 Turlock CA BURIAL: Oakmont Mem Park-Lafayette CA ..... 2 [1] Alma Marie Rhea Spaulding b: 24 Jun 1907 Appleton AR-Pope Co d: 10 Jan 1988 Conway AR- Faulkner Co BURIAL: Roselawn Cem-LR AR ......... +John W. Byers b: 03 Oct 1906 m: 14 Oct 1923 Pope Co Ar d: 06 Oct 1981 Hot Springs Ar- Garland Co BURIAL: Pleasant Hill Cem ..... *2nd Husband of [1] Alma Marie Rhea Spaulding: ......... +Samuel Otis Sr Nicholas b: 14 Jan 1888 Water Valley MS-Yalabusha Co m: 07 Feb 1934 LR AR-Pulaski Co Bk:118 P:487 d: 24 Apr 1955 LR AR-Pulaski Co BURIAL: Roselawn Cem-LR AR ..... 2 George Estes Spaulding b: 11 Jul 1909 Appleton AR-Pope Co d: 09 Nov 1988 Pulaski Co AR BURIAL: Pinecrest Cem ......... +Imo Rhea Cole b: 11 Dec 1911 m: Abt. 1934 MO ..... 2 Bervel 'Boyd Spaulding b: 20 Aug 1911 Appleton AR-Pope Co d: ......... +Iva Rhea Darter b: 14 Mar 1916 m: 19 Sep 1937 Lamar AR-Johnson Co
Charlotte
Curlee Ramsey
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~cramsey/index.html
