Walter Talmadge "Po-Boy" Rawlins [5368]

  General Notes:

W. T. (Po-Boy) Rawlins
April 29, 1917 - July 7, 1999
Eulogy Delivered by His Grandson, Stephen C. Alligood, During Funeral
Services on July 9, 1999 at Cadwell Baptist Church, Cadwell, GA.
Exactly two weeks after Confederate Memorial Day in 1917, Samuel Jones
Rawlins and Mollye Louise Parkerson Rawlins gave birth to Walter Talmadge
(Po-Boy) Rawlins in Dodge County, Georgia. Sam Rawlins was no idler. He knew that unless he worked, his family would go hungry. At the time of Po-boy's birth, Sam was operating a store in Plain field. Soon the family moved to Fitzgerald, where same worked at his brother Walter's store. The business relationship between the two brothers disintegrated, and same opted to seek to job in Florida. After less than three years in Tampa, the family settled into a house on 13th, and later on 14th Street in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was in Florida that Po-Boy began his elementary education. And St. Petersburg was where Po-Boy had his first job. Though still a young child, he worked at the grocery store his father managed. When the "big boom" of the Great Depression hit, Po-Boy said that he vividly remembered hearing of men commit suicide by jumping off the buildings of St. Petersburg. His father's business suffered heavy losses, and the family was forced to move yet again.
When Po-Boy's cousin, Jake Milner, learned of the family's desire to come
home to Georgia, he took a cab-less freight truck to get them. They loaded on all possessions they could carry, and everyone piled on top. It was a two-day trip back to Eastman. Not long after returning to Eastman, Po-Boy's father, Sam, became ill. He passed away leaving wife Mollye the responsibility of providing for five children. They were so poor during that time, Po-Boy would later say, that poor was spelled with six "O's". With God's providence the family managed to survive. Being the third child of five children carried with it many responsibilities, and Po-Boy was instilled with a strong work ethic at an
early age. He delivered chocolate milk, which his mother mixed and bottled, to Eastman businesses from his hand-pulled wagon. Once the route was completed he would park his wagon at agarage and hurry to school. Due to this schedule, he was late to school everyday of his life. He carried several slips of paper in his picket, which read, "Please excuse Talmadge. He had to work." Po-Boy graduated from Eastman High School in 1934, and moved to Cadwell that year. although he lived in Atlanta for a brief period, he always
called Cadwell his home. When Po-Boy and Dorothy Daniell were married,
November 19, 1938, she went to live with him for one month in Atlanta until he quit his job at Randall Brothers coal yard. Back to Cadwell, Po-Boy learned of the need for a reliable auto parts jobber, and he began W.T. Rawlins Auto Supply. He took a Ford Coupe to Atlanta and bought his first load of parts with $35. He sold everything on the way back to Cadwell. Soon Po- Boy was supplying service stations from Idalia to Atlanta. It was one of the seservice station operators in Cochran who gave Po-Boy his well-known nickname.
Po-Boy would often say that he worked over 100 hours and drove over 1,000
miles every week. After 38 years and several business ventures on the side, Po-Boy retired from W.T. Rawlins Auto Supply. However, retirement wasn't s suited for Po-Boy Rawlins. In his sixties, when most men would be thinking of slowing down, Po-Boy launched another full-time business, Po-Boy's Country Store. Po-Boy and Dorothy traveled throughout the United Stated and Canada in their Airstream travel trailer. Everywhere Po-Boy went he made new friends with his business card, a facsimile $50 bill. If you were around P-Boy very much, you are certain to have heard him say: "I've told you where all we've been. We've been to every state in the continent".

  Burial Notes:

Cadwell City Cemetery

  Noted events in his life were:

• Picture: L/ R Bill, Polly, Helen, Talmadge and Molly (Parkerson) Rawlins.

• Picture: L/R Hilton, Helen, Talmadge, Mollie and Bill Rawlins.

Walter married Marion Dorothy Daniell [11267] [MRIN: 4382] on November 19, 1938. (Marion Dorothy Daniell [11267] was born on May 11, 1919.)