Rondall Gillock Woods

Rondall Gillock Woods was born August 3, 1929 in Glasgow, Kentucky and died at Alive Hospice in Nashville, Tennessee on April 24, 2025
Ronnie is predeceased by his wife, Leota Woods; first father, Willard Gillock; second father, Allen Noel Woods; mother, Loyce Gillock Woods; and children, Dawn Woods and David Woods. He is survived by his son. Gary Woods; brother, Larry Woods (Saralee); sister-in-law, Jayne Ann; grandchildren, Ava, Gary Jr., Echo, Claire, Trinity and many wonderful nieces and nephews.
Ronnie loved his family and friends, was a good neighbor to all and was a Christian. He loved to garden, to laugh, to be kind to others, and to travel around the world especially to Arkansas. He served in the Army as a Master Sergeant and retired from WL Hailey and Company.
A private graveside service was held at Mount Olivet Cemetery. In lieu of flowers please help someone in need or contribute to the Crieve Hall Church of Christ, Address: 4806 Trousdale Dr, Nashville, TN 37220
Ronnie wrote his own life story:
"My life up to now 1929 -2021" by Rondall Gillock Woods
I was born 08/03/1929 at Glasgow, Kentucky. My parents were Willard & Loyce Gillock. They were tenant farmers and lived near Rocky Hill, KY, a small community near Glasgow. When I was about 3 years old my father died of pneumonia. He was 23 and my mother was 20. Mother was left with a small child, no assets & no high school education. What few possessions they had were lost in a recent house fire.
Mother knew our future looked very dim under those conditions. She moved back to her parents, Dave & Mollie Dillingham. Poppa Dillingham had a farm also in the Rocky Hill area. That fall she enrolled for her first year of high school. She completed all the 4 year courses in 3 years and graduated as valedictorian of her class. She then got a job in Glasgow working for Dr. Paul York. She had no car and didn't know how to drive.She had to move to Glasgow and I stayed with Momma & Poppa Dillingham but she was able to get home every weekend.
This all occurred during the great depression. Poppa Dillingham was barely able to make the note payments on his farm. But, I knew nothing of this. I led a happy farm boy life. We had plenty to eat and drink. Poppa & Momma Dillingham had a big garden and canned enough for winter. They had milk cows for milk and hogs for smoked meat the entire year. Country ham was my favorite dish and still is, but real country ham is hard to find now. Hog killing was a big event each year. Poppa would get a couple neighboring men to help him with the slaughter. They would cut the meat into hams, shoulders & side meat which I guess is the same as unsliced bacon. He would hang the meat in his smoke house over a smoldering fire which was designed to burn very slowly and create a lot of smoke to turn that raw meat into delicious smoked meat. Then, Momma Dillingham & her mother, Settie Bishop would use the fat meat to make lard and lye soap. Settie Bishop was Mama Bishop to me and lived with Momma & Poppa Dillingham.
Mother had 3 brothers: Malcolm, Creed, and Joe and one sister, Mae. Mae and one of her 3 children died in a house fire when I was about 7 or 8 years old.
Thanksgiving was the big holiday for us. Uncle Creed & his wife Margaret & Uncle Joe & his wife Iva would come from Louisville and Uncle Malcolm and Aunt Minnie and their 2 children, Ray & Carol from Glasgow and we would have a great Thanksgiving feast.
Christmas was not as big as Thanksgiving. We did have a Christmas tree. Papaw would cut a small cedar tree and we would decorate it with mostly homemade decorations. I can only remember 4 store bought toys I had before mother remarried. One was a cap pistol, one a bb gun, a tricycle and a little red wagon. The only one I remember for sure being a Christmas present is the tricycle. This was given to me by Uncle Creed. It had rubber tires and I rode it until all the rubber was worn off and then rode it on the metal rims. I know the red wagon was not a Christmas gift.
There was a large farm adjoining Papa's farm on one side & on the other side was the road to Glasgow. A distance of about ¾ mile. Every weekend, Mother would have her ride drop her off and she would walk across this field to Papa's farm. Papa constructed a wooden crossing over the fence separating these farms. It wasn't far from this crossing to Papa's back porch and after I got old enough I would sit on top of that crossing and wait for Mother.
I had been told never cross over to the other side; always wait for your mother to cross over to your side since there was sometimes a bull in that field.One Saturday I was sitting on that crossing and I saw Mother. She appeared to be dragging something behind her. When I saw that she was pulling a little red wagon I could not contain myself. Bull or no bull I couldn't wait. I jumped down on the other side and ran to meet her. I spent many happy hours pulling or riding down the hill that Papa's house was on.
I was 7 years old when I started to school in the one room school at Rocky Hill. It was a learning experience for me as up to this point the only contact I had with other children was Uncle Malcolm's children Carol & Ray and I didn't see them very often. I was about a year older than Ray and about 3 than Carol. Now I was in a large room full of kids of various ages.
There were classes for all grades 1 thru 8. I don't remember how many were in the first grade that year.
I didn't have any problems except about the second week a lady from the county health department came to give all the students the required vaccinations. The building had two doors on one end. The teacher lined us up outside by grades with the first grade first in line. The nurse was inside with the teacher and we were to enter by one door and exit through the other door after getting our shot. I was about the third or fourth one in line. When the first 2 kids came out crying I decided this is not for me. I broke line and ran back home as fast as my little legs would carry me over that mile and quarter distance. Of course this effort was in vain as one of my grandparents walked me back to school and I got my shot and lived through it. There was no school bus service and I walked the mile and quarter and I don't remember any kid being delivered, they all walked, many of them much farther than me.
We had no indoor plumbing, no indoor water supply & no electricity or telephone.I remember when Uncle Malcolm gave Poppa a battery operated radio. It was powered by an auto battery & required a long antenna wire. This was a wonderful addition for our life style. Previously the only way we got any news was from the daily Courier Journal, the Louisville newspaper which was delivered by mail each week day.
There were some great radio programs that I enjoyed. There was Jack Armstrong the all American boy, Little Orphan Annie, and one based on the Lewis & Clark exploration. The Lewis & Clark show was my favorite. It amazes me how those actors & producers could make those programs so realistic that you cold picture it all in your mind. I guess this is when I became fascinated by our western country. My wife Leota & I made many trips to our western states. On these trips when we saw a sign pointing to something related to the Lewis & Clark excursion I would go see it.
I did O.K. in school I attended the first 3 grades at Rocky Hill. On March 14th 1939, Grandmother Dillingham died at the age of 58. As I have already stated, I had almost no toys but I used my imagination to play games and have an enjoyable childhood up to this point. I used my imagination to make up games, I could be the cowboy one day and the Indian the next. Yes I did know about cowboys & Indians; remember we now have a radio. Also, my Uncle Ralph Morris & Aunt Mert would visit occasionally on a Saturday when they were going to Glasgow shopping and pick me up and take me with them. Mother would meet us in front of Dr. York's office where she worked. There was a movie theater in the same block that had western movies starting about the time we got there. I would watch the movie, then Mother & I would catch her regular Saturday afternoon ride back to Poppas.
I had just started the 4th grade at Rocky Hill and it seemed that all the boys & some of the girls were being excused from school so they could help their parents cut tobacco. I asked Papa to write a note to excuse me at least one day. He didn't think that was such a good idea. After much pleading from me he agreed to do it I could pick up all the leaves that fell off the stalk in the cutting process. I got my day off and did my pickup job. At lunch time the men had just unloaded a wagon load into the barn loft and gone to the house for lunch. I was still in the barn loft. They had left the wagon just outside the barn loft. I saw the wagon with its cane pole frame. I had just seen my first Tarzan movie where he was swinging from trees on grape vines. I said to myself I can be like Tarzan and jump out of this loft, grab one of those cane poles & drop to the ground. I jumped & grabbed the bar but couldn't hold on and hit the wagon, fell and broke my arm. I decided to stick to playing cowboys & Indians. Papa had no car so he got someone to take me to Glasgow to get my arm set. I stayed with Mother & she decided that she needed to keep me with her. I had just started the 4th grade at Rocky Hill but had no problems transferring to Glasgow.This occurred in early September 1939.
In July mother had met this handsome young man from Elizabethtown, Ky. They fell in love and were married in November. We moved to Elizabethtown where he owned a credit bureau business. This started a new phase of my life, I now had a live father. From the first day forward he referred to me as "my son". I very soon came to love him and am forever grateful for all the things he taught me.
In Elizabethtown we first moved into a duplex, but soon moved to a house on Vertrese Court, a dead end street with 5 houses on each side. Counting two boys who lived directly behind our house there were about 12 kids near my age. They were all friendly and I had nearby playmates for the first time. My special good friends were the Mosier boys who lived directly behind us and the Carby girls who lived next door. Mom & Dad & Mr. and Mrs. Carby were very good friends. They played cards with each other almost every Saturday night. One night when they were at our house they told Mom & Dad they were going on a trip to Texas to visit Mr. Carby's relatives for about a week.They asked if it would be OK to ask me to go with them. Mom & Dad said OK. So I went and it was a great adventure for a 10 year old boy who had never been more than 60 miles from home.
It is now early summer of 1940 and I had just returned from my trip to Texas when my Father told me that he had been a newspaper delivery boy when he was growing up. He asked me if I would like to get a route and earn some money of my own. I told him I thought it was a great idea. He told me to think about it before I applied for a paper route because it involved a great responsibility. I would have to deliver papers 7 days each week regardless of how bad the weather was or how bad I felt. I got a route delivering the morning Louisville Courier Journal. It was my responsibility to be at the railroad station by 5 a.m. every morning to get my papers. I would fold them into little squares. I could then ride my bike down the sidewalks and sail them across the small yards onto the front porches. This did not work for the Sunday paper as it usually was too large. Even though it took much longer to deliver the Sunday paper, I tried to get all my customers to subscribe to it because the cost of it was10 cents & I got to keep 5 cents. The cost of the daily paper was 15 cents per week or 25 cents if you got daily and Sunday. I don't remember how much of that was my cost.Dad had given me a nice used bicycle when we moved to E-Town but it did not have a basket for my papers.He told me you are now a business man & need to know how things work in the business world. We lived within walking distance of the Western Auto store. He told me to get on my bike and meet him there. I chose a nice red, white & blue bike with a large basket on the front for my papers. We talked the owner into taking my old bike as a trade in and I would come by his store and make my weekly payment each week. Dad had me calculate how much I could pay each week and still have some left.
My brother Frank was born in December 1940.
It is now 1941 most everyone is talking about the war in Europe which will soon become World War II. E-town,as it was called by the locals, was only a few miles from Fort Knox. It was almost a weekly event for a convoy of tanks to come roaring into the city, go around the town square, and head back to their base. We would have practice black outs when all lights would have to be turned off on the signal from an air raid alarm and left off until the alarm was sounded again. Each area of town had wardens appointed to be sure all lights were out. I don't know that the Nazis had any bombers that could reach us but we were ready.
The country's industries are now on a war time basis and Dad's business is shrinking. Dad got a job as a civilian auditor for the Army & had to be out of town a lot but was home every weekend. I remember very well the Sunday, December the 7th. Mom, Dad, Frank & I were in Dad's car going someplace with the radio on when the bombing of Pearl Harbor was announced.We turned around and went back home and spent the remainder of the day listening for more news.
Sometime during the year 1942 my grandfather Dillingham became seriously ill and required home care. We moved back to Glasgow so Mother could help Uncle Malcolm care for him. Due to business conditions, Dad had closed his business but kept his auditing job for the Army. He was still able to get home every weekend. Mom & Dad rented a house and Poppa stayed with us until his death on May 29,1943, at the age of 56.
Mother was a beautiful woman but I had never noticed this until one day my best friend & I had parked our bikes in our yard when Mother came out of the house and spoke to us and returned back in the house. My friend said to me "your mother sure is pretty." From that day forward I didn't object very much when she went with me places that I thought I was too old to need an adult with me.
Everything is on a war time basis now. Gasoline and certain food items were rationed but we managed ok. I don't remember the date but the spring of 1944 Dad was drafted into the army. After basic training he was stationed at the Newton Baker hospital in Martinsburg, WestVirginia. When my school was out for the year, Dad got a furlough to come home and pack everything that we owned that we could not store at Uncle Malcolm's in his car.We are on our way to West Virginia. Mother and Frank were in the front seat with Dad and I managed to squeeze in the back.It took us almost two days to get there. No super highways in those days but we made it o.k.
Soon after arriving Dad was transferred to Ohio. We moved to Elmore, Ohio. A small quiet village on Lake Erie. There we rented a nice furnished house near the lake. I don't know where Dad's home base was, it may have been Fort Hayes in Columbus. Dad was doing now exactly the same things that he he had done as a civilian auditor except now he is doing it on a private's wages. My brother Larry found several of Dad's old paper notes about trips he had made to several of the Army facilities in Ohio & Indiana.
There was a cove within walking distance where for 50 cents 1 could rent a row boat for a half day. Mom & Dad let me do this as long as I stayed within the cove. There was always a cool breeze off the lake.
It must have been sometime in late August that Dad knew he was going to be transferred back to Martinsburg and then to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. They wanted to get me started in school back in Kentucky. They made arrangements with aunt Minnie & uncle Malcom for me to stay with them and enroll at Glasgow. The only practical way for me to get back there was by rail. There was no rail station at Elmore or Glasgow but there was one at Cave City, a small town about 15 miles from Glasgow and one at Toledo, Ohio about 30 miles from Elmore. Arrangements were made for me to get on the train at Toledo and Aunt Minnie to meet me in Cave City. The only hitch was I would have to change trains at Cincinnati. At that time Cincinnati had one of the largest railroads & busiest stations in the country. On the day Mom & Dad took me to the station he gave me instructions on how to get on the correct train in Cincinnati. I didn't let them know it, but I was scared to death. I knew I would get lost in that big station and spend the remainder of my life trying to find a train to Cave City. I made it o.k. & Aunt Minnie met me.
Shortly after I left for Glasgow, Dad, Mother & Frank went back to Martinsburg where Larry was born on September 10, 1944. About 2 weeks after Larry's birth, Mother had pneumonia in both lungs and almost died. There was no penicillin for civilians, but Dad managed to get some from the Army for her.
Dad was transferred to Fort Campbell & Mother moved to Glasgow. Mother & Larry stayed with Uncle Joe &Aunt Iva and Frank & I stayed with Uncle Malcolm & Aunt Minnie. We were soon able to rent a house in Cave City where I would spend two & one half of my happiest school years. Dad was able to get a pass and got home most weekends.Cave City is located 10 miles east of Mammoth Cave on US 31E. It is a very small town but the school served the farm children of the area and it was a big basketball school. I got a paper route here and continued my occupation as a news man. I helped Mother care for Frank & Larry. I loved those boys.
By the end of my freshman year Dad was able to get housing on the base at Fort Campbell. I had so many friends and had done so well at Cave City, I did not want to change schools again. Mom & Dad reluctantly agreed to let me come back to Cave City for my sophomore year. Dr. & Mrs. Markwood, good friends of Mom & Dad had volunteered to board me and the only cost would be I was to stoke the furnace and feed a pony they had for their two young sons. All went well for me that school year. I was making good grades and had gone out for basketball. I knew I didn't have a chance of making the team but knew I would learn a lot. The new school principal,Joe Billy Mansfield was also the basketball coach and had been a member of one of the University of Kentucky teams coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp. I did make the JR varsity and went on to play a lot of basketball at both Woodlawn,TN & Clarksville, TN.
It is now June 1946 and Dad had purchased a house and 10 acres of pasture land at Woodlawn, TN a short distance from Fort Campbell & Clarksville TN. I said goodbye to my friends. I would miss them but I was looking forward to being with my family again. The house was nice with shade trees in the yard. We had a small garden and a cow that came with the place. Mother had been milking the cow but she turned that job over to me. I had learned how to milk while living with Poppa Dillingham. My best friend, Arthur Hogan from Cave City came during the summer and stayed a week with us. Art and his wife Lil made their home in California but came back to KY & Tenn almost every 2 years and always came to see Leota & me. Ron, one of Art's brothers lives in Alaska. Leota & I went with Art & Lil to visit them a few years ago & had a great tour of Alaska. Ron & I still talk on the phone a couple times each year.
Even though I didn't graduate with the Cave City class of 1948 they have sent me an invitation and I have attended all of their class reunions.I went to Woodlawn high my junior year. I don't remember why but Dad sold the place at Woodlawn and we moved to Clarksville. He was still in the army but we were still a short distance from Fort Campbell. I enrolled at Clarksville High School & graduated in 1948. Dad was discharged from the Army before my graduation and got a job in Nashville with Tennessee Products & Chemical Co. He commuted each day to and from work. Immediately after my graduation my parents bought a house in Nashville on Croley Drive and we moved there.
The military draft was still in effect and many young men were being drafted for 3 year tours. The Army at this time had a program where if a person enlisted they would serve 1 year on active duty and 7 years in the active reserves Dad suggested I consider doing this and not face the possibility of having life interrupted later. I thought this was a good idea. For these terms to be effective a person had to enlist before their 19th birthday so I enlisted on July 27, 1948. I was sent to Fort Hood, Texas for basic training. After about 2 weeks I was called to the Captains office and was told that the Red Cross had contacted the Army and that my father had a serious heart attack and was in the Veterans Hospital in Nashville on White Bridge Road. It was arranged for me to get an emergency leave so I could return home. I flew from Dallas to Nashville. I can't remember where the money came from for the air fare. I know I didn't have it & I don't think Mom did either. Likely the Red Cross furnished it.
After about two weeks the doctors decided Dad was recovering & I returned to Fort Hood. Today he would certainly have had heart surgery but that had not been perfected in those days. I finished my basic training and was assigned to an armored field artillery unit stationed at Fort Hood. Most of the troops in this unit except the non coms were 1 year men like myself. We had come into this army as a group of kids but came out disciplined young men. I think every young man should spend 1 year in military service after graduating from high school. It is now the summer of 1949 and I have been transferred to the Army reserves and we go to Fort Jackson, SC some years and to Fort Benning, Georgia for 2 weeks every summer to keep up to date on our training. After 7 years of taking my vacation at one of these camps I retired.I went in as a Private and came out a Master Sergeant.
As I was going through my army discharge procedure in Nashville and transfer to the Active Reserve the Captain in charge of the procedure called me aside and said to me you worked in the office, can you type. I said yes and he said they were very busy and would you like to go on a thirty day tour of duty in this office.
I said Yes.This suited me since I had intended to enroll in David Lipscomb College that fall. I do not remember the day but it was early in the Korean war. I was living with my mother & father on Croley Drive in Nashville and a letter arrived from the Department of Defense ordering me back to active duty to serve in Korea. I was to report the next Monday at the National Guard armory in East Nashville. I went and the Captain I had worked for when I first got back to Nashville strolled through the building and saw me and asked what I was doing there. I told him and he said are you in an active unit and I told him yes and he said you are not supposed to be here. You are only supposed to be called if your entire unit is called. Just as soon as you get where you can, call your commanding officer and get him on the ball. My orders were cancelled and my unit was never called.
That fall of 1949 I enrolled at Lipscomb College (Name changed to Lipscomb University). It is now 1950. I did O.K. with my college classes & intended to continue in the fall. I was living at home with Mother, Dad and the boys and had a part time job at night restocking the shelves at one of the Cooper & Martins grocery stores. This did not pay very much and I needed a job during the summer to at least pay my tuition next fall.The army program that I was under did not pay for educational expenses.
I went to an employment agency and the lady there told me about an office job at a construction company but did not know if they would hire a temporary person. I applied for the job.I told the man interviewing me that I was looking for a temporary summer job. He asked me if I could type and use an adding machine. I told him yes I could do both. He said I will hire you on a temporary basis, I think he would have hired anybody that walked in the door. He was going on a vacation in a few days & needed someone to help get the weekly payroll out while he was gone.
So I went to work for W.L.Hailey & Co. on a temporary basis and stayed there 45 years and they never told me I was full time so I quit. At this time the company was a rather small utility company, mostly sewer & water lines. About 2 years after I was hired Mr W.L. Hailey passed away.Mr. Hailey had several other business interests and never played a major role in running W.L. Hailey & Co. Mr Lewis Steele was actually running the company and he worked out a deal with the Hailey heirs for the company to buy all Mr Hailey's stock over a period of time and allow key employees to purchase this stock. I got a stock bonus that first year of 1 share. One of the deals was that you could not sell the stock unless the company had first choice at book value.Over the years through stock purchases and stock bonuses I became a major owner and that helped fund my retirement in 1991.
It is now January 1951. I am still living with Mom & Dad at their home on Croley Drive which is only about 4 miles from Hailey's office. I rode a bus to & from work. On Monday January 29th the Great Blizzard of 1951 began as a freezing rain and lasted until Tuesday, February 1 leaving behind 8 inches of ice & snow. Nashville was totally unprepared for this. Nothing moved on the streets of Nashville for several days. No buses were running & I walked to work for several days.
In May, 1951 Dad's company transferred him to Wichita,Kansas where they were building a large plant.He,Mom, Frank & Larry moved to Wichita. They stayed there until the plant was finished and then returned to Nashville in August 1951. In May of 1952 Dad was transferred to Houston, Texas where his company was building another plant. Dad, Mom, Larry, Frank moved to Houston. They returned to Nashville in May 1953 & bought a nice home in Donelson.
After Dad sold his house a good friend of mine rented a small apartment. This worked out fine until he married his high school sweetheart. I got a room over the offices of Dr. Frist & Dr. Scoville. I tell this because this is where I met my true love.Their office was in an old colonial home with 2 rental apartments and a couple of rental rooms upstairs. I rented one of the rooms. There were two young ladies living in one of the apartments. They were both nurses. Soon another young nurse moved in with them. The other nurses introduced me to her. I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Soon I asked her for a date and she said yes. She had just graduated from St. Thomas Nurses school & just started her first job working on the surgery floor at Baptist hospital. She could not drive a car but had saved her money for a down payment on a car. She bought the sharpest car on the market. A two tone yellow & white Chevrolet Impala. It had everything on it except an air conditioner. Cars did not come with air conditioners in those days. She was living with her sister & brother in law and he had picked the car up for her. I offered to help teach her to drive. I don't remember why I taught her rather than her brother in law but I did & I am glad because it gave me a chance to see her. After that first date I knew this is the girl I wanted for my wife.
Dad was transferred back to Nashville. He bought a nice house in Donelson & I moved back in with them. I was seeing Leota every weekend except when she went home to her parents on a farm near Mount Pleasant, TN. I knew I was making progress when she invited me to go to her parents house and meet them and spend the weekend with them. I am now 91 years old & my memory is not all that good. I can't remember when or where I asked her to marry me but I do remember her telling me that there is something about me you need to know. She as a child had pneumonia and almost died. She recovered but it had affected her heart and the doctor told her parents she might not live to be 25 years old.I told her in that case we needed to hurry up & get married because I want you to be my wife.She said yes and we got married September 18,1954
On 09/14/1953 my father Allen Woods had a fatal heart attack.He was only 40 years old. Although he had been my father for a short time I loved him very much. Mother was now left with 2 small children. Frank was about 12 and Larry had just turned 9. They were both straight A students and graduated from Donelson High School.Both earned scholarships from top universities, Larry from Emory & Frank from Vanderbilt. Larry got his law degree from Northwestern & Frank from Vanderbilt.They were both successful lawyers and businessmen. At this time (May 2021) Larry is teaching civil rights and constitutional law at Tennessee State University. Frank passed away 5/13/2015.
After our marriage Leota and I lived in an apartment next door to her sister and brother in-law, Elsie Mae & Hiram Wright. After about a year we bought a house in Crieve Hall. It was a new subdivision in South Nashville and most homeowners were about our age. Leota continued working at the Red Cross blood center and things were looking fine for me at Hailey. Elsie Mae & Hiram were more than in laws to us, they were our best friends. We went fishing, to ball games and some of our trips across our great country with them. But we could never get Hiram on an overseas flight.(Hiram passed away April 29, 2015 at the age of 88. Elsie passed away August 1,2017 at the age of 92.
Leota & I both wanted children but after about 7 years of married life, we decided that we were not going to have any of our own and applied for adoption. In 1962 the adoption agency notified us that there were 2 brothers available. David was 4 & ½ and Gary was 3. We met with them several times and became attached to them and adopted them. David had a tax consulting business when he died on 03/02/13 from lung cancer. Gary is now living in Georgia. I am now living in an independent living apartment house in Nashville,TN & Gary calls me almost every day to see if I am o.k. We tried very hard to furnish a good Christian home for them. Both boys earned their Eagle Scout rank in Boy Scouts & both of them were on the Overton High School wrestling teams. In the summer, both played on a Little League baseball team. Gary is retired now. Before retirement he owned a mobile home sales lot and after that he was the manager of a restaurant at a very large truck stop in Georgia.
In the fall of 1965, Leota came home from a doctor's appointment with the news that she was pregnant. On 05/26/1966 our daughter Dawn Leigh was born. We soon outgrew our home and bought a larger home on 2 & 1/2 acres on Baxter Lane in the same area. The kids now had a large play area and we had a vegetable garden, some fruit trees and lots of flower beds. The boys left home as soon as they graduated from high school. They each had some college. Dawn never had any problems in school. She graduated from David Lipscomb high school & Lipscomb University & earned her MBA from Vanderbilt University. She was also athletic and was the pitcher on David Lipscomb High School softball team her senior year. She may have also been pitcher her junior year but I do not remember for sure. She also enjoyed horseback riding & golf & tennis.
In 1995, I retired from W L Hailey & Co. after 45 years of service. We settled down to a life where we could go and come without having to ask for time off. That year we went on a great tour of Australia & New Zealand. In 1997 Dawn went with us on a tour of Turkey. She also went with us on a tour of Peru and an African safari. On the trip to Peru Dawn had convinced a good girl friend of hers, Terri Jewell, to go with us.
One night in late November my brother Frank phoned me & asked if Leota & I would like to go on an African safari. I replied how much time do I have to pack our bags. He went on to say that a friend of his, Hall Hardaway, of Hardaway Construction Company had bought a construction site way out in the jungle in Tanzania, Africa. The site is in the Selous Game Reserve. The site was the base camp for a group of Norwegian companies who in the late 1970's had attempted to build a dam across the Rufiji river to furnish hydroelectric power to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. After spending three billion dollars and realizing it would take another three billion to finish it, they decided to abandon the project. The camp had a rather large building. used as a dining area and other indoor activities and 25 nice cabins with indoor plumbing & a shower. Hall had a right hand man and dozens of local native men cleaning & preparing the camp for tour groups for about a year. He decided to get together a group of his family, friends, and business associates to make a trial run during the Y2K holidays. Frank and his wife Jayne Ann were going and was responsible for getting Leota, Dawn and myself on the tour. Hall had rented 3 or 4 Land Rover vehicles & hired three experienced guides to get us up close to the animals. This was a great trip & I am certain we saw more animals up close than we would have on a commercial safari. Leota and I went on tours in several foreign countries and enjoyed all of them but I think this trip along with our trip to Israel &Egypt was the best.
The year is 2004 and we thought since we had traveled in all the other states we would celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary by visiting Hawaii. I made plane reservations on American Airlines & through a travel agency booked a tour of Oahu & Hawaii. We were scheduled to leave on June 13,2004. Leota on May 27 had a routine GYN checkup. Her doctor found something that indicated she had cancer and ordered biopsies which involved a one day stay in the hospital and a surgical procedure using a small scope to collect specimens from the enlarged lymph nodes. It was cancerous. This was done on June 8. By this time we had decided to cancel our travel plans, but all the doctors involved said that it would be several days before all the test results were in. They thought it would be best for us to go on if Leota felt up to it.She would be quite sore from the biopsies but she decided to go. Dawn and Terri Jewell went with us and were very helpful. It was a good trip but could have been better if we did not have Leota's cancer on our minds.
Upon returning Leota had several cancer treatments and we were told that she was in remission but it would come back and she would have to go through treatments again but it could be 5 years before that occurs. After the cancer treatments Leota never was her usual energetic self. In the spring of 2005 we decided to go back to Tucson, Arizona for a few days.This time we flew there and we finally got Hiram on a plane and he and Elsie Mae went with us. Later in the year she started having pain and went back to the doctor and found that her cancer had returned. She had just started another series of cancer treatments when on December 13, 2005 she developed severe respiratory and heart problems and was taken to the emergency room. After a few days she showed some improvement but then her kidneys began to fail. She remained in CCU and received aggressive treatment but the leukemia had weakened her body so much that she could not survive and on December 27, 2005 she passed away at the age of 76.
Dawn never got married. I can remember her telling Leota that none of the men she dated had any ambition. She decided to have artificial insemination. On 08/03/2009 Dawn had a baby girl who she named Ava Leota. A few nights after she came home with Ava she had to be rushed back to the hospital in severe pain. They found that she had advanced stage 4 colon cancer. Dawn fought hard. After her initial treatments she had to go in every week for a treatment and after almost 3 years passed away on 09/28/2012 at the age of 46.
I do not remember how long she stayed in the hospital that first time but she had great friends that came and stayed and cared for Ava. They came whenever she needed them. I have a 4 page list of names labeled Dawn's volunteers with 70 names & phone numbers to call if Dawn needed help. I am grateful for all of them and most of all for Lezlie Owsley and Terri Atkins. They contacted these people and made sure Dawn had help when she needed it. She needed a lot of help until she could care for Ava. She knew from the beginning that her life would be very short and made plans for Ava's future. She placed all her assets in trust for Ava and made plans for adoption upon her death.
She told me that there were two Christian couples she was considering. They were Johnnie and Lezlie Owsley and Steve and Terrie Atkins. (Terri before her marriage to Steve was Terri Jewell who went on trips to Peru & Hawaii with Dawn, Leota & I.) She told me she had a difficult time deciding between the two but decided to ask Terri and Steve to adopt Ava. On April 3, 2013 I went with Steve,Terri and Ava before a Judge to finalize the adoption. It brought back memories of Jan 18,1944 when Allen Woods adopted me at the Courthouse in Glasgow, Ky.
Several times Ava would spend Saturdays with me and go to church with me on Sunday at Crieve Hall Church of Christ. She went to the class for her age group and her teacher commented how bright she was. The only problem was she had long curly hair and I could never get it right. I really enjoyed her visits. Ava was the only grandchild that I had when they were young. My other grandchildren lived in Florida & South Carolina and I only saw them for a few days at Christmas. I wish that Leota had been here to share this experience with me.
In 2016 Terri, Steve and Ava moved to Searcy, Ark. where Terri grew up. Her parents, Fred & Alice Jewell, were both teachers at Harding University in Searcy. Steve's parents, Dial & Ruby Atkins live in Kiowa TX. Steve & Terri purchased a nice home in Searcy just a few blocks from Terri's parents. I have visited with them several times & enjoyed being with them and Ava. I have visited in the homes of both Terri's & Steve's parents and been treated as a family member. I am very pleased that Ava has both couples as grandparents.
In July 2016 after Ava moved to Searcy I sold my house and am now living in an "independent living" apartment complex in Nashville. For several years I have been battling glaucoma. In 2019, I knew it was time for me to stop driving. I sold my car. My brother Larry drives me to my doctors and anywhere else as needed.
I started this life in a situation of poverty but by making good decisions in opportunities that I had, I am now in a position of plenty. However I take no credit for this. I give all the credit for my success to God. He presented the opportunities and I am certain He guided me in my decision making.
By Rondall Gillock Woods