NOVEMBER LEAVES AT THE LOG HOUSE
The little log house on Decatur Pike in Athens was at its best during the fall! The front yard was full of tall maple trees and dogwoods and there was a huge oak tree at the back. The fall colors were gorgeous—and the plain little black and white house set everything off perfectly. Many of us had lived there over the years—first, my Cate grandparents with my widowed mother Harriett and her little son Glenn, and sometimes Aunt Della and Uncle Jack were there. Leter, Harriett and Arley and I lived there several years, followed by Glenn and Katie. When they married, Harriett deeded the log house and a lot behind it to them. It was intermittently rented and the last family members living there were Emily (Glenn’s daughter) and her husband Kenny. Their son Robert was born while they lived in the log house.
These two photos were taken one November weekend in 1980 when we were visiting in Athens. It was a big celebration for the Eaves side of the family—with Easy being inducted into the Tennessee Wesleyan Football Hall of Fame. All the Eaves siblings and many of their children and grandchildren attended the festivities. Heather, Patrick and I drove over from South Carolina to join in the fun.
By this time, we were building our new home in Columbia, scheduled to move in the week of Christmas. Mother was living in the small house she built for herself while I was in college—just next door to the log house. Katie lived in the house she and Glenn built after they moved back to Athens after a few years away—on their lot behind the log house. Emily was living in Murfreesboro and Robert lived “in the country” with his father. The log house was rented.
Robert was excited to visit with his cousins Patrick and Heather, and came to spend the weekend with Katie. He was less than a year younger than Patrick. In this photo the boys were having fun piling leaves on Heather in the front yard of the log house.
The next month, we moved into our new blue saltbox house in Williamsburg West. Mother was there to help us move and spend Christmas with us. Late on the night before Christmas Eve, I got a phone call from Athens telling me Katie had died after being shot on her carport as she came home. Nothing would ever be the same.
A few years later, the bank handling Katie’s estate sold the log house. It was torn down and became a Taco Bell.
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