Alva "Alvie" Blackwell was born on the 15th of June, 1910 in that part of old Marion County which became Walthall County in 1914. She was the daughter of Ezell Blackwell and Ophelia (Conerly) Blackwell. Her mother died when she was nine years old. She had a wonderful mother and retained many good memories of her. She would later reminisce of helping her mother in the kitchen - making bisquits and such. She would become an excellent cook in the art of country cooking to the delight of her family. She would make hoe cakes, tea cakes, wonderful bisquits, old time chicken & dumplings, and many delicious pies. She had many good recipes but more often than not she cooked without a recipe. The old time country housewives grew the vegetables from their own gardens and took them straight to the kitchen. They could make everything taste better than so many modern cooks can today.

Grandmama was about eleven years old when her father remarried Mrs. Lela Howell Beard who was a widow and a school teacher. Grandmama delighted in reminiscing that Mrs. Lela could play the piano and organ and taught her to play some. Ezell Blackwell's family had moved from the vicinity of the Crystal Springs community of Walthall County to a farm sixteen miles north of Tylertown. In this part of Walthall County our grandmother and grandfather came to know each other growing up. Our grandmother married Herbert Holmes on Sunday, June 5th, 1927 in the Enon community of northwestern Walthall County. They would have four children with one, little John Ray, dying in infancy. Their marriage would sadly end in divorce. Our grandmother would later marry again to Troy B. Harrell of Jackson, La. They lived on the edge of Jackson bordering the woods and the hospital grounds until perhaps a year or so before the death of her husband, Troy, when they moved into town.

Our grandmother was a very industrious, determined and strong-willed individual. She loved to set out plants. She had cape jasmines (gardenias) & a japonica bush (commonly called a camellia today) and a couple of bay trees in her back yard with ferns along one side of her house. She tended to a number of different varieties of plants and had a good sized vegetable garden before she moved into town. She knew the story of her family's settlement along the west bank of the Lower Pearl in the early 1800's. She had a very good knowledge of her family's history as many of the characters were either a part of her childhood or not many decades removed. She learned to place an increasingly higher value on spiritual things as she grew in years and grew also in the knowledge of the Scriptures.

She worshipped at the First Baptist Church of Jackson where she also attended Sunday School classes. She had grown especially fond of one of the pastors, Dr. Donald "Bro. Don" Bozeman, and his wife, Patsy. Bro. Don preached our grandmother's funeral. He helped her to come to a better understanding of certain scriptural truths. Grandmama was also a member of the Marion Chapter, No. 94 (Columbia, Mississippi) of the Order of the Eastern Star. Though she was never very active in the organization she continued to keep her membership dues current till her death.

Her obituary appeared in the Baton Rouge "Morning Advocate", Tues., June 3, 1980, page 17-D.

Through the rigours of life she learned the lessons of life and what is truly important. On her deathbed she said she was trusting in Jesus alone for her salvation. What better hope can one have! We loved this strong-willed matriarch of ours. And she loved her family. She sacrificed for her family.