My lovely great grandmother was born on August 9, 1905 to Stephen and Lovada Hensley. She had a younger brother and two baby sisters. Roxie grew up in a rather poor household and her childhood was very rough. As the oldest girl in a family with an absent mother, a lot was expected of her; she was a hard worker and the mother figure that her brother and sister so desperately needed. It wasn't surprising that Roxie grew up as a tomboy...but nobody ever messed with her; they were scared to. She played rough and was just as tough - if not tougher - than any of the boys. As soon as she turned eleven and was considered old enough, she was forced to drop out of school and got a job as a housekeeper, boarding with various families. It was no easy task, but even as a girl her faith in God kept her going. Eventually she kept house for a professor who let her read his books; she devoured everything and learned much beyond her fifth-grade education. She definitely had a love of learning, and she knew so much about the world around her and about natural remedies and nearly anything a person would want to know.
She met my great granddad at a boardinghouse, and they had a long and happy marriage and had five children of their own. Roxie proved to be a protective and loving mother.
And when grandchildren came around, they had nothing but love for her. She taught them to pray, she played board games with them, she captured their imagination with her thick North Carolina accent and her habit of chewing tobacco and spitting it into a little can.
Everyone who knew Roxie had nothing but good things to say about her. She was truly an amazing lady and a living testimony to how God can use impossible circumstances for the best future anyone could imagine.