Essie Virginia (Sours) Dennis Childress, 81, widow of Oscar Dennis and Arthur D. Childress, passed away suddenly on Tuesday, November 9, at Friendship Nursing Home in Hagerstown, Maryland, where she was recovering from surgery.
Essie was born on Christmas Day in 1884 in Luray, Page County, Virginia. After the death of her mother, Martha (Mattie) Bradley Sours, when Essie had just turned 6, her father, the late Benjamin Franklin Sours, married Martha's older sister, Sarah V. Bradley Sours, and the family relocated to Charles Town, West Virginia. Essie lived in Charles Town until after the death of her first husband, Oscar, in 1917. She moved to the Hagerstown area by 1919, and resided in Hagerstown the rest of her life. She was a member of Calvary Holiness Church.
Mrs. Childress is survived by daughter, Hazel V. Kemp (husband Edwin M. Kemp) of Hagerstown, and son Wilbert E. Dennis (Wife Ava) of Henderson, North Carolina, half-sister, Mrs. Mable Barr and half-brother, Eugene Sowers, both of Hagerstown. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren. Her children Edna Dennis Taylor, Ralph Abner Dennis and Woodrow Miller Dennis pre-deceased her, as did her sister, Maudie Blanche (Sours) Lokowich, of Winona, Minnesota.
The family will receive friends at the A.K. Coffman Funeral Home on Thursday evening from 7 to 9 pm. Funeral services will be on Friday, November 12, at 3 pm at the funeral home with the Rev. James I. Beideman officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery.
(Actual obituary from The Morning Herald, Hagerstown, Maryland on Tuesday, November 10, 1965. Other facts have been added.)
Essie and her first husband, L. Oscar Dennis, were married in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 24, 1904. They resided in Charles Town, West Virginia, where all of their children were born. Oscar died tragically from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident at "Death Curve" on "old" old Route 40 South of Funkstown, Maryland in September of 1917, leaving his young wife alone to care for their 5 young children. Essie was forced to place the children in a State-run orphan’s home. The youngest child, Woodrow, had polio and was sickly, so he was kept at home and not placed in the orphanage. Essie was some how able to continue to make trips to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for his care. (He did survive his devastating childhood illness, grew to adulthood and married.) Essie returned to her parent’s home for a period of time after the death of her husband, then she relocated to Halfway, Maryland and obtained employment at The Hagerstown Shoe and Legging Company factory. She married her second husband, Arthur D. Childress, he being a recent widower, on November 22, 1919, in Hagerstown. After her remarriage, she was able to reclaim her young children from the orphanage, and the reunited family settled permanently in Hagerstown. My mother, Hazel, her youngest daughter, remembered the excitement of “Grandpaw Sours” moving the family’s possessions from Charles Town to Hagerstown with his horse and wagon. (Mom would have been about 7 at the time.)
(Submitted by B. Kemp Bell-Cohoon, daughter of Hazel, granddaughter of Essie.)
Essie was born on Christmas Day in 1884 in Luray, Page County, Virginia. After the death of her mother, Martha (Mattie) Bradley Sours, when Essie had just turned 6, her father, the late Benjamin Franklin Sours, married Martha's older sister, Sarah V. Bradley Sours, and the family relocated to Charles Town, West Virginia. Essie lived in Charles Town until after the death of her first husband, Oscar, in 1917. She moved to the Hagerstown area by 1919, and resided in Hagerstown the rest of her life. She was a member of Calvary Holiness Church.
Mrs. Childress is survived by daughter, Hazel V. Kemp (husband Edwin M. Kemp) of Hagerstown, and son Wilbert E. Dennis (Wife Ava) of Henderson, North Carolina, half-sister, Mrs. Mable Barr and half-brother, Eugene Sowers, both of Hagerstown. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren. Her children Edna Dennis Taylor, Ralph Abner Dennis and Woodrow Miller Dennis pre-deceased her, as did her sister, Maudie Blanche (Sours) Lokowich, of Winona, Minnesota.
The family will receive friends at the A.K. Coffman Funeral Home on Thursday evening from 7 to 9 pm. Funeral services will be on Friday, November 12, at 3 pm at the funeral home with the Rev. James I. Beideman officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery.
(Actual obituary from The Morning Herald, Hagerstown, Maryland on Tuesday, November 10, 1965. Other facts have been added.)
Essie and her first husband, L. Oscar Dennis, were married in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 24, 1904. They resided in Charles Town, West Virginia, where all of their children were born. Oscar died tragically from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident at "Death Curve" on "old" old Route 40 South of Funkstown, Maryland in September of 1917, leaving his young wife alone to care for their 5 young children. Essie was forced to place the children in a State-run orphan’s home. The youngest child, Woodrow, had polio and was sickly, so he was kept at home and not placed in the orphanage. Essie was some how able to continue to make trips to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for his care. (He did survive his devastating childhood illness, grew to adulthood and married.) Essie returned to her parent’s home for a period of time after the death of her husband, then she relocated to Halfway, Maryland and obtained employment at The Hagerstown Shoe and Legging Company factory. She married her second husband, Arthur D. Childress, he being a recent widower, on November 22, 1919, in Hagerstown. After her remarriage, she was able to reclaim her young children from the orphanage, and the reunited family settled permanently in Hagerstown. My mother, Hazel, her youngest daughter, remembered the excitement of “Grandpaw Sours” moving the family’s possessions from Charles Town to Hagerstown with his horse and wagon. (Mom would have been about 7 at the time.)
(Submitted by B. Kemp Bell-Cohoon, daughter of Hazel, granddaughter of Essie.)
Essie Virginia (Sours) Dennis Childress, 81, widow of Oscar Dennis and Arthur D. Childress, passed away suddenly on Tuesday, November 9, at Friendship Nursing Home in Hagerstown, Maryland, where she was recovering from surgery.
Essie was born on Christmas Day in 1884 in Luray, Page County, Virginia. After the death of her mother, Martha (Mattie) Bradley Sours, when Essie had just turned 6, her father, the late Benjamin Franklin Sours, married Martha's older sister, Sarah V. Bradley Sours, and the family relocated to Charles Town, West Virginia. Essie lived in Charles Town until after the death of her first husband, Oscar, in 1917. She moved to the Hagerstown area by 1919, and resided in Hagerstown the rest of her life. She was a member of Calvary Holiness Church.
Mrs. Childress is survived by daughter, Hazel V. Kemp (husband Edwin M. Kemp) of Hagerstown, and son Wilbert E. Dennis (Wife Ava) of Henderson, North Carolina, half-sister, Mrs. Mable Barr and half-brother, Eugene Sowers, both of Hagerstown. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren. Her children Edna Dennis Taylor, Ralph Abner Dennis and Woodrow Miller Dennis pre-deceased her, as did her sister, Maudie Blanche (Sours) Lokowich, of Winona, Minnesota.
The family will receive friends at the A.K. Coffman Funeral Home on Thursday evening from 7 to 9 pm. Funeral services will be on Friday, November 12, at 3 pm at the funeral home with the Rev. James I. Beideman officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery.
(Actual obituary from The Morning Herald, Hagerstown, Maryland on Tuesday, November 10, 1965. Other facts have been added.)
Essie and her first husband, L. Oscar Dennis, were married in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 24, 1904. They resided in Charles Town, West Virginia, where all of their children were born. Oscar died tragically from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident at "Death Curve" on "old" old Route 40 South of Funkstown, Maryland in September of 1917, leaving his young wife alone to care for their 5 young children. Essie was forced to place the children in a State-run orphan’s home. The youngest child, Woodrow, had polio and was sickly, so he was kept at home and not placed in the orphanage. Essie was some how able to continue to make trips to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for his care. (He did survive his devastating childhood illness, grew to adulthood and married.) Essie returned to her parent’s home for a period of time after the death of her husband, then she relocated to Halfway, Maryland and obtained employment at The Hagerstown Shoe and Legging Company factory. She married her second husband, Arthur D. Childress, he being a recent widower, on November 22, 1919, in Hagerstown. After her remarriage, she was able to reclaim her young children from the orphanage, and the reunited family settled permanently in Hagerstown. My mother, Hazel, her youngest daughter, remembered the excitement of “Grandpaw Sours” moving the family’s possessions from Charles Town to Hagerstown with his horse and wagon. (Mom would have been about 7 at the time.)
(Submitted by B. Kemp Bell-Cohoon, daughter of Hazel, granddaughter of Essie.)
Essie was born on Christmas Day in 1884 in Luray, Page County, Virginia. After the death of her mother, Martha (Mattie) Bradley Sours, when Essie had just turned 6, her father, the late Benjamin Franklin Sours, married Martha's older sister, Sarah V. Bradley Sours, and the family relocated to Charles Town, West Virginia. Essie lived in Charles Town until after the death of her first husband, Oscar, in 1917. She moved to the Hagerstown area by 1919, and resided in Hagerstown the rest of her life. She was a member of Calvary Holiness Church.
Mrs. Childress is survived by daughter, Hazel V. Kemp (husband Edwin M. Kemp) of Hagerstown, and son Wilbert E. Dennis (Wife Ava) of Henderson, North Carolina, half-sister, Mrs. Mable Barr and half-brother, Eugene Sowers, both of Hagerstown. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren. Her children Edna Dennis Taylor, Ralph Abner Dennis and Woodrow Miller Dennis pre-deceased her, as did her sister, Maudie Blanche (Sours) Lokowich, of Winona, Minnesota.
The family will receive friends at the A.K. Coffman Funeral Home on Thursday evening from 7 to 9 pm. Funeral services will be on Friday, November 12, at 3 pm at the funeral home with the Rev. James I. Beideman officiating. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery.
(Actual obituary from The Morning Herald, Hagerstown, Maryland on Tuesday, November 10, 1965. Other facts have been added.)
Essie and her first husband, L. Oscar Dennis, were married in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 24, 1904. They resided in Charles Town, West Virginia, where all of their children were born. Oscar died tragically from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident at "Death Curve" on "old" old Route 40 South of Funkstown, Maryland in September of 1917, leaving his young wife alone to care for their 5 young children. Essie was forced to place the children in a State-run orphan’s home. The youngest child, Woodrow, had polio and was sickly, so he was kept at home and not placed in the orphanage. Essie was some how able to continue to make trips to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for his care. (He did survive his devastating childhood illness, grew to adulthood and married.) Essie returned to her parent’s home for a period of time after the death of her husband, then she relocated to Halfway, Maryland and obtained employment at The Hagerstown Shoe and Legging Company factory. She married her second husband, Arthur D. Childress, he being a recent widower, on November 22, 1919, in Hagerstown. After her remarriage, she was able to reclaim her young children from the orphanage, and the reunited family settled permanently in Hagerstown. My mother, Hazel, her youngest daughter, remembered the excitement of “Grandpaw Sours” moving the family’s possessions from Charles Town to Hagerstown with his horse and wagon. (Mom would have been about 7 at the time.)
(Submitted by B. Kemp Bell-Cohoon, daughter of Hazel, granddaughter of Essie.)
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