September 21

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Glynda Faye Carter Tucker

Glynda is the daughter of Ned Jackson Carter and Helen Loeta Padgett. Ned was the son of John Martin Carter, a brother of my great-great-grandmother Adaline Carter Arnold. So Glynda would be my grandmother's (Cleffie) 2nd cousin. That would make her my 2nd cousin twice removed (I think). Glynda has provided a LOT of family history information, particularly about the Carter branch of the family tree. The Carter and Arnold branches of the family tree are intertwined to the point of being inseparable. It was a small community in the Ozark mountains in Arkansas where they all lived, and there was a lot of intermarriage among the handful of families -- Tamsett, Garrett, Reed, etc. (In researching family genealogies in general I have found that to be true in all branches of the family. Life was very different in times past -- multi-generational households, small communities, no modern forms of transportation -- most folks never strayed too many miles from home in their lifetime.) 

Photos: Ned Jackson Carter, Helen Loeta Padgett Carter.

Helen died a few days after Glynda was born. Here is what Glynda has written about her parents:

  John and Amy’s second child was Ned Jackson Carter. He was named for his Grandpa Carter and his Grandpa Tamsett. Ned is my father. He was born in 1909. He married Helen Leota Padgett in 1935. They lived at Hardy, Desha and Banner.  She was not a well person but worked very hard, sewing for people and in church. She miscarried twice. I was born 21 September 1939. She had a very hard labor. She should have been in a hospital and had a caesarean, but she only had a country doctor that did not realize that. She hemorrhaged and died 25 September.  Ned (Ned Jackson Carter) and baby lived with the Padgetts for about five years. Ned married Maxine Qualls Green in 1945. I lived with them some, but mostly with my Padgett grandparents. Maxine had a boy, Elvis, who was about three years old. Ned and Maxine had no children.    

  Ned was a “Jack of all Trades”. He worked at sawmills, did mechanic work, worked for county road department and also worked as salesperson at two different building supply stores. He has been a piano tuner and rebuilds pianos too. In fact, he still does a lot of piano work. He has lived in Banner since 1939. He plays the piano by ear and has played at Mt. Zion Baptist Church for many years. He has been, and is, a great dad.

Photo: Maxine Qualls Green Carter

Here is a picture I took at the 1983 or 1984 Carter/Arnold family reunion. L-R: Ned Jackson Carter, Glynda Faye Carter Tucker, Dalton Dwayne Tucker (Glynda's husband).

And here is a more recent photo of Glynda:

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Just as an aside, to illustrate what I was talking about earlier -- Glynda's stepmother, Maxine Qualls Green Carter, had a twin sister named Imogene. Imogene married Elvin Reed. She was his 2nd wife. His first wife was Wilma Arnold (one of 'Uncle George's girls'). Wilma was a 1st cousin to my grandmother Cleffie Hicks Burford. Late in life, Cleffie married Elmer Reed -- Elvin's brother.

Photos: Elvin Reed and Wilma Arnold, Elmer Reed and Opie Arnold (Wilma's sister) 

Photo: Elmer Reed and Cleffie Hicks Burford Reed (1999)

I've always joked about how Grandma met her husband at a family reunion, but... well, now you see why it's perfectly logical. 

(This is what I do for fun.)