The Woods Is Full Of ‘Em: October 2022

Evalee, age 7

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Evalee and Bill Woodward (and dog)

Evalee's full name was Minerva Evalee Hicks. The name Minerva was for her grandmother -- Minerva Adaline Arnold, who was called Adaline. Neither of them was ever called Minerva, to my knowledge.

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EVALEE GETS HIT BY A CAR

--written by Cleffie Hicks Burford

It was when Evalee was seven years old and the Christmas season was in full swing. The school was getting ready to have their Christmas tree and gift exchange program and all the children were doing their shopping, getting their gifts ready for the occasion.

On this particular afternoon Evalee and Elvin were doing their shopping together. Elvin led the way and she followed right behind. They had gone by Papa’s jewelry repair shop and studio first and he gave them money to do their shopping. They went up and down the street looking at all the displays of toys, etc. Then they crossed over to the other side of the street to look in the stores over there. When they were ready to cross back to this side Elvin came across first and a car which was coming along the street had to swerve to keep from hitting him and just at that time Evalee came out from behind some parked cars into the path of the oncoming car and the poor driver went to pieces. His name was Paul Bennett -- he was just a young man and very nice. (He was an electrician.) He tried to miss her but ended up with her pinned between the front of his car and the rear of a parked car.

A crowd gathered and they got the car back away from her. There she lay in the street and all the people wondering whose child she was, when Papa made his way through the crowd and told them she was his daughter. She was out cold. They got her over to the doctor’s office right nearby and he said she had both legs broken in two places.

Papa sent Elvin home as fast as he could go to tell Mama what had happened and get her to come down there as soon as she could because he had to go take the mail from the post office to the depot and put it on a train. This only took a few minutes and then he would be right back. But he didn’t want Evalee to come to herself and neither one of them there. He always just closed up his shop long enough to meet the trains which was about three times a day.

By the time the doctor was all done setting Evalee’s legs and had her done up in casts it was dark. The man who had run into her had stayed right there with them through the whole thing. He was absolutely scared to death and was just devastated that he had injured a child, even though it wasn’t his fault. He brought her and Mama home in his car and Papa drove his own car.

Within the next day or two there was a hospital bed brought to the house for Evalee to sleep on so it would be easier for Mama to take care of her. I don’t remember if this man who hit her (Paul Bennett) had made arrangements for it or if the doctor did, but I believe the young man did. He did everything he could think of to make things better. He brought a live Christmas tree and set it up by her bed, decorated it and brought presents to go under it. But the main present he gave to her right then. It was a “Big Doll.” That made lying in bed a lot easier for her.

Some ladies of the town came to the house one day to talk to Mama about putting Evalee in the hospital. They just thought she “must” be in the hospital where she could get the right kind of care. Boy! Little did they know that Mama was one of the best people in the world when it came to caring for sick folks. They even made a threatening remark to the effect that Evalee could be put in the hospital against Mama’s will. Whew! They shouldn’t have said that. Mama really told them then just how it was going to be and defied them to even think of trying to do anything about it. So that was the end of that. Evalee couldn’t have done any better. She mended nicely. The last time Paul Bennett came to see her she was out in the yard playing. That made him happy.