Person:Beulah Owens (1)

Memories of Viola Owens Rose by Deborah Seale Hebert, written 17 February 1999. "She is the only grandparent I was old enough to remember knowing. Her husband, my grandfather Rose, died when I was about 18 months old. She lived on Old Dayton Pike in Soddy in a little dark brown, wodden house. The house was either torn down or burned down several years ago now. It had a high front porch with two doors on the front of the house. You entered into a front room with a coal stove on the left, a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. If you went straight ahead, you wwent into the kitchen with a huge wood cookstove onthe right, a Hoosier cabinet on the left and a big oval antique table against the far wall. You could turn left out of the kitchen and go out onto a little back porch. There was a cutout place in the porch around the well. A path led from the back porch to the outhouse up on the hill behind and to the right of the house. There was only one bedroom in the house with two iron beds and a dresser. As you entered the bedroom from the living room there was a little "what-not" shelf high on the wall. I still have several of the little items that I can remember being on that shelf -- a miniature cobalt blue glass pitcher, a ceramic frog and a figurine with two lovebirds. There was a sofa and an old Singer treadle sewing machine in the front room and also a green leather-covered platform rocker. With the exception of the rocker and an oak dresser, my mother allowed Williamson Funeral Home to take the contents of the house as payment for my grandmother's funeral bill.

I remember being afraig of Granny's house. My mother took me there one Saturday night to spend the night with Granny and after I got there, I wouldn't stay. With its high ceilings and old furniture, it seemed pretty scary to a little girl. At some point near the end of her life, Granny came to live with us in our house on Hixson Pike near Central Baptist Church. My mother worked some from time to time and Granny was there when I would come home from school. She was always working on something and humming a song softly. That is my strongest memory of her, that humming. Our house at that time had two bedrooms. Granny and my mother slept in a double bed in the front bedroom and my father and I slept in twin beds in the back bedroom. As an adult, this seems like a strange arrangement, but as a c hild I never thought to question it.

I've been told that my Grandfather Rose was an alcoholic and that he was mean to Granny and to Aunt Ruby also. They say that Granny walked and delivered newspapers, sold Watkins and Avon products on foot, anything to keep food in the house and shoese on the children's feet.

In the last years of her life, someone had given Granny a little rat terrier dog who was named Tippy. Tippy hated me, of that I am sure. I wanted her to play with me and all she would do was sit at Granny's feet and snarl at me. SAhe later had a puppy who was named Mitsy. They both loved Granny dearly.

Granny did beautiful crochet work. I still have several doilies that she made. I also have one quilt that she made.

I don't recall much about the time during which Granny became ill and died. She died less than a year afdter her daughter, my Aunt Ruby. Those days hold memories of my being left with friends and neighbors while my mothger nursed dying relatives. Granny dipped Bruton's Snuff for years and I'm sure it had something to do with her having cancer of the larynx. I think that mother left me with my friend, Joy Sanders, during Granny's funeral.

I only have a handful of pictures of Granny. She was such a beautiful young girl. In the pictures taken in her later years, the harshness of her life really shows in her face.

The following is from the Bible of Beulah Viola Owens, my grandmother.

Viola Owens married Brooks Rose, September 3, 1911, in Van Buren, Arkansas. Brooks Rose was born September 4, 1888 in Soddy, Tennessee -- died March 24, 1954 at Erlanger Hospital, Chattanooga, buried Wallace Cemetery near lake at Soddy. Viola (Owens) Rose was born September 4, 1893, Soddy, Tennessee. (Note: I think the place of birth was written by her daughter, Louellen Rose Seale, after Viola's death and that it is not correct.) Viola Rose died July 2, 1962 at Erlanger Hospital and was buried at Wallace Cemetery, near the lake at Soddy.

Parents of Brooks Rose are listed as George Rose and Mary Rose. Parents of Viola Owens are listed as W. I. Owens, born May 17, 1864, died 1955 and Sarah Owens, born October 9, 1877 and died October 26, 1924.

Children: Ruby Rose born November 6, 1912 at Soddy, Tennessee, died May 4, 1963 at P&S Hospital, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Married to T. W. Ashburn. Note by Louellen Rose Seale in Bible "In Heaven no doubt. Her last testimony convinced us that she is now at rest with her God."

William G. Rose born October 11, 1914 in Soddy, Tennessee, died October 9, 1958 at home in Soddy. Married Ora Parrott. Note by Louellen Rose Seale in Bible, "Loved by everyone and now at rest in Heaven we know."

Oscar Howard Rose born April 5, 1919 in Soddy, Tennessee and died May 22, 1921 Soddy, Tennessee.

LouEllen Rose born September 21, 1921 in Soddy, Tennessee, died January 20, 1989 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Married Alford L. Seale in Munroe, North Carolina March 11, 1944.

Roy Rose born January 21, 1924 in Soddy, Tennessee, died February 12, 1924, Soddy, Tennessee.

Walter Glenn Rose born February 7, 1926, 1926, W. Virginia, died August 14, 1989, Soddy, Tennessee. Married Martha