Person:Lois Pumphrey (1)

Obituary: LOIS A. HAWKINS Sept. 12, 1909 - June 8, 2005

     SHARPSVILLE -- Lois A. Hawkins, 95, Sharpsville, died at 5:44 p.m., Wednesday, June 8, 2005, in Autumnwood Extended Care. She was born Sept. 12, 1909, in Groomsville, Prairie Township, Tipton County, a daughter of Orval P. and Maude B. (Worden) Pumphrey. She married Harold T. Hawkins on April 25, 1931, at the Methodist Parsonage at Lafayette. He died April 26, 1996. She lived in the Sharpsville area for most of her life and some years in Indianapolis, Colorado Springs, and Springfield, Ohio.
     She was a member of the Sharpsville United Methodist Church, Sharpsville Legion Auxiliary, H&H Home EC Club. She was a pianist for the Children's Choir at the Sharpsville United Methodist Church. She was an active member of the Sharpsville High Band Parents.
     She was a 1928 graduate of Sharpsville High School and attended Prairie Schools. She loved music, crocheting, sewing and quilting. She also encouraged her children to read.
     Surviving are two sons, Phillip A. Hawkins, Mansfield, Texas, Carldon "Don" S. Hawkins, Yuma, Ariz.; one daughter, Jacquelyn A. Baden, Sharpsville; 13 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Harold T. Hawkins and one brother, Garnet Pumphrey.
     Services are 10 a.m. Tuesday at Sharpsville United Methodist Church. The Revs. Ray Squibb and Lee Mangold will officiate. Burial will be in Sharpsville Cemetery. Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the church. Services are being handled by Boyer Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to the Sharpsville United Methodist Church.

    The following are excerpts from HAWKINS From Tipton County, Indiana. A Migrating American Family 1861-2001, pp 77-106, published by Phillip Ardath Hawkins in 2002.

    Lois Arlene (Pumphrey) Hawkins was born 12 September 1909 in Groomsville, Prairie Township, Tipton County, Indiana. The house she was born in was on the southeast corner of the town center, and the yard was an orchard. Her grandfather, Joseph Marion Pumphrey owned a general store located on the northwest corner of the intersection. She started school at Edwards School, one mile west of Groomsville, attended the Cardwell School, 1 ½ miles south of where the high school would later be located, and then returned to Edwards. She attended the Bacon school and the Scircleville School in Clinton County from 1920 through 1924, and then the seventh through most of her eleventh year were attended at the new Prairie High School. Following a move in the spring of 1927, she attended Sharpsville High School, where she graduated in the class of 1928. Starting in 1920, for four or five summers, she received

piano lessons from Raymond Garner, and then later took lessons on the violin for one year. She road bareback a lot, and her favorite was “Bob”, the carriage horse, who was a bit smaller than the other horses. Bob had been raced, and he always had to have his nose out in front of the horses of her friends.

    From a writing dated 19 June 1989: “I faintly remember the store. Had one brother, Garnet Dale, born in Adams County, 7 June 1913, not sure but think we moved there in 1910. Moved about a mile north of Groomsville, on east side of road in 1914. I remember that Garnet was so sick that summer (dysentery). I can see Mom sitting him on the sewing machine, and feeding him liquid from cooked oatmeal; he had such a sick cry. We had a lot of fun then. Mary Peters lived just south of us, and we played together all the time…. It was so much fun to play in the ditch north of the house. We played under the bridge, and under a big tree in the woods west of the bridge… Dad made us a cart that we rode down the hill that covered the warm-house. The warm-house was cool in the summer to keep food in, and storage for potatoes, etc. in the winter. I had polio when I was seven. Took sick on my birthday. I remember just being sick at my stomach, a Sunday I think. Mom had chicken and dumplings with dressing. I always liked the gizzard, and liked the dressing before it was cooked. Mom tried to get me to eat both, but couldn’t eat. I also remember swinging around the posts on the porch. As much as we kids swung on the posts, it’s a wonder we didn’t pull them loose.” When the threshing was over, she and Garnet could hardly wait for the rain to pack the straw stack so they could slide down the sides.

    From a writing of about the same time as above: “I was baptized and became a member of Liberty Baptist

Church in March 1920? Baptized in a gravel pit, one mile north of Liberty, on the east side of the road. I wore a white dress and white shoes. Dad made a sled - great fun. Grandma Pumphrey made sugar cookies. Grandpa Pumphrey used a cane. Grandpa Worden was the custodian of the Sharpsville School for several years. He was a quiet man. I sang at Liberty Church many times. Duets with Mary Peters, then solos. I always loved to sing. My Mom and Dad were very good to us. They were fun people and did things for Garnet and me.”

    Lois and Harold first met when they became classmates in the spring of 1927, and they graduated from Sharpsville High school in the spring of 1928. Lois had sung alto in the chorus, and Harold had played the trombone, participated in the operetta and plays, and was a starting guard on the basketball team. Following a game on 5 February 1928 the school was destroyed by fire, but they were able to save the gym. Classes were held in available space about town, and the school was demolished, completely rebuilt, and ready for classes in the fall of 1928 following their graduation. They were married three years later on 25 April 1931 at the Methodist parsonage in Lafayette, Indiana, where Harold was in his third year at Purdue University.

    Life revolved around the children, who were involved in all of the school activities, especially in music and in athletics. They started with music lessons, graduated to the Junior Band, and then to the High School Band. Phil played the clarinet, Don played the trombone that Harold had played, later taking up the baritone, and Jaci played the trombone and the piano, and was active in baton twirling. All sang in the school chorus. Phil, and later Jaci, was Drum Major for the marching band that was recognized as one of the best in the state of Indiana. There was a lot of parental involvement in the motivation of the three children, and in the transport to the contests and the performances all over the state. The children were all active in athletics of the period. Each had a bicycle and learned how to swim. Both boys excelled in basketball, track, and softball, and both were selected for the varsity basketball team before the end

of their freshman season. During their four years of high school both boys served as team captain, and both were selected to numerous “all-star” teams. Phil was a starter at the end of his freshman year (1948) on a team that was the first to win the sectional tournament since Harold’s team in 1928, and Don was to be recognized as possibly the best to have ever played at Sharpsville. There was no organized athletics for girls, but Jaci was an excellent swimmer, and she became an accomplished baton twirler. Lois and Harold were at every game, contest, or event, and they were on the front row. They participated, they encouraged, and they defended. Harold was a regular in “Letters to the Editor”, where he responded to every slight or criticism of the family, the school, or the town of Sharpsville. The children did well in academics, and the parents were always available for help. The parent of choice was Mother, who gave the help that was needed. Daddy always imparted more information than was desired.

    Lois, who was twice a Pumphrey, descended on her father’s side from Richard Pomfrey-1, Walter Pumphrey1, Lazarus2, Henry3, Larkin4, Joseph5 ,  Joseph6, Orval7, and Lois8, and on her mother’s side from Larkin’s brother Andrew Pumphrey4 through, Pernity5 Pumphrey, Minerva6 Summers, Maude7 Worden, Lois8. The Walter Pumphrey’s were Quakers that immigrated from Gloucestershire, England, arriving in Burlington, New Jersey in 1678.

See Harold Talmage Hawkins for additional information. Entered WeRelate 6 Jan 2016 by Phillip Ardath Hawkins.