Person:Elonzo Williams (1)

Elonzo (Lonnie) Huble Williams and Jessie Lilybelle Skipper were married in 1916. Lonnie served in France during World War I. After his discharge, the family settled in Butler County, and began farming. A late freeze in 1920, forced the family to move a few miles south near Georgiana.

Between 1920 and 1921, the couple’s first son, Ernest Huble, was born, but he had a digestive problem and died. The couple’s second child, Irene, was born on August 8, 1922.

The following year, on Sept. 17, 1923, Hiram (Hank) Williams was born in a small house near Mount Olive, Alabama.

Lonnie Williams was employed by W. T. Smith Lumber Co., but somewhere between 1929 and 1930, Lon left the family and went to the Veterans Administration hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Supposedly, an injury he had received during the war began to bother him, and he experienced a lot of pain in his face and jaw. Eventually his mouth became so paralyzed that he was unable to speak. His face was motionless.

While Lonnie was in the hospital, Lillie took the two children and household belongings and moved to a house at 127 Rose Street in Georgiana. After a few years, she moved the family to Greenville, and then on to Montgomery. During this time, the family received Lonnie’s disability check.

According to an article by Steve Maze in the March 1999 issue of Yesterday’s Memories, one day Lonnie was sitting in his hospital bed when something “exploded” in his head. Blood began pouring from his ears, nose, and mouth.

It was an aneurysm in his brain that had ruptured, but instead of killing him, he made a remarkable recovery. The paralysis disappeared from his face and he was able to speak again.

Lonnie thought he would return to his family, but his former wife, Lillie had other ideas. She practically threw him and his clothes out the door when he tried to move in with them in Montgomery. Lonnie moved to McWilliams, Alabama, and Hank would either hitchhike, or ride a bus to visit him.