Lena Mason of Monroe Co. TN
Monroe County Observer, (Monroe Co. TN) July 7, 1976, Page 24:
“Baby, Bird, And Tree All Die At Same Time---’Here’s a story for The Observer and it is true and also happened in Monroe County,’ writes Mrs. Zelma Newman of Englewood.
She goes on to say, ‘My folks lived about three miles out of Sweetwater when my little sister was born. I don’t remember her birth, but I do remember her death.
‘Lena was born with what the doctor called a “heart condition” and she died when she was a year and two days old. She was sick for several weeks before she died, and while she was so sick, a Mockingbird would sit in some cedar trees near the house and sing at night.
‘One of my uncles, the late R.C. Mason, went out one night to kill it. But for some reason he said he just couldn’t. It would sit in one certain cedar.
My brother, Verlin, would throw at the bird. It would fly away a short distance but come right back to the same place. They would shine a flashlight on it and it would just sit there and look at them.
‘Lena died one morning about 8:30 or 9. At midnight the night before she died, the bird was singing. The morning she died someone noticed something strange about the cedar.
‘The bird was lying under the tree, dead, and the tree died. None of the other trees died.
‘My parents were the late E.C. and Lida Kirkland Mason. They are buried at Hopewell Springs Baptist Church Cemetery.
The house dad was born in is still standing between Madisonville and Vonore. Mom was born in Cherokee Co. North Carolina.
‘One of her sisters, Mrs. G.C. (Lissie0 Lovingood, and the only brother she had left, Quince Kirkland, are still living at Oak Grove.
‘My family really enjoys The Observer. It has more news of interest to us than the daily newspaper we take.”