Re: Daniel Edward Whaley, 30 JUN 1880 - 7 NOV 1954
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In reply to:
Daniel Edward Whaley, 30 JUN 1880 - 7 NOV 1954
Joy Comer 3/19/08
Dear Joy,
I am from Charleston, SC, and I am a granddaughter of the Daniel Edward Whaley you asked about.I am 65, recently retired from full-time teaching, and now I teach graduate classes at Charleston Southern University.
I do know a little about my grandfather.You, of course, have the most critical information about him - something that I did not find out until just recently when I spoke with my father, Daniel Edward Whaley, Jr's, first cousin who grew up in the Gresham, SC area where the death occurred.My family was living in Key West, Florida at the time he died and I was a very young girl - probably 9 or 10.None of us, my sister, my brother, nor I, ever heard anything else except that he died of a heart attack. Daddy was in the US Navy and was stationed in Kew West. Daddy drove up to Gresham for the funeral.My grandfather is buried in Friendship Baptist Church cemetery near Gresham/Johnsonville, SC.So is his father.
Phil Jones, the cousin I mentioned, is the last member of that generation that I know anything about. I saw him at a funeral last week and even at 88 he was still a very handsome man and a wonderful minister.He preached part of the funeral that day.Phil bemoans the fact that his memory isn't what it once was, but there is nothing wrong with his long-term memory. I asked him if he had ever heard any strange tales about how my grandfather died.His response was, "Oh, Honey, it was terrible!"There were apparently several stories, but the closest to the truth that he knew was that he was probably drunk, had a heart attack out in the woods, died leaning up against a tree, and the wild hogs had been eating the body by the time he was found.
That was a lot to absorb, but I knew from my childhood memories of him that even though he was the handsomest and most charming of men - always, always, dressed in a suit with a grey felt hat - he was a serious drinker.He was jolly and happy.He and his first wife, Eda (she preferred Edith), were divorced.Granddaddy was a traveling salesman from Hendersonville, NC.His ex-wife left her young son, my father, with an aunt and uncle by marriage.Haas and Sue Jones reared my father and were the parents of his youth.Haas was a Baptist preacher and lived in Hemingway when I knew him.
Eda Whaley married a sweet man from Spartanburg named Sanders.He was an insurance salesman and left her fairly well-fixed when he died.She was the coldest and most self-centered person I think I have ever known.I do hope she is not a relative of yours. My grandfather's second marriage was much happier.He married a precious lady from Clarendon, NC, named Grace Stephens.We called her Grandma Grace and she was all we knew about what a real grandmother was.My mother's mother died when I was only 4. Grandma Grace dearly loved her Mr. Ed.Her family, (her children, mainly, because she had a good bit of money and property), did not approve of Mr. Ed so they ran him off at one time, but Grandma Grace got so sad and lonely that they were afraid for her health.They let him come back home.He died in November, 1954. Hurricane Hazel struck that area of North and South Carolina in 1953 and did enormous damage.Grandma Grace lost 3 beach houses at Crescent Beach. Sometime between Hurricane Hazel and November of the next year he must have been visiting relatives in Gresham.I know nothing of him being a Game Warden.He was retired by that time, still wearing his suit and hat.He probably was very drunk and fell asleep by the tree and died. I promise you, he was singing a saucy song as he died, if I remember anything at all about him!
I don't know if any of this has helped, but I hope it does.I would love to hear from you to learn of your connection to him - and, perhaps, to me.
Sincerely,
Carol Poole
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