Categories: Family History & Nostalgia

My paternal grandfather was Troy Dewitt

Caylor. He was born on September 10, 1917 in Varnell, Georgia, and he died on March 29, 1979. He

was one of those grandfathers that could almost be an ideal cliché: He smoked a

pipe, he could do carpentry, was an excellent farmer, loved yard work, could

fix anything that had an engine, could make crafts and holiday sceneries, and

most of all, he loved his family. I am so proud that he was a World War II Veteran.  I was almost 13 when he died, but I have so

many cherished memories of that man. I loved him dearly, and he loved me. As I

have said before, he showed all of his grandchildren so much love.

Grandmaw Stone was my grandfather’s maternal step grandmother, but she was 100% family!

 My granddaddy’s family was hit hard by the Spanish Flu of 1918. Granddaddy’s parents and four siblings were gravely ill, and, unfortunately, one of his older sisters, Billie,died. The family lived in Varnell, Georgia. Granddaddy’s grandparents, the, Caylors, lived there as well. However, afraid of the flu themselves, they did

not enter my grandfather’s house for fear of catching the dreaded disease. They

would bring food and supplies to the house, but simply leave it all on the

porch and return home. Grandmaw Stone did not live in Varnell. She lived in

Chattanooga, Tennessee. She was Granddaddy’s step-grandmother. My great-grandmother Mattie Stone Caylor’s mother had died when she was a young girl, and her father remarried the woman of whom I am writing, Grandmaw Stone. Well, the family was “falling by the way-side”: They were all sick, and Billie had died.

Enter Grandmaw Stone: A woman of faith, courage, and love of family.

She had other children and grandchildren to worry about, but she left her “disease-free” home in Chattanooga, took the train to Varnell, and walked right through the front door of my Granddaddy’s house. She took over! She nursed my great-grandparents and Granddaddy’s three

surviving, older siblings, cooked food, cleaned the house, and started the

laundry. When everything had calmed down, she found my Granddaddy who had been “tucked away and forgotten” basically resting peacefully in his crib without, praise be to God, the flu. She picked him up, changed his soiled clothes, and fed that

boy. She told my Nanny Caylor years later, “That boy was just about starved to death!”

 My Nanny and Granddaddy were married in 1938, and I know

Grandmaw Stone was still alive then. My Nanny loved her! Nanny said she was so

kind, loving, and had lots of pep for a lady her age. Nanny said one thing

Grandmaw Stone always said for the years left that she knew her was that when

she saw Granddaddy, she said, “There’s my boy!” She had several other grandsons

and nephews, but no one else was “her boy” but Granddaddy because of that bond

they shared. So, thank you, God, again, for Granddaddy, and thank you for Grandmaw

Stone . She and I are kindred spirits. She had her Troy, and I have my Carter: Family is from the heart not from body parts. 

Oh, my, the admiration and love I have for Grandmaw Stone, and she died

many, many years before I was born. 

I'm honored that you made it to the end! Thanks. Please do me a favor and 1)Make a comment of several sentences (more if you wish) regarding a "Family Hero" of yours, and 2)Share this post with others and ask them to comment on their "Family heroes" as well. -Haven