Searcy Arkansas, Phoenix Club,Searcy Library and mommies and babies.....and how they go together.

Wow!  I'm really impressed!  That is some really neat history...Mr. Luke is going to have lots to report in another article if you guys keep going.  I guess lots of communities had little clubs for almost everything back in the day.  My mom and the ladies she ran with had a community club that helped to raise money for families whose houses had burned.  I guess with heating with wood there and out in the country if you had a fire you didn't usually get to salvage much.  The made quilts to give and had other community activities they sponsored to raise funds.  I used to like to look at the old photos of their club officers.  It all looked so official.  All of them participated faithfully too.  This group looked dedicated and obviously followed through with their plans. 

Elizabeth Capps and I visited with Freida Lightle, one of the ladies in the picture. Freida identified most of the ladies and their children, and she was the one who said the occasion was members of the Phoenix Club, whose children were about the same age....

Here goes:  top left to right:  Florence Biggs, son Lee; Freida Lightle, son Bernie; Rosamond Yingling and son, Eloise Joiner Hall, daughter Margaret; Lucie Morris, daughter.

Bottom row, left to right: Pat Headlee's sister (don't know her name, she didn't live in Searcy very long), Pat Headlee, son John; Mary ? (don't know her married name, but she was the daughter of John Quincy Adams a prominent Searcy citizen (not the pres. of the United States)....next  is the woman NO ONE can identify....we've asked everybody we know!   last:  Doyne Hunnicutt's wife (can't remember her name) and their son.

I assume The Phoenix Club is no longer in Searcy.  It was a national organization, if you're interested Google: Phoenix Club as I did.  It evidently began in the 1800's, and a state president was from Searcy.  and lots more about it in Dr. Muncey's book on Searcy.

Sleuths or ANYBODY:  help us find the unknown woman.  She just might be your next door neighbor.  Look around, ask around.

Elizabeth and I had such a good time doing this.  And I must give credit to another Searcy "oldie" Nona Wilkerson.  SHE is the person to ask about Searcy in the good old days.....she's in her 80's and still going strong.  Line dances about 2 times a week, among all her other activities.

We did have a great time, Don.  We also carried around the picture of the early days of the ice cream delivery trucks at Yarnell's...but couldn't identify ANY of the men.....but did i.d.  the two women:  Helen Paxton and Hallie Yarnell.

I sure loved that library.  It had so much charm. It was like a home; not a commercial building.

 If Searcy ever gets a new one I hope it can be as pretty.

One of the men in the picture from Yarnell's is my uncle, Howard Edwards.

I believe the woman in the middle front row is my Aunt Esther Brush with her daughter, Mary Beth Brush Sumners. Yes, Esther is the eldest daughter of John Quincy Adams and Ruth Dunlap Adams of Searcy. Esther's younger sister by two years was Mary Day and their younger brother was Richard Dunlap Adams. I am RDA Jr. The three Adams siblings, Mary, Esther and Richard (Dick) are deceased.

A couple of comments...that is me, Tom Headlee, not my brother, John. My mom's sister's name was Nancy Davis and her daughter is Patsy. I was born in Aug 1946 so this pic would likely have been taken in 1948....I think I look 2ish. My mom was an avid reader so that fits with the Phoenix Club's library support.