Trip Report - November 16, 2003
This was a short trip. I went to Tunica, MS and stopped to see Cousin William in Rayville, LA on the way back. He looks good for 95!
He had fixed Sunday lunch for me with icecream and his own homegrown figs for dessert. We sat at the table talking and one of the things he said was that Uncle John, (John H. Riley), could never get enough to eat because he had been starved in the Yankee prison camps. I asked if he was a big man and he said that he was not. He said that he was short.
Another thing that he said was that Granddad, (James H. Gilfoil), paid for all of the education, etc. of the orphaned relatives and Aunt Annie, (Annie E. Currie), got all the credit. We had been talking about Cousin Annie Currie Allen, raised by them as well as a younger brother and sister, I believe. He told me that he had gone to school with Annie and that my daddy was in love with her. But, Aunt Annie thought that they were too close kin and hurried Annie off to the convent, where she became Sister Columbo.
I always try to get him to talk about the ancestors and he always says that he is not interested in that stuff, but answers my questions anyway. He and my father were born the same year. Sometimes, his stories conflict with my father's, who was and avid storyteller with a tendency to exaggerate.
I was only there a couple of hours. Before leaving, I took pictures and will include them here if they come out.