Chosen Family

     The story goes that when I was about two years old, my father was sitting in a restaurant, probably drinking coffee.  A waitress fainted and my dad caught her before she hit the floor.  Thus began the friendship between our family and the Adkinsons, i.e., Robert and Colene, and their children, Mike, Vickie, Faye, and Becky.  I was seven years younger than their youngest daughter, Becky.  

    They lived only about 25 minutes from us over the state line in South Carolina.  The families vacationed together; ate together; shared birthdays and holidays together (which we still do now that I have moved back to Georgia); took many Sunday afternoon shopping trips together; etc., etc. Even when we moved to Florida and then back to Georgia in Swainsboro, we still visited and did things with them.  They have been a part of my life nearly my entire life.  

    One of my earliest memories is Colene and Robert picking me up and taking me with them to Six Flags.  Most of my memories involve the Adkinsons.  Even when I grew up and moved away from home, Colene never missed my birthday, and almost every time I came home, I visited them.  Colene and I wrote letters and when I called, we always said "I love you" before hanging up the phone.  The Adkinsons are our chosen family.  

    Colene passed away yesterday at the ago of 90.  She had Alzheimer's so she really hasn't been with us ever since I moved back.  Sometimes I thought she knew who Mom and I were; other times not.  But she was still Colene with the witty, sharp tongue and the looks she gave.  I am grateful I got to see her on Saturday for one last visit.  She didn't know I was there as far as I know, but I was able to tell her how much she meant to me.  How so many of my memories include her.  I am grateful she is at peace now, but I sure do miss her already.  

Colene
This is probably about how she looked when she met my father.

    Colene was a spitfire.  I was always in awe of her because she was the only person I knew who would stand up to my father.  I remember we were camping with them once, and she was making sandwiches.  Daddy said something, and Colene cooly replied, "You can eat it or you can wear it!" No one else ever got by with talking to him like that.  

From left: Faye, Vickie, Becky and me (about age 3).
This was a vacation to Florida the families took together.

Colene at her dining room table.
I cannot tell you how many meals I have eaten at that table.

Here I am at that very table, celebrating
my 10th birthday.

Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina
Another vacation and with the next generation.
Front: my niece, Missi, and Colene and Robert's
grandson, Kenny;
Back: Colene's niece, Angela, my mom, me
(probably about 14), and my nephew, Harry Jr. 

Colene and Robert Adkinson
about 2005

Thriller Thursday - The McDonald's Murders

    My cousin Keith and I rode down to Dublin this week to visit a couple of cemeteries.  When I go on a trip like that, I print out a report from Family Tree Maker listing everyone in my family tree that is buried in the particular cemetery I plan to visit.  I indicate on the report how I am related to them, who they are descended from (because Keith always asks me, and I can never remember!), their married name for women, and any other information I think I might need while I'm out there.  It's not a perfect system, but it works for me.  So while I was researching the family members on said report, I discovered a cousin that had died at age 34.  Well, I smelled a story.  So I started searching Newspapers.com, and boy, did I find a BIG story.  A sad story, but one that needs telling.  You'll understand why in a moment.

    Fredrick Lee 'Rick' Kea Jr (1954-1989) was living in Macon, Georgia in January of 1989.  He had worked as a manager at the McDonald's on the corner of Riverside and Northside Drives for about five months.  He had worked at Wendy's prior to this job.  McDonald's had a policy of doing night deposits.  We have all heard the stories about employees being robbed late at night when they leave to make the night deposit for a restaurant.  

    On the night/early morning of January 14, 1989, the restaurant closed at midnight.  Rick and another manager, Steve Rose, stayed until 2:30 am doing inventory.  I know they understood the inherent danger of their jobs because they had actually sent out the night deposit early - before midnight.  For whatever reason, inventory took about an hour longer than usual this particular morning.  

    They finished up and walked out the side door of the restaurant - the one by the drive thru lane.  All McDonald's have that exit door.  Evil was waiting for them outside.  Evil had stalked and waited that extra hour for the managers to leave the restaurant.  There was no hesitation on the part of the killer(s).  Rick was shot in the chest immediately and was found a few minutes later by police right in the drive thru lane where he fell. 

    Steve Rose reacted and began to run away.  He ran toward Northside Drive in front of the restaurant and was shot in the arm and leg while he ran.  He made it across the road and tried to climb an embankment behind the Gulf Insurance office and Steak 'n Ale, but because of his injuries, he couldn't make it.  A shooter/robber/murderer followed him, shot him in the left temple, and left Steve there where he was discovered by police about 3 hours later.  Steve was 40 years old and left a wife and two children.

    There was no night deposit to be stolen.  The killer(s) took each man's wallet.  That was it.  

    From the start there was little to go on to solve the crime.  There were no cameras like there are today.  The killer(s) never entered the restaurant so there was no fingerprints or DNA (even if there was DNA testing in 1989) or eyewitnesses.  There were a few spent shells that told the police that a .22 caliber pistol was used.  That was it.  There was a reward put together by the city, county, McDonald's and others that grew to almost $50,000, but no leads ever came out of that. Time was wasted chasing a fake lead a woman in Atlanta called in.  Turns out, she was just trying to get revenge on her boyfriend.   

    The police worked non-stop trying to solve this crime.  The McDonald's itself was outside Macon city limits, but where Steve Rose died was inside the city limits.  So the city police and the county sheriff departments came together to work this case.  No one ever came forward to say they saw anything or to name someone they thought was involved.  Nothing.  All leads dried up.  

    I followed the articles all the way until 2005 when the lead detective on the case retired.  It was still unsolved 16 years later.  I checked again tonight and the case has never been solved.  It has been 37 years.  These families deserve justice.  

    If anyone has information regarding this cold case, they should contact the Bibb County Sheriff's Office at (478) 751-7500  or use the the tip line for Macon Regional Crimestoppers at (478) 742-2330 or toll-free at 1-877-68-CRIME (1-877-682-7463).

 

Newspapers.com, The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia

Monday, January 16, 1989, pages 9 & 10

Newspapers.com, The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia
Tuesday, January 17, 1989, pages 1 & 4

Wedding Wednesday

 

Rosalyn Harrison 1937-2023

and

Jimmie Ray Smith 1936-1972

united in marriage

October 7, 1955

Tennille, Washington, Georgia, USA

Rosalyn and Jimmie had two children, a boy and a girl. 

Military Monday - Talmadge Lewis Lynn

 Military Monday posts are made to honor those in my family tree who have served in the United States military.

Talmadge Lewis 'Tab' Lynn

1920-2000

U.S. Army, World War II

Thank you for your service.  

On this Memorial Day 2026, I want to thank all of the soldiers in my family tree who gave their all in service to our country.

Friday's Faces from the Past

 

Tabitha "Bosh" Tapley Lampp

b. 10 Mar 1875 in Johnson County, Georgia, USA

d. 03 July 1956 in Louisville, Jefferson, Georgia, USA

Aunt Bosh married 

Benjamin Allen "Ben" or "Mann" Lampp (1866-1938)

in 1895.  

They had 5 children together:

Benjamin James "BJ" Lampp (1896-1965)

Sidney Jackson "Sid" Lampp (1901-1970)

Mozelle Elizabeth Lampp Kniphfer (1903-1993)

Walter Donald "Shot" Lampp Sr (1906-1981)

Lila Lee "Bouquet" Lampp Newsome (1913-1977)

Recently, I decided to go back to basics and research using Ancestry Hints, Find-a-Grave, and obituaries from newspapers and funeral homes on the children of my great-grandparents, James M "Jim" Tapley 1847-1912 and Elizabeth Rebecca "Becky" Page 1844-1924.  I have learned so many tidbits that I had never heard of before!  Would highly recommend!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Your Ancestors in the 1930s Great Depression

  From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  What did your ancestral families do during the Great Depression (1930-1940)?  Did they keep their jobs and standard of living?  Did they suffer personally or economically?  

2)  Share your information about your ancestors in the Great Depression in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook or other social media post.  Please leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

Here's mine:

My paternal grandparents, Lusion Keman 'Loosh' Tapley (1870-1935) and Nealie Vermell Drake Tapley (1895-1970) resided in Johnson County, Georgia, between Kite and Bartow during the 1920's and early 1930's.  They had six children at home (5 boys and 1 girl), including my father, the youngest.  They were farmers and things got hard after the 1930 census.  They lost their home and had to move into a rental house in Wadley.  I believe this is what led to Loosh's passing in 1935.  He was a broken man after he lost the farm.  

In the 1930 census, they owned their own home.  There is no value listed on the census, but they owned it.  Papa was 57 and Grandma Nealie was 35 years old.  

I asked Gemini about the conditions for farmers in Georgia after the stock market crash.  Here is its reply:

    "Following the 1929 stock market crash, the condition for farmers in Georgia was already dire, as the state had been struggling with agricultural decline for most of the 1920s.  The crash served as a catalyst that intensified these existing hardships into a full-scale catastrophe."

    "Even before 1929, Georgia farmers faced significant obstacles:

    *    The Boll Weevil: Arriving in Georgia around 1915, this pest ravaged cotton crops, causing a massive decline in production and profitability.

    *    Soil Depletion: Decades of "cash-crop" agriculture (focusing almost exclusively on cotton) exhausted the soil. Practices like intertilling and poor contour plowing led to severe erosion and reduced land productivity.

    *    Economic Pressures: Farmers were struggling with falling cotton prices, high debt from purchasing new machinery they could barely afford, and a major three-year drought that began in 1925.

    When the stock market crashed, the situation for the state's predominantly rural population (69% in 1930) deteriorated further:

    *    Widespread Poverty: The typical farm family lived without electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Diets were poor, often consisting only of molasses, fatback, and cornbread.

    *    Foreclosures and Sharecropping: As bank failures spread and loans dried up, many farmers could not pay their debts and were forced off their land. By the onset of the Great Depression, approximately 2/3 of Georgia's farmland rather than owners.

    *    The 1930-1931 Drought: To make matters worse, the state experienced its worst drought on record shortly after the crash, which decimated what little production remained."

    According to the Mortgage Default filed by the The Federal Land Bank of Columbia (South Carolina), my grandparents borrowed $1,000 to buy their home and land in May of 1924.  There were two parcels of land; one was 58 1/2 acres and the other was 142 acres. By March of 1932, they were behind three payments in the total amount of $97.50.  So their home was foreclosed and sold "at public outcry before the courthouse door" on March 1, 1932 for $750 cash.  I am betting that my grandparents owed the bank the other $250 plus interest and fees after the sale.  

    My grandparents moved into rental housing. They and their older sons because sharecroppers.  My grandfather died in 1935, probably from a broken heart. My grandmother was left with six children from ages 19 down to 7 to support on her own.  They moved around a lot, probably following the jobs.  

    My maternal grandparents, Charles Morgan Tapley (1907-1973) and Ethel Irene Ranney Tapley (1913-1973) were not married to each other until the late 1930s.  My grandfather lived with his first wife and her parents in Covina, California on the 1930 census.  He was listed as a Preacher.  

    My maternal grandmother was 16 years old and lived in Redlands, California according to the 1930 census. Her parents owned their home and its value was $6,000. They also owned a radio, whereas my paternal grandparents did not. Her father (Luther Boardman Ranney [1870-1943]) is listed as a Pruner for private families.  Grandma Ethel mentions in her diary from that time that her father (age 60 in 1930) did work for the WPA (Works Progress Administration) during the 1930's.  The family seemed to survive the Great Depression well because she doesn't mention any hardships.

40 years is a long time...

 

                                    

                   

... it's a long time since I've seen your face or heard your voice.  It's been a long time since that horrible night happened, but I still remember it as if it was yesterday.  It's been a long time, but I will always love and miss you.  It's been a long time, and I look forward to seeing you again someday.