All Scans by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

My next-door neighbor gave me this item, which belonged to my paternal grandfather, last Sunday night.

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Above:  A Painting That Once Graced the Taylor House in Summerville, Georgia

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor, December 25, 2020

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I moved last July.  Prior to that, I had moved most recently in August 2007.  Last July, I moved within Athens-Clarke County, Georgia; I relocated into the Five Points neighborhood.

I learned last Thanksgiving that one of my next-door neighbors used to own the Taylor House in Summerville.  I also learned that her former husband was a student under my grandmother, Nell Taylor, at Chattooga High School, in the 1970s.

The painting shown above hangs in a house nextdoor to where I live.  This painting hung in the Taylor House for a long time.

It’s a small world.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 27, 2020 COMMON ERA

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Above:  An Empty Lot in Vidette, Georgia, December 26, 2019

From June 1980 to June 1982 I lived in the house that was on this lot.

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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I stood on a vacant lot

in a very small “city”

I left many years ago.

I stood on a spot and thought,

“My bedroom was here.”  Sunny

was the day I chose to go

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and revisit the same spot

I used to reside.  Gladly

I toured Vidette.  I strolled

through my past as I sought

to sate curiosity.

I did.  Then I returned home.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 27, 2019 COMMON ERA

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Below:  A photograph of the house,from 1980-1982 (from a photo album)

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Above:  A View from Railroad Street, Vidette, Georgia, December 26, 2019

Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Two decaying commercial buildings

stand opposite where railroad tracks were.

There had been five such structures on that

corner.  Now the two remaining

former stores testify to former

economic life long ceased.  Exact

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details may be lost.  Understanding

the past of this small town may never

be possible fully. Where once sat

the tangible past, now collapsing

buildings tease.  Decay destroys records.

This is a most unfortunate fact.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 27, 2019 COMMON ERA

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Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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My father was pastor of the Vidette United Methodist Church, Vidette, Georgia, from June 1980 to June 1982.  This Bethel Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church met in this building at this time, as it has since the early 1900s.  The ARPC congregation disbanded in 2015, and a new congregation began to worship in the space.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 27, 2019 COMMON ERA

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Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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My father was the pastor of Vidette United Methodist Church, Vidette, Georgia, from June 1980 to June 1982.  I was in the second and third grades at Waynesboro Elementary School, Waynesboro (the county seat), at the time.  Ola Mae Bailey, who died a few years after my family and I moved away, lived in this house.  We were friends; I visited her often.

Her grandson, Mack Bailey, lives in the house in 2019.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

DECEMBER 27, 2019 COMMON ERA

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Scans by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Barbara A. Futch, age 89 of Americus, formerly of Wilcox County, passed away Wednesday, August 14, 2019 in the Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany. A Memorial Service will be held at 12:30 PM Saturday, August 17, 2019 in the Martha Moore Chapel at Magnolia Manor. Rev. Dr. Dennis Stalvey and Rev. Wendy Peacock will officiate. There will be a private inurnment at Morningside Cemetery in Rochelle at a later date.

Mrs. Futch was born on February 25, 1930 in Crystal City, Texas and was preceded in in death by her husband of 55 years, Mr. Lloyd Glen Bishop with whom she enjoyed traveling the country selling antiques and had five children, seven grandchildren, multiple great-grandchildren, and several great-great grandchildren. After Mr. Bishop passed away in North Carolina, she moved to Georgia to be close to her oldest daughter. Soon afterward, she met and married Mr. William Norton Futch, who passed away in 2015. She was a homemaker and member of the Morningside United Methodist Church in Americus. She has also been preceded in death by two sisters, Frances and Dorothy. She was known as a joyful and talented pianist, and especially enjoyed playing Baptist hymns and “Happy Birthday” to those she loved. She was also an avid reader. She is remembered as a sweet and generous friend and mother. She especially loved spending time with her family.

Survivors include: Ronald (Tammy) Bishop of Canton, North Carolina; daughters Sally (Lewis) Stuckey of Americus, Deborah (Dale) Jordan of Cleveland, Tennessee; Karen (John) Arthurs of Hastings, Minnesota; and Sharon (Ken) Kaiser of Uxbridge, Massachusetts; and their subsequent generations.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to Morningside United Methodist Church at P.O. Box 6687, Americus, GA, 31709.

Frazier and Son Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Scanned by Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Scanned from Zavala County Sentinel, August 1, 1947

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