Leslie and Ronald Sholar – Young Victims of a House Fire

 

Leslie and Ronald Sholar

Leslie Eugene Sholar and Ronald Wayne Sholar were two young brothers who died in a tragic house fire on January 26, 1954 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  Leslie Eugene or "Sonny" as he was called was five and one-half years old, born on March 8, 1948 and his brother, Ronald Wayne was four years old, born on November 26, 1949.  They were the only children, at that time, of William Eugene “Frog” Sholar and his wife, Margaret Worthington Turner Sholar. 

The Sholar family resided in a six room frame house located just outside the western city limits of Hopkinsville. Fire department personnel stated that they received an alarm of the fire at 7:10 a.m. on Tuesday morning, January 26. By the time the firemen arrived at the residence, flames were leaping out of the children’s bedroom 20 feet into the air.

Mrs. Sholar and her sons were alone in the house and she was awakened when the door to her bedroom flew open.  She first thought someone had opened the door and turned on the light.  When she realized what was happening, she tried to make her way to the children’s bedroom but was cut off by the blaze.  Her clothes on fire, Mrs. Sholar ran into the yard and collapsed.  She knew enough to roll over and over to put out her burning night clothes.  After extinguishing her clothing, Mrs. Sholar ran to the window of the boys’ room where neighbors kept her from going back into the house.   She was burned severely about the eyes, shoulders and arms.  Two of the neighbors suffered cuts about the hands and arms in an attempt to pull the boys from the burning inferno.  Mrs. Sholar was subsequently admitted to Jennie Stuart Hospital where she was listed in critical condition from her burns.   Firemen labeled the mother’s effort as one of the bravest rescue attempts in the community’s fire history.

The young boys, only 13 months difference in their ages, perished in their bedroom.  The body of the older boy was found on the floor, and firemen investigating the blaze were inclined to think he may have been attempting to reach the nearby window when he was overcome.  The body of the younger boy was found on the bed and it was believed he had awakened only sufficiently to pull the bed covers over his head in an effort to keep out the intense heat of the fire.

Firemen could not determine the exact cause of the blaze and said they did not believe it started from the coal furnace that was used to heat the house. The family used butane gas for cooking purposes, but none of the neighbors heard an explosion. The father had prepared an early breakfast for himself and had already left for his work in nearby Clarksville, Tennessee.  He said there was no evidence of fire when he left the house.

The two little boys who spent their short lives together were buried in a single coffin and were interred in a single grave in the Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville.  Only their father could attend the double funeral as their mother was hospitalized.  William and Margaret subsequently became the parents of a daughter, Ronsonlyn Sholar, who was born on January 31, 1957.

Tombstone of Leslie and Ronald Sholar

 Newspaper photo of mother, Margaret Turner Sholar

LINEAGE:  (Leslie Eugene and Ronald Wayne Sholar were the sons of William Eugene “Frog” and Margaret Worthington Turner Sholar, grandsons of John William and Eliza Jane Steger Sholar and great-grandsons of Drewry Bridges and Helen Wiles Sholar.  Drewry Bridges Sholar was the tenth child of Allen and Jemima Bridges Sholar.  Jemima was the first child of Drury and Charity Cahoon Bridges.)

Mary Elizabeth Williams Griffin -- Baby Left on the Doorstep

 

Mary Elizabeth  or "Georgia Ann " Williams was born in 1918 in Paducah, Kentucky,  although the exact circumstances of her birth may never be known as she was born into an unfortunate family environment and was not taken care of or raised by her mother or father.

When she was still an infant of a few weeks, she was found on the doorstep of the home of Cora Trainor on Berger Road in Paducah, Kentucky. The following note was attached to her:  "Please take care of my little girl. Someday you will know. My name is Mary Elizabeth. You shall be rewarded."  Apparently, at first Cora Trainor (who was later identified as her actual grandmother) was not aware that the infant on her doorstep was her granddaughter, according to a Paducah newspaper article of March 8, 1919. 

The incident was reported in the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper as follows: "Baby Girl is Left on Porch: Paducah, KY, - A six-weeks-old girl baby was found by Mrs. Charles Trainor Wednesday night on the front porch of her home on the Berger Road. There is no clue to the parentage of the child. A note asked the finder to care for the infant and be rewarded. The child was neatly dressed. Mrs. Trainor had not decided what disposition she will make of the find."  Subsequently Georgia Ann as she was called was raised into adulthood by Cora and her unmarried sister-in-law, Annie Trainor.

Several later references indicated that Mary Elizabeth’s mother and father were actually Lura Elizabeth Trainor and John W. Williams of Paducah.  A birth certificate for Mary Elizabeth was created as a "Delayed" document and issued on October 9, 1950 from the State of Kentucky showing Lura Trainor and John Williams as her parents, and stating that she was born on November 10, 1918. According to this birth certificate this was a first birth, legitimate, and was attested to by W. J. Bass, MD, Paducah, KY, on September 23, 1950. He was apparently the attending physician. It was also attested to by F. Swenter, who was Georgia Ann’s uncle, and should have known the circumstances and the actual data concerning the birth. It is believed that the certificate was probably requested by Mary Elizabeth herself.

According to Lura’s obituary, she was married to John Williams on October 14, 1918, about a month before Mary Elizabeth’s birth, but the obituary stated  that there was considerable mystery surrounding their child’s birth and the identify of her parents. Lura died at the young age of 26 of tuberculosis, a year after her child’s birth.  She died on a Pullman car on a train while traveling to a TB treatment center in Texas. Her obituary further stated just before she died, she asked that God would forgive her and said that she was sorry that she had ever met John Williams.

Georgia Ann married James Thomas “Jimmy" Griffin on November 24, 1947.  Jimmy was a native of Stewart County, Tennessee and the son of Plomer and Amanda Jane Vinson Griffin.  He was a civil engineer who worked for the Army Corp of Engineers. In January 1948, Jimmy and Georgia Ann moved to New Albany, Indiana, where she worked as a nurse.   They lived in New Albany for the rest of their lives. They had no children.

Georgia Ann died on Apr 15, 1992, and was buried in the Kraft Graceland Memorial Park in New Albany along with Jimmy who had died on December 2, 1987.

 Tombstone of Mary Elizabeth :Georgia Ann" Williams Griffin

 

Lura Trainor Williams, mother of "Georgia Ann"

LINEAGE:  (Mary Elizabeth Williams was the wife of James Thomas Griffin. James was the son of Plomer Milton and Amanda Jane Vinson Griffin, grandson of James Henry and Martha Alice Futrell Vinson and the great-grandson of Baylous Prent and Amanda Jane Thomas Vinson.  Amanda Jane was the fifth child of James, Jr. and Margaret Ethridge Thomas.  James Thomas, Jr. was the sixth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Leslie Ernestine Wyatt -- Preacher and Teacher

 

Leslie E. Wyatt

Leslie Ernestine Wyatt was born on December 1, 1926 in Trigg County, Kentucky.  He was the fourth of seven children born to Sherman Franklin Wyatt and Bessie Burton Sholar. Bessie was a great granddaughter of Jemima Bridges Sholar. Leslie’s siblings were Wilford Eugene, born in 1921; Opha Pauline, born in 1923; Evie Lurline, born in 1924, Franklin Austine, born in 1929; Maddax Garnettene, born in 1933 and Dorlis Odean, born in 1937.

Leslie grew up on a farm in the Delmont community of Trigg County and attended the local county schools. Wyatt had an inexhaustible desire to learn, and he was promoted early, skipping the third grade and studying and earning credit for his junior and senior years of high school in one year, in 1944.  Following his graduation Leslie traveled to Chattanooga where he began a career as a preacher.  He decided to attend Freed Hardeman College in Henderson, Tennessee as he wanted to be more skilled and effective in his preaching

It was at Freed Hardeman that Leslie met IvyNell Lawson from Yazoo City, Mississippi. Upon his graduation, Leslie and IvyNell were married in her parents’ home in Mississippi on September 8, 1946. They subsequently became the parents of two daughters, Linda in 1952 and Lenelle in 1957.

Determined to make a better life for his future family, Leslie continued his education at Union University in Jackson, TN and then went on to earn a BS degree at Peabody College in Nashville.  Upon graduation from Peabody, he went on to teach at Cornersville High School in Cornersville, TN, and at the same time began preaching at the Cornersville Church of Christ.

In 1953, the family moved to Mathiston, Mississippi where Leslie worked full-time with the church at Mathiston, had a radio program on Sunday mornings and traveled to two smaller towns to preach in the afternoons. Although he loved his career in the ministry, Leslie did not lose sight of wanting to make a larger impact on young people, teaching them to prepare for their futures. In 1956, he returned to Nashville where he taught business education at David Lipscomb High School. He remained a teacher at the high school until his retirement in 1992

While serving as a full time teacher, he still wanted to continue preaching and would preach at many congregations in Nashville and surrounding counties filling in for preachers who were away. In 1958, he became the preacher for a congregation in Nolensville, TN.  During this time at Nolensville while also teaching at David Lipscomb, he pursued and received his Masters of Education degree in 1962. In 1986, he left the Nolensville congregation and became the associate minister of the Shelby Ave. Church of Christ in Nashville where he served until his retirement.

IvyNell died in 2020, at which time the couple had been married for 74 years.  Leslie died two years later on January 18, 2022 in Nashville. Leslie and IvyNell are buried in the Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville.

LINEAGE:  (Leslie Ernestine Wyatt was the son of Sherman Franklin and Bessie Burton Sholar Wyatt, grandson of Ishmal Worth and Sarah Ann Newton Sholar and great-grandson of Thomas J. and Martha Jane Rogers Sholar.  Thomas J. was the seventh child of Allen and Jemima Bridges Sholar.  Jemima was the first child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

John Carl Bridges -- School Vehicle Mechanic

 

John Carl Bridges was born on October 16, 1904 On Beechy Fork Creek in the Maple Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  He was the fifth of eleven children born to John Trice and Maggie Cunningham Bridges.  His siblings were Lillie Jane, born in 1899 and died as an infant; Lucy Lee, born in 1900, Lola Frances, born in 1902; Dora Virginia, born in 1903; Mary Pauline, born in 1908; Queen Alexander, born in 1909 and died as an infant; Hilda Agnes, born in 1910; Beulah Louise, born in 1913; Clifford Elmo “Pete”, born in 1917 and Dorothy Allene, born in 1920.

Carl grew up on a farm and became a farmer for most of his life.  However, he was very interested in the mechanics of motor vehicles.   Before he grew to manhood, he had several times taken apart and put back together the engine of the first Ford automobile owned by his father. By the time he was an adult he was an established mechanic.

Carl worked for a period of time for the Ford dealership in Cadiz.  In 1934 he converted his pickup truck to a school bus and secured a contract with the Trigg County Board of Education to transport students from their homes in the Maple Grove and Donaldson Creek communities to the school in Cadiz.  He worked continuously for the Board for over thirty years except for a few months during World War II when he was employed in the war effort.

In 1938, the Board constructed a central garage for its growing fleet of buses and Carl was placed in charge of the operations as the head mechanic and as the Director of Transportation.  His responsibility was to maintain and keep in operation all the motor vehicles owned by the Board of Education. During his thirty years with the school board, Carl begin with three county buses  which grew into a fleet of thirty modern school buses which transported over 1,600 children daily, covering 1,400 miles per day at an annual cost of $100,000 at the time.  Under Carl’s supervision the Trigg County School Bus system became noted as one of the most efficiently and safely operated school transportation system in the state.  At the time of his retirement in 1966, it was estimated that school children had ridden over seven and one-half million miles on buses maintained and checked by Carl without a single serious mechanical failure. 

On June 1, 1926, Carl married his childhood sweetheart, Julia Thomas who was born on August 1, 1905 and was the daughter of Smith and Ida May Meador Thomas. Around the time of his marriage, Carl was helping his carpenter father built Julia’s parents’ second home.  During the building process, Carl had written “Carl Bridges plus Julia Thomas” in bold large letters on the ceiling of an upstairs closet.  The marking wasn’t discovered until the house was remodeled in 1970 after both of them had died.

Carl and Julia were the parents of two children, Rose Claire, born in 1932 and Carl Trice “Bunny”, born in 1934.  They were also the foster parents of Betty Ann Bridges who came to live with them in 1935.  Betty was born as Ossie Bell Creek in 1920 and changed her name in 1941.

Julia died on January 26, 1969 at the age of 63 in Cadiz, Kentucky.  Carl died six months later on August 8, 1969 in Cadiz at the age of 64.  Both Carl and Julia were buried in the Starkie Thomas Cemetery in the Oak Grove Community of Trigg County.

John Trice and Maggie Cunningham Bridges Family

From Left...back row Homer Francis, Carl Bridges, Frances Bridges Francis, Lucy Bridges Thomas, Virginia Bridges Boyd, James S. Thomas (husband of Lucy) Front row.... Hilda Agnes Bridges, John Trice Bridges, Beulah Bridges Thomas, Dora Maggie Cunningham Bridges holding Clifford (Pete) Bridges, Mary Pauline Bridges Thomas
 

Tombstone of Carl and Julia Bridges

LINEAGE:  (John Carl Bridges was the son of John Trice and Maggie Dora Cunningham Bridges, the grandson of Cullen T. and Ann Virginia Thomas Bridges and the great-grandson of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Mary Thomas was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)