Ed and Ivy Thomas Rogers -- Prominent Trigg County Couple

 

Ed and Ivy Thomas Rogers

Charles Edward “Ed” Rogers was born on December 1, 1911 in the Caledonia community of Trigg County, Kentucky, the older of two sons of James Edward Rogers and Lola Maude Thomas Rogers, both Trigg County natives and a farm family. His younger brother, Ernest Crenshaw Rogers died at the age of one year.  Ed grew up on the farm and attended school at Montgomery and graduated from Cadiz High School in 1929.

Ivy Elizabeth Thomas was born on November 13, 1915 in the Canton community of Trigg County. Ivy was the oldest of four children of Eura Wesley Thomas and Lucy Pearl Lawrence Thomas both Trigg County natives and a farm family.  Ivy’s siblings were Leslie Edward Thomas, born in 1918 and died at the age of four; Virginia Dare Thomas, born in 1923 and married Pete Alexander and Doris Jean Thomas, born in 1931 and married W. C. Skinner.  Ivy also grew up on the farm and attended school for one year at Oak Grove, then at Warrenton and Cadiz High School.

Ed and Ivy became acquainted when Ed after graduation from high school began working on a farm next to Ivy’s family home on the Maple Grove Road.   It was the middle of the depression and the only form of entertainment for the couples of the county  were “play” parties which were held at the homes and churches where dancing and mingling were allowed.  These events allowed Ed and Ivy the opportunity to get to know each other.  They soon realized that they were meant to be together.  They suspected their parents would not approve of a marriage, so Ivy, then 17, spent the weekend with a cousin and Ed, 21, put on his only suit, got in his Model T Ford and picked up his bride-to-be and they drove to Hopkinsville where they were married in the First United Methodist Church parsonage on July 1, 1933.  Times were tough and Ivy did not have a wedding dress and Ed didn’t have a ring to give his bride until several years later.  Their honeymoon consisted of taking “the scenic route through Christian County” back to Cadiz.  For the first few years of marriage, they lived with Ed’s family before moving in with Ivy’s mother and her two sisters on their farm. Ed and Ivy spent the next 50 years living on that farm until they moved to Cadiz.

Ed worked as a farmer until 1953 when he began working as a bus driver with the Trigg County Board of Education.  He also worked in the school cafeteria and as a maintenance worker for the school.  He retired from the school system in June 1977.

Ivy. who lived on the same farm that she had lived since she was seven years old, began her working career as a cashier where she was known as “Miss Ivy” for the J. W. Cowherd Grocery Company, one of the oldest grocery stores in Cadiz and she later worked for the Economy Cee Bee Grocery.  She became the gift shop manager at Lake Barkley State Park in April 1972 where she worked until she retired on July 15, 1982.

Ed and Ivy were the parents of one child, a son, Charles Thomas Rogers, who was born on March 20, 1935.

Ivy died on January 4, 2001 at the age of 85 in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.  Ed died on October 5, 2007 at the age of 95 in Bowling Green.  He was buried in the East End Cemetery next to his wife.

A young Ivy and Ed

Ivy and Ed's tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Charles Edward Rogers was the son of James Edward and Lola Maude Thomas Rogers and the grandson of Seldon Trimble and Martha Elizabeth Bridges Thomas.  Seldon was the first child of James Jasper and Mary Magdaline Cunningham Thomas. James Jasper was the fourth child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

(Ivy Elizabeth Thomas was the daughter of Eura Wesley and Lucy Pearl Lawrence Thomas and the granddaughter of Wesley Gunn and Eliza L. Henderson Thomas.  Wesley Gunn was the sixth child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light.  Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

John Cullen Taylor -- Physician

 

John Cullen Taylor was born on February 27, 1868.  According to his death certificate, he was born in the state of Tennessee. His father was listed in some records as Dr. Custer Taylor and in his obituary as J. Crus Taylor. There is no certainty as to his father’s actual name.  His mother was Mary Elizabeth Vinson, a native of Trigg County and a granddaughter of Cullen Thomas.  John’s siblings were Sally Taylor, born in 1890 and married Jasper Cole, and two brothers, William W. Taylor, who was a prominent businessman of Nashville and Dr. James Taylor of Waynesboro, Tennessee whose birth dates are unknown.  His obituary states that he also had three half-sisters and one half-brother whose names and birth dates are also unknown.

John grew up in the Golden Pond community where his father resided and practiced medicine.  John initially studied medicine at the old University of Nashville.  The Directory of Deceased American Physicians indicate that John received his medical degree from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Science’s Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis in 1889. 

After obtaining his medical degree, John returned to Trigg County where he set up his medical practice in the small community of Canton.  Canton ended up being where he practiced medicine for nearly forty years.

Shortly after setting up his practice in Canton, John married Emma Lee Hopson on October 7, 1889.  Emma was born on August 16, 1868 in Trigg County and was the daughter of Joshua R. and Almira “Myra” Moore Hopson.  Joshua was a native of Virginia and Myra was a native of Christian County, Kentucky.  

John and Emma built their home in Canton and John became one of Trigg County’s most popular and prominent physicians as well as being known as a splendid citizen.  He was known to be a very kind and jolly person who showed great interest in his patients and was always ready to be of help to his friends and neighbors.

John and Emma were the parents on one child, a son, Clarence Hopson Taylor, who was born in 1890 in Canton.  Clarence married Virginia Jackson White, a native of Trigg County.  He became a pharmacist and opened his own drug store in Nashville, Tennessee.

John died on Monday evening, May 30, 1927 around nine o’clock in his home in Canton. He had been in poor health for some weeks and had been under the care of several local doctors.  He was 59 years old at the time of his death.  He was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.  Emma died on June 6, 1942 at the age of 73 in Cadiz.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery next to her husband.

LINEAGE: (John Cullen Taylor was the son of Custer and Mary Elizabeth Vinson Taylor and the grandson of Thomas Allison and Emeline Thomas Vinson.  Emeline was the fifth child of Cullen and Elizabeth Futrell Thomas.  Cullen was the first child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Lucille Francis Witty -- One-room School House Teacher

 

Lucille Francis Witty

Edith Lucille Francis was born on October 23, 1922 in the Maple Grove community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  She was the only daughter of four children of Homer Ervin Francis and Lola Frances “Fanny” Bridges Francis. Her siblings were an unnamed infant, born and died in 1919, and two brothers, Garnett Edward Francis, born in 1920 and married Mabel Evelyn Tuggle and later married Eunice Wills Simmons and Lacy Rex Francis, born in 1927 and married Eva Marie Kennedy. Her parents were both natives of Trigg County and her father was a farmer and a carpenter.

Lucille grew up along with her brothers in the Maple Grove community.  All three of them attended the Maple Grove School which was one of the first one-room schools in Trigg County and was the same school that Lucille’s parents and grandparents attended. Records indicate that the school probably began in the 1820s when classes were first held in homes in the area.  The first actual school building at Maple Grove was a crude log cabin that was used until 1913 when a concrete block building was constructed. Some of the block building can still be seen standing today. Lucille went on to attend Trigg County High School in Cadiz where she graduated in 1940.  She attended Murray State College (now University) and after college she began her career as a teacher in Trigg County.

Lucille began her professional life as a school teacher in a one-room school house in the Siloam community of Trigg County. She also taught in upper and lower Donaldson Creek schools, as well as in Cerulean and at Cadiz Graded School.  Lucille liked to recall when she taught during the early days of World War II when she lined her ten or so students up in the shape of a “V” for Victory in keeping with the sentiment of the times. Consolidation of the schools in the 1950s eliminated the one-room schoolhouses and a way of life that Lucille recalled as bittersweet.

Lucille left her teaching career in 1949 and worked as a bookkeeper at the Trigg County Farmers Bank in Cadiz. After several years at the bank, she decided it was time to spend more time at home with her two young children.  Four years later she went back to work. This time she went to work for the State of Kentucky Division of Human Resources where she served as a social worker for the state for 24 years. In 1984 she put aside her professional hat and retired.

Lucille married Roy Vernon Witty on June 19, 1951 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Roy Vernon was born on February 26, 1913, in Trigg County, the son of Roy Albert Witty and Ruth Wood Witty. He was a veteran of World War II and a survivor of Pearl Harbor.  He worked in electrical repairs at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.  Lucille and Roy Vernon had two children, Roy Winfield Witty, born in 1955 and married Laura Jean Kennedy and later married Jan Davis Cave and Millie Maeve Witty, born in 1956 and married Johnny Wayne Sholar and later married Michael Kay Robison.

Roy Vernon died at his home in Cadiz on August 13, 1991 at the age of 78.  He was buried in the Drury Bridges Cemetery in the Maple Grove community.  Lucille died on September 25, 2018 at an assisted living home in Cadiz at the age of 95.  She was buried in the Drury Bridges Cemetery next to her husband.

 

Lucille and Roy Vernon Witty tombstone

LINEAGE: (Edith Lucille Francis was the daughter of Homer Ervin and Lola Frances “Fanny” Bridges Francis and the granddaughter of John Trice and Maggie Dora Cunningham Bridges.  John Trice was the sixth child of Cullen T. and Martha Virginia Thomas Bridges.  Cullen was the twelfth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)
 

Roger and Brenda Light -- Family Victims of a Tragic Crash

 

 

 

 

 Roger Keith Light was born on January 17, 1958 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the third and youngest child of Robert “Bobby” Light and Mary Dell Holland Light. His two siblings were Patricia Lynn Light, born in 1951 and died two years later in 1953 and Sharon Diane Light, born in 1954.  His father, Bobby was a Baptist minister and the owner and operator of a wholesale plumbing and electrical supply store.

Roger grew up in Trigg County and graduated from Trigg County High School in 1976 and was self-employed as a building contractor and later became an owner of his father’s plumbing and electrical supply store.

On April 20, 1979, Roger married Brenda Louise Jones in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  Brenda was born on April 24, 1957 in Cook County, Illinois, the daughter of Charles Edward Jones and Johnnie Frances Merrick Jones.  Charles was a carpenter and the family lived in Princeton, Kentucky. Roger and Brenda became the parents of two children, Dustin Keith Light, born in 1982 and LeAmber Shea Light born in 1986.

Tragedy struck the Light family on the evening of Wednesday, October 7, 1992.  The family of four was traveling west on Highway 68 on their way to their home on Maple Grove Road in Trigg County.  At approximately 9:30 p.m, three miles west of Cadiz, a 1987 Mazda pickup driven by Stephen Brown, 22, of Hopkinsville, Kentucky dropped off the shoulder of the left roadway. Mr. Brown apparently over steered while trying to come back on the road which caused him to swerve into the oncoming lane.  His vehicle hit head-on the vehicle driven by Roger Light and his passengers, his wife Brenda and their two children, Dustin, then age 10 and LeAmber, then age 6.

Roger was pronounced dead on the scene.  Brenda was transported to the Trigg County Hospital where she was pronounced dead upon her arrival at the hospital. Dustin was flown by a Life Flight to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville where his condition was listed as extremely critical in the intensive care unit.  LeAmber was initially admitted to the Trigg County Hospital and later transferred to Vanderbilt Hospital where her condition was listed as fair. Stephen Brown, the driver of the other vehicle was flown to a hospital in Evansville, Indiana where he was listed in serious condition.  The two Light children‘s conditions continued to improve at Vanderbilt and they subsequently recovered from their injuries.

Roger Keith Light was 34 year of age at his death and Brenda was 35.  They were buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky.

 

LINEAGE:  (Roger Keith Light was the son of Robert “Bobby” and Mary Dell Holland Light and the grandson of Elzie Bertram and Peachie Bridges Light.  Elzie was the sixth child of John J. and Emeline Catherine Thomas Light.   Emeline was the seventh child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas.  Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas.  Starkie was the fourth child James Mary Standley Thomas.   Peachie Bridges was the fifth child of John Richard and Nancy Bell Meador Bridges. John was the fifth child of Drewry and Peachie Ann Tart Bridges.  Drewry was the fourth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)