Garnett Edward Francis was born on May 5, 1920 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the second of four children born to Homer Ervin Francis and Lola Francis Bridges. Homer was a farmer in the Donaldson Creek area of the county and Lola or “Fannie” as she was known was a housekeeper. Homer and Fannie had an unnamed infant who was born and died in 1919 and a daughter, Edith Lucille Francis born in 1922 and married Roy Vernon Witty and a second son, Lacy Rex Francis, born in 1927 and married Eva Marie Kennedy.
Ed grew up in rural Trigg County and attended school in the one-room Maple Grove School for his first eight years. He later attended the Cadiz High School for one year and then on to Trigg County High School where he was a member of the basketball team and was a starter on the school’s first football team. He graduated from TCHS in 1939.
On April 8, 1942, Ed enlisted in the United States Navy at Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He was sent to boot camp at the Naval Training Station in San Diego, California. Upon completion of boot camp, he was assigned aboard the heavy cruiser, the USS Northampton. The first assignment of the ship after Ed arrived on board was to escort the aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet to within flying distance of Japan so its planes could bomb Tokyo for the first time.
Ed experienced one of the most terrifying moments of his life on the night of November 30, 1943 when during the Battle of Guadacanal, the USS Northampton was fatally torpedoed by the Japanese and the crew was ordered to abandon ship. About 50 men lost their lives, but Ed was among some 500 men rescued from the murky waters and was taken to the island of New Caledonia. Ed was honorably discharged as an electrician’s mate first class on November 8, 1945 at Great Lakes, Illinois.
Ed returned to civilian life and enrolled at the University of Kentucky in Lexington where in 1949 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in agricultural economics.
On July 3, 1955, Ed married Mabel Evelyn Tuggle in Madisonville, Kentucky. Mabel was born on February 14, 1919, the daughter of Norris H. and Emma Maude Randolph Tuggle of Trigg County, Kentucky. Mabel was an elementary school teacher. Ed and Mabel had one son, David Edward Francis, born in 1962 and married Tina Louise Delanoiz. Ed was married for a second time on May 15, 1971 to Eunice Armento Wills Simmons. Eunice was born on February 2, 1925 in Trigg County, the daughter of Henry Hill and Alice Louise Burks Wills and worked as a nurse’s aide.
Ed worked for fourteen years as a company representative in sales and service of farm and industrial equipment for Moline Farm Machinery Company. He then worked as an industrial residential electrician and as a maintenance supervisor along with working part time farming on his own farm. Ed ran unsuccessfully for the position of Trigg County Property Valuation Administrator in 1981.
Ed died on April 24, 1993 at the age of 72 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He was buried in the Trigg Memory Acres Cemetery in Trigg County. His wife, Eunice, died on April 30, 2005 at the age of 80 in Gahanna, Ohio. She was buried next to her husband in the Trigg Memory Acres.
Ed and Eunice Francis tombstone
LINEAGE: (Garnett Edward Francis was the son of Homer Ervin and Lola Frances Bridges Francis and the grandson of John Trice and Maggie Dora Cunningham Bridges. John Trice was the sixth child of Cullen Thomas and Martha Ann 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.)
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