Audrey Kay Lowenstein -- Young Victim of a Car Crash

 

Audrey Kay Lowenstein

Audrey Kay Lowenstein was born on March 5, 1977 in Cadiz, Kentucky.  She was the only child of Lloyd Martin Lowenstein and Janice Kay Allen Lowenstein. She had one half brother, Adam Matthew Gray, born in 1981, the son of Clifton Wade Gray and Janice Kay Allen Gray.  Audrey’s father was born in Germany in 1955, but grew up in Trigg County, Kentucky and worked with the Specialty Foods Groups in Owensboro, Kentucky as a utility worker. His parents were Jack Jacob and Mary Katherine Wallace Lowenstein. Jack died in Germany when Lloyd was only five months old and his mother, Mary Katherine, subsequently married Zelner Cossey.  . Audrey’s mother, Janice, was born in Cadiz in 1961, the daughter of James Willard and Mary Virginia Lawrence Allen and worked as a private and commercial housekeeper. 

Audrey grew up in Trigg County and attended Trigg County Schools.  She was an excellent student, often making the honor roll.  On May 19, 1995, as a high school senior, she was awarded the Kentucky Department of Education Secondary Vocational Education Certificate of Achievement at her high school honors award day.  She graduated from Trigg County High School in May of 1995.

After her high school graduation, Audrey worked as a nurse’s aide at the Shady Lawn Nursing Center.

On January 30, 1996, a winter storm moved in from the west and created bad weather conditions in the form of freezing rain which was prevalent over Trigg and nearby Christian County, Kentucky. On that afternoon, Audrey was alone in her vehicle and traveling westbound on highway 272 about eight miles west of Hopkinsville, Kentucky heading toward Trigg County.  Because of the icy conditions on the road, Audrey apparently lost control of her vehicle.  She crossed over into the eastbound lane and was struck head-on by a United Parcel Service van that was driven by 50 year old, Martha L. Allison of Hopkinsville. Unfortunately Audrey was not wearing a seat belt and the impact of the vehicle caused Audrey to be fatally injured in the accident. Ms. Allison, who was wearing a seat belt, was treated at the emergency room and released. The Kentucky State Police blamed ice as the contributing factor for the fatal accident. Audrey was only 18 years old at the time of her death.

Audrey’s funeral was on February 1, 1996 and she was buried in the Trigg Memory Acres cemetery in Trigg County, Kentucky.

 Audrey Lowenstein tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Audrey Kay Lowenstein was the daughter of Lloyd Martin and Janice Kay Allen Lowenstein.  Janice was the daughter of James Willard and Mary Virginia Lawrence Allen and the granddaughter of Robert Lee and Icie Drew Sholar Lawrence.  Robert Lee was the second child of James Waymon and Adelia Bell Hite Lawrence, James Waymon was the first child of John Labon Lawrence and Martha Frances Bridges  Lawrence.  Martha Frances was the first child of Starkie Thomas and Pruda Minerva Hixon Bridges. Starkie Thomas was the second child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Nettie Carter Bridges Rivenbark -- Prisoner Advocate

 

Nettie Carter Bridges Rivenbark

Nettie Carter Bridges was born on October 17, 1916 in Canton, Kentucky.  She was the second of three daughters of Alvin Ghent Bridges and Bertha Tyner Major Bridges. Both Alvin and Bertha were natives of Trigg County, Kentucky and Alvin was a son of Ghent and Nettie Cunningham Bridges.  Alvin worked for the Army Corp of Engineers building locks and dams on the area bridges. Because of her father’s job, the family lived in eight different states while Nettie was growing up.  Nettie’s two sisters were  Eleanor Major Bridges, born in 1915 and married William Cleere and Edith Landis Bridges, born in 1920 and married Tudor Strang.

The family finally settled in Hopewell, Virginia where Nettie graduated from high school.  She later went to Nashville where she attended Hume Fogg Preparatory School studying journalism.

After returning to Hopewell, she met Wilburn Harley Rivenbark, Jr. of Norfolk, Virginia.  Nettie and Wilburn were married on October 6, 1935 in a ceremony at the home of the bride’s parents with a large number of friends and relatives witnessing the ceremony. Wilburn was born on April 11, 1915 in Burgaw, North Carolina, the son of Wilburn Harley Rivenbark, Sr. and Scenie R. McLendon Rivenbark, both natives of North Carolina.

Nettie and Wilburn lived in Hopewell after their wedding where Wilburn worked as a teacher. In 1943, they moved to Deland, Florida where Nettie lived for the rest of her life except for five years when she lived in Georgia.  Nettie volunteered as a worker with local prisoners to improve their care.  In 1979 and 1981 she received special awards from the Volusia County Florida Department of Corrections for a Spiritual Program she created for the local prisoners. She was also active in the Democratic Party and worked for the local Election Department.  Wilburn worked as a teacher and coach at the Seabreeze High School and later became dean of the Daytona Beach Community College.

Nettie and Wilburn were the parents of four children, Wilburn Harley Rivenbark, III, born in 1936 and married Charlotte Loren Bowden and then married Nova Lacefield; Kenneth Forrest Rivenbark, born in 1938 and married Beverly Carol Bell and later married Sherry Lee Radtke; Patricia Anne Rivenbark, born in 1941 and married Edward Houston Hendricks; and Randi Diane Rivenbark, born in 1948 and married Edsel Wilkin Poole and later married Clare Eric Snell.  Nettie and Wilburn were divorced on July 25, 1977.

Nettie Carter Bridges Rivenbark died on April 7, 2003 at the age of 93 in the Deland Highlands community of Deland, Florida.  She was cremated and her ashes were buried in the Drury Bridges Cemetery in the Maple Grove community in Trigg County, Kentucky.

 Nettie Carter Bridges in 1934

Young Nettie standing on a car running board in Maple Grove in 1921

Nettie Carter Bridges Rivenbark tombstone

LINEAGE:   (Nettie Carter Bridges was the daughter of Alvin Ghent and Bertha Tyner Major Bridges and the granddaughter of Ghent Alford (Alfred) and Nettie Linden Cunningham Bridges.  Ghent was the third child of Cullen Thomas 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.)

Doris Ann Clayton and Dustin Lee Fowler -- Young Victims of a Brain Tumor

 

Anita Clayton with her sister, Doris Ann Clayton

Doris Ann Clayton was born on June 26, 1942 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the second of three children born to Richard Boyd Clayton and Pauline Travis Clayton. Doris Ann’s siblings were Richard Gayle Clayton, born in 1936 and married Sylvia Jean Wallace and later married Cindy Lou Creekmore; and  Anita Joyce Clayton, born in 1943 and married Samuel Wilkinson "S.W." McNichols.

Because of their parent’s divorce, Doris Ann and her sister, Anita lived with their grandparents, Henry and Mamie Light Carloss on a farm in Trigg County, where she attended the local schools.  In the summer of 1954 when Doris Ann was 12 years old, she began to suffer severe headaches.  She was hospitalized at the Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, where she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Doris Ann went through surgery to have the tumor removed.  On Friday evening at 8 p.m. on July 16, 1954 Doris Ann died.

Doris Ann Clayton, age 12, was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz, Kentucky.

Doris Ann Clayton tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Doris Ann Clayton was the daughter of Richard Boyd and Pauline Travis Clayton and the granddaughter of Carney Baccus and Mamie Adeline Light Travis.  Mamie was the tenth child of John J. and Emeline Catherine Thomas Light. Emeline Catherine 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 of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

 

Dustin Ray Fowler

Dustin Ray Fowler was born on November 1, 1992 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, the only son of Jeffrey Ray Fowler and Rhonda Faye Swatzell Fowler.  He had one sister, Jessica Beatrice Lacy, born in 1989, a half-brother, Scotty Jones and a half-sister Madison Skinner.

Dustin attended school in the Trigg County system and in 2007, he was in the seventh grade at Trigg County Middle School in Cadiz, Kentucky where he was a member of the baseball team.  Dustin had been complaining of headaches and had been receiving treatments for a sinus infection.  In February of 2007, Dustin began to walk strangely as though he was having trouble keeping his balance.  Dustin begun to get extremely tired and would go to bed early which was unusual for a 14 year old boy and when he woke up he was still very tired.  After his headaches became almost unbearable, he was taken to the hospital in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  It was there that a CAT scan revealed that he had a brain tumor. 

The doctors quickly referred Dustin to the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.  There, the doctors attempted to surgically remove his tumor, but were not able to remove all of it.  The family was told that the tumor was “very aggressive”.  During the initial 10-hour surgery, a blood clot formed next to Dustin’s heart and the surgeons went back into surgery to try to remove it. His blood pressure went down and he slipped into a coma from the physical trauma.  Dustin died at 2 p.m. on Thursday April 12, 2007.

Dustin Ray Fowler, age 14, was buried at the Caldwell Blue Spring Cemetery in Caldwell County, Kentucky.

 

Dustin Ray Fowler tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Dustin Ray Fowler was the son of Jeffrey Ray and Rhonda Faye Swatzell Fowler and the grandson of William Ray and Frances Nell Sholar Fowler and Charles Edward and Charlene Kelly Swatzell.  William Ray was the sixth child of William Terry and Mallie Helen Williams Fowler.  Mallie was the fifth child of Robert Henry and Lucy Agnes Adams Williams. Lucy was the first child of John Wylie and Martha Jane Coleman Adams.  Martha was the second child of Alfred Boyd and Alpha Thomas Coleman.  Alpha was the second child of Perry and Elizabeth Bridges Thomas. Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas;    Charles Edward Swatzell was the first child of Thomas Lowell and Edith Beatrice Sumner Swatzell.  Edith Beatrice was the third child of William Averitt and Mary Virginia Wilson Sumner. William Averitt was the first child of William Lowery and Mary Jane Thomas Sumner.  Mary Jane was the seventh child of Rufus King and Alvie Adeline Dunn Thomas.  Rufus was the fifth child of Perry and Elizabeth Bridges Thomas.  Perry was the third child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)

Clyde Roger Vinson -- United States District Court Judge

 

Judge Roger Vinson

Clyde Roger Vinson was born on February 19, 1940 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the youngest of six children born to Carey Thomas Vinson, Sr. and Mallie Mae Guier Vinson.  His parents were both natives of Trigg County and his father was a well-known farmer of the county. His siblings were Lula Vinson, born in 1919 and married Lawrence Allen Wilson; June Theresa Vinson, born in 1921 and married Johnny Edmond Yeates, Jr.; Jesse Stanley Vinson, born in 1923 and married Kathryn Constance Sweeney; James Monroe Vinson, born and died in 1925 and Carey Thomas “Tom” Vinson, Jr., born in 1926 and married Winnie Nell Petty.

Roger attended a one-room school house in his early years, but he excelled academically, skipped the sixth grade and graduated from Trigg County High School at the age of 17.  Roger went on to spend a year at the University of Kentucky. He then received a congressional appointment as a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. There he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1962, Roger entered flight training at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, a city that he would later call him home.  Despite a promising future in aviation, Roger decided to pursue a career in law.  In 1968 he enrolled at the Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville.

After graduating from law school in 1971, Roger joined the law firm, now known as Beggs & Lane which was Florida’s oldest law firm.  He practiced general civil law for them for twelve years. In the early 1980’s, Roger was nominated for a judicial position with the Northern District of Florida by President Ronald Reagan.  He was speedily confirmed by the U. S. Senate and was sworn in as a federal judge on November 4, 1983, at the age of 43.

Perhaps Judge Vinson’s most widely known ruling was in 2010 when he concluded that the legislation creating the Affordable Care Act, the legislation commonly known as Obamacare violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. After the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Vinson’s ruling, it went before the U.S. Supreme Court. While a majority of justices agreed with Judge Vinson’s analysis and ruling, the act was ruled constitutional on separate grounds not raised before Judge Vinson

On December 14, 1963, Roger married Marcia Randolph Dean in Pensacola.  They were the parents of two children, Matthew Dean Vinson, born in 1969 and Benjamin Todd Vinson, born in 1972.  Roger and Marcia’s marriage ended in divorce and on June 9, 1978, Roger married Ellen Hawley Watson.  They were the parents of a son, Roger Joseph Vinson, and two step children, Catherine Jennings and Patrick Jennings, from Ellen’s earlier marriage.

Roger was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997, but after treatment, he was cancer free for 22 years.  The cancer returned in 2019 and by 2021, his prognosis was poor. Roger volunteered for clinical trials for new cancer treatments.  Although these trials could not save his life, he felt his participation would help future cancer patients.  Roger died on April 1, 2023 in Pensacola at the age of 83.  He was buried in the Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola.

LINEAGE:   (Clyde Roger Vinson was the son of Carey Thomas and Mallie Mae Guier Vinson and the grandson of Jesse Monroe and Forrest May Thomas Vinson.  Jesse was the fourth child of Henry Cullen and Mary Catherine Sumner Vinson.  Henry was the first child of Thomas Allison and Emeline Vinson Thomas.  Emeline was the fifth child of Cullen and Elizabeth Futrell Thomas.  Cullen was the first child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.  Forrest May Thomas was the first child of Jonathan Starkie and Julia Dyer Thomas.  Jonathan was the third child of William Bridges and Nancy Jane Rogers Thomas.  William was the first child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)