George Edward Terrell -- Machinist

 

George Edward Terrell

 

George Edward Terrell was born on May 10, 1921 in the Blue Spring community of  Trigg County, Kentucky. He was the eighth  of nine children born to Robert Terrell and Emma Skaggs Bridges Terrell.  Robert was a farmer and both he and Emma were natives of Trigg County.  Emma was a granddaughter of Simco Bridges.  

Edwards’s siblings were Mary Cicero Terrell, born in 1907 and married John Carter Mitchell; Marie Eldo Terrell, born in 1907, twin of Marie, who died at birth; Sarah Frances Terrell, born in 1909 and married Clyde Crenshaw Stallons; Myra Dean Terrell, born in 1911 and married Clarence Monroe Stallons; Martha Helen Terrell, born in 1913 and married Boyce Taylor Braboy; Virginia Irene Terrell, born in 1916 and married Ernest Lee Bridges; Robert Joe Terrell, born in 1918 and married Nellie Myrtle Peal; and Grace Annalene Terrell, born in 1924 and married Herbert Haydon Braboy.

Edward grew up in Trigg County and attended the local schools.  As a young man, he worked primarily as a farm laborer.

On April 4, 1942, Edward married Gladys Opal Gray in Charleston, Missouri.  The wedding took place at the local Baptist Church with Reverend Broderick, pastor of the church reading the vows.  They were accompanied to Charleston by Opal’s cousin, Mrs. Robert Earl Chandler and her husband.  Gladys was a resident of Princeton, Kentucky at the time of their wedding, but was a native of Trigg County.  She was born on July 14, 1921, the daughter of Bentley Mason Gray and Peachie Ann Hendricks Gray.  Bentley worked as a carpenter and both he and Peachie were natives of Trigg County.

Edward enlisted on August 26, 1942 at the beginning of World War II and was assigned to the 8th Air Force—446 Bomb Group.  He was stationed at the Flixton Air Base in Bungay, England until the end of the war in Europe.  He was sent back to the United States on the Queen Mary in July 1945 and was scheduled to go to the South Pacific, but Japan surrendered and Edward was discharged and he returned to Trigg County.

After the war, Edward worked as welder and machinist with a freight line company in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  He and his family moved to Louisville, Kentucky where he worked as a staff member of the University of Louisville School of Engineering until his retirement.

Edward and Gladys were the parents of four children, Sharron Kay Terrell, born in 1943 and married Clifford Wayne McConnell; Michael Edward Terrell, born in 1949 and married Stephanie June Nettles, and later married Janet Frances Hoenig, Bobbie J. Weldon and Catherine Elaine Halcomb Beahm; Stephen Gray Terrell, born in 1950 and married Patricia June Smith; and Ronald Keith Terrell, born in 1955 and married Katrina Kay Burton. 

Gladys died on August 14, 2001 at the age of 80 at the Georgetown Manor in Louisville.  She was buried in the Lawrence Cemetery in Trigg County.  Edward died on August 25, 2014 at the age of 93 at the Saints Mary & Elizabeth Hospital in Louisville,  He was buried in the Lawrence Cemetery next to his wife.

 

George Edward and Gladys tombstone

LINEAGE: (George Edward Terrell was the son of Robert and Emma Skaggs Bridges Terrell.  Emma was the fifth child of William Joseph and Sarah Wills Bridges.  William Joseph was the first child of Simco N. and Emeline Martin Bridges.  Simco was the third child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)