Thelma Dean Thomas Curling Dall -- Office Manager

 

Dean Dall

Thelma Dean Thomas was born on April 21, 1929 in Trigg County, Kentucky.  She was the youngest of three children of Leslie Edwin Thomas and Hazel Mae Gibson Thomas. Leslie was a farmer and a native of Trigg County.  Hazel was a native of Christian County, Kentucky. Dean was a descendant of Starkie Thomas.

Dean’s siblings were Violet Marie Thomas, born in 1920 and married Joseph William Edlin and Arthur Gibson Thomas, born in 1924 and married Lora Nell Adams.

Dean grew up in the Oak Grove community and attended the rural Trigg County and Cadiz elementary schools. On February 17, 1946, Dean married Jesse James Curling.  Jesse was born September 6, 1921 in Trigg County.  He was the son of Robert Thomas Curling and Virgie Ellen Holland Curling.  Robert was a farmer and fisherman and both he and Virgie were natives of Trigg County.

Dean and Jesse settled in Cadiz and he worked as a truck driver and then for the State of Kentucky Department of Highways, where he was employed for a number of years.  Dean was employed by the Kentucky Stone Company as the office manager at their Canton rock quarry where she worked for 30 years until her retirement.

Dean and Jesse had one child, a daughter, Joan Carol Curling, born in 1946 and married Johnny H. Oliver.

Jesse died on February 4, 1969 at the age of 47 at the Trigg County Hospital in Cadiz.  He was buried in the Curling Cemetery in Canton.

Dean married her second husband, George Willliam Dall, on October 29, 1977.  George was born on July 13, 1934 in Waterville, Maine to John William Dall and Adrienne Rose Bernier Dall.  John worked for the Keyes Fibre Company in Waterville, Maine for over 25 years and was a native of  Topsham, Maine.  Adrienne was a native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

George came to Trigg County in July 1976 as President, Plant Manager and stockholder of Viking Engineering located east of Cadiz.  He had rented an apartment in the home of Boyd and Eunice Thomas and Eunice introduced him to Dean.  One year later they were married.  George was veteran of the US Army and served a tour of duty in Korea.

In 1978, George and Chappell Allen merged Viking Engineering with the Cadiz Machine Company and formed the Kentucky Machine and Engineering Company.  In 1983 George and Chappell began the A and D Tubing Company, a tube rolling business that was the first  plant to be built in the new Industrial Park east of Cadiz.

Dean died on March 20, 2021 at the age of 91 at the Ray and Kay Eckstein Hospice Care Center in Paducah, Kentucky.  She was buried in the Curling Cemetery.  George died on June 8, 2023 at the age of 88 at the Western Kentucky Veterans Center in Hanson, Kentucky.  He was buried in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West in Hopkinsville.

George Dall

 

Jesse Curling tombstone

 

George Dall tombstone

LINEAGE: (Thelma Dean Thomas was the daughter of Leslie Edwin and Hazel Mae Gibson Thomas.  Leslie was the fourth child of Wesley Gunn and Eliza L. Henderson Thomas.  Wesley was the sixth 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.)

Martha Rhea Cunningham Quarles -- Tailor

 

Martha Rhea Cunningham Quarles

Martha Rhea Cunningham was born on April 28, 1934 near a big spring on Beechy Fork Creek in Trigg County, Kentucky.  She was the fifth of six children of George Clyde Cunningham and Robbie Bell Bridges Cunningham. Clyde was a farmer and both he and Robbie were natives of Trigg County.  Martha was a descendant of Cullen Bridges, Cullen Thomas and Starkie Bridges. 

Martha's siblings were Aubrey Hershell Cunningham, born in 1923 and married Anna Josephine Calhoun and later married Velina Guess England; Albert Dale Cunningham, born in 1925 and died in World War II; Alfred Leslie Cunningham, born in 1927 and married Joe Hazel Bush; Dolly Mae Cunningham, born in 1930 and married William Ray Stokes and later married Thomas Davis Rawlins; and Mava Dale Cunningham, born in 1946 and married Paul Raymond Brown.

Martha grew up attending the country schools in Trigg County.  When she was a young girl, she acquired the nickname of “Cricket” because as her grandfather noted, she was always hopping and jumping around and never seemed to sit still.  She was known by the “Cricket” nickname into her adult life.  One of her first jobs was to work at the Hopkinsville Shoe Factory in Hopkinsville, Kentucky  It was there she met a fellow worker who would become her husband.

On April 18, 1953, Martha married Charles Robert Quarles in Springfield, Tennessee.  Robert was born on October 21, 1925 in Christian County, Kentucky.  He was the son of Ewing Burton Quarles and Cora Eunice Mayes Quarles.  Ewing was a farmer and a laborer and was a native of Gainsboro, Tennessee.  Cora was a native of Robertson County, Tennessee.

Charles was a veteran of World War II.  He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on July 26, 1944 and spent eighteen months serving on sea duty in the Pacific Ocean.  He was honorably discharged from the service on July 5, 1946.

Martha and Charles lived in Hopkinsville where Martha was employed as a tailor in furs and leather.  This was a trade that been handed down from her ancestors.  Martha spent most of her time raising her four children.   Charles worked as a machinist and in his retirement years worked as a greeter at Walmart.

Martha and Charles were the parents of four children, Timothy Dwain Quarles, born in 1954 and married Eugenia McGaugh Neves, and then married Gail E. Grossman and then married Mary Erickson; Stanley Robert Quarles, born in 1958 and married Sherry L. Henderson and then married Linda Lee Dunlap Carlton; Kathy Dianne Quarles, born in 1959 and married Peter Joseph Uzelac and then married Jeffery Mitchell Rogers; and Mark Anthony Quarles, born in 1963 and married Valorie Jane Storer.

Charles died on January 22, 2008 at the age of 82 at the Christian Health Center in Hopkinsville.  He was buried in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West in Hopkinsville.  Martha died on May 8, 2021 at the age of 87.  She was buried in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West.

Charles Quarles

 

Martha tombstone

 

 

Charles tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Martha Rhea Cunningham was the daughter of George Clyde and Robbie Bell Bridges Cunningham.  George Clyde was the third child of Elmer Elsworth “Ell” and Rosa Lee Bridges Cunningham.  Rosa Lee was the seventh child of Cullen T. 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.  Robbie Bell was the second child of Drew Manley and Lena Mae Guier Bridges.  Drew Manley was the seventh child of Starkie T. and Elizabeth Lawrence Bridges.  Starkie was the second child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.  Martha Ann was the third child of Peyton and Sarah Ethridge Thomas.  Peyton was the third child of Cullen and Elizabeth Futrell Thomas.  Cullen was the first child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)