Lola Jo Bridges Gray -- Wife of a Farmer

 

Lola Jo Bridges and Andrew Gray

Lola Jo Bridges was born on October 6, 1901 in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the oldest of eight children born to Drew Manley Bridges and Lena Mae Guier Bridges.  Drew Manley was a farmer and both he and Lena were natives of Trigg County.  Lola Jo was a descendant of Starkie Bridges.

Lola Jo’s siblings were Robbie Bell Bridges, born in 1904 and married George Clyde Cunningham; Sidney Gordon Bridges, born in 1906 and married Jane Ernestine Bridges; Sarah Elizabeth Bridges, born in 1907 and married Henry Cullen Thomas; Clifton Earl Bridges, born in 1910 and married Inez Lorene Lancaster; John Thomas Bridges, born in 1915 and married Mary Henrietta Sumner; Clovis Manley Bridges, born in 1918 and married Ruby Helen Huddleston; and Mosco Doris Bridges, born in 1919 and married Myra Dean Sumner.

Lola Jo lived in the Mount Pleasant community of Trigg County in her youth and attended the local rural schools in the county.

On December 15, 1918, Lola Jo married Andrew Abner Gray at the home of Nathan G. Cunningham, a Justice of the Peace.  Andrew was born on June 27, 1891 in the Mount Pleasant community of  Trigg County, the son of Isaac Mason Gray and Narcissa Elizabeth Cunningham Gray.  Isaac was a farmer and both he and Narcissa were natives of Trigg County.  Before 1981. Andrew worked as a sharecropper in Calloway County, Kentucky before returning to Trigg County.

Lola Jo and Andrew settled in the Mount Pleasant community where Andrew worked as a farmer.  They later moved to the Maple Grove community and lived on Beechy Fork Creek and then settled on a farm on the Old Dover Road.  In 1953, they moved to Cadiz and Andrew worked at the Joe Nunn Sawmill and at the local pallet factory until his retirement.

Andrew and Lola Jo were the parents of five children, Homer Mason Gray, born in 1922 and died at the age of one; George Manley Gray, born in 1924 and married Marilyn Miller Clark; Stella Mae Gray, born in 1925 and married Maurice Alton Thomas; John Marshall Gray, born in 1932 and married Virginia Nell Braboy; and Lola Jewell Gray, born in 1943 and married Robert Arrice Prescott.

Andrew died on December 17, 1963 at the age of 72 at his home in Cadiz.  He was buried in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Trigg County. Lola Jo died on March 9, 1985 at the age of 83 at the Trigg County Hospital in Cadiz of an apparent heart attack.  She was buried in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery next to her husband.

Andrew and Lola Jo tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Lola Jo Bridges was the daughter of Drew Manley and Lena Mae Guier Bridges.  Drew was the seventh child of Starkie T. and Elizabeth W. Lawrence Bridges.  Starkie was the second child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)

Geneva Lou Calhoun Hopson -- Retail Sales Worker

 

 

Geneva Lou Calhoun was born on June 15, 1925 in Trigg County, Kentucky. She was the oldest of six children born to James Jefferson Calhoun and Ruth Alida Cunningham Calhoun.  James Jefferson was a farmer and both he and Ruth were natives of Trigg County.  Geneva was a descendant of Simco Bridges. 

Geneva’s siblings were James Lacy Calhoun, born in 1927 and married Marlene (last name unknown) and then married Mittie Louise Brueggemeyer; Ernest Dilton Calhoun, born in 1928 and married Naomi Lee Thomas; Rachel Calhoun, born in 1929 and married Jewel Smith Humphries; Sylvia Pearl Calhoun, born in 1933 and married Charles Wilford Marlow and then married John Copp and later married James Myrtle; and Patricia Ann Calhoun, born in 1935 and married Thomas Junior Cameron.

Geneva or Nemie as she was known grew up in Trigg County and attended the rural Trigg County schools.  As a teenager, she and her family lived in the Gracey community.

On July 11, 1942, Nemie married Kenneth Barkley Hopson in Charleston, Missouri.  Kenneth was born on February 19, 1924 in Trigg County, the son of Lee Carlisle Hopson and Bessie Susan Sizemore Hopson.  Lee was a prominent farmer and had served as Trigg County Judge for 13 years. Both he and Bessie were natives of Trigg County.

Kenneth grew up in the Cerulean community of Trigg County and attended the local rural schools.  During World War II he worked at the Vultee Aircraft Corporation in Nashville, Tennessee. He went on to operate the family farm in Cerulean and in 1978 he and Nemie moved to Cadiz.  Kenneth became a heavy equipment operator, a job he worked for over 20 years before retiring in 1984.  Nemie worked in retail sales which included a position with Marcia Anne Shoppe.

Nemie and Kenneth were the parents of two children, Lee Roy Hopson, born in 1943 and married Linda Dean Dunn and later married Edith Louise Whitman. Their daughter,Wanda Sue Hopson, was born in 1947 and married Jeffery Louis Stea, and then married Robert Allison Higgins and later married David Lynn Toms.

Kenneth died on April 2, 1993 at the age of 69 at the Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, Kentucky.  He was buried in the Cerulean Cemetery in Trigg County.  Nemie died on May 18, 2004 at the age of 78 at the Shady Lawn Nursing Center in Cadiz.  She was buried in the Cerulean Cemetery next to her husband.

Geneva tombstone

Kenneth tombstone

LINEAGE: (Geneva Lou “Nemie” Calhoun was the daughter of James Jefferson and Ruth Alida Cunningham Calhoun.  James was the second child of William Archibald “Bill” and Peachie Bridges Calhoun.  Peachie was the seventh 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.)