The Women of 1243
Jimmy Lee Williams Carr
March 5th—Ancestral Women 31-Day Challenge honoring one of my women ancestors a day for the 31 days of March. Join me and add your ancestor.
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JIMMIE LEE WILLIAMS CARR, December 5, 1909-February 18, 1999, my 5th maternal grandaunt and daughter of Willie and Mary Williams, was born in Augusta, GA, and died in New York City. She was the last of the Williams sisters to die and the first member of the family to be cremated.
Jimmie Lee also holds the status of being the family member who lived the longest. Some attribute her long life to the fact that she walked almost everywhere she went. She took public transportation to go to her job, but walked everywhere else. She’d walk 20-25 blocks a day, often carrying heavy bags of groceries. No amount of coercing convinced her to change her mode of transportation.
Jimmie Lee married Mack Carr, and they were married for nearly 16 years before he died. They lived independent of her sisters and 1243–the family home. Some months after Mr. Carr’s death, she moved back to her childhood home. She remained there until her youngest sister transitioned in 1985. Given she was the last of the sisters alive and living in the home, her son decided to take his mother back to New York to live with him.
Sadly, my grandaunt did not see her nieces and other family members after she moved. Her son allowed personal grievances with some family members to limit how often others could visit her. I’m grateful that each time she was in crisis her spirit sought mine and informed me of her condition. I visited her several times in the hospital and in his home as her health deteriorated.
During one hospital visit, she was talking to me and suddenly her eyes rolled up to the top of her head and she flatlined. I called for help and then experienced a state of shock where I couldn’t talk or move. The nurses had to lead me out of the room and to a chair. I waited until they called me back into the room. I fully expected to say goodbye. Instead, I found her awake and talking. She didn’t remember coding. We spent a few more minutes together before I left so she could rest. My grandaunt lived another five years after this visit.
I communicated well with all of my grandaunts. Each one treated me like a daughter. I miss them all. I had the most spiritual experience with Jimmie Lee and learned that death can truly come in a second. Sometimes God reverses the order. God did that in my presence when she coded but began to live again. Her final breath and death occurred in a nursing home.
RIP Jimmie Lee 💜🙏🏽.
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Sources:
The Mary M. Marshall Collection - http://archives.libraries.emory.edu/repositories/7/archival_objects/274186
Oral history from family members, neighbors, and friends of the family, including my memories.
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Dr. Marshall
The title of this post needs to be book Dr. Mary ! I time traveled and felt inspired by it. I may post a note on my grandmother now. Thanks Dr. Mary 💫