Erie Massengill

Miss Erie Massengill, like her mother, had only one given name: no middle name. Erie never married, but stayed on the farm and helped her parents out as long as they lived - except for the Mobile years. Erie was in her thirties when World War II changed the world, and citizens were called on to "do their part for the war effort". Erie answered the call, and moved to Mobile, Alabama, to be a "Rosie the riveter". She stayed in company housing, and put new skins, as she called it, on airplanes as long as she was needed. When she was in her eighties, she still spoke very fondly of those years and her face and voice both fairly lighted up when she did so. When her duty was done, she returned to the family farm and resumed her life as she had always known it. She remained with her parents as long as they lived, then she and her brother Clint stayed on the place until Clint's sudden death. After Clint's death, Erie felt that the old house and farm were too much to manage on her own. She sold the home place there, and moved into a trailer next door to her sister Juanita, where she lived for the remainder of her life. I visited her there many times, and always enjoyed our visits. --Dell Carothers 11 February 2017