Belle and Children

This is the last known picture taken of Belle Dodson Grimes McCloud Cole. Belle was born in 1889 and died in 1986. I remember taking this picture, and I think the year was 1980.

Pictured from left to right are Lena Grimes, Lonnie Grimes, Belle, Hubert McCloud and Virgie Belle Grimes Webb. Uncle Lonnie died in 1993. I am not certain of when Uncle Hubert died. Grandma Virgie died in 1996, and Aunt Lena died in 2008.

Belle

Rebecca Belle Dodson Grimes McCloud Cole, better known as Belle, was born May 15, 1889, and died March 25, 1986. Belle was my great-grandmother on my mother's side. By the time I came along, Belle was already an old 69 years, a hard fiery Cherokee woman with a heart as big as Oklahoma. This is her story.

Belle was born in White County, Tennessee, the first child of Emily Bowlin Dodson and the seventh child of Sam Dodson. Legend has it that Sam was 3/4 Cherokee, and judging by Belle's dark piercing eyes, high cheekbones and porcelain skin, there was probably an element of truth to it. Growing up poor on the plateau of the Cumberland Mountains, Belle's education was sparse. She did, however, finish grammar school, which at that time, was the sixth grade.

By the time she was 15, Belle was living in Oklahoma Indian Territory where Sam Dodson was running a boarding house. It was there, outside of Broken Bow, that she met the rogue and rounder, Lonnie Grimes. Being that it meant one less mouth to feed, Sam and Emily, gave their blessing to a marriage that sent Belle back to Tennessee.

In 1907, Belle boarded a train with her new husband and travelled to Whitwell, Tennessee. Lonnie Grimes was a player, however, and it didn't take long for Belle to figure out that he still had some running around to get out of his system. Lonnie travelled around by horse and carriage or by train, going from one depot to another, one poker game to another, and Belle had had enough. Belle used to say, "That Lonnie Grimes gambled away half of White County before he finally give it up."

Belle was hanging laundry outside on the clothes line, when one day, out of nowhere, her husband showed up at her gate. All set to ask for an annulment of her marriage, a storm blew up, and they went inside their little shack. Lonnie Grimes never left home again until he died of typhoid in February 1914.

Belle gave birth to her first child, Virgie Belle in 1910. Lena Mae came along in 1912. Lonnie Edward was born in June 1914, four months following the death of his father. Alone with no money, Belle boarded the train back to White County, where her mother, Emily, was now living. She moved in with Emily and set about doing odd jobs - ironing clothes, baking pies, cleaning houses - to make a little money. She married Casto McCloud sometime around 1918 and gave birth to Hubert in 1919.

Casto worked in the coal mines all along the Cumberland Plateau. He drank heavily and often took out his rage on Belle and her children. Belle and Casto divorced sometime around 1935. It was the height of the Great Depression, but for Belle, that would not have meant anything, because she had known no other way but dirt poor. In 1938, she met Elmer Cole, a widower with a six month old daugther. Belle and Elmer married, and Belle suddenly had another daughter, Rilda Dean.

Elmer Cole gave Belle the one thing in life she had never had, a peaceful home. Elmer was a quiet mountain of a man who worked in the coal mines. He moved his family to Crossville, Cumberland County, to a little asbestos shingled house on the outskirts of town.

I spent many summers at Grandma Belle's house in Tennessee. Her home is a series of snapshots in the my mind that I'll never lose. That little blue-green house had a front porch with a rocking chair. Out in front of the house was a little vegetable garden, to the side, chickens pecked the ground. A cornfield was in the back of the house and beyond that was the outhouse, a tiny building of aged pine, with three depositories. That outhouse stunk to high heaven, which is why it was so far away from the house!

Upon entering the front door, was the living room, small and painted an olive green. A long couch was against the front wall, while Elmer's brownish red vinyl recliner (usually with Elmer in it) was positioned immediately across from it. A coal stove took up a huge part of the living room, but it rarely burned in the summer time or early fall. There was an old Zenith console television that was never turned on, and just above the rabbit ears was a picture of Rilda Dean hanging on the wall.

Off to the right were bedrooms and to the back was the kitchen. There was a picture of Sam Dodson over the kitchen table. In Lena's bedroom, which became the guest bedroom whenever Grandma Virgie and I would visit, hung a portrait of Lonnie Grimes. The walls in the bedrooms were papered by newspaper, but the beds were pure feather down with heavy wool blankets and homemade quilts.

I remember the smells that emanated from Grandma Belle's kitchen. She always had a pot of pinto beans on the stove, sometimes cooking with a ham in them, other times just a slab of fatback, but they always tasted as good as they smelled. Since Belle's family went to the bed with the chickens and got up with the roosters, breakfast was the big meal of the day, but all the meals were meant to sustain a person through the work that needed doing.

Elmer Cole died in the early part of 1979, and Belle left her little farm and moved into the Crossville city limits. At 90 years old, Belle finally had hot and cold running water. She had three bedrooms and an indoor bathroom, but she wouldn't enjoy it long. In 1982, Belle broke her hip and never recovered. Her memory slowly but surely faded away as did her strength and zest for life.

Belle died on March 25, 1986 at Cumberland Medical Center, leaving behind, two sons and three daughters, 12 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren, and six great great grandchildren. Belle lies beside Elmer at the Green Acres Memory Gardens in Crossville, Cumberland County, Tennessee. In spite of the hard times that Belle knew all her life, she remained a devout Christian. She is undoubtedly among the Great Cloud of Witnesses watching her descendants run our races and cheering us home.

Virgie Belle Grimes Webb

Virgie Belle Grimes was born on the 2nd of June, 1910 in Whitwell, Tennesee to Lonnie Grimes and Rebecca Belle Dodson, the first of five children. Virgie and her sister, Lena, barely got to know their father, as he died in February, 1914 when Virgie was four and Lena, two. Lonnie Edward Grimes, the baby, was still on the way.

So, Belle packed up her girls and boarded a train for White County, Tennessee. Moving in with her mother, Emily, Belle set about making a way for her family. Emily Bowlin Dodson, was a widow, herself, as Belle's father, Sam Dodson, had died in 1908. Lonnie Edward came in June.

White County is in the heart of the Cumberland Mountains, as Virgie's memories were of coal mines and company stores. Education was hard fought, as Belle's children would walk to school every day. Their homestead was miles from town, and the roads were dirt. Virgie was a straight A student and graduated at the top of her class from the 8th Grade. High School was a luxury unavailable to Virgie, but she made the most of what she had.

Virgie met John Henry Webb, from over in Glenmary, Scott County, Tennessee, sometime around 1927. They married in 1929 in Jamestown, Tennesee. John was from a family with ties to the land nearly as ancient as Virgie's. A family whose farm had been in the family for four generations, surely looked like security to her. They set up housekeeping on the Webb Farm, and she would give birth to Reba and James Lonnie.

The world around the Webbs had already shifted on its axis, as the stock market had already crashed, and the depression was well underway. Virgie, was used to being dirt poor, but the Webbs began migrating to Northern Kentucky in search of work. First, Will Webb, accompanied by his wife, Ina, moved to Covington, Kentucky, to take work with the Southern Railroad. Then Jim Webb, accompanied by his wife, Christy, came to Northern Kentucky to work for the same rail. One by one, the Webb family migrated. John Henry moved Virgie and his family to Ludlow, Kentucky, a small town on the Ohio River, in 1933, and the depression was raging.

Virgie would take on odd jobs to make extra money for the family. She would do laundry, iron clothes, whatever she could do. John Henry looked for work. During much of that time, John would haul ice, work for the railroad, and for the WPA to keep his family from starving. The family held its breath after December 7, 1942, as John Henry faced the draft board, but he returned having not been in good enough health to fight in a war.

Ironically, life began to change for Virgie and her family. The WPA brought steady work, and her children were involved with school. As poor as she had always been, she must have started feeling rich, as much in spirit as in wealth. The 1940s and 50s were good for Virgie. She worked in Nell Donnelly's grocery store and eventually took it over from Nell. She ran her business, and for the first time, Virgie didn't have to worry about having rent money. She saved every nickle she made, and she could stretch a nickle into a mile. Although, it's important to note that Virgie never owned her own home.

In 1950, Reba got married, and James Lonnie was married in 1951. Virgie got her first grandchild in 1952, followed by two more in 1958. She would have three more by the end of the 1960s. In 1962, however, Virgie would face life alone, as John Henry passed away in May from a cerebral hemorage. She buried him in Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Erlanger, Kentucky, and at 52, she was a widow.

Virgie worked for Dolly Madison in Cincinnati, Ohio until she retired at age 60 in 1970. She remained active in the First Baptist Church of Ludlow, Kentucky until she could no longer live by herself. When she was 86, Virgie moved to Burlington to live with her daughter, Reba. She would join John Henry in Gloryland on December 6, 1997.

Virgie Belle Grimes Webb was a tower of strength. Whatever she set her mind to do, she could accomplish. She read the Bible every single day. It was hidden in her heart, to spill out whenever she felt threatened by the devil. She worried about her family, her children and grandchildren, sometimes to the point of overkill; but they always knew they had that hedge of angels around them because of the prayer warrior that Virgie was.

Virgie couldn't always remember her grandkids' names, and she would often get them confused. She would cook dinner for me using Rhonda's favorite foods. She would call Scott "Sparky" instead of his name. Sparky was the dog. Virgie was more than offended the year Scott and I made name tags for Thanksgiving dinner. She didn't take jokes well, but she liked games. She would spend hours playing Old Maid or Go Fish! She beat everybody at Chinese Checkers.

The legacy that Virgie left behind is well established. All of her grandchildren went to college. That was very important to her. She went to my graduation when I received my master's degree, and she probably shed more tears of pride and joy than anybody. Virgie's great grandchildren are functioning members of society. She didn't live long enough to know my family, but she would have approved.

Virgie is always here at every holiday gathering, at weddings and funerals. She meets us where we need her in dreams or prayers. She'll always be in our hearts.

I was with Virgie on her deathbed. I told her I wanted her to get well and come home. I'll never forget her words to me, "I'm going home. It won't be long, but I know I'll see you there."

No, it won't be long at all.