L To R, Josh Perkins, Elmer Willis, Solomon Doyle, Mae Ashworth Willis, Nora Ashworth Griffin, Shelby Ashworth

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Sister Gillis & Elvy

The sitting for this story is in the small town of Singer, La. It was told to my, by my cousin Roger Ashworth. This happen ever Saturday evening and a couple of days during the week, as he recalls it.
My GG Uncle Hobo Ashworth {Rogers father} and his kids and Elvy Perkins shared a house in Singer, years and years ago. Their house sat behind what is now the Singer volunteer fire station on the west side of the Kansas City Southern Railroad tracks. West, off of state highway 27.
Across that highway and and east of the Kansas City Southern Rail Road tracks sat Brother and Sister Gills house.
Brother Gills, his real name was Arthur Gillis {10/17/1909 to 5/31/1984}. He was from the Starks & Fields area. Sister Gills real name was Ella Hollie, she to, was from the Fields & Starks area. Brother Gillis was a Pentecostal Preacher for most of his life, he was also a school bus driver for the Beauregard Parish School Board. If you were a member or belonged to a church. The members would refer to one another as brother and sister, because, ever church and it's members were know as your church family. So, everyone in the church referred to one another as there brother or sister.
If there was anything Elvy was famous for, it was two things, singing and whistling. I never had the pleasure of hearing him sing, but I, along with hundreds of others heard him whistle. That man could whistle, he sounded like a freight train coming down the tracks blowing it's horn.
There was also one thing both Sister Gillis and Elvy loved to do and that was talk. I mean talk about any and everything there was to talk about, they talked about it. Roger said, what was so funny about these two conversations, is that neither would walk to the others house and visit and talk. They both sat on their front porches and talked back an forth to one another. Elvy would be sitting on his front porch and Sister Gillis sat on hers. She and Elvy would talk back and forth to one another. Most people, I am sure would say what is so funny and different about that? The funny thing is that their houses were about 135 yards to 150 yards apart. They would talk like hat for an hour or better. If you would have known these two, you would realize instantly that these two could accomplish this feat.
I use the story above to tell folks, we were way ahead of the game back in the those days, in Singer and Bearhead. Back then, we had had a form of e-mail for years and years before the PC. It was just known as HOLLERING. HHa

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