Thursday, October 7, 2021
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In April of 2020, Shirley and I started exchanging photos and letters. She was my dad’s first cousin. I knew her parents from their visits to Kansas from Colorado when I was a child, but I didn’t really know Shirley because she graduated from high school the year before I was born. Shirley had some wonderful stories about my father. I have posted two photos. My father Bill Knowles is with Shirley’s sister Barbara and Shirley. It was 1943 on Bow Creek in Phillips County, Kansas. I had the photo of them on the horse and Shirley had the photo of them standing in the yard. Having both photos together again after all these years is special to me.
During Covid, Shirley shared Johnson family history with me. We sent photos and information back and forth through the mail every week. She shared Johnson family photos that I had never seen. Shirley’s husband John had been a gifted genealogist and avid collector. We updated his research on Shirley’s Mother, DeVota Martin Johnson’s family, and even DeVota’s mother’s family, Amelia Jackson Martin. Shirley introduced me to her husband’s family, and I got to meet the men and women from his family tree. Shirley was a true student of history and what a special teacher she must have been. I miss her every day and I only hope that she enjoyed our Covid research year as much as I did. I will forever be grateful for the experience of getting to know her and treasure the memories she shared with me.
Melodie Knowles Murphy
