A Buckeye for Good luck

 To be completely accurate, he was my Great Uncle.  I called him Uncle, but he was like a Grandfather to me.  He married my Grandmother's Aunt and they adopted my Grandmother.  They helped raise my father and my parents lived in an apartment at their house when I was born.

 

 

 

James Luther Lee was born on March 8, 1885, in Tennessee, his father, William, was 29 and his mother, Lydia Tennessee Marsh (Tennie), was 17.  In 1900, they lived in Wallous Ward, Hawkins co. Children: Samuel( 1882), James Luther (1885), George (1885),Roxy (1889),Molly (1892), Edgar (1894), Myrtle (1896) and May (1898). The family moved to Knoxville sometime between 1900 and 1910. He married Alice Ann Vance, daughter of John M Vance and Sarah Arnwine, on December 3, 1905, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

 

Uncle would take me out for walk, sometimes to the store and sometimes to his garden.  He always walked very slow, I don't know if he always walked slow or if he walked more slowly because he was holding my hand.  Every Fall, he gave me a buckeye and a silver dollar for good luck.

 

Buckeyes 
Photo credit: Hannah M. Gillenwater

 

 

Silver Dollar
"Peace dollar" by PAR at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by Bobby131313 at en.wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by User:RoyFocker 12 using CommonsHelper.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - Link

Uncle died in 1958, more than 50 years ago, but neither my memories or my love for him have dimmed at all.