Visit to Florida to visit Shirley

Carrie and I went to visit with Shirley this morning in Florida. I could only remember all those great times we had in past years with this couple we love so v...ery much. This old tractor, which Jess loved so much, still runs. For two or three years I would go over to ShagValley Farms, I would crank "old red", call Jess on my cell phone and hold it close to the engine so he could hear it run. He got a kick out of me doing that for him. I would ask him if he thought it still run ok. In a few days he and Shirley would show up in Georgia. He loved to ride that tractor around the farm. Carrie and I told Shirley this morning, that we missed her coming to visit and that we loved her very much. She smiled, so I knew somehow, she knew what I said. We both held her hand, touched her cheek, and Carrie and I left for home, knowing that the long trip was well worth spending, just that little bit of time with the most beautiful girl ever to come out of Georgia.

JESS AND SHIRLEY CANNON'S STORY. MY PARENTS. OCTOBER 5, 1958.

Sonya Donalson Marvel

 

JESS AND SHIRLEY CANNON'S STORY. MY PARENTS. OCTOBER 5, 1958.

The seven Cannon boys, Jess’s uncles and dad, created Cannontown in Jakin Georgia and were a force to be reckoned with. This earned Jess Cannon the reputation of that “wild Cannon boy”.

Jess and Shirley met when he was 15 and she was 13. They met on a ball field at Easom’s grocery store in Donalsonville, Georgia. There wasn’t a lot to do in the country when they were growing up, except for soft ball and dances. They usually double dated with Shirley’s sister, Pauline. Sometimes they would square dance on a swinging bridge in the evening with car headlights as the only way they could see. Periodically Jess would do his famous “Buck Dance”.

Jess had been working and farming with Frank the mule since he was 14 years old. Around that time he lost his mother. He wanted to join the Navy at the age of 16 years old, but his father thought he was too young and would not sign the enlistment papers. When Jess turned 18 years old he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was stationed most of the time in Okinawa, Japan during World War II, where he was embedded with the headquarters and base service squadron in the 22nd Air Depot.

After his time in the service came to an end, he and Shirley had long gone their separate ways. Shirley eventually married and had 4 children.

Jess enrolled in school in Tallahassee, Florida and eventually moved to Columbus, Georgia at which time he married and had 2 children.

Coincidentally, unknown to both of them, they were both ending their marriages. One day Jess went to Albany, Georgia to visit his sister and learned Shirley was ending her marriage and was working as a hostess in a local restaurant. He went to see her at the restaurant. She got so nervous she ran out of the room and wouldn’t talk to him.

Eventually, after many trips to the restaurant, Shirley consented to see him again. This was 13 years after they saw each other as teenagers. Future dates consisted of sitting in Shirley’s living room with Shirley’s mother present and who didn’t want to leave them alone. She didn’t want Shirley to date that “wild Cannon boy” from Cannontown.

Jess and Shirley had decided to marry. Jess left for Tampa Florida in order to obtain employment and a place to move his new family. After getting a job and sleeping in his car for a while, he found the perfect home for them to live. He went back to Donalsonville, Georgia to marry his childhood sweetheart.

Jess and Shirley were married on October 5, 1958 in the Blakely, Georgia courthouse and moved to Tampa, Florida on October 6, 1958 where they raised Shirley’s 4 children. Jess had been a hard worker all of his life. At times he worked three jobs to support their 6 children. Their children are all raised now and are still the best of friends. Shirley and Jess have 6 children, 9 grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild on the way.

Jess passed away on March 8, 2012. All of his children miss him every day.

Happy 55th wedding anniversary Daddy and Mother.

Jess & Eltrym at Jess & Shirley's 1988.

 A great picture of Jess and Eltrym taken on a visit to Jess and Shirley's home in Lutz, FL.                                              
                                                   

My Dad, Jess Cannon

June 15, 2013

My Dad, Jess Cannon, was a great Father to all of us. He moved us to Florida for a better life. Because of his guidance and love we all graduated with high grades and became upstanding citizens with great paying jobs. He did this because he worked 3 jobs to support us and to make sure we didn't have to struggle like he did to raise a family. He never forgot his Georgia roots and loved his trips

back to the land our grandfather raised his family on. Daddy was a good Christian man. He loved God, his wife and his children with all of his heart and soul. He always dreamed of someday moving back to his Georgia roots. He did not because he didn't want to leave his children even though we were grown with children of our own. Family meant the world to him and he showed us in every way. Daddy is now buried where he was born and raised ~ in Georgia. Daddy you finally were able to get back to your Georgia roots. Father's Day is your day, Daddy. I love and miss you every day. Happy Father's Day!  Sonya

 

 

What's The Agenda?

"I have been driven to my knees many times, because I had no other place to go," Abe Lincoln. Not a bad place to go, if you need some type of guidance in your life. I don't think anyone in America would disagree, with the fact that our country is going through difficult times. We see daily, where countries are fighting in the streets, looking for some kind of stability in their lives. We could ask the question, "How long can we live and keep electing our leaders on false promises?" We have been hanging over the cliff for sometime. Their pay should be cut, maybe every month until the bad decisions on their part have been corrected. We are slowly being led "out" of the promised land. Could we be headed for agonizing pain, as a country, because of our disobedience?

Some friends and I were discussing our life back in the forties and fifties. We had no health insurance, no medicare, no social security, no tax deductions, no checking and saving accounts, no indoor plumbing, and in many family homes, no electricity. We were not blessed with one-a-day vitamins, fish oil, and we have more over-the-counter supplements than Carter's liver pills. Oh! We did not even have "stool softeners," We had "Grover's chill tonic", which I think was made out of the ashes from the fireplace, and Castor oil. Keep those pipes clean, and everything runs better.

The great thing is; the seven types of taxes we have in the complicated tax code. There is the "Income Taxes", "Property Taxes", "Consumptive Taxes", "Corporate Taxes", "Payroll Taxes", "Capital Gains Taxes", "Inheritance or Estate Taxes". Of course, these taxes are broken down into other taxes, such as county, city, gas and so on and so on. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Nothing is certain but death and taxes." While few people relish paying taxes, everyone enjoys having good schools, roads and services. The elected leaders of this country cannot handle the taxes we pay into the different funds. The highest elected leaders, including the President and his administration has abused personal spending for years. Our country is not headed towards Socialism, in many ways, we are there already. When people are hurting, it's very easy to accept promises, which can't always be kept. The promises buy votes, and that is what counts to many of our leaders. Why would any American citizen wish to move out of this great country into any other country, and give up their citizenship because of taxes? What if! We could just work together, listen together and join our agendas together by priority, and solve the problems we face in this country together! Big Government could be part of the problem! President Obama, pick the best from both sides and give them "the" Agenda.

"Deciding on Discipline"

The Sunday school 'lesson plan' for Dec. 16, 2012 was so strong, I just wanted to pass on a few of the writer's lesson points to everyone.
We must be open to God's evaluation of our hearts and actions as He reveals the true status of our relationship with Him. We should recognize and be grateful th...at God disciplines people in appropriate ways. We need to take seriously the messages of those who call us to renewed faithfulness to God. And we should thank God for using loving discipline to restore us to faithful living.
We need to Live it! Don't avoid God's discipline. Let it strengthen our relationship with Him. Thank God that He loves us enough to discipline us.
1. Check Your Relationship---with God.
2. You Reap What You Sow---in your daily walk with God.
3. Heed His Warning---we must believe God's word of warning.
4. Realize What Time It Is---it's time we realized that our relationship with God is far more important to Him than any planning we can do. Our biggest problem with planning is that we plan and carry out things in our own wisdom that only God has a right to determine. We cannot know the when, or where, or how of God's will until He tells us.

 Devotion Team
 by Jake Cannon

My Mother

My Mother, was written by Jess Cannon Jr. and gave this as a Mother's Day devotion at his Church.  Jess wrote this article at their farm in Georgia.  Sunday in Jakin, GA. This is For Mother's Day (Etta Benita Reese Cannon - August 5, 1900 - November 29, 1942)

The last time I was here, I asked "What Is Today?" No one gave me an answer. Today I again will ask a question. "What Is Today?" All of us has a mother, right? So what is a Mother? Let me tell you about my Mother and as I do think about your Mother, my Mother's name was Etta. I thought that was a pretty name, even those of us that our Mother has gone on to meet the Lord, we still have our memory. I know that I do. We should be mindful and grateful to love and respect them always and appreciate the joys of life that their memory brings us that we hold dear. I can remember my Mother rocking me when I was a very small boy and singing songs that I still can hear in my quiet time. Words are hard to find at times what a good Mother I had. I missed the sacrificing, sharing, selflessness and the loving heart that was so tender, sweet and kind that strengthened our home. Her greatest joy was to give happiness and service to her family. She sacrificed her life to enrich ours. I am so happy for the legacy of my Mother who taught her family how to live and how to die; live in the Lord and die with dignity. My Mother taught me to pray on her lap and I have a poem I was asked to share with you this morning. So just let me do just that right now. It's called Gingham Alter.

Many years ago I knelt and bowed my head in prayer. Upon a checkered apron as my mother stroked my hair. I have knelt at many alters of wood, of gold, and stone. But that gingham covered alter is the sweetest I have known.

Let us pray,
Our father we thank you for your son this morning who gave us all he had to give, his message for eternal life on a cruel cross. We thank you this morning for all the Mothers that give the very best they have to give and on this day our father teach us to love as you have loved us. Be with us today, our father, as we bring our tithes and our offerings unto your storehouse, give us the wisdom to use it according to your will. In Christ name we pray. Amen.