parents.html

Lester and Irene Judge Wiley
The Loving Parents of Beulah Ann Wiley Franks

My Daddy, Lester Wiley, was born September 18, 1906 in Glenmary, Henry County, Kentucky, where he spent the first seven years of his life. His parents, Benjamin Thomas and Annie (Page) Wiley, decided to leave Henry County, so they got their three little ones ready, loaded their belongings on a wagon and moved to Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky, where they lived until 1919. The family then moved to Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky, where Lester grew to manhood. He worked for Hogg's Coal Company in Versailles and did farm work as well. He married Elizabeth Wafford in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky on February 18, 1928, daughter of Chris and Bettie Wafford, but the marriage ended in divorce; there were no children.

About four years later Lester met a lady in Woodford County, Kentucky and, although he didn't know it, this would be the lady with whom he would spend the rest of his life. He met Irene Frances Judge, the daughter of Elmer and Lena (Duncan) Judge of Nicholas County, Kentucky. Two little girls blessed the Judge family, but on April 4, 1908, when Irene was two years old and her sister Grace was four, their mother, Lena Duncan Judge, passed away. Joseph Wilson and Sarah Frances (Johnson) Duncan, the maternal grandparents,took Grace into their home and Nannie (Duncan) Wills, Irene's aunt, gave her a home. When Irene was seven years old her Aunt Nannie died. At this time the maternal grandparents took Irene into their home, so she and her sister were together again. In 1923, at age 19, Grace died of tuberculosis, the same disease that took the life of their mother. Grandpa Duncan had died in 1920, so Irene and her Grandma continued living at the old "home place". When Grandma became unable to "keep house", she and Irene made their home with Gilbert Duncan and his wife, Lida (Alexander) Duncan, of Nicholas County. Gilbert was Irene's uncle, the son of Joseph Wilson and Sarah Frances Duncan. Irene attended school in Nicholas County and also attended the Midway Orphan's School.

Sixteen years had now passed since Irene last saw her father. Naturally, she didn't remember anything about him, since she was only two years old when she last saw him. In 1924, at age eighteen, he visited Nicholas County, along with his wife, Mary, and son, Francis, and took Irene back to Illinois to make her home with them. After a month or so she realized it was in everyone's best interest that she return to Kentucky. Upon her return, she made her home with Olga Duncan, her cousin, and worked at McCammish Laundry.

Irene met James Stevens in Woodford County, son of James and Margaret (Mastin) Stevens. They were married in Nicholas County, Kentucky December 12, 1926. Irene and James had two children, a son and daughter, Elmer and Henrietta. When the children were three and four years old their dad was shot by his 9-year-old nephew and three days later, January 3, 1931, James died from the bullet wound to his head at age twenty-six and was buried in Versailles Cemetery, Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky. So, Irene became a widow at age 25.

The lady Lester met in Woodford County, Irene Judge Stevens, he married, and, yes, he spent the rest of his life with her. They married June 29, 1935 in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky. They were blessed with a baby girl on May 28, 1936 who was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, but nine and one-half months later their baby girl, Ann Elizabeth, died. She is buried in Versailles Cemetery, Versailles, Kentucky.

I am their second daughter, Beulah Ann. While residents of Woodford County, Daddy worked on farms. After a period of time, we moved to Midway, Kentucky and he became a truck driver hauling coal from the mountains of Kentucky to various facilities in Midway for heating purposes. Later Daddy became a member of the Midway Police Department.

In 1943, Daddy left the Midway Police Department and we moved to Franklin County, Kentucky where we began our life on the farm. In the springtime, Daddy plowed the fields using a team of horses and Mama was always there to do what she could to help him. When the work-day on the farm ended, Mama's day did not end - she still had household chores to do and meals to cook and that she did. On the farm, their life consisted of long days of hard work and those long days of hard work continued until 1972 when they left the farm, both of them being 66 years of age by now. Although they retired from farm work, Daddy did not stop working. He mowed grass for people - he didn't know what it was to not work. Mama was the same - she did her housework, made beautiful quilts, lovely crochet pieces, kept her scrapbooks up-to-date,etc.

The joy of their life was their grandson, David Glen. They thought he put the stars in the sky. They could hardly wait for him to visit and he could hardly wait to get there. Of course, he got his way with them and they spoiled him rotten. That was okay, though.

God blessed Mama and Daddy with almost 60 years of marriage. Near anniversary time each year Daddy would jokingly say - "sure is a long time to be hitched to one old post" - Mama would just grin at him. When Daddy died October 13, 1994 at age 88 years and 25 days, Mama's life changed forever. She was also 88 and the love of her life was gone. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't mention her dear husband. She would often say to Dan and me, "I have no one to take care of now". There was no way we could fill the emptiness she felt in her heart. We tried - our lives centered around Mama. We were at her apartment more than we were in our own home.

Dan and I have many precious memories of the times we spent with Mama after my loving Daddy died. We cooked and had dinner with her every night for seventeen months. Dan was the apple of Mama's eye and Dan loved her dearly. On Saturday night we stayed the night with her (as we often did) and all was fine when she went to bed, but when morning came something was terribly wrong. We took her to the hospital and she was admitted. Three days later the doctor said the only choice left was for her to be admitted to a nursing facility. The doctor's words cut deep in our hearts. Gosh, the night before she was admitted to the hospital we were having fun with her. On March 15, 1996, the facility became a reality when the precious lady was admitted. Not a day went by that we didn't go to the nursing home to be with Mama.

The facility was her home for three and one-half years, and it was in the facility that Dan's loving mother-in-law, whom he called Grandma, and my precious Mama died very peacefully October 30, 1999 at 2:10 in the afternoon, at age 93 years and 5 months of age, with us by her side.

I will always be grateful for Mom and Dad's guidance and for teaching me the Christian way of life!  

My precious Mama and Daddy are buried in Sunset Memorial Gardens in Woodford County, Kentucky.


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