Special note, in the 1940’s my father joined the 101st Airborne, Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. [Which I moved to that area as an adult working in advertising, 1988]. My father told me a story, when I was about 10 years old. How he and another cousin (J.T. Culpepper), flipped a coin to see who would marry a lady having a baby, unwed. The paternal father was also a Milford Culpepper, `same` name as my father’s. However, he lived in Pisgah, Alabama with a wife and family. The secret of this unwed mother having a baby by their Culpepper relative, was protected by daddy and J.T. ~Daddy lost the coin flip. He married this lady. Never lived with her, was granted a Scottsboro, Alabama court annulment of the marriage. He entered the military, never knowing she used the original marriage certificate to name seven (7) illegitimate children, with Milford E. Culpepper on their birth certificates, as the father. With the help of my Aunt Lilly Culpepper Hammonds and daddy’s former girlfriend, with courthouse records plus conversations with this woman and one of her son’s, I pieced together the above facts. Good thing, daddy went to the grave never knowing about the misuse of the birth certificates.
Daddy was a great card game player. Rook and black jack were two of his favorites. Plus he could play double domino and had a precise mathematical ability to count in seconds, the plays. He also could count the number of plays, in card games and knew whether the hearts, clubs, diamonds or spades had all been played during the course of the game. Daddy held a 8th grade education. The military changed his farmers mentality, to that of a electronics expert. He was without a formal education, however very street smart.
Milford entered the service, May 21st, 1953.
He was stationed @ Camp Breckinbridge, Kentucky, with the 101st
Airborne Division.
During my father's term with the 101st, he had a accident. As he was jumping out
of the airplane, he landed wrong and damaged the calf muscles in both his legs. The
physicians removed both calf muscles. Which he was told he would walk with a stiff
legged limp. However, through much pain with suffering, he learned to walk straight
without these muscles, without any sign of a limp. In the summer, he never wore short
pants, due to the flat calf legs looking like sticks with the skin stretched over them.
Of course, he was a hero in my mind. He had inward strength. And I hope
to live up to his example of overcoming an experience with a lemon, to make lemonade.
The idea of the ‘green thumb’ was born and bred in daddy. With my mother, a Tennessee daughter of a peanut farmer, summer gardens were a must all through out my childhood. My brother David and I received the ability of braking off tree limbs or plant cuttings and just sticking them in the earth, then they will sprout and flourish.
One year, before my father’s death, I dreamed complete details of his death. I will add this excerpt below to establish these facts :
( March 28th, 1979 = Milford Eugene Culpepper's death date )
One year, prior to his death. I shared a dream with him and my family
about the exact details of his death. After his death, a lady called me
on the telephone and told me, that my father told her three weeks
before he died, about my predictive dream. Due to my father she said
having it on his mind.
His response to her was, " When the Ole Master, pulls your number
your time is up ". . .
Question ? "How did I know those death details" ? Answer: " The Holy Spirit, will teach you all things ".
(Letter)
September 25, 2011
Marquetta Elliott
c/o Farmers Telecommunications
P.O. Box 217
Rainsville, Alabama 35986
(256)638-2144
(256)638-4830 Fax
Dear Marquetta,
Thank you so much for speaking to me Friday, 09-09-2011. I really appreciated the
answers you provided from daddy’s (Milford E. Culpepper) work history, with Farmers Telecommunications.
And I received your CD, ‘A Mountain Connected’, The Story of Farmers Telephone
Cooperative, 1954-2004, 50 years. It has been 32 years, since our family lost our
beloved father, March 28, 1979.
I am hoping that daddy`s employment history with Farmers, from 1967-1979, will be
briefly mentioned in this CD. If not, it helps me to see more timelines, to piece together
factual information.
As I discussed with you, one of my hobbies is family history research. I traveled to
England in 1996, to finalize details, regarding 700 years of ancestry, under mother`s
surname Spencer and 500 years of ancestry, under daddy`s surname Culpepper. This
data supported my book manuscript, during the consultation process by a Emory
University doctor, which I titled : `The Lost Madonna`, copyrighted. It is a historical
timeline novel, involving real characters within my surname history. It is very exciting,
to delve into the past and locate information for future generations to glean from. In
2011, I am adding new facts and information to daddy’s bio life and times, so his
grandchildren (6) and great-grandchildren (3), who never knew about his life, will be
encouraged with highlights you helped me to gain access to. Again, I thank you. By
the way, it is exciting that we both are from class of 1977, I feel 52 years old, what
about you ? LoL . . .
Sincerely,
Betty C. Clark
Consumer Advocate Researcher, since 1993
Security Industry, Certified, since 2006
Earthquake, Flooding, Prophecy, Yahoo Moderator, since 2011
LIFE AND TIMES : MILFORD EUGENE CULPEPPER
*Born : August 23, 1928
*Died : March 28, 1979
*Childhood : Macedonia, Section, Alabama
*Entered Military : May 21, 1953 – 1958, 101st Airborne Division, Kentucky, certified in telecommunications, cable installer, lineman.
*Accidents : During 1953-58, Milford had a parachuting, sky diving accident, while
jumping from a 101st Airborne, airplane. Both of his calf muscles had to be totally
removed. He had only skin left, stretched over the bones. The military physicians
assured him, that he would be crippled and walk with a stiff legged limp. He suffered
months of rehabilitation, and he proved them wrong. He never walked with a limp.
He served his full 5 year term, stationed in Korea. His sister Ruby Joe said, “He
almost starved to death, while in Korea”. She provided photographs from his
Korean deployment.
*In 1958, Hershal Donavan, witnessed Milford, getting electrocuted on a pole,
at Antioch, Alabama, across the road from Mitchell’s Gin. The fall and jar to the
ground, started his heart back beating, per the physician. The physician examined
his melted fillings inside his mouth, and the physician told a joke. The joke was, if
he was on death row as a inmate, he would have survived the standard electrocution
volts, of Alabama`s prison system in 1958 and by law, been a free man.
*Traveled : From 1958 to 1966, he traveled across the country, climbing bridges
and installing cable across these bridges in the telecommunications field, from Georgia
into Oklahoma, the `Trail of Tears` route, of the Cherokee Indians. Milford was a
descendant of the Cherokee Nation, 50% of the Cherokee`s are from the Israel
Benjamin Tribe. Benjamin was the 12th son of Jacob. And the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem, is Benjamin Tribe geography. A warrior bloodline . . .
*Farmers Telecommunications, Rainsville, Alabama : Milford was hired January 13,
1967, promoted to Installer Foreman, June 1, 1974, worked until the day he died,
March 28, 1979. Survived by his widow, Frances.
*Built Homestead : 1968, family moved into new home, at the corner of Rainbow
Avenue/Church Street, Rainsville, Alabama, August 3, 1968.
No comments:
Post a Comment