Louise Stansbery's Great Adventure, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

Recently my cousin, Donna Sherwood, passed along to me a large box of memorabilia of my late Aunt Louise Stansbery Sherwood.  Donna's husband, Vance R. Sherwood, Jr. is my first cousin.  In a container inside the larger box, I found envelopes of photographs and souvenirs from a special period in my aunt's life.  It is a delight to share this bit of Americana with the larger family and world.

Frances Louise Stansbery Sherwood (1915-2006) lived a long and gentle life as a housewife in Knoxville, Tennessee.  She is a maternal aunt of mine,  the grand daughter of G.W. (1847 - 1927) and Frances Wilson Osborne (1851-1940). Although known as Louise throughout her life, the Frances comes from her grandmother and her great, great grandmother, Frances Brown Greer, the Civil War heroine who stood off the Union patrol that were stealing her honey pot.  There was even Franklin Brown, the father of Frances Brown.

In 1918, she attended as a child of three the Wilson Reunion held on the Ashe County, North Carolina farm where her great grandfather, Isaac Wilson (1822-1864), had been killed just 55 years earlier near the North Fork of the New River in Sutherland.  Again a debt to Shirley Sorrell who identified the children in this picture.

Louise is on the front row, far right while an older cousin, behind her, Agnes Wilson, holds Louise's new born brother, Charles Stansbery, Jr.

Left, front row, left to right - Ernest, Clyde and Boyd Wilson, sons of Bessie and Arlie Gaither Wilson; Earl Wilson, son of Conley who is a son of John W. Wilson; Louise and Charles Stansbery, children of Mayme Osborne, the daughter of G.W. and Frances Wilson Osborne.


Back row, left to right - Thomas Earl Donnelly, who died at age 5.  He is the son of Mayme and Thomas Earl Donnelly.  Marie and Argus Wilson, children of Conley Wilson who is a son of John W. Wilson;  Robert Wilson, a son of John W. Wilson (Robert is the only grandchild of Issac and Caroline Greer Wilson in this picture); Dorothy and Agnes Wilson, the daughters of The Rev. William A. Wilson and Mary A. McClellan, who were Methodist missionaries to Japan.  Notice that almost all the children are bare footed!

Louise, the daughter of Charles S. and Mayme Torrence Osborne Stansbery (1896-1947), although born in Afton, Tennessee, grew up in Bristol, Tennessee, a mountain or two west of her mother's roots in Sutherland, Ashe County, North Carolina.  Louise's parents separated in 1930, and she went to work immediately after high school graduation in 1933 in the depths of the Great Depression.  Her jobs were retail clerk at Kress's and later waitress at King's Department Store.  Times were very hard for the family, and her small pay check kept her disabled mother, younger sister and brother in groceries.  Below, the beauty pageant announcement.

Then in January 1935, her life took a turn that led to  a larger world.  She had been blessed with good looks and a winning personality.  She was encouraged to participate in the Miss Bristol, Tennessee beauty pageant, and she won!  There was a preliminary contest on January 23, 1935 and then the finals on January 29.  The picture below appeared in the Bristol newspaper.

The newspaper clipping of the time states she would vie for Miss United States at Atlantic City.  The family has no oral history or memorabilia of such as contest, but she did attract the attention of the local radio station, WOPI that was looking for a beauty contestant for the annual International Radio Club conference.  The business gathering in 1935 was to be held in Miami, Florida and Havana, Cuba. 

Founded by W. A. Wilson (no relation to our Ashe County family), the station went on the air in 1929, the first air castle between Roanoke, Virginia and Knoxville, Tennessee.   Wilson was a good promoter; WOPI stood for 'Watch Our Popularity Grow' according the web site, http://www.wopi.com/history.html.  The original format was popular and mountain music.  Today WOPI, many owners later, is largely a sports station.

  Below, a post card Louise saved of the Cuban trip showing the early WOPI.

Below, one of the early announcers for WOPI was Tennessee Ernie Ford who was a Stansbery neighbor and fellow member of Bristol's Anderson Street Methodist Church in the 1930s. Ernest sang in the church choir and was a classmate with Louise's brother, Charles.  With the popular entertainer from the 1950s and 60s is W.A. Wilson in a photograph from the WOPI web site.  Mr. Wilson (1896-1967) and others would accompany Louise to Cuba and back.

With radio in its infancy, local station owners branded together in the International Radio Club, a trade organization run by one Jack Rice, an entrepreneur of his day.  The purpose of the 'club' was to promote radio and the sharing of ideas. 

There was an annual convention and in December 1935, that convention was held in both Miami, Florida and Havana, Cuba.   Below in Havana in December 1937 is Jack Rice, an aggressive promoter, who dreamed up the idea of a beauty pageant for the IRC as a way to attract attention and capture some publicity. 

When all said and done, 24 local broadcasters (there were about 65 members that year) tapped 'pageant queens' and paid their expenses to Havana.  For Bristol, Tennessee, the participant was the small town dime store clerk, my Aunt Louise, and she embarked on the great adventure of your young and to that date, sheltered life!

Next on to Florida and Cuba!

We invite you to rediscover your heritage at a Wilson, Greer, Wilcoxson, Osborne, Forrester, Adams and other families Forum, Saturday, 9 :30 am, July 19, 2014 in the community room of the Boone, North Carolina public library.  Sunday, July 20th is also the annual Wilson Homecoming at Sutherland United Methodist Church in Ashe County.  In addition, a detailed family tree of the above families is growing at a MyFamily.com site. For details and schedule on the above event and web site, watch this space and/or contact glennhistory@gmail.com.  Isaac and Caroline Greer Wilson are great, great grandparents of this writer.