EDNA VESTA ALFORD GIDDINGS
AAFA #0233
1905 LA – 1999 TX
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Houston, Harris Co., TX—Sunday, 6 June 1999
In loving memory of our mother, grandmother and
great-grandmother, Vesta A. Giddings, born in Amite, LA, on April 2, 1905, she
passed away Friday, June 4, 1999.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Capt.
Harold D. Giddings, USNMC (Ret.).
She is survived by her daughters, Vesta G.
Bowden [AAFA #0537], Mattie Lou Fry and her husband, H.M. [AAFA #0454];
grandchildren, Mary Vesta Mellard and her husband Randy, Bert Bowden and his
wife Connie, Mark Fry, Matt Fry and his wife Rhonda, Cherie Bowden, Tracy Adair
and her husband Jeff, Elizabeth Fry; 16 great-grandchildren; numerous other
relatives and friends.
Family will receive friends from 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Monday, Earthman Bellaire Chapel, Funeral Services: 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 8,
1999, Bellaire United Methodist Church Chapel, 4417 Bellaire at Newcastle....
Interment: Houston National Cemetery.
Photo
from Houston National Cemetery, Houston, Harris Co., TX—www.findagrave.com
Permission
granted by the photographers, Don & Margaret
AAFA NOTES: SSDI
records confirm the birth and death dates of Vesta A. Giddings (SS# issued in WA),
last residence Houston, Harris Co., TX.
We included the obituaries of her father, Murray
Luther Alford Sr.; and half-brothers Murray Peter Alford and Murray Luther
“Plug” Alford Jr., AAFA #0236, in Louisiana Obituaries; sister Betty Lydia
Alford Davis, AAFA #0223; and half-siblings Helen Singer Alford Cook and Jacob
Harris Alford Sr. in Texas Obituaries; and her sister Josephine Louise Alford
Carrigan, AAFA #0235, in California Obituaries.
On the 1910 census in Tangipahoa Parish, LA,
Vesta E. Alford, age 5 born LA, is the oldest child of Murray L. and Finnie P.
Alford.
This great lady was an inspiration
to all who knew her. Though she was AAFA’s oldest member—94 on her last
birthday—she never missed an annual meeting after she discovered AAFA. She
attended every meeting from Houston in 1989 through Paducah in 1998. She was a
personal inspiration to me. I had the pleasure to meet her personally before I
ever heard of most of the AAFA members. Her daughter Vesta Bowden was working
here in the St. Louis area back in the early 1980s when Vesta came to visit her.
She’d heard about my “Alford interest” and called and wanted to know if she and
her daughter could call on us. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and learned to
love her immediately. I think she seeded the love that so many of us talk about
that permeates the annual meetings. She became a shining light for me when she
visited here, and that light will never dim.
—Gil Alford, AAFA President
Her lineage: Edna Vesta 1905 LA1,
Murray Luther 1873 LA2, Marshall Thomas 1839 LA3, John
Seaborn 1807 LA4, Jacob 1761 NC5, Julius 1717 VA6,
James 1687 VA7, John 1645 VA8.
