MYRTIE EDITH ALFORD HUNTER

AAFA #0519

1904–1996

 

 

Myrtie Hunter of Houston, AL, died on 3 December 1996. In the March and June 1992 issues of AAFA ACTION, we published “Memories of Myrtie (Alford) Hunter,” transcribed from her handwritten drafts by Robin Alford Sterling, AAFA #0320, Myrtie’s great-nephew. Many members met Myrtie when she attended the Decatur, Alabama meeting.

 

From the write-up in the hand-out at her funeral:

 

Mrs. Myrtie Edith Alford Hunter

 

            Mrs. Myrtie Edith Hunter was born in Winston County, Alabama on July 6, 1904. She witnessed and played a formative role in the life and history of her beloved county and state for almost all of its 20th Century. The President of her birth was Theodore Roosevelt. In 1923, her name was entered on the Methodist membership rolls of Houston Methodist church.

            She was a committed member of the church and beloved congregation for 73 years. She attended regularly until illness prevented. After several Sundays away in convalescence from hip surgery she returned for worship just one week prior to her graduation. She loved worship, bible study, and singing. During last August's Community singing at Houston Memorial UMC, she made her way to the front of the sanctuary, cane in hand, to lead the assembly in song. She has been a living witness to all who would question the value, need, and worth or worship.

            In 1925, she began a 41 year teaching career in Winston County elementary schools. She taught at Pleasant Hill, Upshaw, Sardis, Moreland, Nesmith, Double Springs, Meek, Houston, and Addison. Her salary for the first year of teaching was to be $90, but Alabama was too poor to pay on time. Finally, after the three month school year, she received a voucher for her salary which she cashed in for $45. She claimed never to have had a bad student.

            She met and married Mr. Ottis Bryan Hunter [on 3 Aug 1933]. Together they raised two sons, Mr. John Ottis Hunter and Mr. Frank Owen Hunter. She celebrated 11 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Her memory will be cherished by a church family and many friends.

 

Remembering Aunt Myrtie

By Robin Alford Sterling

 

            Like many of us Alfords, Myrtie was opinionated and sometimes ornery. But she was in equal amounts caring and kind. Her sense of family was legendary. She talked often of how she missed her parents (John Warren and Amy Alford) and her grandparents (Alexander and Fanny Alford). At her funeral, it was told how as children, Myrtie and her brothers Owen and Marshall and sister Daisy, would sit in front of the fireplace on a Sunday night while Papa John would read the Bible, lead a song, and then pray.

            Her husband Bryan died in 1976. She kept house by herself for years and grew flowers out in the yard next to the house. The house was across the road from the lumber mill along Highway 278. She would sit for hours and watch the cars go by and entertain the occasional visitor who would come by to reminence with her of days gone by. Her mind was keen until the very end.

            She was an Alford in the grandest tradition of the family. She was a direct descendant of the Alfords of Troup County, Georgia of the 1840s and 50s. She was also descended from the antebellum aristocracy of the Shank family of near Hogansville, Georgia of the same time period. She was one of the last "unreconstructed rebels" in the woods of Winston County, Alabama. In her eulogy, she was compared to Granny Clampett. She would have been pleased at the comparison.

 

AAFA NOTES: SSDI records confirm the birth and death dates of Myrtie E. Hunter (SS# issued in AL).

            Her lineage: Myrtie Edith 1904 AL¹, John Warren 1884 AL², Alexander Marshall 1849 ??³, Spire Warren 1816 GA⁴, Zaddock 1787 GA⁵, Julius 1750 NC⁶, Lodwick 1710 VA⁷, James 1687 VA⁸, John 1645 VA⁹.