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August 23, 2006

HOME Grant recipient grateful for her new home

By Hannah Buchanan The Jacksonville Daily Progress Wed Aug 23, 2006, 02:41 PM CDT

Part Three of a six-part series about those chosen for HOME Grant homes.

TROUP — Stella Mae Nelson said she has one more blessing to count, now that she is one of the six HOME grant recipients in the area to get a brand new home from the city of Jacksonville.

She was born September 8, 1933, in Blackjack, a community south of Troup.

“My dad used a wagon to carry us around,” Stella said of her childhood. “Back then, people would be traveling by wagon, they have any cars, you just open up and get the air from the good Lord.”

She has lived a simple, rural life, with much country and openness around, helping her father when she could.

“I was out in the field with him to go get the watermelons,” she s

said. Stella Mae’s family explained that her former house has been torn down and she has been living in Troup until the new house is completed.

“I liked to go fishing, I played basketball, volleyball and softball,” Stella said. “I went to school in Troup during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Stella said she had three children, two of which are living — plus numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She worked for the Jacksonville Indpendent School District, retiring in the mid 1990s.

“I drove the school bus for 20 some years,” Stella said. “I loved to drive the special ed bus. Well, first I drove the big bus, then I drove the smaller bus which was the special ed bus. Those kids — they were my babies. I drove the mail route for the school too.”

“I had a garden, raising rabbits and chickens and had me a dog or two. I was all over that house. it was a small house. I’m just thankful.”

One of her surviving children, Rodney Anderson, said they got the call notifying them Stella Mae was one of the recipients to be selected several months ago.

“Thank the Lord!” Stella exclaimed.

Stella said she lived in the house for more than 20 years.

“I know in ‘69 Jacksonville intergrated, at the time I was attending West Side Elementary School,” Rodney said, “So, we moved into the house either 1969 or 1970.”

Her favorite room was the sewing room, she said.

“I sewed — clothes — for alot of the kids,” she said. “My mother taught me how to sew and I learned in homemaking class.”

“It’s just a blessing — having a new house, if it hadn’t been for Him (God), I wouldn’t have it — I wouldn’t have even made it. It’s a blessing to live this long. I thank God,” she added. “I’m excited and will be glad to be back home.”

The family would also like to thank the city of Jacksonville, Billy Redd and the work crews for all they have done.

“We just want to thank everybody,” Rodney said.

“I thank my son for standing by me and my daughter-in-law and friends and everybody else who cooperated under Heaven,” Stella added.

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HOME Grant recipient grateful for her new home

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