Aunt Opal Passes Dec 21, 2009

Grandpa Arthur Eborn making a call on the occasion of the first Darrell and Edna Family Reunion.  The children are Justin, and Alison and I'm not sure of the towhead, I think one of Nina's boys,  perhaps Adam.

Our cousin, Wendell Shepherd, called me yearterday, December 22, and told me that his dear mother, our Aunt Opal had passed a way the day before.  She was Dad's older sister.  She was just ten days shy of her 99th birthday.  She was my Fourth Grade teacher at the Emerson Elementary School in Paris.  If I'm not mistaken she was the fourth grade teacher of all of us, the children of Darrell and Edna Eborn.  She was a good teacher and had a great impact on many lives.  Some of the  most important lessons I learned in school, I learned in her classes.  She was a wonderful pianist and played the piano and organ in many church functions.  She also taught Brenda and Mark piano lessons and maybe some of the others in the family.  I know, she didn't teach me piano.  I'm sure she dreaded every note that came out of the "Tonette" which all of her students were subjected to.  I was so backward musically, that I even remember faking sick on Wednesdays occasionally so as to avoid the embarrassment of always being the only one off key.  I kept rather close contact with her throughout the years and I know, she was always concerned about each us and the rest of her nephews and nieces.  I am attaching the only picture I have of her in my collection outside of family photos.  It was taken on the day she and  Grandpa Arthur paid our family a call on the event of the first Darrell and Edna Eborn Family Reunion.  It doesn't show her clearly, but is a reminder that she cared about us and loved us for what we were doing.

This picture of the Darrell and Edna Eborn family was taken by Aunt Opal during a Sunday visit with her and Uncle Hugh  in their home in Paris.  You can probably figure out the timing on this picture.  Mark was a babe in arms.

by Bart