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Growing up as a child on Kemp Drive in Lawrenceville, GA, all I remembered about my Uncle Barney.... ....was Dad's occasional references to him and his brothers -- Barney, Bill, Jim, and Doug. But then every once in a while...a man that looked like my dad would show up unannounced in our driveway. Since I was always playing out in our fenced-in yard, he would come to the gate and announce to me: "Hello there, I'm your Uncle Barney." In my vague memories, I also remember that when he would talk to my parents that he was an interesting conversationalist and had an interest in many areas. In fact, one of the only other comments I recall to me directly was from his perusal of the block: "That's a real nice Wisteria bush in your neighbor's yard over there." I didn't know what a Wisteria bush was, but he went further to mention the light purple color so I could see which one it was. In short, there was something EXCELLENT about this man. This may have been about the time that I began to realize that the KEMP family was really a clan of EXCELLENT people, great achievers, very interested and interesting persons. But Uncle Barney never would stay long -- he would usually leave as quickly as he appeared -- for Barney was an important man whose work made him travel all over. I found out later on that sightings of him occurred somewhat regularly at several of the family's front gates over the years.... During the Summers, when Mom, Dad, Larry and me would go up to visit Grandmother Kemp in Aiken, South Carolina, we might also meet Barney passing through, because he visited his mother frequently (and his father W.C. 'Bill' who died in 1964). What struck me also about my early memories about Uncle Barney was that was almost always alone.... |
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I only remember once seeing 'Aunt Ethel' with him on his jaunts to Aiken (She was his second wife after his children's mother, Jeddie Pilcher Kemp, died two months before Granddaddy Kemp in 1964). Later, I discovered why Barney was alone: his children were all grown and had families of their own. In fact, his oldest son, 'cousin' Ronald and wife Betty, have a daughter that is almost my age. Time passed by....then in 1981, my Dad, John Wilbur Kemp, was killed in a car accident at the age of 55. By the next day, Uncle Barney, Uncle Bill, Uncle Jim & Aunt Emily, and Grandmother Kemp arrived at our front gate. I was 23 years old then and had never laid eyes on my Uncle Bill. The youngest brother, Uncle Doug had died around 1970, but I had visited him and wife Louise who lived just down the road from Grandmother in Aiken before. More time passed....and then in 1993, Grandmother Viola Mae Bivens Kemp died in Ohio near my Uncle Jim. She was transported for the funeral and burial back down to Aiken, SC where Uncle Barney, Uncle Jim and Emily, Aunt Louise, Mama, Larry my brother, his wife Susan and myself met. When Uncle Barney first saw me coming in he was taken aback and exclaimed: "Scott, you look just like your father did when he was your age," which was very nice to hear. In fact, that single kind and insightful observation made a lasting impression on my sense of self and of my following in my dad's footsteps, who had been gone for over a decade by that time. But this was not the only significant occurence to our coming together for Grandmother's final departure. For this time, Barney's four children and spouses were there -- Ronald & Betty, Harold & Kathy, Ray & Kay, and Jeddie & Norman. No kidding, this was I think the first time I had ever met Uncle Barney's kids, except maybe his daughter Jeddie. Also present that day I remember were Jan and Kathy, Uncle Doug's step-children, and Jim and Emily's four grown children (my age) and their spouses -- none of whom I had seen since we were kids playing in Grandmother's yard there in Aiken. |
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Are you beginning to catch on to something odd? You see, we Kemps -- except maybe for Uncle Barney, 'the rover,' were not exactly a 'gathering' type of clan. At least the Kemp brothers' families didn't meet much (if at all) after the Kemp boys got married and went their separate ways from the old home place on Walker Street in Augusta, GA. Then at the age of forty, I began my midlife crisis ahead of schedule and wanted to know about this Kemp family that I had mostly only heard about over the first half of my busy life. This was triggered by my growing interest in the Kemp family genealogy which was painfully lacking in facts.... Barney's daughter Jeddie -- already an experiencd genealogist -- had given me the names and dates of Granddaddy Kemp's people up in West Tennessee. It seems that he had left his father's house for good shortly after serving in World War I and hardly ever looked back. I decided that wasn't enough, that I wanted to also see the old photographs and the faces of our missing Kemp clan. So in 1999, I hit the road for a short trip and the first stop was Huntsville, Alabama and the house on Craigmont Avenue where Uncle Barney lived. And as the movie goes, "It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship...." The child who was born to my grandparents, Bill and Viola Kemp, in 1921, shortly after Granddaddy's exodus from TN, was the perfect starting point to rediscover my immediate Kemp roots. The 'excellent' uncle from my chidhood memories was as delighted about my quest for Kemp 'data' as I was. He lent me a temporary roof and all the 'Checkers' biscuits and burgers I could eat, while regaling me with stories prompted by days of questioning about he and his brothers' growing up and their subsequent lives. Six videotaped interviews later, I had gained a wealth of information about my own father which his early death had prevented my asking him. But I had also gained an uncle who I had always admired, but had never gotten to know. Inspired, I moved on to the next leg of my sojourn: West Tennesse -- Savannah, Crump, and Adamsville in Hardin and McNairy Counties -- to literally find 'where the bodies were buried,' research the courthouse records, and hopefully make some initial contacts with the local Kemp descendants. By my next visit, I had met some wonderful relatives -- particularly, my second cousins, Bob & Kristel Wilkins, Katie and Elmer Baker, and Miss Agnes Scott -- and two were genealogists. |
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From TN, I traveled on up to St. Louis, Missouri to visit Uncle Bill's widow, Aunt Ann and meet her son's Bill Jr. and James. After that, I went across to Galipolis, Ohio and spent almost a week with Uncle Jim and Aunt Emily who gave me much of 'the rest of the story'. It was an incredible first foray into my Kemp past and I had also learned where my subsequent trips would lead -- back to West TN, then across into Arkansas, following in our pioneering Kemp's wagon wheel tracks, ever on the brink of the established frontier.
From then on, every trip would start in the same place, Huntsville, where Uncle Barney would avidly pour over my folders full of new Kemp data until the wee hours of the morning. In my seven or eight following treks I would sometimes pass back through Huntsville on the way home, so that Barney could go ahead and look through the massing facts, figures, dates, and copies of old family portraits. One of the most memorable trips to Huntsville was in 2001 for Uncle Barney's 80th Birthday celebration. Almost all of his family was there and I presented a video about Barney's ancestors and family from the decade's genealogical findings. I also had a clip from my dad's 8mm home movies of Barney, Jeddie, and their young crew visiting us around the time of my birth in the late 1950s. Also, brief glimpses of Granddaddy and Grandmother Kemp, Uncle Doug and his first wife Kerry. I gave VHS copies to all who wanted those precious seconds of historic family film. Barney was rather quiet among all the fanfare and tributes, but I could see it was a special night for him and his kin and I was glad to be a part of that landmark gathering. Time just would not stop passing .... and my increasing yen to travel took me far beyond the southeastern lands of my pioneering ancestors. I RV'd ever farther west to Oklahoma (visiting Jeddie and Norman), Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana, Washington, Oregon and the full length of California, New Mexico (visiting Barney's first cousin John Martin Kemp in Elephant Butte), Arizona, Texas. I also met Barney's cousin 'Uncle Tom' Kemp and wife Hamdy in Berea, Kentucky. Later, Tom and Hamdy would come down to Huntsville and visit Barney and Ethel and talk about when Tom's dad Howard took him in the 1940s to visit Granddaddy and Grandmother at the Walker Street house in Augusta, GA. |
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During my western travels, I remember one beautiful Summer day kayaking in an azure spring lake outside Cody, Wyoming. The event and scenery were so enjoyable that I called Uncle Barney and had a 30-minute cellphone conversation as I paddled around the Buffalo Bill State Park Dam. He was interested in what I was doing and of course we discussed the ever-present genealogical findings and resultant theories. We talked about his children and their families and their current projects. Uncle Barney, who had become a father figure for me, was very proud of his children and their successes. I think that after that call I only came back to Huntsville one more time until I brought my Filipina wife, Laila, to Huntsville to live while we were back in the states. Earlier in 2006, I had called Barney from the Philippines to touch base and learned that old age had forced him to live with Harold and Kathy. When we were settled in Huntsville in May 2007, Barney, Harold and Kathy, and Ronald and Betty were just down the street in each direction from our condominium. But just as we arrived Barney's health began to rapidly decline and his ferver for life lessened dramatically. Still I was glad that Laila and her son Jeff had the opportunity to spend a little time with him. I remember Barney watching intently as Laila played the guitar for him in Harold's kitchen and Barney questioning Jeff about his immediate plans for school and work. The last enclave for the family came soon after -- a 'reunion' at a nearby park where Barney and his children's families came together for food, photos, and more guitar playing. Ray and Kay were there from TN and Jeddie and Norman from OK. A few months passed...and I returned to our Fellowship & Outreach effort in the Philippines for a three-week stay. I knew that Barney's condition was worsening and one week into my stay on October 18th, my wife Laila called me by Internet to say that Barney was gone. I was sad and especially sorry that I couldn't be there with Barney's people at that difficult time. Since 1999, my restored frendship with Uncle Barney has been a real blessing to my life. In our get-togethers, he provided me with information, stories, and photos of our family and particularly my Dad that I wouldn't have otherwise. Barney's story of he and his brothers running between the moonshine 'mash ponds' in the woods to the lake, how my Dad was a real 'speed-demon' even as a child and later as a highschool track star -- these are the things for which I will remember Barney. For the recovery of such precious lost memories I will always be indebted to him. |
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Even now that he is gone, laying at peace between his two 'good and faithful wives' of 60 years combined, Barney gave me yet another blessing through his daughter Jeddie while she was going through his family effects and records. When I returned from my trip, Harold gave me an envelope from Jeddie marked 'John Scott Kemp.' Inside was my Dad's original Salutatory Address to his Highschool Class of 1943. It was on four small pages and in his own handwriting. I could invision him carrying them to the podium as I read the words of my father, who passed away 26 years prior to Barney's departure. Dad's universal message was now just for me, delivered some 64 years after it was written, preserved by Uncle Barney.
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