Wedding Band, 1906

“More recently I came across in a box, a small box in a jewelry area, a wedding band that belonged to my grandmother, my maternal grandmother—Bonnie Francis Shook's mother. She was Lyda Louella Shook from over in Buncombe County, Leicester. She was actually a descendant of Peter Shook who was one of Jacob's children. She came over to Haywood County to keep house for some people in Crabtree, ultimately marrying my grandfather who was a mail carrier down there: Coman Ratcliffe Francis. My grandmother Lyda was born in 1887 and my grandfather in 1888. Now, my grandfather died in 1955, but my grandmother lived until 1966, my senior year at the University of Tennessee.

“The wedding band, I remember mother told me the story of it being lost in the garden and later was dug up and retrieved. It is inscribed and signed with these letters: the initial ‘C,’ the word ‘to,’ and the initial ‘L.’ That would have been ‘Coman to Lyda,’ and that's all I've got about the rings.

“I imagine she was just working in the garden and it came off and I've heard of that happening numerous times. I imagine it just slipped off when she was working out in the garden at some point and then sometime later in digging or harvesting and so forth, the ring happened to be uncovered and found. At least, that is the story that my mother told me about my grandmother's ring.”

Interview edited for clarity

Submitted by Sharon Shook on July 20, 2022