- 1955 husband died
- 1952 residence Alexandria Virginia
- 1954 Hurricane Hazel; Residence Goldsboro NC
- 1958 Brother Jasper died
- 1960 Mother died
1950, age 55
death of husband Fristus Haywood Howell, 23 June 1950, Goldsboro, Wayne NC
1950s
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Katie Watkins Howell 1950s by Bill Vidunas (2) |
She has her cane. She has her handbag. Don't mess with this gramma!
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Katie Watkins Howell 1950s by Bill Vidunas (2) |
I think this is the Elm Street address discussed in the previous post.
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1950s Katie Watkins Howell
photo by William Vidunas |
Whenever she went out, Katie always had her handbag with her. The sign in the background says that Parking for C.H. Smith is 25 cents.
1951
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Ida Warrick Watkins 1951 Howell Katie Watkins, Roland, Linda abt 5, Watkins Ida Warrick |
1952, age 58
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Katie Howell 1952 residence
Alexandria Virginia city directory |
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605 South Fairfax Street, Alexandria Virginia
2014 Google Maps streetview |
Unfortunately for me, Streetview shows only 605, 604, 603, 601 but not 602. This is as close as I get. It would have been on this side of the street, it is the even side. it looks like a townhouse apartment complex. I don't know if this is the building, or what. She didn't live here very long. Wonder what brought her out here in the first place?
1954, age 59
Historical Insight -- Hurricane Hazel
In addition to information from Ancestry.com, I present for your viewing pleasure these photographs my father took in the aftermath of the storm.
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1954 Hurricane Hazel dropped tree on
Blake and Ida Warrick house
on Daisy Street
photo by William Vidunas |
While not technically for this page, it is sort of relevant when you want to talk about Hurricane Hazel of 1954.
1954, age 60
Residence per City Directory -- Goldsboro NC
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Katie Howell 1954
112 East Chestnut, Goldsboro, Wayne NC |
This is the City Directory for Goldsboro NC in 1954. You can see Katie, who is listed as the widow of "Fritz H." Look down beside the small yellow arrow, and you see Lois Howell who is a waitress at Central Lunch, living at 246 Johnson Lane. I believe this may be my Grandmother.
1954, age 60
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| Katie Watkins Howell 1954 by Bill Vidunas |
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Katie Howell, 112 East Chestnut Street
Goldsboro NC (Red Circle)
2017 Google Maps |
Above, we find Katie's 1954 address, the red circle. The black circle on the left is Cecil and Lois Howell Vidunas Willoughby residence of 1956, and the black circle on the right is Fristus and Katie Watkins Howell residence of 1946.
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Satellite View, 112 East Chestnut Street, Goldsboro NC
2017 Google Maps, Satellite View |
A closer view of this address. I think this area changed a lot, I don't see anything that resembles a former residential area.
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Street View image capture of area
from 2017 Google Maps Satellite View
image from PDF printout |
Again, not much to see here, move right along. Actually, that little park looks quite pretty.
1955, Goldsboro NC
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1955 view of Goldsboro NC
photo by William Vidunas |
1956
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1956 Bill Vidunas, age 17
409 something, Goldsboro NC |
I think this is the house where the kids sat for a Christmas photo
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1956 Living Room
photo by Bill Vidunas |
1958, age 63
death of brother Jasper Frederick Watkins, 15 December 1958, Richmond VA
1960, age 65
death of mother Martha Ida Warrick Watkins, 15 August 1960, Goldsboro, Wayne NC
1960, age 65
105 East Pine Street, Goldsboro, Wayne NC
226-44-7862 ssn issued Virginia
death, 29 October 1960, Raleigh, Wake NC, buried Johnston County NC
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| Katie Watkins Howell 1960 Death Certificate |
Katie died 2 months after her mother died, and 6 months before I was born. She was only 64 years old, but died what must have been a sudden death. She'd lived in Raleigh, Wake (?) County for the last four years. Her death occurred within the city limits, and she was in Dorothea Dix Hospital at the time of death. She usually lived at 105 East Pine Street, Goldsboro, Wayne County, NC, within the city proper. She a housewife, and her social security number 226-44-7862 was issued in Virginia. The information came from her Clinical records as well as from her daughter Mrs Pauline Edwards of Goldsboro, NC.
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1962 Food Prices
The Mason City Globe-Gazette
Mason City Iowa
20 December 1962, page 21
downloaded September 2017
Newspapers.com |
The cause of death was massive hemopericardium with cardiac tamponade. A little anatomy lesson will help here. The heart is a muscle that is surrounded by a protective sac called the pericardium. "Peri" means around, and "Cardium" pertains to the heart. Thus, the sac surrounds the heart. It usually is filled with fluid which acts as a lubricant so the heart muscle can work without interference. In Katie's case, she had some bleeding (the "hemo-" part of the word) into the pericardium, causing pressure to build up. This build-up caused so much outside pressure on the heart that there was no more room to expand. This is the "cardiac tamponade" part of the equation. pronounced CAR-dee-akk TAM-poh-NOD. Today, if it is diagnosed early enough, the Emergency room doctor can insert a large-bore needle to suck out (called aspirate) the excess blood, giving enough time for surgeon to find the leak and seal it up.
However, the cause of this bleeding was caused by "ruptured arteriosclerotic aneurysm of aortic arch." The heart sends blood out to the body through a very large vessel called the aortic arch -- because it comes out from the top of the heart, arching down towards the rest of the body below -- it must withstand a lot of pressure. She had an aneurysm of this aortic arch, which means that the layers of the aorta split apart causing a weakness and a bulge, and it then leaked between the heart and the sac. She had advanced arteriosclerosis in most if not all of her arteries, which is also known as "hardening of the arteries."
Interestingly, she suffered from chronic pyelonephritis, and had had surgery to remove her right kidney at some time in the past.
She died at 0930 in the morning of October 29th at the hospital, and is buried at the family cemetery in Johnston County NC, 31 October 1960. In the next post, we will talk about Dorothea Dix Hospital.
1960 Katie Elizabeth Howell obituary
Smithfield Herald, Tue., Nov. 1, 1960
Death would have been October 29, 1960
Howell Funeral Service is Held
Goldsboro – Mrs. Katie Elizabeth Howell, 64, widow of F. H. Howell died Saturday.
The funeral was conducted Monday afternoon at 3 o’clock at Seymour Funeral Home. The Rev. W. G. Batten officiated. Interment followed in the Howell Family Cemetery in Johnston County.
Surviving are four sons, Garland and Haywood Howell of Alexandria Va., Thaddeus Howell of Springfield, Va., and Rowland Howell of Herndon, Va.; five daughters, Mrs. Earl Edwards of Goldsboro, Mrs. Harry Garris of Greensboro, Mrs. Cecil Willoughby of Brooklyn, N.Y., Mrs. Eddie Wright of Eaton Rapids, Mich., and Mrs. Eula Leibert of Danboro, Pa.; 17 grandchildren; one brother, Frank Watkins of Enfield; four sisters, Mrs. I. I. Strickland of Halifax; Mrs. Aaron McGuin of Durham, and Mrs. Walter Buck and Mrs. Ernest Buck of Goldsboro.
- "Mrs Earl Edwards" is Pauline Howell Edwards
- "Mrs Harry Garris" is Letha Blanch Howell Garris
- "Mrs Cecil Willoughby" is Lois Howell Vidunas Willoughby
- "Mrs Eddie Wright" is Ida Alline Howell Wright
- "Mrs Eula Liebert" is Eula Evelyn Howell Kiebert
- "Mrs I. I. Strickland" is Lessie Myrtle Watkins Strickland, wife of Isaac Isaiah Strickland
- "Mrs Aaron McGuin" is *** I don't have a name for this person ***
- "Mrs Walter Buck" is Beulah Watkins Buck
- "Mrs Ernest Buck" is Louise Watkins Buck
- {Batten was Laurenda Batten Howell’s name, mother of Fristus Howell. – J’Anette V. Scott}
Does anyone have which Watkins sister married Aaron McGuin?
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Fristus and Katie Watkins Howell gravestone
photo by Amanda Price |
In a previous post I noted that Katie is listed in the census as born in South Carolina. Well, her Social Security application also says she was born in Dillon South Carolina. So, maybe the records saying she's born in NC are the anomaly. This is why is is important to get primary sources of information if at all possible.
The following article is one I stumbled upon, and I thought it was interesting, although it happened after Katie's death.
Nuclear accident[edit]
In 1961, two 3.8
megaton hydrogen bombs were dropped accidentally on the village of
Faro, 12 miles (19 km) north of Goldsboro, after a
B-52 aircraft broke up in mid air. The two
Mark 39 weapons were released after the crew abandoned a
B-52 bomber which had suffered mid-flight
structural failure. Both bombs went through several steps in the arming sequence, but neither one detonated.
[11] One bomb was recovered. Although much of the second bomb was also recovered, a missing piece containing uranium was believed to have sunk deep into the swampy earth and could not be recovered. The piece remains in land that the Air Force eventually purchased in order to prevent any land use or digging.
[12] In 2013, it was revealed that three safety mechanisms on one bomb had failed, leaving just one low-voltage switch preventing detonation.
[13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldsboro,_North_Carolina
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Katie Watkins Howell 3-gen Pedigree
from Ancestry.com
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