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18 March 2000 --- "One-Way Tickets"

Not everyone who went West from
Tennessee and other parts of the Southeast
went by wagon train, following the deep ruts
of those who had gone to seek their fortunes!
My mother's uncle, James Radford Lynn, follow-
ed his dream to California in another man's
brand-new Chevrolet car, with his wife and
children in tow. Brina Ellen Berry, his wife,
was my father's aunt, daughter of a Cumberland
Presbyterian preacher. Jackson Co. Tennessee
did not offer enough for the couple to ignore
the stories of success that made their way back
home.
Elmer Warren was a neighbor of the Lynn
and Berry families in Tennessee, and he had been
North to seek his escape to a better life in
Detroit, Michigan. Many people he knew had
made the same move, never to return home, but
Elmer came home. Elmer packed his belongings
into his new car, and headed back to Jackson
County, laid off from his job and dissolutioned!
Elmer was satisfied to call Tennessee "home"
for about 60 years, after leaving Detroit, often
recalling the travel stories to Brina's nephew,
"Buster' Barlow. Elmer frequently was summon-
ed to the Barlow home to fetch his hound dog
home, and would share a visit, and memories.
Bedford Lynn, brother to Radford, was
living in California, as well as nephews, and
other family and friends. Radford made arrange-
ments with Elmer Warren to drive the Lynn
family to California (in the brand-new Chevrolet
car). The Lynns lived out their lives, raised their
family, died, and were burried in Calfornia, but
were always (and still are) in the hearts of the
Tennessee relatives. Lucille, Jimmie, Katrina,
Ralph, and Eloise all stayed in California.....
(Jimmie and Ralph are both deceased, and the
others have their own families near them), and
as I write this, I cannot stop the stream of tears!
My tears are shed because TICKETS to the golden
dreams to our lives are usually ONE-WAY. Some-
one moves on, someone gets left behind. Cracks
in broken hearts never really heal, a scar just
forms to fill the rift!
Elmer Warren sold that car in California
(for more money than he paid for it new in
Detroit), and he bought a special gift for his
family, his own train ticket home to Tennessee,
ONE-WAY!

NOTE: My cousin, Hugh "Buster" Barlow told me
the story of how our cousins went to California
(by telephone) last Sunday. I thank God every
day for my wonderful family, and their love for
me, and each other!!

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