Samuel Gardner Berry, Jr.

Samuel was the son of Blaine Berry and Lula Belle Taylor Berry. (Roanoke, Virginia and Troutville, Virginia were mentioned) He had eleven siblings. He was in the U.S. Maritime Service for a period of time, after which he found employment with the National Security Agency. He met and married the late Alva Jeanne Hines (Statesville, North Carolina) in 1952. They settled in Ellicott City, Maryland and reared two children. In 1973, the family moved to Statesville, North Carolina and after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease, he passed away in 1993. He was a quiet man with a great sense of humor. When I told him I was going to take French in the 6th grade, he asked me if I knew how to say 'Cut the grass' in French. When I told him that I didn't, he replied 'Mow the lawn.' On my first day in Madame Weems class, she asked if anyone knew any French. My hand shot straight up into the air. I bragged that I knew how to say 'Cut the grass" She asked "Well, how do you say it?" "Mow the lawn!", I said. She (and the class) burst into laughter as I felt my face redden! Needless to say, I had some words for my father when he got home from work. He just smiled and said: "Well, that's what they always told me!"

Dorothy V Rescigno of Towson, Baltimore County, MD was born on August 28, 1920, and died at age 85 years old on February 18, 2006.