Roxy Weaver
WATSEKA - Roxy Weaver killed snakes with a shotgun and learned to make bootleg
whiskey during Prohibition.
Those were only a few of the experiences Mrs. Weaver could remember when
recalling a life which spanned three centuries.
Mrs. Weaver, 105, one of the oldest residents in the area, died Saturday (Feb.
10, 2001) at Watseka Health Care Center where she had been a resident since
April of 1986.
Visitation for Mrs. Weaver, of Watseka, formerly of Milford, Woodland and the
Cullom, Kempton and Cabery area, will be from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday at the
Harris-Martin-Burke Funeral Home, Cullom.
Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Rev.
Robert Fear will officiate.
Burial will be in Broughton Township Cemetery, rural Kempton. Memorials
may be made to her family.
Her farm life included picking seeds out of cotton, milking cows, and making
dumplings and biscuits.
During her time in Tennessee, she not only shot snakes with a shotgun, but
learned how to make whiskey from her parents who bootlegged whiskey during
Prohibition to support the family.
One of her pleasures was also to sing old Christian hymns. "When the Roll
is Called Up Yonder," was her favorite. As a child she never missed a
Sunday walking to church.
She was born Jan. 9, 1896, in Campbell County, Tenn., the daughter of Joseph and
Leaty J. Weaver Bailey.
Her husband, Robert P. Eldridge Weaver, whom she married Jan. 19, 1916, in Union
County, Tenn., died Nov. 24, 1960.
Surviving are one daughter and son-in-law, Ethel and Richard Read of Cabery; one
son and daughter-in-law, Delbert and Mary Weaver of Woodland; one
daughter-in-law, Anna Mae Weaver of Wauchula, Fla.; eight grandchildren, 22
great-grandchildren and 13 great-great- grandchildren; one sister, Reba A.
Weaver of Kankakee; and one sister-in-law, Evelyn Bailey of Kankakee. Two
sons, Russell and Everett Weaver; three brothers, Avis, Edd and Delmer Bailey;
five sisters, Lissie Strickler, Emma Post and three infant sisters; three
grandchildren and one great-grandchild are deceased.
She was educated in Tennessee schools. Mrs. Weaver was a member of the
Primitive Baptist Church in Tennessee.
Kankakee Daily Journal
Kankakee, Illinois
January 2001
Contributed by Carl and Leslie Williams
ellino1@isp101.com