|
|
|
Welcome to Josephine's Journal
|
|||||
|
|
Entries
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|
Josephine’s Journal, a newspaper
column published in The Overton County News in Livingston, Tennessee,
came about quite unexpectedly, and even though it may sound strange,
the fact that it happened came as complete surprise to me. It all
began at a time when our extended family included two dogs and five
cats, all of which, with the exception of one, were strays. One of the
dogs, Gypsy, lived with us for about 18 years, and during that time,
she led a quite pampered life in our home, not only because she was
such a lovable dog, but also because of the extreme abuse she suffered
wherever she lived before we took her in.
My writing career began when Gypsy became the victim of a senseless and what I believe was an intentional shooting that took place on December 15, 2001. She was laying on our front porch after going outside to take care of her personal needs, when someone who had to be standing across the street from our home, shot her. Thank goodness she survived this vicious attack, which was the second time she had been shot. I felt compelled that I must share Gypsy’s story for two reasons. The first was that I know there are a lot of people who love their pets as much as we do, and secondly, I also hoped that just maybe the person or persons who did this terrible deed might read the story.
When I took the story by the newspaper
to ask if it could be published, I was told that my name would need to
be included. I did not want my name to be included, and had almost
decided just to forget the whole thing, when Rebecca Meredith Oliver,
an employee at the newspaper, called to ask me if I might be able to
think a pen name the story could be printed under. Immediately the
name my younger brother, David McCormick, called me when we were
growing up popped in my mind - Josephine Bundaberry. That name was
used, and the story was published, for which there was a tremendous
and completely unexpected response. Thus began a regular column that
now includes sometimes historical stories of folks in and around the
town of Livingston and surrounding communities, and also stories about
ordinary people who might otherwise go unnoticed as they journey
through life.
Since beginning this hobby, I continue
to be amazed at the number of people of stop me on the street or call
me to let me know how much my stories are enjoyed. I am very
appreciative of this totally unexpected interest. It still angers me
to think about the senseless acts Gypsy endured, not once but twice,
all because of some thoughtless and uncaring person or persons.
However Josephine’s Journal came about from those two bad experiences,
and for that I’m thankful.
It still saddens me to say that after a
good, long life with us, Gypsy died on April 9, 2006. The last two or
three of those years, her health had been steadily declining. It has
gotten to the point she needed help in getting up, and just prior to
her death, we carried her in and out of the house most of the time.
The last day or two she lived, it was hard for her to stand for more
than a few minutes at a time. An agonizing decision to have her put to
sleep was made, and the veterinarian who looked after her all the
years she lived with us, Dr. Donald Ragland, came to our home to take
care of Gypsy one last time. His wife accompanied him for this task,
and their presence in our home made it a little easier to let Gypsy
go. We realize now that our reasons for keeping her alive as long as
we did were entirely selfish, and that we should have let her go much
sooner than we did. Just making the decision to say now is the time
was so hard to do. Gypsy is buried in our yard, a place she loved to
spend time in when her health was good. Just as Gypsy’s arrival into
our lives was unexpected, the same can be said about my writing, for
which Gypsy, along with her friend, Big Dog, get all the credit.
Although Gypsy is no longer with us, we will always love her and will
carry her memory in our hearts forever.
|
| |||||
|
| |||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
The Doll in the School Picture Finding The Girl Who Liked The Name Candy Cowboy Star Visits Allons School A Family With Twenty-Three Children History of the Overton County Railroad When Highway 42 was Just A Graveled Road Asleep on a Church Pew and Other Stories From Annapolis to Alpine - The Life of Ada Jones Hancock The Life of Joe W. Vaughn and wife Clementine McCormick Vaughn Vastine Little Encounters Jesse James Allons, Tennessee - The Original Choice for the Atomic City? The Town Once Known as Standing Stone, TN From Shiloh to Metro - The Diane Vaughn Story Memories From The Past 100 Years Historic Landmark in Taylors Crossroads Closes Tammi Thiele - A Graveyard Rabbit History of Bethlehem Methodist Church The Martins of the Oakley Community The Little Green Book of Memories The Alvin Cullom House at Monroe Growing Up On Bloomington Road The Story of Kate Bradford Stockton - 1880-1969 Walthall Family Victims of Kidnapping in 1957 Melting of Heavy Snowfall in February of 1929 Floods Celina The Log House LeNora Built - Part Two On The Road With The Rockettes Whatever Happened to Joyce Hicks? The History of the Shirt Factory They Just Happened To Be Passing By Living Through the Great Depression The Carpenter Who Made Cup Cakes Livingston College and Cordell Hull Junior College A Great-Granddaughter of Ranter Jess Hammer, Nails, Pencil and Paper - The Jim Loftis Story East Broad Street Memories - 1920's through 1940's Hog Killing Time on the Qualls Farm Boyhood Memories by Frank R. Lewis The Copeland House on Spring Street Live on Radio Station WLIV ... It's The Sullivan Brothers Show! Memories of Hardy and Vian Keisling of Hatcher Hall The Sidwell Home Moved To New Location The Apple Stack Cake Lady from Double Top He Was More Than Just the Mailman The Only Thing I Ever Stole Was Your Mama Growing Up On High Street in Livingston He Says He Was a Fifth Grade Drop Out She Striped His Legs With a Thorn Bush Area Descendants of Eastern Cherokees From England to Livingston, Tennessee - A Journey To Connect Memories of the Mitchell Wedding East Cedar Street - A Great Place to Grow Up From Joppa to Daukuskie Island Nine Flat Tires on the Way to Jamestown Never Put Off Until Tomorrow ... Growing Up in Windle, Tennessee
In Memory of Private William Jason Ramsey The Mahan Family of Putnam County, TN The Disappearance of Josiah Erwin (Cy) McDonald Mrs. Rose and Billy Morgan Garrett Mary Helen Apple and Her Horses The Rinky Dinks of Roberts Street When Kids No Longer Walked to School Roaring River and The Frenchman Samuel Denton, the Rock House Owner Dr. and Mrs. William Meredith Brown Home The Story of Linus, the Young Beagle Puppy East Cedar Street Methodist Church Parsonage 1950's Livingston Academy Girls' Basketball William Felix Copeland 1937 Interview William Curtis Hayes Jr. - Mayor Valentine's Day - My Very Favorite Holiday Rickman School Celebrates 80+ Years What in the World are Ember Days? The Baptist Parsonage on Cedar Street Thomas Champlin and W. Albert Roberts The Alexander Gaston Keisling Home Property Taken for Standing Stone State Park Bill Herren, Mural Painter from Silver Point, TN Issac Asbury Clarke - Berryville Arkansas Ernest & Grace Buck of Pall Mall, Tennessee Grand Ole Opry's Lonzo and Wife The Beech Tree on Hillview Drive Johnnie Webb - Member of the Army Air Corps The Kids Who Grew Up in the Neighborhood of East Cedar Street McClusky Cemetery in Clay County The 1959 Alpine School Bus Wreck Collette Dishman's Potato Candy The Shartrands of Petalbrook Lane She Drives a 1990 Chevrolet Truck Mark Twain's Family Lived in Tennessee Memories of Livingston Grammar School The Town of Livingston in 1933 Return to Tennessee after 63-years Milbern Sells' World War II Letters The History of Dale Hollow Lake Sears and Roebuck Mail Order Homes Taylor's Crossroads Quilt and the Presbyterian Church Livingston's Native American Indians Missing in Action - The Columbus Hooks Story Carl Copeland and His Grandson's Lawn Service Auda Ledbetter and Her Alphabet Grace Bilbrey and Otis Ledbetter School Days at Henard The Sewell House near Burkesville, Ky Charlie Pop and Lola Poindexter Store The George E. (Crip) and Della Agnes Smith Family The Jesse and Adah Rich Family Zollicoffer - a Municipal Park The Brown Hotel/Dixie Theater/Ritz Theater My Special Friend, Grace Bilbrey
Selections from Josephine's Journal, Volumes 1 and 2 are also available in hard back books. Click HERE to find out how to get your personal copies of Josephine's Journal.
|
| |||||
