Submitted by John P. Sartin, her Grandson Thanks John!

I loved my grandma. She was the only grandmother I had and she was a strong and intelligent women. I had the privilege of sharing many special and pleasant times with her. I feel that I am more like her than I am to any member of my family.

She was born on July 22, 1888 in the Plumlee (Later Mount Sherman) area of Newton County, Arkansas. Mollie, as everyone called her, was the second child and the first daughter of Thomas Jefferson BRAUDRICK (DOB 12 Mar 1849) of Fort Smith, Arkansas and Sadie Jane SPENCER (DOB 9 Apr 1865) of Russell County, Kentucky. She had one older brother, William Corbett (23 Aug 1886-2 Jan 1986) and two younger sisters. They were Dollie (7 May 1897-30 Aug 1986) and Julia Lea (21 mar 1900-23 Apr 1991).

Not much is known about the BRAUDRICK side of the family, other than Thomas was a Deputy Marshall in Fort Smith and later became a home builder in Newton County. But there is a lot history available about the SPENCER’s.

Sadie Jane SPENCER was the first of seven children of John Samuel SPENCER (17 Nov 1843-10 Sep 1933) of Jamestown, Wayne County, Kentucky, and Elizabeth JENNINGS (20 Mar 1843-25 Feb 1929) of Booneville, Indiana.

Mollie grew up in the Plumlee-Mount Sherman-Jasper-Harrison areas and was a good student who learned quickly and had a natural talent for education. She graduated from Jasper high School in 1906. By the time she was 17, she said that she was ready to start teaching, but her daddy said that she had to wait until she was 18. The day after her 18th birthday she began her teaching career at the Compton School with 40 students in all eight grades. 'I got paid $24 a month for a four month term' she told me. What she lacked in experience, she made up for in enthusiasm during her first term at Compton. 'I paid four dollars a month for room and board and was terribly homesick at first and I cried myself to sleep many a night' she told me.

About that time she met General Sherman PHILLIPS (12 Dec 1886-21 Nov 1921) of Jasper, Arkansas and they decided to get married. Sherman was the last of nine children and the sixth son of Daniel Russell and Clarissa PHILLIPS. Daniel PHILLIPS was a prominent farmer and merchant in Newton County.

She took time out from her teaching career to have two daughters, Pearl Louise (27 Nov 1907-11 Aug 1995) and Hazel Nell, my mother, born on 22 December, 1910, who is still living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sherman went off to fight for his country during World War I. He was wounded and he returned home to die in an Army Hospital in 1921.

When the children were still small, Mollie continued her teaching career and attended college during the summers at Conway and Jonesboro, Arkansas and finally earned her teaching certificate. She was the first member of the family to get a college degree. For many years she walked or rode her horse through all kinds of weather back and forth to school. I remember this vividly, since on some occasions I was with her. Most of her teaching career was in one room school houses in Boxley, Mount Sherman, Mountain Springs, Wayton, Taylor, and Low Gap. Harsh school discipline was common during those days, but she seldom spanked the children and preferred to give them extra work as punishment.

'Low Gap had the reputation of being a mean place' she told me. 'I had heard that the man who taught before me leaned his shotgun there against his chair. My first day I took my riding reins and laid them across the back of my seat, but I never had to use them'.

It was quite a change from the one room schools to Pine Bluff Junior high School where Mollie did her last five years of teaching. She taught seventh and eighth grade English and Math there until she took retirement after 30 years of teaching in 1951.

After retirement Mollie did a lot of tutoring until she was 80 and she never stopped writing. At one time, she lived with a Tulsa family for five years helping their son.

When Sherman passed away, she married Emmett Reed Barr, a Baptist minister and farmer on Mount Sherman and lived there teaching school. I remember spending many a full day Sunday at church meetings across the county. Later, she bought a farm there and lived with her extended family. While on a trip to California, she met and married Jewell DeWitt (J.D.) Roberts, a retired service man, on February 2, 1961 in San Diego. They made their home at 409 North Oak in Harrison. J D passed away in 1974 and her brother, Corbett moved in with her.

Mollie had her share of health problems, but generally experienced good health until she went to be with the Lord at the age of 96 on January 18, 1973. 'I think that attitude has a lot to do with health' she said. 'It’s always been my motto to love and share, and not to worry or complain' She also said, 'If you want to live a long life, pick your relatives carefully. My mother lived to be 93'. All her siblings lived to be in their 90’s. Most of her friends were younger than her, because she always enjoyed being around young people.

Mollie read several books a week and enjoyed working crossword puzzles. We often compared notes on the daily puzzle. She subscribed to several newspapers and wrote poetry all her life. She had several poems published. The following is one of her poems written for her 91st birthday.

          BIRTHDAYS

Some are happy, some are sad;


But each should make us glad


That God has been so kind and good


To help us live the way we should.



 
And so, I count them - one by one


Since on this day I’m ninety-one


So many joys and sorrows came


But through it all, God was the same.


I thank him for an active mind


And all good things in Him I find.



                 July 3, 1979

                 Mollie Roberts

                 Harrison, Arkansas

Mollie was buried in a family plot in Memorial Park, Tulsa, Oklahoma, on January 20, 1983. I will always miss my grandmother.

Return to Index, Or Mt. Sherman Cemetery Or Newton Co. Families Index