THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
It’s
not unusual to pick up a Union County newspaper and see a picture of a
lovely
lady, nearly a centenarian now, judging
a Garden Club show, attending a Union County High School Class Reunion,
or
being involved in a special activity at Choestoe Baptist Church where
she has
been a faithful member for many years.
You often hear, “Give a lady flowers
while she lives,” and that’s exactly what I want to do with this
salute, a
bouquet of appreciation. I
would like
to call this a salvo, a simultaneous firing of guns in appreciation for
service
rendered. The only trouble, I don’t have
a firing squad to do the honors. So
count this a double-barreled accolade to one who is deserving of our
thanks and
commendations.
I speak of a beautiful lady, Mrs. Dora
Hunter Allison Spiva. Time was when she
did not like to admit her age (After all, isn’t that a prerogative of
the
female gender?). But then she
surpassed
that promised “three-score and ten” and kept going, four score plus
ten, and
more! And now, I think it pleases this
stately, well-coiffed, well-groomed beautiful lady to hear people
comment: “I can’t believe you’re 99, going
on
100!” Her looks, alertness, demeanor and
involvement are trademarks of one much younger.
Dora Anne Hunter was born February 10,
1905, daughter of James A. Hunter and Martha Lucinda Souther Hunter. She was the older sister of brothers Joe and
Dan, and they had half-siblings. Their
mother, Martha Lucinda Souther Hunter was married first to Jasper Todd
Hunter,
a brother to her second husband, Jim.
Martha’s first children were J. Esther, William Jesse, Nancy,
James
Hayes, Homer, Hattie and Grady. The
family was reared at the Hunter home, still standing just off the
Liberty
Church Road, Choestoe.
Dora Anne was educated in the public
schools, Choestoe and Old Liberty, and then went to the Academy and
Young
Harris College where she got a good secondary and two-year college
education. Taking what was known as the
“Normal Course” for teachers, Miss Hunter, upon graduation, began
teaching at
the Blairsville Collegiate Institute, a school in her home county that
was
founded the year prior to her birth, 1904.
Her selection as a teacher there speaks well of her acumen as a
student. One might say she was a “born
teacher.”
The school year 1928-1929 was the last
the Collegiate Institute functioned before the Home Mission Board and
Notla
River Baptist Association released the property and buildings to the
Union
County Board of Education for a public high school.
Dr. J. M. Nicholson became the first
principal and Miss Dora Hunter was one of the teachers in the new
county high
school. She was to continue in a long
career of teaching mathematics at Union County High School, touching
many lives
with her teaching, counseling and example.
She retired in May, 1970 after 40
years as a teacher, 30 of which were in Union County.
She also served for a period as principal of
Young Cane School. She was a graduate of
Young Harris College and the University of Georgia.
On August 28, 1930, Dora Anne Hunter
married Frank N. Allison. He was
elected to the office of Ordinary for Union County and held that
position for
several years. He died February 23,
1969. Mrs. Allison’s second marriage was
to Daniel G. Spiva. He died January 8,
1985. Both of her husbands were interred
in Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.
Mrs. Spiva has served in many
capacities at Choestoe Baptist Church where she has been a member since
childhood. She helped to organize
Woman’s Missionary Union and has been a firm supporter and participant
in
missions for 75 years. She taught Sunday
School. She served as Sunday School
Superintendent. She has held offices in
Notla River Baptist Association and on the Executive Board of Georgia
Baptist
Woman’s Missionary Union.
In civic organizations her leadership
has been especially noteworthy in the Blairsville Garden Club of which
she was
a charter member and of the Union County Retired Teachers’ Association. In both organizations she has served as
president and in other offices.
Truett McConnell College, Cleveland,
Georgia has recently announced plans to name the four-year program in
education
to honor educator Dora Hunter Allison Spiva.
Former students who remember the
unique
influence of this teacher upon their lives will no doubt want to make
contributions in her honor to Truett McConnell’s School of Education. For further information about this campaign,
please contact Vice President of Institutional Development, 100 Alumni
Drive,
Cleveland, GA. 30528. An administrator of the college may be reached at
706-865
-2134, Ext. 119.
For those many of us who love and
appreciate our teacher, may we give in a substantive manner so that
future
generations may benefit from an outstanding department of education
named for
an extraordinary educator.
c2004 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published May 6, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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