A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Stella Irene Kanouse
WFT 10, 1142:
Stella was a very special Lady. She was born deformed. She was did not have the benefit of hands and she only grew to be 42" tall. She didn't learn to eat or walk by herself until she was 4 years old. She went to pulic school on a Tricycle, that was especially built for her by her father, until her Freshman year of High School. The doctor told her that she either had to quit school or she would never walk again.
At age 21, she married her first Cousin, Josiah (Jay) Kanouse, With whom she had 8 children. One child died at birth, Marvin Kanouse. She was 7 months pregnant with, Lester Dale, when Josiah died of pnemonia in 1944.
Stella remarried in 1946 to Russell Bouydston. They had 3 children, of which there was a set of twins that died.
Gaylon Gathright did not have middle name or children
Newspaper article (obtained from David and Wilma Gathright, April 2015; newspaper name and date not given):
School is Keeping...
By Mary Rich
"Little Grandma" visited my class and Mrs. Bronson's last week and charmed us all. The nickname is especially appropriate for Mrs. Stella Bouydston, for that little lady is just forty inches tall. Try to imagine the problems you might encounter facing a world in which everyone over the age of four is taller than you, and in which everything is designed for people 5' 3" and taller. Yet Mrs. Bouydston cheerfully raised eight children! Perhaps not too amazing, but you see, nature short-changed Stella in another way, for she was born without hands. On her right she has one sturdy finger which enables her to grasp objects and thus perform countless tasks -- in fact, almost anything she sets out to do.
I raised four children and have always sort of felt that I deserve a Congressional Medal for the accomplishment. Mrs. Bouydston managed her brood quite independently and long before the era of disposable diapers and prepared baby food. She baked bread, did all the cooking and made her children's clothes, to my unbounded amazement and admiration!
At school we teach much more than the famed "basics"; I like to help my students acquire understanding, compassion, acceptance, and appreciation of a courageous and indomitable spirit. Surely they will never meet a more inspiring person than "Little Grandma".
Stella enjoys visiting with people and obligingly answers questions and demonstrates some of her amazing abilities. She wrote for us (beautifully), used scissors (perfectly) showed us how she threads a needle (sticks it in a potato), and brought several examples of the delicate Swedish embroidery which is her specialty. She related how as a young girl, people tended to wait on her. When gently reminded that she really could not do a thing, the feisty youngster replied, "I can try!" And, more often than not, by using her two "hands" as one, Stella really could manage to do almost anything she attempted from shooting marbles to knitting. In time, people forgot that she was different at all, and her mother was even able to deliver the spankings the lively little girl earned. Her bright response became a byword in her family and her eight youngsters knew better than to wail in discouragement "I can't make the basketball team." The response was certain to be a firm "You can try!"
Really, you should meet "Little Grandma", a lady who may be very short but whose spirit is immeasurably tall.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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