| Sources |
- [S9] Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, Vol. XXVI, Issue 1, page 20-21, 2000.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 22 Nov 2007.
NEWPORT-Wilma Leibrock Davies will celebrate her 100th birthday Nov. 22 with her nephew, Bill Leibrock, and his wife Charlotte.
Davies was born in the Edwina community of Cocke County to Frank and Zora McMahan Leibrock on the McMahan home place. The first of the four Leibrock children, she was a devoted sister to her brothers, Mack and Edward, and sister Carolyn. She spent her adolescence and teen years at the Leibrock eastport home, a hub for the neighborhood youngsters.
After graduating Newport Grammar School and the local high school, Wilma studied two years at Tennessee College, a Baptist women's school in Murfreesboro.
First Baptist minister, the Rev. A. L. Crawley, and his wife Sadie took a great interest in the young people of the church so Mrs. Crawley convinced Zora McMahan Leibrock that her daughter should be allowed to go to the Baptist Women's College. Wilma loved everything about going away to school and felt so privileged to be allowed to study and learn. It was exciting to pack her trunks onto the train to head for Murfreesboro where she stayed at school from September until Christmas. She waited tables in the school dining room to pay half her tuition.
After two years of college, she returned to Newport and taught at Newport Grammar, Del Rio, Hartford, and the Tannery Schools. Soon after returning to Newport, she married her childhood sweetheart, Ovie Williams. Ovie, whose dad was a grocer in Cosby, had introduced Wilma to Hershey chocolate bars, a delightful new taste treat.
Davies is a life-long member of First Baptist Church and a long-time member of the Twentieth Century Club and the Newport Garden Club. An avid birder, she has watched and tracked evening grosbeaks on their migration from Western Canada.
Davies has always had a heart for any stray dogs or cats and so has made a home for many of them. Her friend, Dean Lillard, remembers a particular dog left beside the Knoxville Highway. Wilma saw it as the two young wives and their husbands drove to Knoxville. She insisted that her husband Ovie stop at Cas Walker's to buy dog food and then stop to pick up the dog on the way home. "Zonkie," the rescued dog, made her a good pet for many years.
She continues to enjoy visiting with family and friends. She particularly enjoys time with great nephew Mac and his wife Heather, great niece Charlotte Ann, and great-great niece Olivia Leibrock.
Davies is the widow of the late Mr. Ovie Williams and the late Mr. Lloyd Davies.
Davies advises to take as little medicine as possible if you want to live long and well.
Wilma Leibrock Davies celebrates 100th birthday
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 17 Dec 2008.
Wilma Davies celebrates 101st birthday
A Newport woman celebrated her 101st birthday at home with family on Nov. 22.
Wilma Leibrock Davies was the first of four children born to Frank Leibrock and Zora McMahan Leibrock. Born at home on the William McMahan farm in the Edwina community, she was followed by two brothers, Mack and Edward, and later a younger sister, Carolyn.
The family moved to Eastport where the Leibrocks became active in many facets of the community. The Leibrock children were members of First Baptist Church and attended Newport Grammar School.
After high school, Wilma attended Baptist Women's College in Murfreesboro. Ms. Sadie T. Crawley, wife of the pastor of First Baptist Church at that time, encouraged the Leibrocks to allow Wilma to board the train to further her studies at college. Wilma remembers being away at school as one of the happiest times of her life.
After two years of college, she returned to Newport and married her childhood sweetheart, Ovie Williams. Ovie had gotten her attention with gifts of Hershey chocolate bars from his father's store.
Wilma worked as a teacher, secretary of First Baptist Church, and as bookkeeper at I.J. Smith Hardware.
After being widowed for a number of years, she married Lloyd Davies.
She has been active in the Twentieth Century Club and Newport Garden Club. She worked with fellow birdwatchers to track evening grosbeaks and learn their migratory patterns. She always had a heart for any stray animal and rescued many dogs and cats throughout the years.
Wilma's nephew, Bill Leibrock, and his wife, Charlotte, said, "Wilma has been a model of independence and hard work."
They said she takes "particular pride" in her great-nephew, Mac Leibrock; great-niece, Charlotte Ann Leibrock; and great-great-niece, Olivia Leibrock.
When Bill asked Wilma if she planned to make it to her 102nd birthday, she quickly answered, "Of course."
Relatives said Wilma was particularly delighted that her neighbor, friend, and physician, Dr. Thomas Conway, dropped by to wish her a happy birthday.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 21 Dec 1998.
Tradition is followed in local holiday celebration
Tradition.
For many East Tennesseans, customs have been handed down from our German and Scots-Irish ancestors.
We do some things the ways our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents did others—translated “flatland foreigners”—wonder and think we are sticks-in-the-mud. But we know sometimes the old ways are best.
An East Tennessee tradition which has been modified somewhat is firing rifles during the holiday. Today, not many rifles are fired, but lots of folks set off fireworks.
Those of us “from here” do not think anything about this is odd. We've heard them all our lives and many of us have even helped detonate them, but let someone “not from here” celebrate Christmas in East Tennessee for the first time and they might think we do not know which holiday is which.
Wilma Davies shared a Williams family tradition with us this year.
Davies, whose maiden name is Leibrock, married her first husband, Ovie “Sprig” Williams, in July of 1929.
“For our first Christmas, his mother, Edna Williams, made us a stack cake,” said Davies.
A stack cake, for the uninitiated, is several thin layers of cake separated by applesauce or cooked dried apples.
When the pioneers gathered for a barn-raising or hoe-down or dinner on the ground, the women often brought one or two cake layers and then stacked them together with a few more layers—each slathered with applesauce or dried apples.
A lot of folks agree that stack cake is better the second or third day—if it lasts that long. It gives the thin layers a chance to soak up the juice from the apples.
Davies said this was not the standard cake mix that her mother-in-law prepared, but was made from scratch from a cookie-like dough.
“The dough is rolled out in 10- by 1-inch circles and six or seven are put together with homemade applesauce—thus the name stack,” she said.
“Ovie's mother continued the custom every year for as long as she was able. Then her daughter, Lucille Rolen, took over and continues the tradition.
“She has continued the custom even after Ovie's death and even after my marriage to Lloyd Davies,” Wilma Davies said.
Rolen said she grew up cooking—learning from her mother how to make biscuits, cornbread, beans, pies, and cakes.
“I don't make a stack cake exactly like my mother did,” Rolen said.
“She just always put her ingredients into a teacup and did not really measure. She just went by what looked right in the teacup and her cakes were always so very good,” Rolen said.
“Back then, most folks cooked on a wood stove, so it was hard to get the temperature right. I guess we cooked a lot of things fast because you couldn't really adjust the heat too well,” she said.
But Davies said she cannot remember receiving a bad stack cake.
“Ovie and I looked forward to them each year,” she said.
Her second husband died a few years ago, but the stack cakes keep coming.
“From 1929 to 1998, that's a lot of stack cake and that's a lot of love,” Davies said.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 29 Sep 2009.
Wilma Leibrock Williams Davies died peacefully at home with her family at her side Saturday, September 19, 2009.
Mrs. Davies was predeceased by her husbands Ovie Williams and Lloyd L. Davies, two brothers Mack and Edward Leibrock and one sister Carolyn Leibrock Aaron.
She was born at home on the William McMahan homeplace in the Edwina community on November 22, 1907. She graduated from Central High School in 1925 and attended Women's Baptist College in Murfreesboro.
She was a lifelong member of First Baptist Church where she was active as long as her health allowed. She taught school in Cocke County, was secretary at First Baptist Church, and was bookkeeper for I. J. Smith Hardware.
She was active in the Twentieth Century Club, the Newport Garden Club, the Tube Rose BBs Bowling team, and several bridge groups.
She also typed and printed yearbooks for various clubs for many years.
She and her husband Ovie were ardent supporters of the Newport Canners Baseball Team.
She was a well-known birder who captured Evening Grosbeaks to read their bands to track their migratory patterns.
She was always ready to give any stray cat or dog a permanent home in her tender care. Her last two rescues, Miss Cliff and TomBob, were at her side until her death.
She kept her garden on the Leibrock farm in Edwina as long as she was able.
Among her survivors are a brother-in-law Kenneth Williams and a sister-in-law Lucille Williams Rolen. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews including Bill and Charlotte Leibrock, along with their children Charlotte Ann and Mac, his wife Heather and daughter Olivia.
Other surviving Leibrocks are nephews Frank and John and niece Ellen Leibrock Shelton and her daughter Jocelyn.
The family is grateful for her loving care to Sue Mantooth, Evelyn Smith, Maggie Strange, Rosalee Jennings, Ella Dunn, and Vinita Coggins. Also, many thanks are extended to Smoky Mountain Home Health and Hospice and Dr. Thomas Conway.
Graveside services were held Monday, September 21, at 10:30 a.m. at Union Cemetery with Pastor Scott Gorrell and Dr. Charlie Boggan officiating. Sharon Smith Styles provided the music.
Memorials may be made to Smoky Mountain Home Health and Hospice, 222 Heritage Blvd., Newport, TN 37821; First Baptist Church, 261 East Broadway, Newport, TN 37821, or to the charity of your choice.
Brown Funeral Home in charge.
|
Search | Advanced Search
1907 - 2009 (101 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
= Link to Google Maps