HARTSVILLE, SC--Mrs. Ruth Woodham has been honored by Veranda Magazine for her volunteer efforts on behalf of Kalmia Gardens in Hartsville, South Carolina. Kalmia Gardens is a 30-acre haven of beauty owned by Coker College, a four-year liberal arts college here. The honor came in the form of a $500 donation to Kalmia Gardens in Ruth's honor by Veranda's Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Lisa Newsome.
Ruth, the widow of Harris Middleton ("Jack") Woodham, is a retired school teacher and an avid gardener. She is a member of the Preservation Society for Kalmia Gardens. Her son, James Thomas ("Tom") Woodham of Chicago and formerly an Atlanta businessman, is a member of the Kalmia Gardens Board of Directors and a garden writer for Atlanta-based Veranda Magazine. Tom was also wrote a garden column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before moving to Chicago.
Jack and Ruth owned and operated a farm in Lee County south of Hebron Methodist Church for many decades. Their farm operation was combined with that of their daughter Virginia and son-in-law Pete Beasley Jr. and became the Tococobe Farms. Jack died in 1988. Ruth has been one of the mainstays of the annual South Carolina Woodham Reunion which Robert Earl founded in the summer of 1979. Since its beginnings, Ruth has taken a leading part in organizing and promoting the reunion every year. She was a founding member of the Woodham Family Association.
She taught school in Lee County until her retirement in the early 1980's. After her retirement, her son Tom expanded his Atlanta business, The Potted Plant, and bought a new and larger greenhouse for it. He gave his old greenhouse to Ruth, who established the Woodham Nursery. With the help of grandchildren, she began specializing in exotic trop-ical houseplants. She was a founding member of a Bishopville garden club. Through her individual and club efforts, many public sites in Bishopville and Lee County have been beautified with flowers and shrubs. Her volunteer work to improve the appearance of her community have been noted several times in the Bishopville newspaper.
"There are some people who work behind the scenes to make this a better, more beautiful world for all of us," commented Ms. Newsome in remarks honoring Ruth. "Ruth Woodham's enthusiasm and dedication are an inspi-ration, and I would like to honor her with this gift to Kalmia Gardens," she added. "Anytime the door is open for an activity, Ruth is one of those people who is here if she can be," said George Sawyer, director of Kalmia Gardens.
Tom and Ruth have both matched Newsome's gift which will be used to start a new endowment fund for the gar-dens. "This new endowed fund brings honor to Kalmia Gardens while recognizing that Ruth Woodham's interest in plants and her love for Kalmia Gardens will live forever," Sawyer said. Kalmia Gardens of Coker College is located along the bluffs of Black Creek in Hartsville. The gardens were developed during the 1930's on the site of the early 1800's plantation of Captain Thomas E. Hart, for whom Hartsville is named.
Congragulations, Ruth !!
Mail Coming From Kin All Over the World Since our family club went online with the Internet's World Wide Web three months ago, the volume of our mail, both "email" and regular mail, has increased dramatically. To date, we have received mail from as far away as England, Japan, the United Arab Emirates (on the Persian Gulf), Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Bermuda, Brazil, Portugal and Germany; and within the US, from North Dakota, California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Indiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, Maryland, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota, Iowa, Utah, Nebraska, and a few more that I can't remember.
Our family historian has gotten mail from kinfolks he would never have been able to learn about and contact without the Internet. This is especially true for descendants of Woodham girls. We have received more than 100 pages from one person on the descendants of Mary Woodham, born in 1777, who married John Alexander. And many others are now contacting us--thanks to the Internet connection. So much time has been spent on the new family webpage that our Editor hasn't had time to prepare another edition of our printed family newsletter.
We are now getting mail from Woodham's and descendants in England--asking for information on family history. I thought it very ironic that our distant cousins in England should be coming to one of the "Colonials" in America to get family history, since they are still living right there where all our family history began. In addition to Daddy's family history, I am also deeply involved in my Mama's family history as well and am getting tons of email on that side also--including England.
As of April, 1998, I am carrying on correspondence with a Woodham born in Wales whose great grandfather had moved there from adjoining England to work on the new docks at Barry. This Woodham ended up traveling the world in the English Navy before meeting the girl of his love in The Netherlands (Holland) and settling down there where he has raised his family.
I am even getting letters from folks who are not descendants of our family but who just wanted to offer family information-- including one lady who wrote and said she had visited the grave of Robert Augusta Woodham near Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was researching the family of his wife. Last month, a cousin in Texas sent us a color photo over the Internet of the tombstone of Robert, whose son, Robert Earl Woodham Sr. (yep, another one!) moved to Texas and died there in 1946.
I am also in regular touch with a Woodham boy from Alabama who is now working in the auto design industry in Japan. He has also sent a beautiful color picture of his new son via the Internet. I got the color picture within two days after the child was born in Yokohama, Japan--now that beats the devil out of the ole Post Office! The volume of email and regular mail has literally swamped our historian. The record so far has been about 92 emails in one day!! As a result, I have gotten far behind in answering a lot of your mail.
If you write and don't hear right back from our Editor and historian, please be patient. I have spent every available moment for the past several months working as fast as I can--mostly on email. It has left very little time for getting new information on the Internet. If you don't hear from me for a while, send me a reminder a week or two later.
Your Editor: Robert Earl Woodham
LAKELAND, Fla.-- Kristy Ann Miller has been named as a 1998 winner of the McDonald's Scholarship for Polk County, Florida. Kristy is one of seven high school students chosen from Polk County for this honor. She is a senior at Kathleen High School and scheduled to graduate there 20 May. She is the daughter of Robbie Christian Woodham and her husband William H. Miller Jr. of Lakeland.
Kristy works part-time at a McDonald's restaurant here. She plays in the school band, is in the color guard and is a drum major. She spends a lot of her spare time doing volunteer work at local schools and at the Polk County Health Center. She is in the top 10 per cent of her class and has also been named a Florida Merit Scholar. She has been accepted into Florida State University, Tallahassee where she plans to major in communications with a view to entering television production. Kristy chose this field because she enjoys writing and editing, creating graphics and producing shows for TV.
The Scholarship is part of a nation-wide program sponsored by McDonald's restaurants. In Lakeland, the program is a partnership with the Polk Education Foundation and McDonald's Polk County's restaurant owner/operators. The student winners are chosen by the Polk Education Foundation, based on their ability to balance both high academic achievement and their work at local McDonald's that display their "hard work, dedication and commitment" in everything they achieve.
Kristy is the granddaughter of the late Dewey Woodham and Helen Vaughn; a great granddaughter of Isaac Newton (Newton) Woodham (a native of Geneva County, Alabama) and Mary Christian ("Mollie") Efurd; gg granddaughter of William Asa Woodham and Mary Jane Newton; ggg granddaughter of William Edward ("Bill") Woodham and Elizabeth Ann Kelly; gggg granddaughter of Edward and Clarissa Woodham; gggg granddaughter of Aris Woodham Sr. and Rachel Beasley; ggggg granddaughter of Edward Woodham Jr. and Mary (of NC and Lee Co., SC).
Congragulations Kristy! And our wishes for more such success at Florida State.
NATCHITOCHES, La.--Wendy Woodham was among 61 athletes at Louisiana's Northwestern State University who achieved a grade point average between 3.0 and 3.5 (out of 4) and earned a spot on the Honors Roll.
Wendy managed to accomplish this feat while also being named as Northwestern's Demon soccer team's "Most Valuable Player". She is a goal keeper on the soccer team which captured the 1997 Southland Conferance tournament title.
Half of Northwestern's student athletes earned a 3.0 grade average or better during the past year. "This combination of excellence in academics and athletics is truly a noteworthy accomplishment," said athletic director Greg Burke.
Can anyone help us with info on who the parents of Wendy are?
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