|
a.
|
Note: This text is here because rootsweb has a messed up formatting system for GEDcoms.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Donnie was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. M. W. Howell. He was raised in Lanett, AL and was a 1959 graduate of Lanett High School.
While a senior in high school he married Phoebe Allums. They had gotten "in the family way." They had one son, Donald Lee "Little Donnie" Howell, Jr. He was married to Phoebe two different times. He also married Shirlene Adams, Elaine Sharp (my mother) and Helen Unknown. There was possibly one other marriage.
Donnie was good-looking and very popular. He was a football star in high school and also played basketball. He was listed among the "Who's Who" all four years.
When my mother was married to him (late-1960's) he worked on a pipeline in Georgia. After that he made a successful living by buying and renting mobile homes, and had trucks and equipment to move and set up mobile homes for others.
Donnie died of cirrhosis of the liver. When I was little my mother would take me and my sister to see Donnie when he lived on the backwater. He was very sick then. He was always very nice to us. He had a concrete boat ramp right outside his door and we loved to dip our toes in the river there.
He was step-father to my two oldest half-sisters. My mother had been married once before Donnie and married my father after, as a matter of fact her name on the license was Joyce (Elaine) Howell. He was fond of them, treating them like little princesses. His parents had a farm above LaFayette, AL and bought my oldest sister a pony and kept it up there. He was a strict disciplinarian though, and didn't tolerate much fuss from the girls. After the divorce he didn't have much to do with the girls, as they went to live with their grandmother.
As for Little Donnie, his mother kept him from Donnie. My mother says Little Donnie didn't even go to his daddy's funeral.
Donnie was outgoing and popular, and even more so with the ladies, which sometimes got him in trouble, especially with his wives.
Donnie and Elaine married in the home of a justice of the peace in Lanett, AL, behind what is now (2010) Merle's Diner.
I asked my mother why her and Donnie never had children, and she replied that it just never happened, they didn't try to have kids, but they didn't not try either.
They were married about 3 years.
UPDATE: My mother said middle of October 2019, that she had heard Donnie, Jr. had killed himself. I have not confirmed the rumor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
|
