MY COUSIN JENNY

-
  We were close to our cousins growing up as you can tell in these pictures. The first picture is of my Uncle Doug who was my mothers oldest brother and his two children Judy and Jenny. Jenny is the smallest child on the right. She is in all of these pictures. I had a crush on her when we were teenagers and it bothered me that I felt that way because we were cousins. Although I am from the South and we are famous for dating our cousins I wasn't about to go there. Years later I found out we weren't biologically related. She and her sister Judy were both adopted. Maybe that is why I had the hots for her. Anyway we were close. I was painfully shy and she was always trying to get me to dance with her. She was the only one that could get me to dance and we would do the twist together. They lived right across the street from Hattie Cotton elementary school and were in walking distance from our grandparents house on McKennie Ave.

 Jenny grew into a very attractive teenager but was always wanting to grow up too fast. She was a wild child and went from one relationship to another. Jenny was murdered in 1989. Her body was found lying beside a road in Mt. Juliet by a mailman. For several days her body was unclaimed in the Nashville morgue because nobody knew who she was. She was a Jane Doe murder victim. A police sketch artists picture of her was on the front page of the newspaper in the hopes that someone would come forward and identify the body.I remember seeing the picture but I didn't have a clue that it was Jenny. Luckily her teenage daughter recognized a necklace that the artist included in the picture. She and an older relative went to the morgue and identified the body. It was later discovered that her live in boyfriend strangled her to death and dumped her on the side of the road. He claimed that he had a flashback from Vietnam and this is why he killed her. My Aunt Catherine and my cousin Judy appeared yearly at his parole hearings trying to keep him behind bars. After only a few years in prison, however; he was finally paroled.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE DEATH OF JAYNE MANSFIELD

-
Image
Jayne Mansfield   Jayne Mansfield died way too young on June 29, 1967 at the age of 34 in a gruesome car wreck, She was killed instantly but contrary to urban legend she was not decapitated. Jayne was called the poor man's Marilyn Monroe. She had enjoyed about a four year stint of popularity on Broadway and in Hollywood from 1954 until 1958. Her career was in decline in the late 50's and early 60's but she was still popular in Europe and on the nightclub circuit. She took her last name from her high school sweetheart Paul Mansfield when she married him at the age of seventeen. Her second husband was a former Mr. Universe named Mickey Hargitay who was from Norway. The third and last husband was Matt Cimber. Mansfield was highly educated, attending Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas and U.C.L.A. She supposedly had an IQ of 163 and was called the smartest dumb blonde ever. Of course she couldn't be too smart. In 1966, a year before her death, while
Read more

NASHVILLE AND JESSE JAMES

-
Image
The James brothers with their mother Zerelda James   Most everyone has heard of the notorious outlaws Jesse and Frank James, however; did you know that they lived in Nashville from 1875 until March 1881? Jesse's oldest son Jesse James Jr. was born in Nashville along with his sister Mary. Jesse Jr. was born at 606 Boscobel Street on August 31, 1875. Mary was born on West Hamilton Road in Bordeaux on July 17, 1879. Jesse Jr. went by the name Tim and as far as he knew his last name was Howard. He and his sister would not know their real last names until after Jesse was killed in 1882. Jesse and his wife Zerelda would also lose two male twins in infancy.  Jesse's brother Frank lived on Clarksville Pike. While living there he and his wife Annie Ralston James gave birth to a son named Robert Franklin on February 6, 1877. For a time he would be dressed as a girl and go by the name of Mary. Why his parents did this I do not know.  The brothers were on the run. Nashville was
Read more

CHARLIE PARKHURST

-
Image
  Charlie Parkhurst aka One-eyed Charlie, Cockeyed Charlie, or Six Horse Charlie was born in 1812 in Vermont. Eventually he made his way out west to California where he became a teamster and one of the most skilled stagecoach drivers in history. He was small in stature but tough. Shortly after becoming a stagecoach driver for the California Stage Company he was kicked in the face by a horse and blinded in one eye. Charlie began his reputation as a tough driver when a robber named "Sugarfoot" held up his stage one day. Taken by surprise his only option was to give up his strong box. Six months later the Sugarfoot hit him again but Charlie was prepared this time. He blew him away with a shotgun at point blank range. Without blinking his good eye he rode off at a full gallop leaving the robber dead in the road.   He was an expert shot and an expert with a bull whip. Charlie could cut a cigar in half at fifteen paces while a man held it in his mouth. On one occasion he rolle
Read more