Gurley Lions Club serving the Gurley community since 1948
Gurley
Lions Club serving the Gurley community since 1948
(Updated November 2009)
The year was 1933. Allen Murray (Slim) Hollingsworth married
Ruth Margaret (Dollie) Branum. They first settled into a small one-room
house built by Allen on his parent's land. The small home was located at the
foot of Keel Mountain, on present-day McMullen Road. Lumber for the house was
cut from trees harvested from the Hollingsworth property.
The first five of their ten children were born in this small house. As the
family grew, a larger house was needed. The present homeplace on Grayson Street
in Gurley was purchased in 1946. Allen worked at the Redstone Arsenal Munitions
Plant, while Dollie stayed home and kept the home fires burning and caring for
the growing family. According to Clyde...the eldest of the children....Dollie "squirrelled"
the money away and eventually had enough to purchase a house and land in Gurley.
When the family moved to Gurley, the original house consisted of two large
rooms. Allen added two rooms as well as porches. Lumber from the original
one-room house was brought to the present-day home on Grayson Street, and used
for the two-room expansion. Remnants of the lumber was discovered when the
kitchen was remodeled about 10 years ago. When all the flooring was stripped
from the kitchen, the 1 x 12 pine planks from the little house were underneath,
still in pristine condition.
The property and original house is presently owned by James (Bud) Hollingsworth.
The last four of the ten children were born in the house. Allen died there in
1974 of congestive heart failure.
Allen (Slim), born 14 March 1908, in Italy, Texas, was the son of Johnnie and Ada Jane (Williams) Hollingsworth. He died in March 1974, and is buried in Gurley City Cemetery.
In the early part of the 1900's, the Hollingsworths moved to Texas, where several of their thirteen children were born. In 1916, they returned to Gurley and continued farming the family land. Ada and Johnnie are buried in the Jenkins Cemetery located off Little Cove Road.
Ruth (Dollie), born 7 April 1917, in Gurley, AL, was the daughter of William Alva (W.A.) and Nancy Jane (Nannie) Wright Branum. Dollie died in March 1994, and is buried in Gurley City Cemetery.
There were thirteen of the Branum children. However only nine grew to reach adulthood. W.A. and Nannie are buried in the Gurley City Cemetery. W. A. died in the 1930's. Nannie lived to be 95 years old and had all her mental faculties up to the minute she died.
Allen Clyde Hollingsworth, born 20 December 1935. Clyde
has two sons, four grandsons, two great-grand daughters, and one great-grand
son. He and his wife Sandy, live in Hazel Green, AL.
Clyde and Sandy are retired from TVA.
Sons: Ronald Clyde Hollingsworth and Bobby Wayne Hollingsworth.
Ronald's children are: Chris, Eric Andrew, and Joshua
Hollingsworth. Chris has two daughters (Nikki and Shelby), Eric has one son
(Bobby Wayne).
Bobby Wayne Hollingsworth (deceased).
Clyde died in 2009 and is interred at Valhalla in Huntsville, AL.
Billy Donald Hollingsworth, Sr. born 6 August 1937. Bill lives on Miller
Road in Gurley, AL. Bill has one son, and one grandson. He was married to Vivian
Phillipps for 30 years.
Son: Billy Donald Hollingsworth, Jr. (Don). Don died July 4,
2008.
Don has one son.... Chase Hollingsworth. Chase is currently a
student at Auburn University.
Bill is retired from the City of gurley, and lives on Miller Road, Gurley,
Alabama.
Ruth Alleene Hollingsworth Vandiver, born 1 August 1939,
lives on Childress Street in Gurley, AL.. She married Samuel Harold Vandiver.
Ruth has two sons.
Sons: Randall Harold Vandiver; Jeffery Wayne Vandiver.
Jeff married Paula Daversa and has three children: Brittany Jean
Vandiver, Andrew Vandiver, and Dominique Allen Wayne Vandiver.
Ruth is retired from NASA and lives on Childress Street in Gurley.
Nancy Jane Hollingsworth, born 21 Feb 1941. She has two
sons.
Sons: Michael Eugene Hollingsworth and James Thomas Gray.
James Thomas (Tommy) Gray. Tommy maried Tracey Hubbard and has
one son: James Royce (Jamie) Gray.
Nancy and both her sons live on Miller Road in Gurley.
Ruby Nell Hollingsworth White, born 4 January 1943,
married James E. White. She and James live in Paint Rock Valley and have five
children and seven grandsons and one grand daughter. James died in 2008.
Son: James Timothy White: his children are Christopher and Jason
White. They live in Paint Rock Valley, Garth Community, Alabama.
Jason received his BS degree from the University of Alabama
in Huntsville in 2006.
Daughters: Donna LaRuth White Parker.
Donna married Kenny Parker
and has two sons: Nathan and Nick Parker, and live in Paint Rock Valley, Garth Community, Alabama.
Deborah Nanette White Ringer married Bones Ringer and lives in
Kelso, Tennessee.
Delena Michele White Flanagan, married Jimmy Dean Flanagan and
has two sons: Jimbo, and Derrick Flanagan.
They all live in Paint Rock Valley,
Garth Community, Alabama.
Jimbo received his BS degree from the University of Alabama in
Huntsville in 2008.
Cynthia Ann White Baugh. Cindy married Raymond Darryl Baugh and
has one son, Hunter and one daughter, Savannah. They live in Paint Rock Valley,
Garth Community, Alabama.
James (Bud) Hollingsworth, born 23 April 1945, resides at
112-114 Grayson Street in Gurley, AL.
Bud retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency in February 2002 after 36 years
of service. His career as an Intelligence Officer allowed him to work in the
former Soviet Union, West Germany, and Belorus as part of the Intermediate Range
Nuclear Forces reduction (INF) Treaty. He also worked with the United Nations
Special Commission in Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait following the
first Gulf War in 1990-91. He also worked in South Korea, and several of the US
States as a SCUD missile analyst.
He graduated from Madison County High School, the North Alabama
College of Commerce, and Athens State University.
Juanita Hollingsworth Jean, born 15 January 1948, married
James E. Jean, and lives in Hazel Green, AL.
Nita works for Bentley Pontiac/Cadillac. J.E. is retired from Goodyear.
Carolyn Ann Hollingsworth Pinkerton, born 12 April 1950,
married Kerry A. Pinkerton, lives in Harvest, AL and has two sons and one
grandson.
Sons: Kristopher Adam Pinkerton and Cameron Alan Pinkerton. Kris
has one son, William Mason Pinkerton and one daughter, Kennedy Jane Pinkerton
born in June 2008.
Carolyn graduated from Madison County High School and Calhoun
Community College and worked in the banking industry until she retired in late
February 2006. Kerry is retired from Hewlett-Packard and has a home business.
Larry Wayne Hollingsworth,
born 24 December 1952, married Barbara C. Stapp, and lives in Gurley, AL and has two sons and one grandson, one beautiful grand daughter.
Sons: Robert Anthony (Andy) Hollingsworth and Benjamin Adam Hollingsworth.
Andy has one son Allen Michael Hollingsworth. Andy currently lives in Gurley, Alabama. Andy married Leslie Boyd in Spokane, WA in October 2009.
Adam married Mary Dolberry and has one daughter, Izabella Jade Hollingsworth, born 25 November 2005 and one son, Wyatt Daniel, born 2 September 2009.
Adam and his family live in Gurley on Railroad Street.
Larry works for Madison County, Barbara works for the US Postal Service.
They live on First Street in Gurley.
Kathy Marie Hollingsworth Fields, born 7 February 1956, married Joe L. Fields. They live on McMullen Road in Gurley, AL. They have two sons. Kathy and Joe met in the first grade, married after graduating from high school and spent 20 years in the US Air Force. After being away from "home" for almost 30 years, they have renovated the Fields ancestral home on McMullen Road and returned to their roots in late 2003.
Sons: Stephen Paul Fields.
Stephen is currently a school band director in Georgia. He graduated from Mississippi State University and earned his Master's degree from the University of Georgia in 2008.
Travis Bryant Fields: Travis currently lives in Madison, AL and works for US Airways at the Huntsville/Madison County airport.
The ten Hollingsworth children all live within a 30-mile radius of Gurley.
Photo dated 10 April 2004
(left to right: Kathy, Carolyn, Nita, Bud, Bill, Larry, Clyde, Nancy, Ruth,
Ruby)
Bud Hollingsworth graciously first shared this article April 30 2004.