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Carolyn
Janet Weeks |
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Born: 15 May 1952, Raleigh, Wake County, NC |
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Carolyn Janet
Weeks was the first child of
Albert Sidney
Barnes Weeks and
Viola
Eason. She was born at 7:07 a.m. on 15 May 1952 in Rex
Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina and weighed 4 lbs. 10 1/4 oz. |
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Albert was a heavy smoker and today's medical research would
blame his smoking for her premature birth. Carolyn's
parents were ecstatic, since they had long before given up hope
of children. Al and Viola had married 01 Apr 1941 in
Johnston County, North Carolina and Carolyn's birth was 11 years
later. |
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(Right) Albert Weeks and Viola Eason |
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Carolyn's birth
certificate lists the occupation of "the father" as a Salesman
with Atlantic Tobacco Company.
Carolyn's brother,
Sidney Stuart Weeks, was born 13 Feb 1954.
The Weeks family lived at 201 E. Aycock St. in Raleigh. It
was a corner lot, with a retaining wall along both the front and
side. Carolyn says her childhood memories include playing
cowboys and Indians, shooting "guns" from around the corners of
the house. She says she was always the cowboy and her
younger brother, Sidney, was always the Indian. |
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Carolyn was a
sickly child, suffering from asthma. |
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(Left to Right) Carolyn as a baby, 2 years old, and 3 years old |
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Life as a child
in Raleigh was different than it is today. No one ever
locked the doors when they left home for the day. There
was no thought of danger to the kids. Children roamed up
and down the street, sometimes on bikes, sometimes bouncing a
ball, sometimes just walking around the block or the 3 miles to
downtown. Even at eleven o'clock at night, no one though
anything of going outside on the porch or walking around in
front of the house. Of course, they didn't bounce balls or
make noise at that time of day!
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Carolyn's early
school years were difficult, spent in and out of the hospital,
often with pneumonia. She had pneumonia 6 times, and a
collapsed lung one of those times. Viola would make the
trip to school to get her assignments and then work with her at
home on spelling lists, etc. When her tonsils were finally
removed, her health seemed to improve.
When Carolyn was 7 years old, in January of 2nd Grade, Al was
diagnosed with lung cancer. He was given 6 months to live.
He died almost exactly 6 months later.
As a result, she became very introverted and withdrawn.
She spent an enormous amount of time reading books. She
immersed herself so deeply in reading, that once in the
cafeteria, when she reached the end of a chapter and looked up,
the entire cafeteria was empty. Her class had put away
their trays, lined up and left the room, and she wasn't aware of
it. She slipped back into the classroom as students were
sharpening pencils and moving around the room, and no one seemed
to have missed her.
When she was in 7th Grade, she finally started coming out of her
shell and began to socialize more. |
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Carolyn's home on 201 E. Aycock St. in Raleigh
Summer of 1959, Carolyn age 7, Sidneey age 5 |
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Carolyn with Sidney and Viola |
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Carolyn attended J.Y. Joyner Elementary School in Raleigh, NC |
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Viola worked on
weekends as a switchboard operator for a privately owned
company, and often Carolyn and Sidney would catch the public bus
downtown to spend time at the Capitol square, feed the pigeons,
then walk the couple of blocks to spend the evening with Viola
at her office. Carolyn was fascinated with the switchboard
and watched Viola carefully. Carolyn's first job was as a
switchboard operator at the same company during the summer
between college years. |
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Every summer,
Carolyn and Sidney would spend 2 - 3 weeks with their
grandmother, "Mama Eason" (Ida Griswold Eason). Ida lived
about 30 minutes outside of Raleigh and had a tobacco farm.
Fond memories of the time spent at Mama Eason's included sitting
and swinging on the wrap-around front porch, reading, walking to
the country store about 1/2 mile up the road to get some "penny
candy", reading, fishing with a cane pole at her pond on the
property (catching brim and bass with the cane pole), reading,
playing in the dirt driveway - building a castle with a moat,
then catching small frogs to "live" there, and reading, reading,
reading.
When she got a little older, Mama Eason would let her "tie" some
tobacco. You had to make a bundle of tobacco leaves, make
the ends line up, wrap a length of twine around the ends and
flip the bundle to alternating sides of a stick. The stick
would then be hung in the smokehouse to "cure" or dry out the
leaves. |
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Carolyn said,
"The spiritual side of my life has always been very rich.
I came to know the Lord at a fairly early age. I was
either 8 or 9 years old and at a Vacation Bible School. To
this day, I remember where I was sitting and what our pastor
said. He was telling about Jesus paying the price for our
individual sin, and I suddenly realized that I needed to accept
Him as His atonement for me. The feeling of relief upon my
surrendering my life to Jesus was like nothing I had ever felt
before or since. You'd have to have experienced the same
event in your own life to understand. I felt light, free,
at peace. The times at my grandmother's house were spent
walking the path to the pond and talking to the Lord in the
quiet stillness there." |
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(Left) Carolyn attends the North Carolina Symphony with her
school class |
Most children
develop various ideas of what they "want to do when they grow
up" during their early years. Carolyn's plans varied from
becoming a vet to working for the FBI as a spy. In the 5th
Grade she even carried a toy derringer in her purse. |
The mischievous
side of Carolyn's nature surfaced during her middle/high school
years.
During the summer after 8th Grade, Carolyn took an introductory
class in Spanish. She fell in love with the language and
knew from that time on that she wanted to teach Spanish. |
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Carolyn & Sidney outside of their home in Raleigh |
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Carolyn said,
"Another prankish incident happened during my 9th Grade year.
Mother, Sidney and I had gone to the Mall, and I had gone back
to the car to read my ever-present book. I noticed two
girls about my age standing in front of the entrance to the
Mall, and on an impulse, walked up to them and said something in
Spanish, then returning to my car. They followed me over
and started to talk to me. I pretended that I didn't
understand them, saying in a heavy Spanish accent, 'I don't spe-e-e-k
Engl-e-esh.' They tried to communicate with me for a
while, but when my Mom came out and said, 'Hello, girls, how are
you?', I wished the ground could have swallowed me up! W
left right away, and I don't know if the girls realized they had
been fooled." |
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Carolyn attended Emanuel Baptist Churh in Raleigh, NC |
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Carolyn and
Viola visited the Department of Public Instruction, and they
advised her that Appalachian State University was the best
college for studying the Spanish language. Carolyn applied
to Appalachian and was accepted. |
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(Left) 1970, Carolyn's Freshman year at ASU
(Right) Carolyn's Junior year at ASU |
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Carolyn met
Curtis Dean Loftin while she was attending Appalachian.
She had gone to a Tuesday night Bible Study that was meeting on
campus and met him there. Their relationship started as
friends, spending lots of time with a group of 5 - 6 other young
Christians, but eventually developed into something more. |
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During her
Junior and Senior year at ASU, Carolyn served as a "Summer
Missionary" with the Southern Baptist Association and was placed
in Ohio. |
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Eventually Curtis asked Carolyn to marry him.
Carolyn received a Bachelor of Science in Spanish from ASU. |
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Curtis & Carolyn during their Senior years at ASU, 1974 - 1975 |
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Carolyn and Curtis graduated from Appalachian State University
01 Jun 1975 |
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Carolyn & Curtis
with Paula Schronce & Nathan Harwell |
(Below) Carolyn & Curtis got married at Mathis Chapel Baptist
Church 07 Jun 1975; William "Bill" Ray Loftin,
Curtis' brother, was Best-Man
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Carolyn and
Curtis lived with his parents, Sam & Willie Loftin, for a year
and a half before they moved out on their own.
Carolyn got her first teaching job at Fred T. Foard High School
for the year 1975 - 1976 teaching Spanish. The school
already had a full-time Spanish teacher, so Carolyn only worked
half of the day. She also taught at Foard during the 1976
-77 school year. |
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Carolyn and Curtis had two children. |
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Beth & Philip Loftin |
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Carolyn, Curtis,
Beth & Philip |
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Carolyn spent 6
years teaching at a church sponsored school |
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Carolyn was Beth & Philip's teacher for those six years. |
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Curtis & Carolyn
singing in church |
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(Right & Below)
Carolyn was very "crafty". She could crochet, knit, tat,
do macramé and a variety of other crafts. She spent a
"season" displaying her crafts at various Craft Shows. She
created the necklace, earrings and belt she is wearing. |
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In the 1980s,
Carolyn and Curtis became interested in studying the Hebrew
Roots of their Christian faith - including studying the Biblical
Festivals from Leviticus 23. |
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Carolyn lights
Shabbat candles |
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2002 Christmas photo
Philip & Leslie holding Alexandria, Carolyn & Curtis holding
Simcha,
Brad & Beth holding Savanna |
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2004 |
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(Below) August 2006 |
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December 2009
Curtis and Carolyn Weeks Loftin with their children &
grandchildren
(Top Row) Philip & Leslie Loftin, Beth & Brad Seese
(Bottom Row) Ali Seese, Curtis & Carolyn, Savanna Seese |
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Family Studio Photos |
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SOURCES |
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To learn more about the Weeks, Eason, Griswold and Harrell
Families,
Check out Carolyn's Family Genealogy pages at ... |
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http://carolyn.loftinnc.com |
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