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<\/a><\/p>\nLura and Gene Atkins Newly Married<\/p>\n
Lura and Gene Atkins Celebrating Their 50th Wedding Anniversary<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lura Johnson Atkins always looked for the good in every person or situation.\u00a0 I used to say that if a hurricane blew away their back porch, she would say, \u201cReally and truly, it was for the best.\u00a0 We needed a new porch anyway.\u201d\u00a0 She met me before my future in-laws did, and gave them a glowing report on me. And I wasn\u2019t the only one. According to Aunt Lura, she had wonderful in-laws, her boss was a fine man, her neighbors were all lovely people, and Auburn was the best town anyone had ever lived in.\u00a0 Such declarations were usually followed by her trademark saying, \u201cHoney, I\u2019m not kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n This positive outlook must have been part of what drew Eugene Atkins to her.\u00a0 A friend took Gene by the Johnson farm one evening in 1936.\u00a0\u00a0 Twenty year old Lura had already rolled her hair and gone to bed.\u00a0 She only reluctantly got up and put on a robe to\u00a0 greet the guests.\u00a0 Gene was smitten at once by the pretty, dark-haired girl.\u00a0 When they left the house, Gene said, \u201cWell, tonight I met the girl I\u2019m going to marry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re dreaming,\u201d his friend told him.\u00a0 \u201cLura\u2019s keeping steady company with a high school principal.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot any more,\u201d answered Gene.\u00a0 And he was right. Soon Uncle Gene was the one taking Lura to church and to the movies.\u00a0 After Gene\u2019s mother saw they were serious, she took Lura aside and confided that if she married Gene, there would likely be no children.\u00a0 \u201cThe mumps fell on him.\u201d<\/p>\n That had to be a disappointment to Aunt Lura, who loved children so much.\u00a0 \u201cBut what could I do?\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cI already loved him.\u201d\u00a0 Sure enough, there were never any children. But their home was seldom empty.\u00a0 Gene\u2019s father spent his last years with them after he was widowed. He loved to play dominoes and Lura was his partner in many games every day.\u00a0 After dementia set in, Lura was the only one who could calm him.\u00a0 A number of Auburn students, including my husband, made the Atkins house a second home.\u00a0 Every one of those students would swear that Aunt Lura made the best fried chicken ever to grace a southern table.\u00a0 Finally, Lura\u2019s mother spent her declining years with them.\u00a0 Then I saw firsthand Aunt Lura\u2019s calming ways work miracles.\u00a0 Mama Johnson seemed permanently discontented, except when Lura was dealing with her.\u00a0 Lura gave her a basket of towels to fold, and the old lady folded them over and over and over.\u00a0 \u201cYou fold towels better than anybody,\u201d she would say, \u201cand honey, I\u2019m not kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n Aunt Lura was a career woman too.\u00a0 She started off as a lowly sales clerk at the Poly-Tek, Auburn\u2019s premier women\u2019s clothing store.\u00a0 She had a way with customers and many sought her help in deciding which outfit to buy and what to match with what.\u00a0 Eventually she was the buyer for the store and would go to fashion shows where she made the decision which items to stock of each designer\u2019s offerings for the season.\u00a0 The owner of the store coordinated his retirement with Lura\u2019s so that they both left Polly-Tek at the same time.\u00a0 \u201cCharlie was the best boss in the world,\u201d she frequently said, \u201cand, honey,\u00a0 I\u2019m not kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n After retirement, she and Gene fully enjoyed each other.\u00a0 They visited friends, worked at Auburn\u2019s First Methodist Church, and hosted family gatherings.\u00a0 At home, Uncle Gene did most of the housework and dishwashing, Aunt Lura did all the cooking.\u00a0 By this time Uncle Gene\u2019s health was going down.\u00a0 He had heart by-pass surgery, cancer treatments, and a bad case of shingles from which he never completely recovered.\u00a0 Yet with Aunt Lura\u2019s confidence and cheeriness, Gene seemed to feel that he would live to be a hundred.\u00a0 He did not make it anywhere near that long.\u00a0 He was still in his seventies when death overtook him.<\/p>\n I visited Aunt Lura soon after Uncle Gene\u2019s funeral.\u00a0 \u201cCould I tell you something?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cSure,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t tell this to anyone.\u00a0 They\u2019ll be saying Lura has gone around the bend.\u00a0 But, honey, I\u2019m not kidding.\u00a0 It really happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI saw Gene two days ago.\u00a0 I had just laid down, thinking, how am I going to live without Gene?\u00a0 Then I looked up and there he was, a few feet away.\u00a0 He was smiling and holding his hand out to me.\u00a0 I knew he was trying to tell me he would be with me every day.\u00a0 And he\u2019s waiting for me on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI believe you,\u201d I said, and I still do.<\/p>\n Aunt Lura kept working at the church until well after 90.\u00a0 Even after she went to the nursing home she was still playing dominoes and keeping up with what was going on at church.\u00a0 She was looking forward to celebrating her hundredth birthday a year from this July, but God had other plans.\u00a0 Week before last, she took bronchitis, which led to pneumonia.\u00a0 On May 9th she told her niece, Teresa, that she was ready to go home.\u00a0 A short while later, on Mother\u2019s Day, she did.<\/p>\n She\u2019s walking hand-in-hand with Uncle Gene now, and I can just hear her telling St. Peter that those gates are the nicest she has ever seen, and, honey,\u00a0 she isn\u2019t kidding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lura and Gene Atkins Newly Married Lura and Gene Atkins Celebrating Their 50th Wedding Anniversary Lura Johnson Atkins always looked for the good in every person or situation.\u00a0 I used to say that if a hurricane blew away … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n