You have my Simphethey Carole Camp Johnson
-----Original Message-----
From: Carole Johnson <fojo(a)mindspring.com>
To: CAMP-L(a)rootsweb.com <CAMP-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2000 10:06 AM
Subject: [CAMP-L] Ioma CAMP
Dear List,
It is with much sadness that I inform you of the death of my great-aunt,
Ioma CAMP Hunter Carroll. She died Monday evening at the age of 97.
She was born June 17, 1902 in Douglas County, Georgia to John Thomas
CAMP and Martha Jane DUKE CAMP.
Aunt Omi has supplied much of the information regarding the Clayton
County, Georgia CAMP line. Her mind was as sharp as a tack until a
stroke about five years ago. My young daughter shared a mutual admiration
society with Aunt Omi. We are fortunate to have a video we made
prior to the stroke of my daughter interviewing Aunt Omi about her
life. In the video Aunt Omi recites a poem she learned in the fifth
grade, the year she was forced to quit school due to the closing of
the school. She recited with great feeling and didn't miss a word
after all of these years. Her only regret in life was not having a
formal education.
She also told a story about how her mother, Martha, saved her legs
and possibly her life after a terrible burn. Martha's father, John
Monroe DUKE had served as a medic (without training) in the Civil
War and had passed down his "doctoring" skills to Martha, who became
well-known as a mid-wife in the Douglas County, GA area. When Aunt
Omi was nine (1911) Martha decided to do the annual spring cleaning. This
meant that everything, including the wood stove was moved outside while
the walls and floors were scrubbed with lye and hot water. Aunt Omi
tried to lift a kettle of boiling water off the fire and somehow turned
the entire kettle onto her legs. She was wearing wool stockings which
only held the boiling water on her skin. Martha sent one of the children
to the pasture to get the freshest "cow-pie" he could find and another
to the spring to get some fresh cream. She gently pulled the stockings
off Aunt Omi as quickly as possible to prevent pulling off the blistering
skin. She then boiled the cow-pie and cream to sterilize it and
make a poultice. When it cooled she completely covered Aunt Omi's legs
with the poultice and wrapped them in a clean sheet. She did this
several times a day until healing began. I can attest to seeing Aunt
Omi with totallly unscarred legs. My mother married into the family
in the 1930s and vividly remembers the discussion of how severly burned
Aunt Omi was as a child and yet she never had permanent damage or any
scarring as a result.
I don't know anyone who ever heard Aunt Omi speak badly about anyone.
How few of us could this be said about of any age? I truly loved her
and will deeply miss her.
Carole Camp Johnson