Singleton and Related Genealogy Pages
A history of many families.
1920 - 2015 (94 years)| Name | Juanita PEEBLES [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] | |
| Birth | 5 Nov 1920 | Sumter County, South Carolina  [1] |
| Gender | Female | |
| HIST | of Sumter, South Carolina of Columbia, South Carolina After 92 years, still BFFs Cousins back together, naturally Juanita Tisdale and Gertrude Lyons, cousins and lifelong best friends, now have neighboring apartments at Sterling House. They recently reflected on their long friendship and experiences together and apart living through the Great Depression and World War II. BY IVY MOORE ivym@theitem.com Juanita Peebles Tisdale and Gertrude Phillips Lyons are not just cousins, they're best friends, and have been almost since birth. If they were on Facebook or texting, they'd be called BFFs - best friends forever. Just two months apart in age, the women, now 92, have shared family, friendship and even some clothes. Around their very first Thanksgiving in 1921, their parents took them to a photographer to have portraits made. "My mother did crochet, and she had made me a little white dress," Lyons said. "I guess they put the dress on me and had my picture made," Tisdale said, "and then they took it off me and put it on Gertrude for her picture." Lyons commented, "They're good pictures, too. I still have the same brown eyes." Tisdale's mother, Jeanette Peebles, and Lyons' grandmother, Maggie Smith, were sisters, and although the girls lived miles apart, their families, especially the two girls, took every opportunity to spend time together. INSEPARABLE Lyons was born "out in the country in Lee County," she said. "I'd go visit them a lot." Tisdale lived near Gable, "past where Mayewood school is now." The cousins attended different schools, Tisdale at Concord Elementary and Lyons at Riverside School in St. Charles. "But every opportunity I got, I'd go to Juanita's house and spend the night," Lyons said. Tisdale, noting that extended families seemed to be closer in those days, said, "We visited each other because we were relatives, but we got to be more like sisters than cousins." "I'd ride the school bus sometimes to go to her house," Lyons said, "and sometimes she'd ride the bus and come to my house." LOVE OF MUSIC Both women grew up loving music, although their tastes are different - Tisdale likes country music, while Lyons prefers jazz and big band - and both took piano lessons from teachers who would go to their homes. "Almost everybody had a family piano in those days," Tisdale said, "so when my children came along (she has four), I made sure they had a good teacher and that they had a piano." She took lessons for just a few months, she said, but played piano for her church, Lewis Chapel United Methodist, for eight years. Lyons' interest in music was greater, and she continued her studies through college and eventually became the organist for First Baptist Church, where she began playing in 1943, shortly after her marriage to Clarence Lyons. They had three children. "I play so much by ear," she said. "I learned to play a lot by listening to the radio." She also worked at Shaw Air Force Base during World War II. Tisdale married George Tisdale shortly after high school, raised a family and started working when her youngest child was older. She worked at the Capitol Department Store in Sumter for a time and was a secretary at Penney's in Columbia. "You know," she recalled, "Gertrude and I grew up during the Depression and were married to our husbands during the war. We lived through both." LOOKING BACK The cousins reflected on how things have changed since their formative years. No electronic games or cell phones for them. As longtime friends do, they often complete each other's thoughts. "We played paper dolls a lot," Lyons said, a memory that made her cousin chuckle. "We'd cut them out of catalogs," Tisdale said. She said she was often surprised by how much food people waste. "We had to use all the food we had or go hungry during the Depression," she said. "We didn't throw anything away." Lyons remembered how food, gasoline and other commodities were rationed. "We had ration coupons," she said, "so we had to be thrifty." Tisdale remembered that "We only got coupons for about three gallons of gas a week, so when we went on dates, we couldn't go too far, so we had to just drive a ways and park and talk." Occasionally, they'd ride into Sumter to listen to Snuffy Jenkins and Pappy Sherrill and their bluegrass band, the Hired Hands. On the other hand, she said, "$3 could buy a lot of groceries in those days, but we almost never had meat during the war. We grew a lot of vegetables." BACK TOGETHER AGAIN Lyons and Tisdale continued to see each other fairly often after their marriages, but when Tisdale and her family moved to Columbia where they lived for 30 years, their meetings were less frequent. Lyons continued to live in Sumter with her family. Tisdale returned to Sumter several years ago, and the cousins, both widowed, lived in the same neighborhood for a time. Tisdale moved to Sterling House seven years ago, and Lyons joined her in February. Since arriving at Sterling House, Tisdale has taught the facility's chef how to make her famous biscuits and red chicken stew, and Lyons is called upon often to play the piano. "Juanita talked me into moving here," Lyons said, "and I'm enjoying it. We have been catching up every day." They've picked up where they left off, Tisdale said, and they spend a lot of time reminiscing. "It just feels natural," she said. Posted in Panorama on Sunday, May 12, 2013 6:00 am. JUANITA P. TISDALE Posted Friday, January 30, 2015 6:00 am Juanita Peebles Tisdale, 94, widow of George Hartley Tisdale Sr., died on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015, at a local nursing center. Born in Sumter County, she was a daughter of the late Mason H. and Alice J. Newman Peebles. Mrs. Tisdale was a member of Lewis Chapel United Methodist Church. Surviving are four sons, George H. "Butch" Tisdale (Glenda) of Chapin, Randy Tisdale (Kit) of Mission Viejo, California, William Glenn Tisdale (Sandra) of Lugoff and David M. Tisdale (Karen) of Lexington; one daughter, Nancy Tisdale Reubish (Ken) of Greenville; two sisters, Margaret Tisdale and Mary Helen Peebles, both of Leesburg, Florida; 12 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and two sisters-in-law, Joan Peebles and Louise Gleaton. She was preceded in death by five brothers, Mason Peebles, John E. Peebles, Tom Peebles, George Peebles and Jimmy Peebles; and three grandsons, George Hartley Tisdale III, Jeremy Kenneth Reubish and Jason Paul Reubish. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday in the Chapel of Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home with the Rev. Karen Starr and the Rev. Jerry Watson officiating. Burial will be in Evergreen Memorial Park cemetery. The family will receive friends from 2 to 3 p.m. on Sunday at Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home. The family would like to express their appreciation to the staff at NHC and to Gwen Slater and Gloria Smith for their loving and compassionate care. Memorials may be made to Lewis Chapel United Methodist Church Scholarship Fund, 1510 Plowden Mill Road, Sumter, SC 29153 or to a charity of one's choice. Online condolences may be sent to www.sumterfunerals.com. Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home & Crematory, 221 Broad St., Sumter, is in charge of the arrangements, (803) 775-9386. [3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10] | |
| _UID | D9158EA0D4074D2EB5706EA58609B8CEBF82 | |
| Death | 28 Jan 2015 | at a local nursing center |
| Burial | 1 Feb 2015 | Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina [9] |
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| Person ID | I3731 | Singleton and Related Families |
| Last Modified | 1 Feb 2015 | |
| Father | Mason Haynesworth PEEBLES, Sr., b. 20 Jul 1899, Lee County, South Carolina d. 23 Mar 1961 (Age 61 years) | |
| Mother | Alice Jeannette “Net” NEWMAN, b. 16 Jan 1897, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina d. 6 Jun 1998, at her home (Age 101 years) | |
| _UID | 5C13A884067245FBB2F54B38FAB494C2817F | |
| _UID | 5C13A884067245FBB2F54B38FAB494C2817F | |
| Family ID | F611 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family | George Hartley TISDALE, Sr., b. 14 Jun 1916 d. 27 Oct 1998 (Age 82 years) | |||||||||||
| _UID | FB2364654EE14222A4AE5BF9060CEB9CB9FE | |||||||||||
| _UID | FB2364654EE14222A4AE5BF9060CEB9CB9FE | |||||||||||
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| Family ID | F5847 | Group Sheet | Family Chart | ||||||||||
| Last Modified | 1 Feb 2015 | |||||||||||
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