In 2000 my mother was recovering from surgery undergone due to complications from a mesh implant years prior. Mother needed help with woundcare and help all around. At the time I was living in Japan and preparing to return stateside in the late summer to begin my MFA studies at UCLA. I ended up returning to the States 4 months early to help my mom recover. When I arrived, I realized how much care she needed. We had to take daily trips to have her wound dressed, and I was taught how to clean and take of her wound at home. We became very close, although my brother created tension for my mom, we were able to focus on our relationship. 

I convinced my mom to sell her house in Alexandria, and move with me to Los Angeles where she could live with me and create some much needed distance between her and my brother. She agreed, we sold the house, she used the money to pay off her debts and was finally free to go and do whatever she wanted. She decided to come with me to LA. in August of 2000, she made the trip with me across the country she drove her car with my dear friend Melanie Tolbert and I drove my Carmen Ghia convertable. We had a great trip across the southwest and arrived in LA. Mom was missing her life in Alabama and her friends. I understood it would be hard but I hoped she would give it a shot. She stayed about two months and then wanted to go back to Alabama. She returned with Melanie Tolbert to Alabama. Melanie would then return with her car- she fell in love with LA.

My mom found a cute house in Anniston, much closer to the Salvation Army where she returned to work. For the next 2-3 years mom would face more health challenges.  

Mother and I left S.F. to move to Ft. McClellan. H Mother was familiar with the area having lived there before. She purchased what was her dream house on a large acre lot. 

Life was simple here. We enjoyed our time there and being back in the south was good for mom. She had friends in Atlanta and family in North Carolina. So holiday visits were possible and mother blossomed her.

Mother's final orders and her final tour before her retirement would be to Independence, MO. (outside Kansas City). At this point Russell had finished H.S. and loved his friends and life in Alabama. Mother allowed him to stay back and live in the house while mother and I moved to Kansas City. I completed my last year of High School in a new school in a new place. All of these experiences, changes and requirements to adapt, made me strong and independent. Later in life, I clearly realized how the Army not only changed my mothers life but ours as well. 

After retiring from the Military, mother and I moved back to Alexandria, Alabama.  

In 1981, Lucy was given orders to transfer to the Presidio in San Francisco.  My mother and father decided to give their marriage one more shot and remarried prior to leaving Georgia. Our trip across the country was dotted with fun adventures and family visits. We stopped off in Texas where we were able to visit some of Hank's family.  

S.F. was a wonderful time and a difficult time. It was a shock to Russell and I, coming from a rural southern life to the "big city". Mother loved her work and loved the people she worked for. We lived on post, and for the first time mom was 5 minutes away from work, which made our lives simpler. Dad use to take use crabbing on the pier when we first arrived at the guest house. Mother loved the cool weather and the energy of the city was refreshing. Another bonus was having our sweet Aunt Naomi (Hank's older sister) close by in Marin County across the Golden Gate bridge. We all became close with Naomi during the two years we lived there. 

Dad decided to leave S.F. after being there for 3-4 months. He was unhappy and left while mom was working. She returned home to a note from him. Mother was broken once again. She cared a lot of pain and resentment towards my father for the rest of her life. While these were hard times mother found comfort ans support in her new relationship with Barbara Prach. She was a super skinny new transferee assigned to moms office. She was from the Bronx, and was a shock to all of us. I found her direct and loud nature refreshing and funny. She and her super cute son Joey came over almsot everynight to eat dinner with us. Joey was about 4 when we first meet him. Our family instantly bonded with them and we became a unit, exploring the city and all its beauty. 

After two years in SF. Mother recieved orders to transfer to Ft. McClellan Alabama, a familiar town. 

My mother and father were introduced in 1967 by a mutual military friend. Lucy and Hank were both stationed at Fort McClellan in Anniston, AL. My father being the socialite he frequented the NCO club on base. My mother was coaxed to come meet the handsome man and after a night of cocktails and dancing they fell in love. My father was a widower and had one child Marannah with his first wife, whom tragically passed away in a fatal car accident on Christmas many years prior. She was being raised by her mother's family in Macon, GA.

Soon after their meeting they wed on base in Anniston. Russell was born later that year. At this point they decided to leave the military and become chicken farmers in Georgia. My sweet Aunt Naomi (Hank's sister) has some interesting tales to share during this point in their lives, as my father had convinced her to sell her property and move to Georgia and they would be "chicken farmers" together. After a year or so, my father's pain (served in Korea and Vietnam) coupled with a love for having drinks led them to seperate. 

Mother sold the "farm" and reentered the Army and was stationed at Ft. McPherson, outside of Atlanta. She raised us here and dad was in and out of our lives. Their relationship was difficult, they tried as best they could in this time but they just were not able to sort it out. 

My mother was a good women, she embrassed Marrannah and her family and they became our family. Marannah's Aunt Lassie, became close friends with my mom. We lived for a year in Riverdale (outside Atlanta) near Aunt Lassie, I remember she would pick up Russell and me from Kindegarten and daycare and take us to her house where we stayed until mom could come get us. I often think of how difficult it must have been for her to work full-time and raise two kids. If it were not for the grace of Marannah's family we would have had a very different childhood. 

 

National Defence Service Award ( 1st Oak Cluster) 

Army Achievement Medal

Army Service Ribbon

Armed Forces Reserve Medal

Overseas Service Ribbon

NCO Professional Development Ribbon (3)

Army Good Conduct Medal (7th Award)

Army Commendation Medal 

Meritorious Service Medal (1st Oak Leaf Cluster)

 

1951-1954   Served as a Clerk Typist.

1954            Returned to Wilson, North Carolina

1954-1958   Returned to Trenton, NJ where she worked in private sector and              
                    Joined the USAR- HQ station, Fort Dixon, NJ

1958            Returned to NC, Assigned to Reserve Control Group.

1958-59       Ordered to Active Duty, Fort Jackson, South Carolina
 
1959-1961   Assigned to 3804 USA Gar, Heidelberg Germany

1961-1963   Stationed at Fort Bragg, NC

1963-1967   Assigned to Womens Army Corp, Fort McClellan, Alabama
                    Senior NCOIC if Clerical Training Group

1967-1974   Took Leave of Absence to raise Russell and Stefanie

1974             Joined 3398th USARECSTA, Wilson NC

1974-1981    ADT, Fort McPherson, Georgia
  
1981-1983    Transfered to Presidio, CA

1984-1986    Transferred to Fort McClellan, Alabama

1986-87        Transferred to 139th Medical Group, Independence, MO

1987              Retired US Army

 

My sweet mother had a full and wonderful life. She was born in North Carolina to Wiley Barnes and Mattie Shirley in Bullhead, North Carolina. Lucille was the only living member of her family. Her two brothers, Jimmy and William and  two sisters Sally Mae and Shirley Medlin are no longer with us. 

Mother's father owned a general store in Appie, North Carolina. They were a hard working family who enjoyed helping neighbors, putting in tobacco and living a simple  farm-like lifestyle in rural North Carolina.

July, 1950 Lucille enlisted in the US Army and completed her basic Training at For Lee, VA. She was then sent to Clerical School in Fort Dix, New Jersey. 

In 1967, Lucille met and married her husband Marion "Hank" Worth Adcock through an introduction via one of her soldiers. At the time Lucille was stationed at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama. They met, fell in love and were married. Lucille and Hank left Alabama to become chicken farmers in rural Georgia, where they purchased a small piece of land.