Eugenia “Gigi” MABRY^[1]

• Name	Eugenia “Gigi” MABRY  [2, 3, 4, 5]
  Gender	Female
  HIST	of Lexington, South Carolina of Manning, South Carolina Sharing memories with Mom Centennials celebrate with their daughters JADE REYNOLDS / THE SUMTER ITEM Eugenia Mabry, left, is joined by her namesake daughter, Eugenia "Gigi" Mabry Huckabee, at a Mother's Day Tea held at Covenant Place Thursday. Mabry and her daughter both recall their love of horseback riding. BY JADE REYNOLDS jade@theitem.com (803) 774-1250 A few women are fortunate enough to be celebrating this weekend with mothers who are almost or are a century old. While no one special Mother's Day sticks out for them, they all remember getting together for the special occasion. "We would gather in the dining room at your house and had dinner or sometimes Dad would take us all out to eat," Deborah Norman told her mother Helen Carroll. "Mother was the center of attention, and we always gave her gifts and cards. If there were dishes, the husband and children had to take care of them." It was a tradition many carried into adulthood. "We'd come from wherever we were," Betty Hornsby said. "Many times we couldn't, but we always wanted to be there with Mama. We'd leave our children and come to our mother." Her mother is Mary Cunningham. THE GREEN THUMB Until the last year or so, Cunningham tended the gardens at Covenant Place. "Flowers are my love," she said. "I love the digging and seeing them bloom." She has shared her love of gardening with at least two of her daughters. "I love to be in the yard," Hornsby said. "I love puttering out there with my fingers in the dirt. It takes away the stress of the day." Mary France Thomas is a Master Gardener. What truly winds through their family, though, is love. "We've always had a real strong family," Thomas said. "My husband says it's one of the most loving families he's ever known. We don't have cross words. We don't fuss. A lot of that has to do with that we were raised to be nice to everybody." Cunningham had a similar suggestion for Hornsby. "It sounds so simple, but she said 'just always love them and keep on loving,'" Hornsby said. "'When they are most unlovable is when they need you the most.' It's a piece of advice I've told my own children." Cunningham worries some of that has been lost in this generation. "I feel like there is nothing as important as bringing a child into the world and caring for the child so that the child's life will be meaningful," she said. "The world has so changed now, (and) children are missing something. They're not getting it at home. There is so much abuse, drugs and guns. When I came along, ... the center was the home and church. Today, that seems to be shifted a little, and I think we're the worst for it." THE STORY WEAVER Flowers and churches played a role in the Mother's Day celebration for Eugenia Mabry and her daughter, Eugenia "Gigi" Mabry Huckabee. "If you're mother was alive, your wore a red rose to church," Huckabee said. "If your mother was gone, you wore a white rose. When I was a child, we'd go out on Mother's Day and pick little roses growing in the yard. She (Mabry) would pin a rose to my sister's dress and my dress. Her mother lived to be 98, so most of the time she had a red rose, too." "It was a church tradition," Mabry said. The two shared a passion for riding horses. She told the tale of when a man tried to take a picture of Huckabee on a horse and the flash startled the animal. "Her daddy put her on a 2-year-old horse, and I was praying nothing would happen," Mabry said. "Gigi didn't fall." "We've got all kinds of funny stories," Huckabee said. "Oral story telling is quite a Mabry tradition." This penchant eventually led to Huckabee learning of her mother working with the American Red Cross in World War II and a YouTube video about how she met Huckabee's father during her service. "That's really one of those things she didn't talk about," Huckabee said. "She was assigned to an evacuation hospital in Europe. She arrived 11 days after D-Day. I'm very proud of my mother." Mabry also taught at Wilson Hall for years. "I have bumped into many of her students in Sumter," Huckabee said. "She liked to do plays with the children, to have them act things out. She made things come to life. My mother's always had a joy for living." THE OLYMPIC MEDALIST Helen Carroll also had a passion for living having won a gold medal in the 1932 Olympics for swimming and later attending college. She passed both the athleticism and the thirst for knowledge on to her children and grandchildren. Norman remembers reading with both her parents. "When we went off to college, she helped us with that," Norman said. "We didn't have to do it on our own. A lot don't have that family support nowadays. "She always supported us in any activities we were involved in. I had three sons that all played baseball at Sumter High School and one played football. She attended as many baseball games as she could and a good many football games." She was big on the family members supporting one another, too. One time, one brother didn't want to go to watch another play. "I told him he'd always been there to see you, now you're going to go see him," Carroll said. "You're going to that game." She would also travel all over the country to see her family. "She'd get on an airplane and fly out for special occasions, holidays and summers," Norman said. "The main part is she taught us by example, and she was a wonderful example." She makes a special effort to honor Carroll on Mother's Day and always has. "I don't remember waiting adamantly for presents, but I know they were wonderful and pleased me very much," Carroll said. "They were always very thoughtful." Posted in Local news, News on Sunday, May 11, 2014 Proposed Change: Buford Stuckey MABRY, Sr. (I105331) Tree: Singleton and Related Families Link: http://singletonfamily.org//getperson.php?personID=I105331&tree=1 Description: Eugenia Mabry Huckabee has two daughters, not just one. The younger of the two; Dr. Laura Elizabeth Huckabee-Shuler married to Dr.Kevin Shuler. Sarah Mabry trthseeker6@gmail.com  [1, 3, 4, 5]
  _UID	B0EEA346CDB54444B5ECB167093DB188C9E3
  Person ID	I131948	Singleton and Related Families
  Last Modified	20 Apr 2019

  
  

  Father	Buford Stuckey MABRY, Sr.,   b. 1915, Sans Souci plantation in Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina d. 8 Sep 2011, Tuomey Regional Medical Center, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina (Age 96 years)
  Mother	Eugenia Redd “Gene” BRADFORD,   b. 1915, Columbus, Georgia d. 25 Mar 2019, Covenant Place, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina (Age 104 years)
  Marriage	1946  [6]
  _UID	AF6C947480DF4B05A3ED99704BDD5CC3B287
  _UID	AF6C947480DF4B05A3ED99704BDD5CC3B287
  Family ID	F17368	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Dr. Eddy Alan HUCKABEE
  _UID	21F5DCCCA79B436498C5C83115882B591ED1
  _UID	21F5DCCCA79B436498C5C83115882B591ED1
  Children	1. Anna Eugenia HUCKABEE   2. Dr. Laura Elizabeth HUCKABEE
  Family ID	F90717	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	9 Jul 2014

  
  

• Sources

  [S26647] Eugenia Bradford Mabry. [S12331] Dr. Lannis E. Huckabee. [S16705] Buford S. Mabry Sr. [S20996] Centennials celebrate with their daughters. [S21202] Sarah Mabry [S12348] Red Cross volunteer remembers time after Normandy invasion.