Ressie Roxana Biddix

Ressie Roxana was born May 30, 1913 and was the oldest child of Marion Robert and Melissa Ardella Biddix. My grandmother thought she went to the one room school house in Altapass. It went to 7th grade. She kept the flowers maintained for some of the railroad owned buildings in exchange for railroad passes. Ressie was engaged to Earl Robinson and they were to be married when he returned from California. In April of 1936, a flu epidemic swept through the community and one of Ressie's sisters, Edith Estelle, died from the epidemic. According to my grandmother:

"We got through Easter and then in May, Ressie died of the same epidemic. Ressie was real tall and slender. She had a real good figure. She was older and was a big help to Mama. Ressie had a room of her own in the upstairs. She was engaged to Earl Robinson. I remember she had a long library table in her bedroom that Earl had bought for her. He had gone out to California and got sick out there. He was coming home to marry her when he got appendicitis. Ressie got real sick and Mama took care of her.

Pictures of Earl and Ressie

"When she died, they dressed her and laid her on top of her bed. She had a gray swagger suit that she was going to wear for her wedding. They buried her in that dress and best I can remember, they buried her on the day she was supposed to get married. They sent a message to Earl. He was too sick and had just had surgery and didn't get to come home to bury her."

Earl later wrote this poem about Ressie:

There is another poem that he wrote entitled, "Ressie the Queen of my Heart" that I need to locate. My grandmother did not think that he ever married and she is not sure where he ended up after that. I remember hearing Ressie's story when I was younger and thought it was the saddest and most heartbreaking story that I had ever heard.

Ressie died April 23, 1936 and is buried at McKinney Gap Cemetary off the Blue Ridge Parkway.