Henrietta Sisk Callaway

In the top picture Henrietta sits with her three children: (l to r) Laura Callaway Hart, Katherine Callaway Patterson, and Edgar Turner Callaway, on Henrietta's 80th birthday in April 2007. In the middle picture Bob and Henrietta cut their wedding cake in April 1951. In the bottom picture Henrietta reads during a week-long trip to Pawleys Island, SC, in June 2003.

This is the obituary notice of one of my favorite people. She came to Washington as a school teacher about 1950, had some of the worst-behaved children in the school, and soon gave up the profession. She changed her vocation to banking and bookkeeping and immediately won the esteem of her associates. Henrietta became engaged to Robert Eugene "Bob" Callaway, brother of my later-wife, Louise. They were married in April 1951 at the First Methodist Church of Greensboro, GA, and I was present. During their courtship, Louise and I went along with them on a leaf-trip to the North Georgia mountains. I remember turning left at Vogel State Park and riding by Lake Winfield Scott, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. After their marriage, Bob and Henrietta lived upstairs in a two-room apartment of his parents, W. Turner and Lollie M. Callaway. Bob had installed a kitchen and bathroom, making a very nice home. Henrietta was without peer as a housekeeper and earned a reputation as an exceptionally capable person in all respects. During the next few years, their three children came along, and Louise and I married and moved in downstairs. I remember with great fondness our family meals around the big dining table which were prepared as a joint effort by Lollie, Henrietta, Louise, and a black servant. Within a few years it was necessary that Bob build a house in Washington. About the same time, I bought Louise and me a small house we occupied for ten years.

"Funeral services for Henrietta Sisk Callaway, 80, of Sunset Drive, Washington, were held Saturday, September 15, 2007, at the First Baptist Church, Washington, with Rev. Chris Townsend officiating. Interment was in the Callaway Family Cemetery at Rayle. She died Thursday, September 13.

"Mrs. Callaway was born April 25, 1927, in Greensboro, and was the daughter of the late Meva Edgar Sisk and Eloise Smith Sisk. She was the widow of Robert Eugene Callaway of Washington. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Washington where she had served as a Sunday School teacher for many years and as a leader in the jail ministry of the church and in the ministry to shut-ins.

"Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Edgar Turner Callaway and Dorothy Chandler Callaway; two daughters and sons-in-law, Laura Callaway Hart and Edward Garner Hart of Columbia, S.C., and Katherine Callaway Patterson and Dr. Steven Griffin Patterson of Orangeburg, S.C.; four grandchildren, Russell Callaway Hart, Katherine Callaway Hart, Laura Callaway (Cally) Patterson, and Anne Griffin Patterson; three stepgrandchildren, James E. Blackwell, David A. Blackwell, and Matthew C. Blackwell; and two step-greatgrandchildren, Andrew Blackwell, and Brittany Blackwell.

"Pallbearers included Smythe Newsome, C.H. Randall Jr., Jim Reynolds, Lawrence Burton, Jim Burton, Allen Burton, Brian Baldwin, and Dr. Charles Wills Jr.

"Memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 603, Washington 30673; or the Callaway Cemetery Inc."