Emily Toy Huntley McKinnon

[This is Virginia's biography of her mother.]

Emily Toy Huntley was born in 1890 and lived well into 1984. Thus she began life between two centuries, the eldest child of Virginia Thomas Curry of Baker County, Georgia, and Walter Jones Huntley of Anson County. Emily never wavered from the strict standards instilled by her parents' teachings and example; but when called upon to adapt to the changed world that her long life brought her into, she did so with grace. This flexibility and nonjudgmental attitude served her well in many years of teaching.

First instructed by her mother along with brother Walter (born 1895) and sister Mary Elizabeth (born 1900) at home on Brent Street, Emily attended the local academy. Her college years were spent at Meredith in Raleigh. A member of the tennis club, she also was Captain and played Center for the senior basketball team. Beside her picture in the yearbook is "The very pink of courtesy." Motto for the class of 1911: "Womanliness, Worth and Wisdom."

Emily's happiness at graduation was marred by the knowledge that her mother was ill and could not attend the ceremony. How gravely ill had been concealed from Emily at her mother's request, and it was a grievous shock when her mother died the day following her return home. The household was in mourning, and Emily gave up her teaching position away from home to become housekeeper for her distraught father and surrogate mother to her eleven-year-old sister and sixteen-year-old brother. Her mother's first cousin Frank Bennett and his wife Viola Clark Bennett along with her beloved Auntie Lizzie rallied round the bereaved family. Lucy Tillman, who had worked for the family since she was a young girl, assisted with household duties.

After several years at home, Emily was able to accept a teaching position at Orrum along with her lifelong friend and fellow Meredith graduate Myrtle Ashcraft. Their "new teacher" experiences were recollected merrily as they visited over the years on the front porch of the Huntley home.

This porch with its willow swing for two was the site for the courting of Emily by the young druggist who came from Maxton after completing his studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. William Louis McKinnon and Emily kept company for several years before marrying June 6, 1919.

They began housekeeping in a downtown apartment, and in August of the following year became the proud parents of William Louis, Jr.  Before the birth of their second son, Walter Huntley, they moved to the Brent Street house where Emily again became housekeeper for her father as well as her growing family. Here in 1925 their third child Virginia was born.

The young couple were engaged in all phases of Wadesboro's social and religious life. Will was an elder of the Presbyterian Church, where their children were baptized as infants. Emily, however, did not give up membership in the Baptist Church; and later she and the children returned to the church of her parents.

In May of 1927 as the nation was joyously celebrating Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic, Will succumbed to kidney disease, diagnosed only three weeks earlier. Emily again was called upon to shoulder enormous responsibilities. She sought employment in the local school, but a suitable opening did not become available until 1931. From that time she taught second grade until retirement at age 65.

Enthusiastic and dedicated, she was challenged by the individual, gifted or not gifted, cooperative or not cooperative. She embodied the quality of fairness and respected her fellow teachers and Principal Julia Cameron. Emily and her sister Beth, who returned to the family home with husband William Lain after World War II, joined Mr. Louis Fogelman for a number of years at the Wade Mill elementary school, each teaching a double grade. They considered this a choice assignment and enjoyed the keen interest parents showed in school activities. Emily cherished a second-grader's compliment, "Mrs. McKinnon has so many patients." When the Wade school was consolidated, Emily returned to the Wadesboro site and Beth went into social work.

During the years of keeping house for her father and teaching, she was also fulfilling her role as mother to her children, attending to their education and bearing the anxiety of having her sons overseas throughout World War II.

She did not revere war, but felt compassion for the casualties of war. A fifty-year volunteer with Anson County Red Cross, she was also active in the Legion Auxiliary from World War I when her brother enlisted in the Navy.

Walter Huntley, Sr., became increasingly frail in his 91^st year and required a great deal of care from his daughters. They were fortunate in their helper Minnie Ingram, who for many years assisted the family.

Delighting in the birth of each grandchild (Hunt, Christopher, William, Marilyn, Judson, Kevin, Nancy, Susan, Andrew) Emily took her first trip away from the South to visit her second grandson born in Wisconsin. Later she combined visits to family with sightseeing by tour bus and enjoyed the national parks and meeting new people.

At age 84 Emily's long struggle with glaucoma left her unable to lead the independent life she preferred. Agreeing to live with her daughter and family at Stanford, California, was her last big decision. She became the cherished resident grandmother, limited in her activities but not in her good humor and willingness to adapt. Eager to continue her life's pattern, she became a "friendly visitor" through joining another volunteer, Betty Walker, who drove to their assignments and enriched Emily's last years through their shared visits to shut-ins.

Lively and alert through her 91st birthday, Emily's health declined rapidly thereafter, and the last two years were spent at Pilgrim Haven, a Baptist-administered facility. She is buried in Eastview Cemetery next to her beloved Will.