OTELIA CANADY

Otelia Canady was the seventh child, fourth daughter, of nine children born to William Ervin and Susan Bacon Canady. She was born July 15, 1880 in Bryan County, Pembroke, Georgia. Otelia was very selective in choosing her friends and therefore not as popular as her older sisters. She enjoyed a close friendship with those few friends and was very loyal to them. She was the tallest of the sisters and loved pretty dresses which she always wore with style and grace.

The Canady family was Baptist and were members of Hopeful Baptist Church in Pembroke. Otelia grew up to develop a strong faith in God and a life of highest moral value. She expected the same behavior and standards of everyone else as well. When her family moved to Savannah, she attended Calvary Baptist Temple along with other family members but did not join the church until April 13, 1919, when she was baptized. Her brother-in-law, Adolphus Smith was baptized on the same day. She loved her church and served it faithfully for 50 years.

Otelia worked in the same pants factory as her sister, Julia, who tells the story of Otelia walking through the park one Sunday afternoon with two of her friends when a handsome young Irishman came over and started a conversation with them. The young man was Patrick Joseph Higgins. From that meeting a courtship began between Patrick Higgins and Otelia Canady. They were married a few months later.

My best memory of Aunt OTelia and Uncle Pat together was when they lived in their pretty bungalow on 35th Street. Among the tasteful furnishings in that home was a player piano and numerous rolls of music. There was also an expensive Victrola, which had to be cranked by hand. I still remember the names of the many records and rolls of music they had. I must have spent hours playing those records. This was one of the happiest times of Otelia's life. Uncle Pat enjoyed his work and was happy in his home and his love for Aunt OTelia. I have fond memories of him; he was a truly unselfish man.

Aunt Otelia and Uncle Pat had no children of their own but their love, understanding and generosity to Aunt Otelia's nieces and nephews was outstanding. I can appreciate their patience with me when I was allowed to play their musical instruments to my heart's content. I always enjoyed spending the day in their home. She was a good cook and my brother Joe Miller says she made the best beef stew in the country. The strong ties Aunt Otelia had with the children of her brothers and sisters extended even to their friends. Once she got together with my family and friends and gave me a surprise birthday party on my 16th birthday. I think she and Uncle Pat enjoyed it as much as I did. My friends never forgot her.

She was deeply grounded in her faith, which gave her courage for the times of great sorrow in her life, especially in the loss of her husband at the age of 49. After he died, she was lonely in their home, so she sold it and lived first with her sister, Susie Lynch, and later with Julia Miller. After a time of emotional healing she was ready for an apartment of her own. Otelia was a very fastidious person. She always kept her apartments clean and everything in its place. She always had lace curtains in the windows of her living room.

Otelia never remarried. She was not given to self-pity over her circumstances, but seemed to have aura of toughness similar to that of her brother, Paul. In her later years, as her financial circumstances and health began to fail, she found consolation and great strength in the love and caring of her nieces and nephews who had always brought sunshine into her life. From the youngest to the oldest, she had the uncommon ability to relate to each of them.

One day after shopping, she was about to enter her home when she stumbled and fell, fracturing her right arm. She was unable to do her housework and take care of herself, so at the insistence of her physician, was admitted to Chatham Nursing Home. She missed her apartment and her things, so her niece, Josephine Hernandez, took her out for a ride each week. Otelia always wanted to go home to her apartment and stay there by herself for a while. During her visits to her home, she would check over things, look at pictures, make telephone calls, and just reflect. These few hours each week afforded her some of the only pleasurable moments in her latter days. She would call Josephine to come for her when she was ready to return to the nursing home.

Otelia became ill while in the nursing home and never recovered. She passed away early in the morning of October 21, 1973. She was the last of the nine children to die, but she never knew that because she would have grieved that her life had been too long. When her younger sister, Hettie Smith, passed away in November of 1972, Otelia was ill and unable to attend the funeral.

Otelia Canady Higgins left us a legacy of virtue, charity, loyalty and love. At the age of 93 she was laid to rest among her sisters in Hillcrest Cemetery on October 23, 1973.

Thanks to Adeline Limehouse, Jack Adams, and Hoyt Canady for the information herein.