Left: Eula Mae Right: Ora
Margie, Eula Mae & Matthew - 1994
Click to enlarge
Shreveport, LA – (April 21) Ora Johniken McInnis, shown at right in the photo below and last surviving offspring of Bragg and Isabel Gregory Johniken, reached her 100th birthday on April 18, 2003. A number of relatives and friends from around the area gathered for the special event on April 19 at the Pierremont Nursing Facility on Mitchell Lane. Ora recieved a variety of birthday greeting cards depicting her 100 years including one from the president of the United States.

The Johnikens and the Gregorys, with a host of other families, migrated from the Laurel, Mississippi area to near Pelican, DeSoto Parish Louisiana, toward the end of the 1800s. The area became known as the Mississippi settlement.

Maxine (Juanita) McGee Mooneyham, daughter, and son-in-law Otis Mooneyham, with the assistance of granddaughter Vickie Kelsh Carter, and nephew, Donald Rankin and wife Margie Savill Rankin, hosted the affair with cake and ice cream, finger sandwiches and other treats.

Among the twenty family members and friends who gathered for the affair were nephew Jack Bowman, niece Eunetta Bowman Nelson and husband Milton along with daughter Cynthia Sheffield, son Milton Nelson, Jr. and wife Linda and grandchildren Michael and Ashlea Nelson and Eunetta's cousin, Bernice Wilson. Sister and Nieces of son-in-law Otis Mooneyham attending were Leona Pinchera, Claire Fontenot, and Judy McMillan respectively. Richard Johnston, Ora McInnis' cousin and leader of the group which has researched the Johniken/Johnston family ancestral background, attended the celebration with his wife Bettye Nitschke Johnston and daughter, Jan Johnston Jones.

In October 2002, Richard Johnston lead a party of eight Shreveport Mississippi descendants to Jasper County, MS for restoration of the family's ancestral cemetery - the Welborn Cemetery.

Return to Memorial Six

-- rankinotes