Neva Miriam Scruggs Ennis celebrates a joyous 100th birthday!


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It was a beautiful birthday celebration for a beautiful lady - so very fitting. And it was such a grand occasion that it took more than one day to celebrate it! Neva Miriam Scruggs Ennis, our Cousin "Scrubbie", was born 14 August 1907, in Gainesville, Florida to Brick Pomeroy and Sarah Fay Carmichael Scruggs.


Cousin Scrubbie's mother, Sarah Fay Carmichael, was born in Newnan, GA on 14 December 1882, to William Spencer and Manora Alzada Summers Carmichael. Sarah Fay had an older sister in the house when she was born. Her "big" sister was approximately one year old at the time. Her name was Neva Kate Carmichael - our own Grandmother Johnson who would be the future wife of Seth Johnson.

Cousin Scrubbie's son Gary Morgan and wife Dorothy Lucius ("Dottie") Bassett Ennis (daughter of Julian Morris and Neva Carmichael Johnson Bassett - Uncle Julian and Aunt "Johnnie") hosted a lovely Victorian-style birthday picnic in Cousin Scrubbie's honor on 4 August 2007 at their home, breathtaking Misty Ridge Farm, in Glenville, North Carolina (more on that below). Friends and family came from all over the United States - Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, California, and of course North Carolina - to celebrate and honor Cousin Scrubbie. It was a true testament of the love they all share for this wonderful lady. All enjoyed a large and sumptuous picnic lunch, children played lawn games, "Scrubbie stories" and pictures were shared, and a 15-man choral ensemble serenated Scrubbie and guests. (Actually, that was supposed to be a quartet, but all the group wanted to come when they found out what fun there would be!) Her party even made the newspaper! Gary and Dottie hosted 33 of the guests overnight at their lovely mountain home. What a spend-the-night party!

Wylie Pierson Johnson (Cousin Scrubbie's first cousin) and his daughter Melanie Fay Johnson wanted very much to be with her on her actual birthday - 14 August - as did her cousin Orson Lucius "Pete" (son of David Glenn and Vaunita Oswald Johnson) and wife Jean Williams Johnson. We made the trip up to Glenville on that day and arrived in time to enjoy an alfresco dinner with Cousin Scrubbie in the pleasantly cool courtyard of Fidelia Eckerd, her Glenville residence. We talked and enjoyed each other's company into the night. Uncle Wylie and Cousin Scrubbie had so many family stories to share with each other and with the rest of us. By 11:00 p.m. the "youngsters" (cough) were fading fast, but Uncle Wylie and Cousin Scrubbie (the +octogenarian and the centenarian) were going strong!!

Gary and Dottie graciously hosted us at their Misty Ridge Farm. What a treat! They have beautifully restored their 2-story 1870's farm house. It is situated in the middle of a Christmas tree farm very near a mountain top with a 360 degree view of the Great Smokies (a view of 7 mountain ranges). That cool, fresh, mountain air was a wonderful respit from the 100 + degree heat we had left in Birmingham. And we were surrounded by lovely flowers (product of Dottie's very green thumb) and dozens of butterflies and hummingbirds that know a paradise when they see it.

On the way back to Alabama on 15 August, we visited the gravesite of Elias and Elizabeth Beavers Summers in Newnan, GA. They are the parents of Manora Alzada Summers Carmichael, grandparents of both Neva Kate Carmichael Johnson and Sarah Fay Carmichael Scruggs and thus great-grandparents of both Uncle Wylie and Cousin Scrubbie.

Here are some photos made 14-15 August 2007 as we celebrated Cousin Scrubbie's 100th birthday and had fun at Gary and Dottie's home.

Happy 100th Birthday, Cousin Scrubbie! We love you! Family members, you can send your own love and birthday wishes to Cousin Scrubbie. Send in care of:

Gary and Dottie EnnisP. O. Box 159Glenville, NC 28736or email to Dottie at dlucyb(at)hotmail(dot)com