Life History

Other facts

Notes

• Alabama, Military Card Files, 1917-1918
  Henry Woodward G Farr
  Occupation Farmer
  Induction 29 Jul 1918 Cullman, Cullman
  Training at Camp Hancock, Georgia
  
  His sister tells the story of his death, reporting that he was struck by lightning on 14 June 1937.  The article reporting his death and his funeral, however, reported that he died on the 15th.  The date of death on his grave is also 15 June 1937
  
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  Dear Niece
  
  By request of your grandmother Eva Smith, who married my brother, Grady Farr.
  
  Grady Farr was killed by lightning on the 14th of June 1937.
  
  Grady had some land rented to plant cotton from his father Lee Farr, which was my father also.
  
  They had just finished with lunch when a cloud started coming up. Grady went to the window that was close to the fireplace to look toward his house. He said to Daddy, “There is wind in the cloud and it is raining over at my house.” He started to turn from the window as he stepped on the hearth rock lightning struck the chimney and Grady fell dead in the floor.
  
  There was blood running out of his mouth. Dr. Gross was called. He said that Grady’s heart was burst from the power of the lightning.
  --  Letter telling the story of Grady Farr's death, told by Florence Barbee, written by Iona Barbee and sent to Judy Rieke, Aug. 14, 1979
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  The news story about Grady's death was published the day of his funeral.  The hand-written date on the article in 17 June 1937.  That date was a Thursday, and the article says he died on Tuesday, which was the 15th, not the 14th as reported in the letter by his mother and sister.
  
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  Grady Farr Struck In House; Several Others Receive Shocks
  
  Grady Farr, 40, farmer of the Holly Pond community, was instantlly [sic] killed Tuesday [15 June 1937] at noon, when a bolt of lightning struck him in his father's house, while standing near an open window.
  The deceased is survived by his wife and nine children.  Funeral services were held today at Duck River, with Revs Pruitt and Philips officiating.  Drinkard was in charge.
  --  Cullman Democrat, Cullman, Alabama, 17 June 1937 (according to handwritten date on the article)
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Sources

• 1. Gravestone of Henry Woodard "Grady" & Eva Bruce Smith Farr
• 2. Cullman Democrat newspaper, Cullman, Alabama
• 3. Alabama, Military Card Files, 1917-1918
• 4. Letters