My respect for my Monroe County heritage began long before I knew the word "genealogy". My mother, Julia Ruth Sutton, daughter of James Phinazee Sutton and Clara Julia Redding, was born July 10, 1901, and until the time of her death in 1991 she continued to tell me stories of her family, friends, and childhood experiences in Forsyth. Her pride in her ancestors was always so evident that even as a child, I wanted to "hear more stories". Perhaps my avid interest in history began with hearing about her Revolutionary ancestors and her two Monroe County grandfathers, James Henderson Sutton and Daniel Searcy Redding, both Confederate veterans. Several Sutton families lived a few miles from Forsyth, on what is now Sutton Road. They attended Fairview Methodist Church, where my grandmother played the little "pedal organ". Mother and her brother, James Carlton "Carl" Sutton, went to school in a buggy pulled by their horse named Rob. When she was barely eighteen years old, Mother left from Forsyth on the train to go to college in Milledgeville. She always reminded me that her family placed a great value on education, including education for young women. Her grandmother, Clara Pope Blanton, graduated from Griffin Female Seminary in 1861, and her mother, Julia Redding Sutton, graduated from Monroe Female College (Forsyth) in 1887. After graduating from college, my mother went to Burke County, Georgia, to teach, and there she met and married my father, James Garnett Odom, in 1920. My mother was a wonderful classroom teacher, and also taught Sunday School and played the piano for church services. In later years, following my father's death, she moved to Abbeville, South Carolina, to be near my older sister. She continued to teach and to have a positive influence on the lives of countless young people. After being away from our small rural community in Burke County for many years, we returned there so that she would be buried with my father. When we arrived at the cemetery, I was surprised to see so many of her former students, and also their children whom she had taught. They told me many stories of the ways in which she had influenced and touched their lives - quietly paying lunch money for some, supplying warm coats and sweaters, furnishing books, and giving words of encouragement and praise. So many of these individuals told me, "Miss Ruth made me feel special". On this Mothers' Day, I remember with deep gratitude and love, my mother from Monroe County. She was truly "special". Happy Mothers' Day to each of you. May we continue to instill in our children and grandchildren an appreciation of their heritage. Ruth Odom Reddick