I was blessed with a wonderful, loving great-grandmother: Bessie Bee Pennington (Osborne.) She was the daughter of Margaret Ann Whittaker (Pennington), daughter of William Aaron Whitaker. His father was Aaron Whitaker, and his father was Joseph Whitaker. They were from Giles CO., VA and on to Mercer Co., WV. When I was an infant, in 1947, my own mother had a nervous breakdown. My great-grandmother, at the age of 72, took me to live with her in the coal fields of southern West Virginia, where she ran a boarding house for the miners. She should have been enjoying her golden years with no responsibilities, instead of raising babies. But, she never seemed to be short of love, hugs or kisses for me. We would walk up the hill to pick her beans and tomatoes, and sometimes cross the highway to the general store. She taught me of God, patience, forgiveness, morality, tolerance, and living each day as if it were your last. I owe more to her than I can ever express. In 1969, she got to hold my son, her great-great-grandchild. She died in April of 1972, the same month my youngest child and only daughter was conceived. Every good thing I am as a mother is a gift from her....and I hope she is smiling as she looks down from Heaven at me now. Kyleen Gavin