in Shanktown. She also pledged that her off spring would know the sense of family and belonging that was attached to her homeplace. T e children and grandchildren would spend summers in Shanktown, Reva cousins would travel to New York for extended visits, like exchange students, and Dollie continues to make the trip for weeks-long visits at least twice a year. T ough Dollie found more personal
freedom and opportunity in New York City, Laura’s will and resilience were not to be underestimated. At an early age, Laura worked in Culpeper but had heard about work as a domestic in DC and wanted to see that life for herself. She secured a live-in position with a Jewish family she oſt en spoke of with high regard. She would come home to Shanktown on an occasional weekend traveling by bus. I remember her telling me that she had been warned about Jim Crow. Her response, “Who is Jim Crow?” She told of one experience when a bus driver told her to move to the back of the bus. She did not understand and defi ed him; she was very animated as she told us that “he must be from the South,” but he decided to leave her alone. Two years aſt er her excursion in DC,
she met Jesse Hoff man, from Madison County. Laura and Jesse were soon married and proceeded to raise fi ve children and too many grandchildren and great grandchildren to number. Her marriage lasted 66 years until his death in 2000, at age 94. T ere were struggles and tough times,
to be sure. When Laura’s son died, it was a devastation she was not prepared for, saying later, “I thought I was going to die, when I did not, I knew God had some more work for me.”
Dollie Booten, age 103, and sister Laura, age 105, celebrating their birthdays together.
Laura and Dollie have seen some
amazing things in their journeys. Nineteen presidents; six wars; television,
telephone, and the Internet; electricity; air travel; recessions and depressions; the miracles in medicine and a man on the moon. None of these advancements are as meaningful to a Black woman in rural Virginia as the evolution of Civil Rights legislation and the election of a Black man to the Presidency of the United States. In all these amazing and life-altering
transitions, Dollie and Laura never lost each other. T eir love for the family and community prevailed and is embedded in the lives of their descendants. Dollie and Laura are truly Queens with a legendary legacy.
— By Zann Nelson 1920s Young Dollie. ZANN NELSON
ZANN NELSON
CULPEPERCHAMBER.COM
CULPEPER CHAMBER COMMUNITY GUIDE | 57
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
