“God did not want us to live in sin, but man’s mouth got him in trouble when he tasted the forbidden fruit. Man’s mouth has been getting him in trouble ever since.” Such is the wisdom of 95 years on Mother Earth.
On April 1, 1921, in Jasper County near Monticello, Sammie and Mattie Mae Banks welcomed their son, Willie Clarance Banks, into this world. Farming was the family way of life, a life Willie shared with four brothers and six sisters. It was a tough, demanding life, amid segregation and the Great Depression. Military records indicate Willie attended Grammar School Spring Field in Almon, Ga., from 1933 to 1936 then transferred to Bald Rock Rockdale Elementary School in 1937 and studied there until his draft notice arrived in 1942. He earned his GED in the military. And this is Willie’s story, an incredible 95 year journey with no end in sight.
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