Mary (Shew) Gilley (abt. 1936 - 1966)

My father (David Gilley) and his sister tell me that Mary had rheumatic heart disease. She was a patient of Dr. Key in Ashe County, NC. Dr. Key wanted Mary to go somewhere west (I believe california) for a newly discovered treatment for rheumatic heart but she died before she was able to go.

After her death in 66', my father and his three sisters were split up between Two of Mary's uncles because Mary's family didn't think that Carl could take care of the children independently. The children were moved to Wilkes. My father said that his uncle had a son and that they had to sleep in the bed together because the house was small. He says that his cousin used to wet the bed and would blame it on my father and my father would get a whipping every morning. He also says that he told.his cousin that if he got another whipping for him telling his uncle that it was my father who was the one that was wetting the bed, that my father was going to "bust his nose". My father says that his cousin decided that getting a whipping from.his.father for wetting the bed was less intense than the busted nose he got from my father.