Woman shares story of husband's pioneering in dialysis project

Americus Times-Recorder | Lisa Law
Charlene W. Roy urges others to be organ donors

Charlene Roy with photo of herself and her late
husband.  Photo: Lisa Law 

AMERICUS — As she makes her way through her Magnolia Manor assisted living suite, Charlene White Roby, 86, takes a seat to reminisce her early years of being born and raised in the Andrew Chapel Community located just outside of Sumter County, just over the Schley County line.

“My father, Charlie White died when I was two and a half years old,” she said, adding that she and her mother moved to her grandfather, C.C. Jordan’s farm located in Schley County.

“My mother remarried Gordon Feagin. That is when we moved to Americus. I didn’t want to go live with him. I thought of him as an old man. But, I eventually learned to love him. He was a mighty good stepfather,” she said, adding that she finished school at Americus High and attended Georgia Southwestern for a brief period before beginning her employment with the Bank of Commerce. She worked with the bank until she decided to marry and move north.

“It all began while my mother and stepfather were away. They were gone to New York to the World’s Fair,” she said. “I had to stay home. I was still attending school. I was sleeping at my neighbors’. As I was crossing the street, there were four young men walking down the sidewalk. They asked me, ‘Do you know where the Blairs live?’” she said, adding that James R. Blair, then owner/publisher of the Americus Times-Recorder, lived in her neighborhood.

“My grandmother was keeping the Blairs’ baby. Well, a few days later, Mrs. Blair called and invited me and a few of my girlfriends over to attend a Coca-Cola party with the guys. That is what you had back then, instead of coffee or tea, the young kids had Coke parties,” she explained with a smile.

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