Kirksey FamilyHelen Kirksey was from Taylor County, Georgia, as were her parents and several other generations of her family. Her father was Barnet Lee Kirksey and her mother was Ida Philmon. Helen's father was a farmer and she knew a lot about farming and after her marriage to Joe Grassi and moving to Far Rockaway, New York, after World War II she eventually was able to take her knowledge of farming to the backyard garden. Before that though, as a young teen, one of her jobs on the farm was candling eggs. This was a technique used to determine if the egg was fertilized. She said that was the reason she didn't care to eat eggs.
During World War II, Helen worked for the War Department in Washington DC. She married Joe there. Shortly after that he shipped out to North Africa. She continued working until the end of the war. She lived in a Georgetown neighborhood with several other women whose husbands were overseas also. |