| Sources |
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 26 Nov 2002.
Knaffle Whaley obituary
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 29 Dec 1965.
Kathryn Ann Whaley obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 9 Apr 2007.
Family Tradition
By: GAIL CRUTCHFIELD
Community News Editor
April 09, 2007
Whaleys carry on quarter-century-old Easter Egg hunt
SEYMOUR - For the late Roy Whaley, the holidays always meant having his family around him, their voices and laughter overflowing from the house and into the yard. Though he's now gone, his wife Anna, their four children, 10 grandchildren, their eight spouses and the 13 great-granchildren continue that tradition.
"He was big on family, church and friends," Anna Whaley said. "That's what he believed, God, family and friends. He said he didn't need anything else."
He was happiest when he was surrounded by his family. Every holiday, Anna Whaley said, he wanted them at the house. He would sit in his favorite chair, situated just so in the large family room so he could see everyone as they arrived.
Like many families, the Whaleys have established their own holiday traditions. Their Easter traditions eventually adapted to accommodate the growing family. But Easter always starts, Anna Whaley said, with a sunrise service, adding her husband never missed a Sunday morning service at Oak City Baptist Church.
After services and lunch at the Whaley home, the annual Easter egg hunt begins.
Janet Loveday, Anna and Roy's daughter, said her mother would make Easter baskets for her and her siblings each year. The tradition continued with the grandchildren until Anna Whaley worried they were getting too much candy. She and Roy then began the family's current tradition about 28 years ago.
The Whaley Easter egg hunt isn't your normal, run-of-the-mill event where the younger members of the family seek out as many eggs as they can find. Each grandchild and great-grandchild of Roy and Anna Whaley has one plastic egg to find. Their names are written on strips of masking tape attached to an egg, and it's that egg they must find.
"If they find somebody else's egg, they're not supposed to tell them," Loveday said. For children who are too young to read, they identify their egg by its color, she added.
The egg hunters range in age from 33 down to 6 months old. The eggs are hidden by the Whaleys' children, and where they are hidden is determined by their age. Last year, the grandchildren said, was the toughest year, with eggs hidden in snake holes, near wasp nests and dead birds and on the roof of the house.
"They were mean to us," said granddaughter Andrea Mullins, who also admits to cheating with her cousin, Kelly Whaley, to help each other find their eggs.
New members of the family are not excluded.
"I don't think Donnie had ever hunted eggs before," said Christy Shuler of her husband.
While the hunt is under way, Anna Whaley waits at the front of the house with a basket and a list of names to mark off as each child delivers their egg in exchange for a crisp five-dollar bill. She exchanges five dollar bills with other family members to make sure she has crisp bills to give the children.
"I" love it," she said. "Papaw did, too," she said of her late husband.
"He'd just laugh," she added, of how he watched his grandchildren and great-grandchildren scramble to find their egg.
Surrounded by his family, "He would just sit back and smile," Anna Whaley said.
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, d. 8 Aug 2005 (Age 70 years)