Iris Goldie (Daugherty) Thompson

Iris was born September 18, 1896 in Barbour County, West Virginia.  She was the daughter of John A. and Phoebe Belle (Burner) Daugherty.  She attended the Union school and the Bartlett school located in Philippi District, Barbour County.  She had three brothers who taught school, Isaiah Daugherty, Ed Daugherty and Cecil Daugherty. 

She was married to James Otis Thompson December, 1916.  To this union five sons were born; Junior Thompson, November 17, 1917, Gearl, October 26, 1919, Hugh, June 6, 1922, William, December 19, 1924 and Robert, July 27, 1926. 

Our mother was a hard worker.  During the Great Depression, she would go to the corn field and hoe corn along with the rest of us.  She would stop early and go to the house and fix something to eat.  Times were rough, but she would manage somehow to see we had something to eat.  She would go to the berry field to pick berries to can for winter months.  I remember one time we walked all the way down to our Grandma Daugherty’s at Union and picked berries and carried them back to Mt. Liberty so we would have berries for the long winter months. 

Our mother took care of Grandpa Daugherty.  He died in 1934.  In 1935, our mother and dad moved in with Grandma Daugherty to take care of her, but in 1936 we moved back to Mt. Liberty and brought our Grandma home with us.  Mom took care of her until she died in January of 1944.  She took care of our Grandma Thompson until her death in February of 1967.  She took care of her brother “Bill” Daugherty for a number of years until he had to be taken to a V.A. hospital in Ohio. 

Her husband, Otis (our Dad) died January 28, 1964.  She managed to stay at her own home with Junior living there.  In the fall of 1978, Junior went to Florida to spend the winter with his children and Mom went to stay with her son and daughter-in-law, Bob and Delma.  She made her home with them for ten years.  She fell and fractured her hip in October, 1988.  She entered the Broaddus Hospital for surgery.  The service worker at the hospital recommended that she be placed in a nursing home where she could receive therapy.  She was placed in the Elkins Convalescence Center until an opening at the Good Samaritan near Belington in December, 1988.

She died at the Good Samaritan June 21, 1991 at the age of 94 years.  She was laid to rest beside her husband in the Fraternal Cemetery near Belington.  She was a member of the Barbour Church of Christ. 

By Robert Thompson, son