Birth

I was born November 10, 1954, to Bonnie La Von Cheapon (Chepon), whichever way she wished to spell it, made no difference in my life, only hers, and George Byron Smith.

My mother, still living at this time, was born to Bernice W. Cook-Cheapon-Cohea, a woman that was not born of the marriage between her parents, but of an affair, great-grandma had while her present husband was in debtors prison. I came to the knowledge of this after my grandmothers death (B. Cook-Cheapon-Cohea). I always wondered why, she would say "An apple, doesn't fall far from a tree."

John Charles Cheapon. John Charles was killed in France with the invasion of Normandy, and to this day is buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery in Moselle, France. (WWII). As a matter of fact my mother's, father was killed exactly 10 years to the day of my birth. His death occurred on November 10, 1944.

My father, still living at this time, was born to Wilmoth Bernice Crow (Crowe), Smith, Cunningham, and Harlan Joseph Smith. Harlan Smith, was killed on                            , when the vehicle he was driving stalled on railroad tracks of a rise at Bulldog Crossing, which is located at the intersection of Illinois 48 and Mount Auburn Blacktop.