My Smoky Mountain Vacations

As you read this mountain love story you'll be reminded how much times have changed, and how many things also stay the same. Unlike today's microwave society, one hundred years ago it wasn't at all unusual to wait years for the fulfillment of a dream. But then again, Leona's and Perman's long distance courtship isn't all that different from today's virtual relationships. You'll also notice the strong Protestant heritage many mountain folks share.

Finding A True Love

by Veta King

Leona Southard was on her way to piano lessons when she found herself in a fix. Her buggy was stuck in the mud until a kind, Southerner happened along and offered a hand.

The young fourteen year old girl did not recognize Perman Franklin as one whose family rented farm land from her father, a prominent Seltice, Washington landowner. Neither did Franklin know it was his landlord's daughter in the buggy. He was too stricken by the thick, wavy dark hair and the round, soft brown eyes. It was this chance meeting that paired these two for the first time, beginning a friendship and a long storybook romance.

The Bill Franklin family, of the Banner community in the Great Smoky Mountains area, had traveled west after hearing that 'there was a good living to be made there.' Far across the plains and into Washington state they traveled, said their Great Granddaughter Ersa Rhea Smith.

Perman's family remained in Washington three or four years until the Smokies called them home again in 1910. In this short time he and Leona became acquainted and a courtship began. Before returning home, Perman's heart was absolutely broken, said Smith, because young Leona broke off their acquaintanceship. Leona, the eldest child, was a carbon copy of her mother who died when she was three. Her father had hopes for college in his daughter's future, and perhaps felt she was too young for a serious courtship.

Back East, Perman's mother, in frail health, confided in her son, “Now son, I don't want you to marry until after I'm gone, and when you do marry, I want you to marry my little Loanie girl.” After her death in 1913, correspondence was rekindled by a sympathy card from Leona. Perman was seeing someone else at the time.

He decided to write Leona, and if he received an answer (even though she might never marry him) he would never marry another, Smith said. The courtship, through about 200 exchanged love letters, began and lasted for two years. Leona wrote of plans to attend a college in Chicago, then teach kindergartners. Smith said her grandfather or 'papa' wrote, “Wouldn't you rather have your own children to teach?” His words touched her heart.

Both were dedicated workers in their Sunday Schools and churches. Perman, one founder of the Pigeon Forge First Baptist, later wrote, “I'll ask you, do you love your Sunday School class? There were over thirty little children at one of the Sunday School classes here – Sunday before last – without a teacher, and finally the superintendent had to appoint a man to teach them.”

“When I read of the thirty little children without a Sunday School teacher,” wrote Leona on May 12, 1913, “I thought, 'there they will have a place for me, and the sooner the better. Oh, how I love little children'.” Her yearning to come east was clear.

The two planned, across the miles, the building of their new home in the Smokies. As Perman, his father and his brother Wiley worked o build their new home, he imagined what life would soon be like with a wife and family. Nestled at the foot of Sugar Camp to catch cool breezes and near the meandering Mill Creek, Franklin soon completed his home and barn as he waited fro Leona's father to give his consent.

Family and community members knew nothing of his secret love out west, so one presumptuous lady suggested to an embarrassed Franklin, that here was his house; she had the furniture to fill it – so, “how about it?”

As their marriage together began, the two began living out commitments made in letters. She would read to him in the evenings the way his mother did when he was young. He would surprise her with little gifts... a wild flower placed in her hair, a bag of candy from the Saturday visit to town, or a nice handkerchief folded in the shape of a tiny wild animal. At the center of their commitment to each other was their commitment to the Lord, said Smith. With that commitment came a strong faith. “Nanny had such trust, she knew that whatever happened to her could not happen to her without coming through the Lord first, “ she added.

She surely must have drawn strength from these word only a few months into her marriage when Perman became ill with typhoid fever. With their first child coming, Leona said she had decided that if her new husband died, she would remain in the home he had made for her, Smith retold. The couple survived that early hardship and many others. They worked together, raised four daughters (Lee Walker, Perna Noland, Iva Campbell, and Rue VanMiddlesworth) and grieved over an infant son's death at only nine days old.

Through their 59 years together, Perman continued to court his wife. As he had written before they were married, 'since I can't do my courting before we get married, I'll have to do my courting after.” Their life together, which ended when he died on December 9, 1974, (she died in April of '91), was as they had planned it to be, said Smith. As he brought little gifts, she returned his kindness with a big hug and a kiss with surprise and thankfulness in her voice as if this was the first ever such gift. She continued bringing her husband's favorite evening dessert out on the porch. As years passed, these evenings began to include children, then grandchildren. The youngsters would brush their grandmother's hair, and Papa would sit and watch Nannie with the same admiration shown the young bride from the west.

Smith can hardly speak the words as she describes her Grandparents' love story. She reflects, “My grandparents had a true respect and appreciation for each other. Decade after decade, the family witnessed Papa's courtship of Nannie. He was true to his word; he courted her all the years of their marriage.”