DONALD RABERNE PUCKETT
9 Feb 1930 - 11 May 2004
In the late 1980s I was at a Family History Center on my
lunch break, hoping to get a photocopy of some old marriage records on
microfilm, showing 3 Puckett men marrying 3 Corel women in Tazewell County,
Virginia in the early 1880s. I wanted to
take these photocopies with me when I went to a Corel family reunion in a few
weeks.
The fellow at the History Center, of whom I had requested
them, insisted that I come with him into the adjacent LDS church because there
was a fellow in the church whose last name was Puckett – and he thought we
should meet. I advised him that I was on
a lunch hour and needed to hurry back, but he was insistent.
Rather grudgingly I followed him into the church, where I
saw a man vacuuming the carpet. “Brother
Puckett, I have someone you’ll want to meet.
She might be a cousin!” and with
that, he introduced me to Don Puckett, a man volunteering some time at the
facility.
Don said his Puckett was from Virginia, and I said mine was
too. He then said his Puckett was from
Tazewell County….and surprising both of us, I answered “Mine too.” I began unfolding the photocopies of the
marriage licenses I had asked for, while Don, now wide-eyed, said “If you say
his name is William Puckett, I’m going to faint.” In a kind of unchurchly-type voice I said,
‘No, Don, but it IT IS William’s wife, Louisa Corel Puckett that I’m looking for”
and I handed him the papers showing that William Puckett and Louisa Corel were
married on Dec 18, 1842.”
That made Don and me instant cousins, and after we gained
our composure over such a fortuitous discovery, we exchanged phone-numbers and
from that moment on, Don and I, and our spouses became fast friends and
constant researchers. Every find we made
in the Puckett and Corel families for the next 15 or so years was sheer fun….for him, it had religious
connotations and for me it was a great hobby.
Those differences never stood in the way of the wonderful kinship we had
discovered.
Don was a smart, dedicated, charming and very funny man, who
turned every genealogical “hunt” into a great event. We spent lots of time on the phone puzzling
over a half-dozen Nancy Pucketts and which family they belonged to. We shared problems and we shared finds. All were made with more laughing that I’d
ever done before or since. Don was a
great cousin, a great friend and a fantastic researcher.
I am so thankful that the little man in the Family History
Center overrode my desire to get back to work on time. (I was only a little
late that day!).
Don passed away in 2004, and I am so thankful that we shared
“cousinship” for those 15 years.
And in case you are wondering, we were 4th
cousins - the very best kind.
