Shelby County Today

 

April 3, 2025 - Geneva Alvereta Oswalt, affectionately known as “Genny,” was born on December 10, 1923, in the rural heart of Shelby County, Texas. The daughter of Joseph Littleton “Lit” Oswalt Sr. and Martha Ida Metcalf Oswalt, Genny grew up in a large, tight-knit family on a farm along Lower Logansport and East Hamilton Road. Her father, a hardworking farmer, owned their modest home, where Genny was raised alongside her ten siblings—Jimmie, Joseph Jr., Nannie, Ruthie, Alma, Selma, Bernice, Grace, and Wretha—and a cousin who shared their bustling household. Life in Precinct 2 was simple; the 1930 census reveals the family did not even own a radio set, a testament to their focus on the land and each other rather than modern distractions. Of course, the great depression may have also played a part.

 

Genny’s childhood was marked by both love and loss. In 1938, at the tender age of fourteen, she faced a profound tragedy when her mother, Martha, passed away at forty-four. Martha was laid to rest in Strong Cemetery in Huxley Bay, Texas, leaving Genny, her siblings, and their widowed father to carry on. By 1940, at age 16, Genny was still living on the family farm with her father, now fifty-seven, and six of her sisters, along with a nephew and a lodger. Having completed the eighth grade, she contributed to the household as her father continued his work as a farmer, a steady presence in their rural community.

 

The world beyond Shelby County soon called Genny, and with the onset of World War II, she answered. On January 26, 1944, at the age of twenty, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Beaumont, Texas. She was not alone in her patriotism—her older sister, Bernice Levell Oswalt McGee, also served in the Navy during the war as part of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), reflecting the Oswalt family’s strong sense of duty. Genny’s journey took her first to the Naval Training School (Hunter College) in the Bronx, New York, where she arrived as an Apprentice Seaman on February 24, 1944. By March, her name appeared on the muster rolls, marking the start of her service. She quickly adapted to military life, and by April 30, 1944, she was transferred to the Naval Radio Station in San Diego, California, where she served as a Seaman Second Class. Genny’s time in the Navy was a testament to her resilience and patriotism, and she was honorably discharged in 1945 at the age of twenty-one, having played her part in the war effort.

 

Returning to Texas, Genny’s life took a joyful turn. She married Phillip Melvin Wiedemann, a fellow World War II veteran, and together they began building a family. On December 25, 1946, their first daughter, Beverly Jean, was born, bringing holiday cheer to their new life in Beaumont. By 1947, the young couple appeared in the Beaumont City Directory, living at 945 Essex, where Phil worked as a business representative for the telephone company. Three years later, in 1950, the census captured their growing family: Genny, now twenty-six, was “keeping house” while raising Beverly, age three, and their second daughter, Kathleen, born in 1949. The Wiedemann’s lived at 535 Lavaca in Beaumont, where Phil had risen to the role of Business Office Supervisor at the telephone company. With 12 years of schooling behind her, Genny embraced her role as a homemaker with the same dedication she had shown in the Navy.

 

The years that followed brought both milestones and sorrows. In 1961, Genny’s father, Joseph, passed away at 77 while visiting Orange, Texas, closing a chapter of her rural roots. By 1970, the family had relocated to Dallas, where Genny and Phil’s daughter Kathleen married William Johnson on April 18. The 1975 Dallas City Directory listed Genny, Phil, and Beverly living together at 505 Brook Valley Lane, a home that reflected their stability and closeness. Over the decades, Genny and Phil built a life rooted in family and community, eventually settling at 3728 Alta Vista Lane in Dallas by 1993, as noted in public records.

 

Genny’s later years were spent surrounded by the family she cherished, though her time with them was drawing to a close. On October 9, 2009, at the age of eighty-five, Geneva Alvereta “Genny” Oswalt Wiedemann passed away in Sherman, Texas. She was laid to rest on October 13 in Little Bethel Memorial Park in Duncanville, Dallas County, Texas, leaving behind her husband Phil, daughters Beverly and Kathleen, and a legacy of love and service. Phil would live on until 2016, reaching ninety-four, while Kathleen passed in 2021 at 72, buried in Strong Cemetery near Genny’s earliest memories.

 

Genny’s story is one of strength, service, and family. From the fields of Shelby County to the radio stations of the Navy, and from the joys of motherhood to the quiet of her final years, she lived a life shaped by the people she loved and the times she endured. Her legacy lives on in her daughters, her siblings’ sprawling families, and the memory of a woman who met every challenge with grace. Day is done, God is nigh.

 

Larry E. Hume, VFW Post 8904, Center, Texas, researched the information for this biography, see sources below. Using this research and sources, the AI of Grok.com, formalized and wrote the story with some minor editing by Hume.

 

SOURCES:

(1) https://grok.com/chat/d6c17030-5785-461b-a780-52b3a4c48019  

(2) Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 2, Shelby, Texas; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0005; FHL microfilm: 2342124

(3) Year: 1940; Census Place: Shelby, Texas; Roll: m-t0627-04136; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 210-7

(4) The National Archives at College Park, Maryland; College Park, MD, USA; Muster Rolls of U.S. Navy Ships, Stations, and Other Naval Activities, 01/01/1939 - 01/01/1949; Record Group Title: Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1798-2007; Record Group:: 24

(5) Ancestry.com. Texas, U.S., Birth Index, 1903-1997 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

(6) Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

(7) National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: Beaumont, Jefferson, Texas; Roll: 5361; Page: 74; Enumeration District: 257-123

(8) Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

(9) Ancestry.com. U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

(10) The Herald Democrat; Publication Date: 11/ Oct/ 2009; Publication Place: Sherman, Texas, USA; URL: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heralddemocrat/obituary.aspx?n=genny-wi...