In memory of "Pretty Jimmie"
A funeral is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday at O'Brien-Rogers & Crosby Funeral Home, for Jimmie L. Faison, of 840 Erbium Circle, who died Friday in a Reno hospital.
Mrs. Faison, 57, was born June 3, 1919 in Canton, Mississippi, to Robert and Emma Seal Stokes, and had resided in Reno since 1944, having moved from Los Angeles.
She is survived by a daughter, Fauna Hodel Sharp of La Jolla, California; brothers, Willie Stokes of Santa Ana, California, Jessie Stokes of Mobile, Alabama; and a sister, Mary Davenport of Los Angeles.
Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery.
Nevada State Journal - Saturday, 13 November 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Jimmie Lee and her adopted daughter, Fauna Hodel, were recently the subject of a six-part television series, inspired by true events, entitled "I Am the Night", created and written by Sam Sheridan, that aired from 28 January until 04 March 2019 on the TNT network. The role of Jimmie Lee was portrayed by Golden Brooks.
________________________________________________________________________
Sweeping Away the Cobbwebs -- by Ty Cobb
The black lady from Reno stared in disbelief at the baby she had come to San Francisco to adopt as her own.
She had been given the impression that the tiny infant she was to take and raise would be a Negro child, or at least of mixed racial blood.
This little girl was obviously white. Caucasian.
Jimmie, the lady from Reno, thought it out. The new problems she'd face in addition to the regular ones of raising any child. "I'll take this baby," she declared.
And so began the story of Fauna Hodel, a white girl raised by a black family and the story of a daughter-mother love which knows no racial differences.
Fauna Hodel is back in Reno for a while. Married, and living in San Diego, she came home to be with the woman she calls Mother who has been seriously ill in Washoe Medical Center. The attractive young woman with the long reddish-brown hair spends most of each day at the bedside of the ailing woman. And she speaks of two books she has been preparing, one of which may soon be distributed by a publisher. Titled, "Reflections -- My Life, My Fight, My Lord," it's a collection of more than 200 poems or blank verse. And there's another one in the works, too; titled, "Many Special Blessings."
"These books deal with the problems and joys of a white child who was raised by a Negro family," she explained as, from the hospital bed, Jimmie Faison beamed at the young woman she proudly calls "My Daughter, My Baby."
It's hardly been a normal life for Fuana Hodel. Jimmie had been working as a maid at the Riverside Hotel when a friend suggested that, because of her childless first marriage, she could adopt the baby of a teen-ager (16) who, she knew, was "expecting." But soon Jimmie was alone, and had to work, so the little girl was raised for the first few years by Jimmie's family, including the "Grandmother," in Los Angeles. Then she married Homer Faison, who, until his death last year, worked nearly 25 years at the shoeshine stand in the Esquire Barber Shop in Sparks. They brought the little girl home.
Fauna attended Sparks-Reno schools, married early, and moved away. But she spent some time tracking down her natural mother, and found her -- in Hawaii. "I also found some new young brothers I didn't know I had," she added. It was a pleasant meeting, and they correspond occasionally. And her curiosity is satisifed.
But although Mrs. Jimmie Faison never got around to filing formal papers of adoption, it has no bearing on the tender Mother-Daughter relationship between her and Fauna, who she first saw as a tiny baby of a different color in that San Francisco hospital years ago.
Nevada State Journal - 02 June 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Contributors notes:
Jimmie Lee Stokes had a prior marriage to Pastor, Felix Christopher Greenwade.
They were married on 10 December 1951 at Carson City, Nevada.
Mr. Greenwade was born 06 March 1912 in Oklahoma and died at the age of 81 on 15 December 1993 in King County, Washington.
She later married Homer Faison, who was born 07 January 1892 at Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Homer died in Washoe County, Nevada in November 1974. He had a previous marriage to Rosie, or Rosa Holland and had several children with her. They lived in the area of Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas between 1920 and 1940.
A funeral is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday at O'Brien-Rogers & Crosby Funeral Home, for Jimmie L. Faison, of 840 Erbium Circle, who died Friday in a Reno hospital.
Mrs. Faison, 57, was born June 3, 1919 in Canton, Mississippi, to Robert and Emma Seal Stokes, and had resided in Reno since 1944, having moved from Los Angeles.
She is survived by a daughter, Fauna Hodel Sharp of La Jolla, California; brothers, Willie Stokes of Santa Ana, California, Jessie Stokes of Mobile, Alabama; and a sister, Mary Davenport of Los Angeles.
Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery.
Nevada State Journal - Saturday, 13 November 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Jimmie Lee and her adopted daughter, Fauna Hodel, were recently the subject of a six-part television series, inspired by true events, entitled "I Am the Night", created and written by Sam Sheridan, that aired from 28 January until 04 March 2019 on the TNT network. The role of Jimmie Lee was portrayed by Golden Brooks.
________________________________________________________________________
Sweeping Away the Cobbwebs -- by Ty Cobb
The black lady from Reno stared in disbelief at the baby she had come to San Francisco to adopt as her own.
She had been given the impression that the tiny infant she was to take and raise would be a Negro child, or at least of mixed racial blood.
This little girl was obviously white. Caucasian.
Jimmie, the lady from Reno, thought it out. The new problems she'd face in addition to the regular ones of raising any child. "I'll take this baby," she declared.
And so began the story of Fauna Hodel, a white girl raised by a black family and the story of a daughter-mother love which knows no racial differences.
Fauna Hodel is back in Reno for a while. Married, and living in San Diego, she came home to be with the woman she calls Mother who has been seriously ill in Washoe Medical Center. The attractive young woman with the long reddish-brown hair spends most of each day at the bedside of the ailing woman. And she speaks of two books she has been preparing, one of which may soon be distributed by a publisher. Titled, "Reflections -- My Life, My Fight, My Lord," it's a collection of more than 200 poems or blank verse. And there's another one in the works, too; titled, "Many Special Blessings."
"These books deal with the problems and joys of a white child who was raised by a Negro family," she explained as, from the hospital bed, Jimmie Faison beamed at the young woman she proudly calls "My Daughter, My Baby."
It's hardly been a normal life for Fuana Hodel. Jimmie had been working as a maid at the Riverside Hotel when a friend suggested that, because of her childless first marriage, she could adopt the baby of a teen-ager (16) who, she knew, was "expecting." But soon Jimmie was alone, and had to work, so the little girl was raised for the first few years by Jimmie's family, including the "Grandmother," in Los Angeles. Then she married Homer Faison, who, until his death last year, worked nearly 25 years at the shoeshine stand in the Esquire Barber Shop in Sparks. They brought the little girl home.
Fauna attended Sparks-Reno schools, married early, and moved away. But she spent some time tracking down her natural mother, and found her -- in Hawaii. "I also found some new young brothers I didn't know I had," she added. It was a pleasant meeting, and they correspond occasionally. And her curiosity is satisifed.
But although Mrs. Jimmie Faison never got around to filing formal papers of adoption, it has no bearing on the tender Mother-Daughter relationship between her and Fauna, who she first saw as a tiny baby of a different color in that San Francisco hospital years ago.
Nevada State Journal - 02 June 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Contributors notes:
Jimmie Lee Stokes had a prior marriage to Pastor, Felix Christopher Greenwade.
They were married on 10 December 1951 at Carson City, Nevada.
Mr. Greenwade was born 06 March 1912 in Oklahoma and died at the age of 81 on 15 December 1993 in King County, Washington.
She later married Homer Faison, who was born 07 January 1892 at Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Homer died in Washoe County, Nevada in November 1974. He had a previous marriage to Rosie, or Rosa Holland and had several children with her. They lived in the area of Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas between 1920 and 1940.
In memory of "Pretty Jimmie"
A funeral is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday at O'Brien-Rogers & Crosby Funeral Home, for Jimmie L. Faison, of 840 Erbium Circle, who died Friday in a Reno hospital.
Mrs. Faison, 57, was born June 3, 1919 in Canton, Mississippi, to Robert and Emma Seal Stokes, and had resided in Reno since 1944, having moved from Los Angeles.
She is survived by a daughter, Fauna Hodel Sharp of La Jolla, California; brothers, Willie Stokes of Santa Ana, California, Jessie Stokes of Mobile, Alabama; and a sister, Mary Davenport of Los Angeles.
Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery.
Nevada State Journal - Saturday, 13 November 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Jimmie Lee and her adopted daughter, Fauna Hodel, were recently the subject of a six-part television series, inspired by true events, entitled "I Am the Night", created and written by Sam Sheridan, that aired from 28 January until 04 March 2019 on the TNT network. The role of Jimmie Lee was portrayed by Golden Brooks.
________________________________________________________________________
Sweeping Away the Cobbwebs -- by Ty Cobb
The black lady from Reno stared in disbelief at the baby she had come to San Francisco to adopt as her own.
She had been given the impression that the tiny infant she was to take and raise would be a Negro child, or at least of mixed racial blood.
This little girl was obviously white. Caucasian.
Jimmie, the lady from Reno, thought it out. The new problems she'd face in addition to the regular ones of raising any child. "I'll take this baby," she declared.
And so began the story of Fauna Hodel, a white girl raised by a black family and the story of a daughter-mother love which knows no racial differences.
Fauna Hodel is back in Reno for a while. Married, and living in San Diego, she came home to be with the woman she calls Mother who has been seriously ill in Washoe Medical Center. The attractive young woman with the long reddish-brown hair spends most of each day at the bedside of the ailing woman. And she speaks of two books she has been preparing, one of which may soon be distributed by a publisher. Titled, "Reflections -- My Life, My Fight, My Lord," it's a collection of more than 200 poems or blank verse. And there's another one in the works, too; titled, "Many Special Blessings."
"These books deal with the problems and joys of a white child who was raised by a Negro family," she explained as, from the hospital bed, Jimmie Faison beamed at the young woman she proudly calls "My Daughter, My Baby."
It's hardly been a normal life for Fuana Hodel. Jimmie had been working as a maid at the Riverside Hotel when a friend suggested that, because of her childless first marriage, she could adopt the baby of a teen-ager (16) who, she knew, was "expecting." But soon Jimmie was alone, and had to work, so the little girl was raised for the first few years by Jimmie's family, including the "Grandmother," in Los Angeles. Then she married Homer Faison, who, until his death last year, worked nearly 25 years at the shoeshine stand in the Esquire Barber Shop in Sparks. They brought the little girl home.
Fauna attended Sparks-Reno schools, married early, and moved away. But she spent some time tracking down her natural mother, and found her -- in Hawaii. "I also found some new young brothers I didn't know I had," she added. It was a pleasant meeting, and they correspond occasionally. And her curiosity is satisifed.
But although Mrs. Jimmie Faison never got around to filing formal papers of adoption, it has no bearing on the tender Mother-Daughter relationship between her and Fauna, who she first saw as a tiny baby of a different color in that San Francisco hospital years ago.
Nevada State Journal - 02 June 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Contributors notes:
Jimmie Lee Stokes had a prior marriage to Pastor, Felix Christopher Greenwade.
They were married on 10 December 1951 at Carson City, Nevada.
Mr. Greenwade was born 06 March 1912 in Oklahoma and died at the age of 81 on 15 December 1993 in King County, Washington.
She later married Homer Faison, who was born 07 January 1892 at Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Homer died in Washoe County, Nevada in November 1974. He had a previous marriage to Rosie, or Rosa Holland and had several children with her. They lived in the area of Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas between 1920 and 1940.
A funeral is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Tuesday at O'Brien-Rogers & Crosby Funeral Home, for Jimmie L. Faison, of 840 Erbium Circle, who died Friday in a Reno hospital.
Mrs. Faison, 57, was born June 3, 1919 in Canton, Mississippi, to Robert and Emma Seal Stokes, and had resided in Reno since 1944, having moved from Los Angeles.
She is survived by a daughter, Fauna Hodel Sharp of La Jolla, California; brothers, Willie Stokes of Santa Ana, California, Jessie Stokes of Mobile, Alabama; and a sister, Mary Davenport of Los Angeles.
Burial will follow at Mountain View Cemetery.
Nevada State Journal - Saturday, 13 November 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Jimmie Lee and her adopted daughter, Fauna Hodel, were recently the subject of a six-part television series, inspired by true events, entitled "I Am the Night", created and written by Sam Sheridan, that aired from 28 January until 04 March 2019 on the TNT network. The role of Jimmie Lee was portrayed by Golden Brooks.
________________________________________________________________________
Sweeping Away the Cobbwebs -- by Ty Cobb
The black lady from Reno stared in disbelief at the baby she had come to San Francisco to adopt as her own.
She had been given the impression that the tiny infant she was to take and raise would be a Negro child, or at least of mixed racial blood.
This little girl was obviously white. Caucasian.
Jimmie, the lady from Reno, thought it out. The new problems she'd face in addition to the regular ones of raising any child. "I'll take this baby," she declared.
And so began the story of Fauna Hodel, a white girl raised by a black family and the story of a daughter-mother love which knows no racial differences.
Fauna Hodel is back in Reno for a while. Married, and living in San Diego, she came home to be with the woman she calls Mother who has been seriously ill in Washoe Medical Center. The attractive young woman with the long reddish-brown hair spends most of each day at the bedside of the ailing woman. And she speaks of two books she has been preparing, one of which may soon be distributed by a publisher. Titled, "Reflections -- My Life, My Fight, My Lord," it's a collection of more than 200 poems or blank verse. And there's another one in the works, too; titled, "Many Special Blessings."
"These books deal with the problems and joys of a white child who was raised by a Negro family," she explained as, from the hospital bed, Jimmie Faison beamed at the young woman she proudly calls "My Daughter, My Baby."
It's hardly been a normal life for Fuana Hodel. Jimmie had been working as a maid at the Riverside Hotel when a friend suggested that, because of her childless first marriage, she could adopt the baby of a teen-ager (16) who, she knew, was "expecting." But soon Jimmie was alone, and had to work, so the little girl was raised for the first few years by Jimmie's family, including the "Grandmother," in Los Angeles. Then she married Homer Faison, who, until his death last year, worked nearly 25 years at the shoeshine stand in the Esquire Barber Shop in Sparks. They brought the little girl home.
Fauna attended Sparks-Reno schools, married early, and moved away. But she spent some time tracking down her natural mother, and found her -- in Hawaii. "I also found some new young brothers I didn't know I had," she added. It was a pleasant meeting, and they correspond occasionally. And her curiosity is satisifed.
But although Mrs. Jimmie Faison never got around to filing formal papers of adoption, it has no bearing on the tender Mother-Daughter relationship between her and Fauna, who she first saw as a tiny baby of a different color in that San Francisco hospital years ago.
Nevada State Journal - 02 June 1976
________________________________________________________________________
Contributors notes:
Jimmie Lee Stokes had a prior marriage to Pastor, Felix Christopher Greenwade.
They were married on 10 December 1951 at Carson City, Nevada.
Mr. Greenwade was born 06 March 1912 in Oklahoma and died at the age of 81 on 15 December 1993 in King County, Washington.
She later married Homer Faison, who was born 07 January 1892 at Arcadia, Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Homer died in Washoe County, Nevada in November 1974. He had a previous marriage to Rosie, or Rosa Holland and had several children with her. They lived in the area of Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas between 1920 and 1940.
Inscription
JIMMIE LEE FAISON
JUNE 3, 1919
NOV. 12, 1976
"PRETTY JIMMIE"
