Eva Marie, your daughter is on the way – The Troy Messenger

So, a guy who looked to be about 60 just walked into the Messenger office. He explained to me that he and his wife were driving through Troy in a small van back to their home near Clearwater, Florida. I didn’t catch where they came from.

His wife didn’t come to the office. She sat and waited in the van. He asked if I could help him with anything. I told him that if I could, I would try.

He explained to me that when his wife was very young, her mother was hit by a car somewhere near Troy. I don’t know the circumstances, but the daughter was living in Clearwater, Florida when this happened.

The man told me that his wife had no information about the exact date of her mother’s death or where her final resting place was. All she knew was that her mother had died in a tragic accident somewhere near Troy, Alabama, decades ago.

Can I help him find some information about his wife’s mother, he asked again?

We walked from our office lobby back to my desk and I sat down in front of the computer and typed Newspapers.com into my browser. I asked him, “What was the name of your wife’s mother?” He said her name was Eva Marie Catrett. So I entered that into the search box on the website and selected Troy, Alabama. Then I pressed “enter”. A second later we got the results our daughter was looking for.

The story (just one sentence) appeared in the May 28, 1962 issue of the Troy Messenger. It was written there:

Eva Marie Catrett, 43, of Troy, was hit by a car Saturday while walking on Alabama 87 south of Troy.

We even found Eva Marie’s obituary, which stated that her mother was buried in the Hebron Baptist Church cemetery near Zion Chapel High School.

Either way, rest in peace, Eva Marie Catrett. Your daughter is now on her way to visit your grave.