Crawfordville

 The beginning of the love. Before the  turn of the century, on March 19, 1896, John Milton Towles married Luceil Rehwinkel of Crawfordville. She was 18.  For his new bride, he purchased two Camellia bushes which they planted in their front yard on either side of the porch steps of the then new home on Aaron Road, built by the former slave, Mr Louis  Gavin. John Milton Towles died in 1930 at the age of 60. Lucile never remarried and lived alone in the home until her death in 1977 at the age of 99. In her later years before going to a nursing home, she was blind. Her cane marks on the floor could be seen. Years later, in the early 1960's,my father purchased Mrs Lucile's  home along with her two Camellias. When my father sold the home in 2000, someone came and dug up the two bushes. I trust they are still alive somewhere in Wakulla County.