- Date Of Birth: October 31, 1924
- Date Of Death: October 23, 2022
- State: Alabama
Mrs. Ozie Mae McCardle Eastridge, 97, of Valley, AL passed away on Sunday October 23, 2022, peacefully at her home. Mrs. Ozie was born October 31, 1924, in Janice, MS to the late Henry and Eather McCardle.
Mrs. Ozie is survived by two sons Charles Wayne Eastridge and David Walter Eastridge (Dottie). Grandchildren Carey Wayne Eastridge (Michelle), Carla Anthony (Kevin), Melissa Blanks (David), DeeDee Shepard (Jim), Laurie Jimnak (Mike), Amanda Tedescucci (Mike), Hollie Foster (Michael), 19 great grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Walter Carey Eastridge (D. 2008), Son Melvin Leon Eastridge (D. 1993), sister Annie Belle Revett (D. 2016), and daughter in law Edna Grace Eastridge (D. 2018).
Ozie met her husband, Walter, on her 15th birthday when her school in Janice, MS hosted the boys from the neighboring town of New Augusta serving in the CCC camps at a Halloween dance. 2 years later, her father refused to let them marry because of a brewing war. So, she ran away, hopped on a bus, and came to Alabama to marry him. 10 months later, Walter entered the Army and Ozie became a proud military wife. She accompanied him through basic training until he was deployed overseas during World War II. Later in life she was also a proud military mother, having 2 of her 3 sons-Wayne and David both served in the US Air Force. During WWII, she worked at Woolworth’s in Little Rock, AR(Fort Robinson) and transferred to Woolworth’s in Waynesville, MO (Fort Leonard Wood) while Walter was in basic training. She then returned home to Mississippi to have her 1st son while Walter was away at war. When Walter returned home after serving overseas until WWII ended, Mrs. Ozie fondly remembered hearing footsteps in the gravel drive and instantly knew it was him coming home to her. After the war ended, Walter, Ozie, and son Wayne moved back to Valley where she briefly worked at Fairfax mill as a towel folder. Soon after she began working for Edwards General store on Magnolia street in Shawmut, AL. After the birth of her youngest son, she opened her own general store, built by her husband beside her home on Johnson Chapel Road in Valley, AL in 1963. She operated “Walt’s Grocery and Gas” until her retirement in the 90’s. Mrs. Ozie became well known by many of the kids in the Cusseta community as “Mrs. Walt”. Along with being a successful businesswoman, she was also a skilled quilter and could fashion clothes from hand. Mrs. Ozie spent her retirement years crafting beautiful hand sewn quilts for her loved ones. She was hard working and could often be found working alongside her husband or sons fixing anything that needed to be fixed. She would climb a ladder to put on a roof or crawl under a house to fix a water leak. She obtained her work ethic and life skills from growing up in The Great Depression era. When asked what it was like to live through such a time, she would reply “There’s nothing to tell. Nobody had anything, you ate what you grew, walked where you went, made your own clothes, and worked hard for what little you had”. Mrs. Ozie lived her entire life as a strong independent woman, living her words “work hard for what little you had” every day of her life.
