Pauline Bartley Childers

Pauline Bartley Childers was born on November 18, 1941 to Clinard Bartley and Pearl Swiney.  She grew up in the Marrowbone area with her sisters Imogene and Christine. She would live in this area for the next 82 years. She went to school and graduated from Hellier High School in 1960.  She received the Home Economics award which wouldn’t shock anyone who knew her. She would later be inducted into the Hellier Alumni Hall of Fame for her service and dedication to the Hellier Alumni.

She went to Millard vocational school and studied in the secretarial school there at the time. This would help her find the right job to work at her entire career eventually. 

Pauline would better be known throughout the community as Daisy from the latter half of her life after being dubbed so by her oldest grandson, Eddie.  Her youngest daughter, Sabrina always called her “mother” and young Eddie picked up on this and he began to call her mother as well. He added his own twist to the name though, as he had at the time gained immense interest in the movie, “Driving Mrs. Daisy.”  He put the two things together and out came, Mother Daisy. The mother term would eventually drop but Daisy stuck for the rest of her family and friends to call her by. There could be someone among you right now who never knew Daisy wasn’t her birth given name. 

Daisy was a provider and a caregiver by nature. And she would care and provide for those around her for the entirety of her life. Her mother was ill growing up. This passed the duty of caring for her younger sisters Emogene and Christine to her. By her sister’s own account Daisy was the mother to them as she stepped up to care for them in their time of need. Never neglecting them. Even if she went on a date with her high school sweetheart, she brought her sisters along for a movie or whatever event was in stored. Her sisters never doubted if their older sister would be there for them in any time of need. 

Daisy valued neatness and keeping things clean.  It is said she shined her shoes and polished them every day when she was young and everyone on the school bus knew if they stepped on her freshly polished shoes and left a scuff; they were in for a fight. For the rest of her life most knew Daisy by these same qualities. 

Daisy met her sweetheart Edwin Childers in high school. Her sister Christine remembers Edwin walking from Rockhouse to Dry Fork of Marrowbone to see Daisy. They married March 21 1961. Their marriage would only last 10 years. But the love which it contained lasted until Daisy took her last breaths. They had three children; Edwina, Sabrina, and Bryan. Shortly after having their third child, it was discovered that Edwin had a rare heart defect that left him with an enlarging heart. He passed away when he was 29 years old. Daisy never married again and never went on another date. Her devotion turned to her three children as she worked to feed, cloth, and support them. Her children will tell you she was able to support them above and beyond. Through her steadfast devotion and hard work, she afforded a life for her children to have a fair start at life.  

Daisy’s youngest daughter Sabrina aspired to become a barber like her father. Daisy provided the means and even built a barber shop on to her home on Marrowbone so her daughter didn’t have to go far to work. For years Sabrina used her trade to make a living for herself and was able to garner plenty of business in her well supplied barber shop. 

Daisy’s oldest daughter wanted to go to college. Daisy paid her way and Edwina graduated with no student debts as her mother covered the cost to ensure her daughter had a leg up when starting her life. Edwina valued the hard work ethic installed in her by her mother and the fact that she graduated college with no burden of debts to be repaid. 

When her son Bryan needed a place to live, Daisy helped move a home next door to her for him to live in. She also helped build a garage behind her home so that any mechanical project Bryan had going could be completed there. 

She provided for her family with the income from the same job for 41 years. She worked for Ratliff-Elkhorn Coal Company, right down the road from her house. She retired in 2003 after 41 years of loyal service to the same company. Her children say since work was only a mile away that if she received tattling phone calls in her office from her children, she wasn’t afraid to come home for lunch and give them all the whipping they needed.

Speaking of whippings, her youngest grandson Connor will never forget the time he took her car keys and hid from Daisy while she babysat him as a youngster. She didn’t hesitate to take a rake and whip his tail. The part he wasn’t quick to tell after was that it was a toy, plastic rake.  When in Daisy’s care you still had to follow the rules.  

Daisy was revered for her extraordinary talents in the culinary arts. Though she never had any formal training in the culinary arts, she was heralded through the Marrowbone community and beyond for ability to prepare foods that were more than tasty.  She passed these talents on to her daughter, Sabrina and her grandson, Eddie. Both boasting a strong reputation in culinary abilities with Eddie choosing a career as trained Pastry Chef.   Some of Daisy’s most famously treasured dishes were her chicken dumplings (the writer of this obituary thinks they were her best), her fried chicken tenders, scratch-made stack cakes, chicken salad, and too many other selections to be written down as she seemed to be able to make anything taste like a specialty. 

Daisy was baptized at and took membership at Marrowbone Baptist. She was a steadfast servant to the church and its members. The thousands of people who made their way through the long dinner lines would attest that her service was above and beyond duty as well as appreciated. Never afraid to lend a helping hand, Daisy took part in countless church functions.