The Marks grandchildren
Photos courtesy of Marsha Hough Burney
The Marks children (Marie Roberson and Sue Henry)
Photos courtesy of Marsha Hough Burney
The Marks great-grandchildren
Photos courtesy of Marsha Hough Burney
The Marks great-great grandchildren
Photos courtesy of Marsha Hough Burney
The Marks In-laws
Photos courtesy of Marsha Hough Burney
LILESVILLE — The descendants of Reb and Dallie (Usrey) Marks gathered on Saturday, October 21, for their annual Marks Reunion at the Gum Springs Baptist Church Fellowship Hall in Lilesville. The group also commemorated what would have been the 100th wedding anniversary of the family’s patriarch and matriarch. The late Mr. and Mrs. Marks were married on October 21, 1923, in Bennettsville, SC.
The Marks descendants have had a reunion on the third Saturday in October for over 40 years. For the first three decades, the Marks children planned and orchestrated the annual reunions, but the last few years, the grandchildren have assumed that responsibility.
“Family was everything to my grandparents,” Mandy Hough Kennedy said, “and they passed that love of family down to their children who, in turn, passed it down to their children. We grandchildren are now passing it on to our children and our children’s children.”
Though the Marks descendants have spread out all over North Carolina (from the mountains to the coast) and also in South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, California, and Colorado, thirty-five of them came together last Saturday in Lilesville, Reb and Dallie’s home for their entire lives. At the reunion, the descendants enjoyed sharing memories, looking through family photo albums, recalling stories of lost loved ones, playing games, and eating.
“We had an awesome day!” Mrs. Kennedy said. “It was so good to be together — and especially on the exact 100th anniversary of my grandparents’ wedding day.”
Reb Marks was born in 1897 and grew up near the Pee Dee River. He was the sixth of William Henry Marks and Battle McCaskill Marks’ nine children. Reb worked for over 50 years at W.R. Bonsal Company, retiring in 1964. He died just a month after he retired.
Dallie Usrey Marks was born in 1903, the seventh child of John David Usrey and Mary Alice Harris Usrey’s nine children. She grew up in the Gum Springs community outside of Lilesville. Dallie’s great-great grandfather, the Rev. Archibald Harris, founded Gum Springs Baptist Church in 1834.
Reb and Dallie lived in the Gum Springs community for the first 30 years of their married life, and all nine of their children were born and raised there. Only two of the Marks children are surviving, Sue Marks Henry of Wadesboro and Marie Marks Roberson of Memphis. The other children included Louise Marks Rivers, Marguerite Marks Bunn, Mary Alice Marks Gathings, Reid Marks, Ann Marks Hough, Jeanne Marks Snuggs, and Wayne Marks.
Around 1953, the family moved into town in Lilesville (below the Depot), but they maintained their dedicated involvement with Gum Springs Baptist Church. In 1979, Dallie sold the big house below the depot and moved to a small house near the current Victory Baptist Church, where she lived until her death in 1982.
Mr. and Mrs. Marks now have over 112 direct descendants.
“We’re already looking forward to next year’s reunion,” Mrs. Kennedy said. “The years pass quickly, but our love of family remains.”