The Tragic Story of the Storays

In my recent research on the Garrett family, I came across a family situation that quite literally brought me to tears.  It is truly one of the saddest family stories I have run across in ten years of research.  It all started with my research on the descendants of my 2nd great-grandparents, Nelson Alvis Garrett and Mamie Elizabeth Henderson.  This includes my great-grandfather, Luther Earl ("L.E.") Garrett, his siblings and each of their families.  Grandpa Garrett had a younger brother named William Rufus Garrett.  "Uncle Rufus" died at age 59 on September 20, 1973, four years to the day before I was born.  From what I have heard from several family members, he was a rather - ahem - unsavory character.  Apparently Uncle Rufus was quite a drinker, which contributed to several amusing (and some not-so-amusing) family stories.  We'll talk about Uncle Rufus later, but this particular post isn't about him - it is about his daughter and grandchildren.

Uncle Rufus had five children, the oldest of which was Betty Jane Garrett.  Betty Jane, or "Jane," as she was apparently known, was a first-cousin to my grandmother, Betty Louise Garrett.  However, due to Uncle Rufus's drinking, my grandmother doesn't remember having much contact with their family and knows very little about them.  Jane, born in October 1936, was three years younger than my grandmother.  She married a man named Walter Hugh Storay, who served in the Navy during WWII.  Jane and Walter had six children together, and she died in November 2006.  It was Jane's obituary that initially piqued my curiosity and prompted me to dive further into researching this family.

Obituary of Jane Garrett Storay, The Greenville News, Greenville, SC, November 9, 2006

Hang on just a minute - this woman died in 2006 at age 70, and she was preceded in death by four sons?  What in the world is going on here???

That is precisely what I wanted to find out.  So I immediately started digging into this family's history, and what I found absolutely broke my heart.

Betty Jane Garrett and William "Walter" Hugh Storay, Jr. got married on March 17, 1953, when Jane was only 16 years old and Walter was 24.  She gave birth to their first child - a daughter, Jackie, the following year, at age 17.  The next year, on September 18, 1955, Jane and Walter welcomed their first son into the world.  Along with his one-year-old sister, William Hugh Storay, III must have been the joy of his parents' lives.  Unfortunately, this young family's happiness was short-lived and turned to heartbreak a mere four months later on January 17, 1956.

Obituary of W.H. Storay III, The Greenville News, Greenville, SC, January 18, 1956

William Hugh Storay, III Death Certificate

Cause of death - Aspiration of vomitus.  This sweet, 4-month-old baby boy died in his crib overnight from choking on his own vomit, while his unsuspecting parents were probably asleep in their own bed.  Can you even imagine the horror of this young (only 19 at the time of his death) mother waking up to find her baby dead?  What a horrifically tragic event!

But life goes on, as it tends to do, and in April 1957 Betty Jane gave birth to their second son, Ronald Dale Storay, followed two years later by the birth of their second daughter, Deborah Loraine Storay, and yet another year later by the birth of their third son, Daniel Keith Storay.  After the tragic loss of baby Hugh, I can just imagine these young parents getting up multiple times throughout the night to check on their four children.  I can also imagine that they kept a very careful watch on each of them for any sign of illness or injury.

In the summer of 1961, Jane became pregnant with her and Walter's sixth child.  However, tragedy waited around the corner once again for this young family.  I don't know the circumstances that alerted Jane and Walter that there was a problem with their young son, but 4-year-old Ronnie became sick around October 1961.  He had surgery one month later in November 1961, and the findings were devastating.  Massive brain stem tumor.  As the baby in Jane's belly continued to develop and grow, the toddler to whom she had given birth four years earlier continued to deteriorate.  I cannot begin to imagine the mixed emotions that Jane must have had when she gave birth to Timothy Dale Storay on February 12, 1962.  Her young son, Ronnie, died the very next day, in the early morning hours of February 13.

Obituary of Ronald Dale Storay, The Greenville News, Greenville, SC, February 14, 1962
Note:  there is an error in this story - there were only 2 surviving brothers, Danny and Timothy Dale.

Ronald Dale Storay Death Certificate

I don't know if Timothy Dale Storay was born at home or in the hospital.  If he was born in the hospital, it is an almost certainty that Jane was still in the hospital after giving birth and was unable to be with young Ronnie when he died.

Timothy Dale Storay - called by the middle name "Dale" that he shared with his deceased brother - was the last child born to Jane and Walter.  They were both still young when he was born - Jane was 25, and Walter was 33.  I don't know if they made a deliberate decision not to have any more children; I can only speculate about that.  But I do know that the tempest of emotions surrounding the death of their second son, coupled with the birth of their last, must have been unbearable.

Unfortunately, the tragic story of the Storay family is still not over.  Young Dale, the son who was born one day before his older brother died, was diagnosed with leukemia at the tender age of 2 years old.  After the horror they must have faced during Ronnie's illness and ultimate death, I cannot even begin to imagine what this family must have gone through after receiving yet another shocking cancer diagnosis.

According to his death certificate, Dale fought the disease for 18 months, and his tiny 3-year-old body must have just been worn out.  He finally succumbed to a cardiac arrest, due to the leukemia, on December 20, 1965, just five days before Christmas and two months shy of his fourth birthday.

Obituary of Timothy Dale Storay, The Greenville News, Greenville, SC, December 21, 1965

Timothy Dale Storay Death Certificate

One baby dead at 4 months old.  Another at 4 years old.  Yet another, born just one day before his brother's death, dead at 3 years old.  One child gone from what could be called a freak accident, and two more taken by cancer.

But even still, this family's suffering wasn't over.

After little Dale's death, I can imagine that Walter and Jane must have hugged their three surviving children just a little tighter, and spoiled them just a little more.  Big sister Jackie was eleven, Debbie was six, and the one remaining son - now the baby of the family - Danny, was five.  Life moved on once again.  There were Christmases and birthday celebrations, high school graduations, and family vacations.  There were some losses, too - Jane lost both of her parents, my 2nd great-uncle Rufus and his wife Ella Frances Julian, in less than a year's span between 1973-1974.  But those would not compare with the next loss that was coming.

Below are the only news stories I could find relating to the death of Danny Storay.  His obituary and the original stories about the crime are not currently available (some online newspapers have gaps in their coverage dates).  But it is clear from what I did find that he was murdered in the most horrible fashion, and it is questionable as to whether the person or persons responsible ever even paid the price for their crime.

The Index-Journal, Greenwood, South Carolina, January 31, 1983

The Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina, May 31, 1984

Meanwhile, the Storay family mourned the loss of their very last living son.

This family went through so much heartbreak and tragedy.  Jane and Walter Storay buried four of their six children.  But before Betty Jane Garrett could depart this earth, there was one more heartbreak in store for her.  Seven months before Jane herself died, she lost her husband of 53 years, who had endured all of this tragedy by her side.

Walter Hugh Storay Obituary, The Greenville News, Greenville, SC, April 20, 2006

In my years of doing family history research, the stories I have come across that are full of tragedy and sadness drastically outnumber the stories that are uplifting and joyful.  Digging up the evidence of lives that have been cut way too short can be very emotional and difficult, but these are the precise stories that are crying out the most to be told.  Because these people, especially the babies, occupied this earth for such an incredibly short time and left no offspring, there are precious few records evidencing that they ever even existed.  Without someone to tell their stories, they could very easily be completely erased from history once those who knew and loved them are gone.  These precious lives deserve to be honored and remembered, even if the process of telling of their stories does bring me to tears.