Cullman Senior Spring 2021 | Page 11

George Mabry loves to work in his garden .
until the end of the war on Sept . 2 , 1945 .
“ We stayed on the island for almost a year after the war had ended cleaning the island up ,” he said . “ A lot of the ammunition was dumped into the
ocean during this time because it was too costly to try and take it back by ship plus there wasn ’ t enough room .”
Mabry wasn ’ t the only one in his family who served in the war — he and all four of his siblings did . “ My youngest brother was captured in France and held POW for almost a year but then was released at the end of the war .
“ All four of my siblings and I made it back home from the war to talk about it ,” he said . “ And after returning from war , my family had moved from Texas back to the Gold Ridge Community .”
Mabry lived there until he met and married his wife Opal Lee Denton on April 10 , 1948 . They were married for 58 years before she passed away in 2006 .
Together , they had 4 children and were active in Unity Freewill Baptist Church for many years .
“ We bought an 88-acre farm in the Providence area between Cullman and Eva ,” he said . “ We built three chicken houses and raised broilers ; raised our own beef and pork , plus had several vegetable gardens each year .”
CULLMAN COUNTY SENIOR MAGAZINE SPRING 2021 | 11