Memories of Wallace Heritage - Official website of Rev. JO Wallace

Allie & Naomi Wallace at Bemis home – 1940 J. W. Wallace - 1940
that he needed to get a job in the mill. Cleatus soon got a job with another young Pentecostal
man, W. M. Greer, in the supply room.
However, James Onell not only wanted to go to Bemis High, but he also had dreams of going to
the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and becoming an engineer. The summer after he
finished eighth grade, Onell got a job as a doffer in the weaving department. There were no child
labor laws, so the boy worked twelve hours a day for five days a week. That fall he persuaded J.
W. to let him go to high school in the daytime. “I’ll work eight hours a night on the night shift,
Dad. You can have my check. I don’t need the money.”
But there was fun at the Wallace house too. Onell was often the ringleader. He caddied at the
golf course next door to their house and got free lessons from the pro. He built a tree house, and
together with Glenn he stayed up in it for three days, pulling food up but refusing to come down.
The last two children were girls, Naomi and Bonnie. The little mill town house rang with the
laughter of five children. Allie, short with big brown eyes, kept the kitchen smelling good with
hot cornbread and vegetables, not to mention her delicious apple pies. She also had an infectious
giggle and a keen sense of humor. But J. W. Wallace, six feet one, over two hundred pounds,
ruddy skin, keen twinkling blue eyes was the anchor of the family. Steadfast, reliable, a man of
peace and faith, he soon became a leader in the Pentecostal church. The Pentecostals were not
allowed in the city limits when they first came to Bemis. Albert D. Gurley held a tent meeting