Tina Bolen June 2011 Our spotlight this month shines on a lovely lady who is best known for her kindness and sweet personality Neoma Faustina Reynolds, known to us as Tina Bolen, was born in Marmaduke, Arkansas on August 10, 1924. Growing up during the depression, Tina learned not to be materialistic, a valuable lesson in life that has sustained her throughout the years. “People are the only thing that matter in this world,” says Tina, “especially family. Money doesn’t bring happiness. Happiness is an attitude of the heart.” She recalls a good life growing up, with lots of love and happiness. Her family’s lack of money taught her that happiness comes from within, not from much you have. Tina grew up on a farm and being the oldest of three siblings, she would help her father in the fields at a very young age. Another job she had was chopping cotton. She said it was a family thing and no child expected pay for working for their dad. By the time she was thirteen she had her first job chopping cotton for other people. She worked from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a one hour lunch break. She was paid fifty cents per day and would save her money to buy school clothes. She remembers having ten cents left and decided to splurge and buy her first can of Pepsodent toothpowder.
Highlights at a Glance
Raised during the depression
Eloped in 1943
Ran a janitorial business
Loved to travel
Favorite song “Because He Lives”
Favorite verse - John 3:16
Tina also had the experience of walking more than three miles to school. It wasn’t until her last year that the school had a bus she could ride. Tina took extra classes and was able to graduate at sixteen. She was Valedictorian of her class and received two $1,000 scholarships for college, which was a lot of money in that day. Her family could not afford the living expenses needed, so she was unable to accept the scholarships which was very disappointing for her and her father. Tina moved to Flint Michigan to live with her aunt who offered her a job babysitting, cooking and cleaning for her family. It was her aunt that started calling her Tina and she has been called Tina ever since. While in Michigan she became acquainted with Bill Bolen. After a couple of years, on March 11, 1943 they eloped. Since Tina was from Arkansas and Bill from Missouri, they decided to honeymoon in both states to meet each other’s family. After returning to Michigan, she and her husband went to work at AC Sparkplug Factory making machine guns for American troops in World War II. A few years later Tina and Bill moved to Carbondale, where her husband worked driving a cement truck for a concrete company. Tina and Bill had three children Terry, Billy and Marsha. Her daughter Marsha Helton is also a member at Herrin. While living in Carbondale, and attending church at the Carbondale Church of Christ, they were hired to clean the church building. That janitorial work developed and grew into a business for them that lasted for about five years. They were hired by insurance adjusters to clean houses with
fire and smoke damage. They had a crew of seventeen women that would clean an entire damaged house in one day. They would clean everything from carpets and upholstery to the smallest of items such as jewelry. After they retired, Tina and her husband moved to Carterville into one of their rental houses that they owned. Tina opened an upholstery shop where she worked for a couple of years. Tina and her husband Bill were the best of friends and loved to travel. Tina has been to almost all fifty states, including Alaska and Mexico and they managed to put 44,000 miles on their pop up trailer. Her favorite place to travel was to the Rocky Mountains in Montana. Bill died in 1985. He was the love of her life for forty-two wonderful years. It was the love and strength of her family and her favorite song “Because He Lives” that help Tina through this difficult time in her life. Her Christian walk started at a young age with her grandmother taking her to church in a one horse buggy. She was baptized when she was fifteen years old and was instrumental in her husband becoming a strong Christian man. They both started attending Herrin Church of Christ in 1972. Tina’s favorite verse is John 3:16. Over the years Tina’s hobbies included sewing, quilting and her most favorite of all, entertaining her eleven grandchildren and twenty-nine great grandchildren. By Sheryl Brenningmeyer