The Tragic Drowning of the Hendrix Children

The summer of 1951 was a little hotter than normal. And that June 10th, Roxie Lee Blackwell Hendrix, her children, and a few others had gone to the private lake of the Roy Roper Yellow Creek Church. They borrowed a motor from a friend to place on their aluminum boat for a ride.

The pond in 2024

The Roper Farm on the 1903 Henley Map

Lake today, lower right corner

The Roper Lake was a spring-fed four-acre lake about 12 to 15 feet deep. It is located roughly a mile west of the Dawson County line and one mile north of the Cherokee County line.

The day went well until it was time to leave. Martha panicked and stood up In the boat, causing it to capsize.

John Grady Hendrix, 19, tried to save his sister, Martha Mae, 16, and brother Lawrence Hendrix, 14, but sadly, he drowned in the rescue attempt. The tragic drowning of the Hendrix children is still remembered in Pickens County.

John Grady, Martha Mae, and Lawrence Hendrix

The three were buried beside their father, Manson Hendrix, at Long Swamp Baptist Church.

Hoyt Brooks (L) and John Grady Hendrix (R)

Fourteen years earlier, her husband Manson passed from Typhoid Fever. These events eventually led her to move into a new home. The memories were too much for her.

Manson Hendrix and wife Roxie Lee Blackwell Hendrix

When Roxie died in 1991, she still had five living children, twenty-two grandchildren, and thirty-four great-grandchildren.