Courier-Journal---October 18, 2006

RIVES, AGNES T., 92, of Louisville, a daughter of Civil War Veteran, Robert Thompson, passed away Monday, October 16, 2006 at her home, after a brief illness.

She is preceded in death by her loving husband of 24 years, Shannon Rives.

She is survived by her two sons, Walter Cantrell (Kathryn) of West Palm Beach, FL and Robert Cantrell (Kathleen) of Virginia Beach, VA; several grandchildren, including Brad Rives (Mary Klarer), who cared for her; and several great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her loving friend, MiMi Orr.

The Mass of Christian burial will be 10 a.m. Friday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 508 Breckenridge Lane, with burial to follow in Calvary Cemetery. Visitation is 3-8 p.m. Thursday at Ratterman Funeral Home, 3711 Lexington Road.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Louisville or Mass of the Air.


There is an article on Agnes in Courier-Journal newspaper, 3/31/1996, Features, “A Link to the Past”

1st husband Cantrell, 2nd husband Sable, 3rd husband Rives

Agnes Rives' father fought in the Civil War including Kentucky's bloody Battle of Perryville. Her grandparents went to school with Abraham Lincoln alongside Knob Creek in Larue County after the Lincolns moved from his Hodgen-ville birthplace. Agnes always preferred a single scotch and soda with her crab cakes at a Red Lobster in suburban Louisville. Those facts were always at complete odds with one another, with me and with Agnes. We first met 10 years ago for a feature story on her incredible family history a history of which she was very proud, and yet never quite sure what to do with. "I've been asked 20 times to write about it," she said. It ain't nothing that unusual. It's just that I had an old father." Her father, Robert Thompson, was born Dec. 18, 1841. His father, Stephen Thompson, was born in 1809 the year of Lincoln's birth and went to school with Abe and his sister, Sarah, before the Lincolns moved to Indiana. Stephen Thompson's father had fought in the Revolutionary War. Robert Thompson joined Co. C of the 15th Kentucky Regiment of the Union Army on Oct. 9, 1861, near New Haven. He was shot just above the knee at the Battle of Perryville. He was only about 40 miles from home at the time. That's where he headed to recuperate, and that's where he stayed. In 1875, he married Millie Bowling; they had four children before she died. In 1912, he married Susan Greenwell, who was Agnes Rives' mother. Agnes was born on Nov. 12, 1913, and she always gloried in her 111213 birthdate. Her father was 72, her mother 36. "I was a real good time or an awful mistake," Agnes would say of her conception. "I don't know which I was." In time, her father became known to one and all in New Haven as "Uncle Bob." He would set up shop next to a blackboard at the local bank giving financial advice. He had a whiskey named for him. In 1938, at age 96, he attended the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. He died at 98. "He was a very, very, very exceptional man," Agnes said. "... He was perky, had really blue, blue eyes and lovely snow-white hair. He never wore glasses, had his own teeth, never shook with palsy, sang little old songs and danced the two step." Agnes was 10 when her mother died her father was then 82. Her friends would tease her about his age. It took her a long time to want to tell his stories. She had her own stories to tell and she told them so well, with such wit. She had married several times, and one truck-driving husband came with a 22-day honeymoon in his sleeper cab that included a stop at the Philadelphia Opera. Her best years were her 25-year marriage to Shannon Rives, who died in 1991. Agnes and I spoke by phone over the years and had lunch at the Red Lobster. She grabbed the check. A good friend, Mimi Orr, remembered a pool party just two years ago when Agnes donned her wig and a two-piece outfit and stole the show. Two weeks ago, as she grew ill and a priest anointed her, she promised to meet him at the Red Lobster. She died Monday afternoon in her home at age 92. Visitation is 3 to 8 p.m today at Ratterman Funeral Home, 3711 Lexington Road. She died at home. Her friends, as well as a grandson and his wife, were with her all those final days.