Every deceased person’s assets are divided into two categories—probate and nonprobate. For Joyce, the negotiations over the DNA test—who would pay, that the results must remain confidential, that her mother would also have to submit a sample—left her feeling marginalized, further distanced from the siblings she had yet to meet. In 1959, the same year as his mother’s death, Herman and Otelia Russell welcomed their first child, Donata. “It never healed correctly. Technically speaking, he sold these assets, but the income generated by them—such as rent in Section 8 housing—often exceeded the amount the children needed to pay their father back, Frankel explained. … Lawyers for the Russell siblings have persuaded the respective judges in both of those courtrooms—Judge Pinkie Toomer in Fulton County Probate Court and Dunaway in Fulton Superior Court—to keep swaths of the cases out of the public eye, effectively turning what are supposed to be open proceedings into closed ones.). Mary grew up in Houlton and attended Houlton schools. Buffington had owned a large farm and had also built up a highway construction company. When Herman was 14, his father bought him his own set of tools, envisioning his son would follow in his footsteps. Two lawyers also were present during the interview to make sure they did not step out of line. This experience will enrich you. “She’s a little bit older than me,” said Donata, who is at peace with this latest twist in their lives. Although she visited Atlanta often in the ensuing years, Veray never again called the city home. In 2006, Otelia, his wife of 50 years died. Russell was a 1991 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award, and received the title Georgia Trustee from the Georgia Historical Society in 2013. In April 2016, the results came back, showing with 99.98 percent certainty that Joyce is Herman Russell’s daughter. I always wondered what happened to me.”. The advent of DNA testing may have removed any uncertainty when it comes to blood kinship, but the emotional, financial, and legal implications are as murky as ever. He helped bail out Grady Hospital. Later, Russell remarried Sylvia, then President of AT&T Georgia. But two justices dissented, with one, the late Harris Hines, calling the majority ruling a “giant step backwards in the development of the law in regard to the rights of biological children born without the benefit of marriage.”. If Herman Russell felt any offense at his father’s oversight, he made no mention of it in his autobiography. We live now in an age of websites that can populate your family tree going back generations. “It had to be crazy for them,” Joyce says. “What does it say about him if he knew all these years that I existed?”, Young, who’s not followed the case closely, says it is incomprehensible that Russell would knowingly turn his back on his own child. But as the conversations—between the family members, as well as between the lawyers—turned to money, the good feelings were dissipating. He later added, “We are not challenging the fact that she was our father’s child.”. She says she knew practically nothing about Russell or of his ever-growing stature. Not surprisingly, the Russells demanded a DNA test. He would never let a child of his not be part of his family.”. Joyce is also motivated in part by the thought of her mother, who had never sought any money from Russell. Indeed, it is the trusts—and not his will—where the details of his ultimate wishes are unspooled. But that was just the beginning of a journey the three children have traveled over the past three years. That afternoon, Donata, as co-executor of her father’s estate, sued Joyce in Fulton County Probate Court. This article appears in our February 2019 issue. “She cried,” Joyce says. Donata and her brothers wonder why Joycelyn did not reach out to their father before he died at the age of 83. “My father was a public person,” Donata said. He retired from the United… And he took to heart his father’s advice: “Son, if you don’t make but 50 cents, save a portion of it.”, “An ugly fiction in the South was that black folks were lazy, that black folks didn’t want to work,” Russell wrote in his autobiography, Building Atlanta, which was published in 2014, the year he died. She married in 1984, taking her husband’s name—Alston. He was a loving father and husband with one son, Sandor Russell, married to Vivian who gave him two grandchildren, Sam and Madeline. But now the identity that had defined Joyce’s life—as the only daughter of Veray and Richard Darby—was crumbling. Luke Lantta, an attorney for Bryan Cave who is representing the Russell children, said, “Ms. She never even told the man she’d marry. This was in Atlanta, where Veray had grown up, attending the Allen Temple A.M.E. Church in Summerhill. “Then who the hell is Herman Russell?”, By any measure, the life of Herman J. Russell was astounding. What do you do? Joyce is less interested in making history. We had a good time.” Joyce and Donata discussed their shared love of wine, and afterward, when Joyce went to walk back to her hotel, Donata insisted on giving her a ride. Yes, she knew he was successful, but the way that the process was unfolding between lawyers on both sides led her to conclude that Herman Russell had not just been well-off, but wealthy. But for the Russells, winning in court could come with unintended consequences. We must have sat in that bar for two hours. Danny Slack and Bro. Herman J. Russell 1931(?) She was so thankful. Select this result to view Russell A Hermann's phone number, address, and … Here was a way to make things right. “What would that say about his legacy?” Joyce says. Businessman, civic leader Herman J. Russell dies at age 83. With help from friends, and working on it in his spare time from school, Russell built a duplex on the parcel, using his savings to pay for the raw material. “Just be fair, that’s all I’m saying,” Joyce says, explaining her expectations. Buffington had been aware of Todd’s existence, according to the court; he’d named her the beneficiary of two life insurance policies, and was even known to refer to her as “little bastard.” Buffington’s knowledge of Todd, and his deliberate omission of her in his will, was evidence of his intent, the court ruled. He worked the oilfields of North America, South America, and the Gulf of Mexico for almost 40 years. Herman J. Russell: 2013 Georgia Trustee. Senator from Georgia from 1957 to 1981. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “We don’t wish any ill will towards Joycelyn,” Michael said. There was something she needed to tell her daughter, and it was best done in person. “She was so overjoyed. Mr. Trussell was born May 19, 1943 in Coushatta, LA and passed away November 9, 2020. If anything, it reminds us that we are all human. In 1983, when she was 24 and living in Washington, D.C., Joycelyn Darby Alston got a phone call from her mother, Veray, who said she’d be coming to town for a visit. First, he defined his descendants, specifying that “my only children” were Donata, Michael, and Jerome. Russell Plastering Company did work for general contractors across Atlanta, while also buying and building more rental units. He was one of the first African-American business leaders to sit at the tables of power in Atlanta – from the board of the Commerce Club to serving as chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber to co-chairing the Atlanta Action Forum. “She wants to be treated as a biological child of Herman Russell,” said Alston’s Atlanta attorney, Craig Frankel. With her mother’s survival by no means assured, Joyce, who describes herself as very religious, began making promises to God. But in 2010, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled against Todd, pointing in part to Buffington’s use of the word “lawful” in his will. Soon Michael arrived, and he immediately hugged Joyce. As of press time, it is unclear whether there’s an interest among the parties to reach an out-of-court settlement. In fact, on the day that her mother came to visit, Joyce was living with one of her aunts and working at a department store.
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