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>> This is James Newberry,

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and I'm here with
Dorothy Holtman

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at the Sturgis Library at

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Kennesaw State University
on Tuesday, April 26, 2016.

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And Miss Holtman, do you
agree to this interview?

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>> Yes.

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>> Thank you. So please state
your full name at birth.

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>> Dorothy Griffin Holtman
is my married name.

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>> And when and
where were you born?

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>> I was born down in Sarasota,

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Florida February 22nd, 1927.

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>> And what were
your parents names?

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>> Eldridge Griffin was my Daddy

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and Biral Nia Griffin
was my mother.

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>> Well, tell me a little bit

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about them. Tell me
about your father.

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>> My Daddy's Daddy came to
South Georgia and was given

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a big plot of land

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and all of my aunts

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and uncles got a piece of
this land to a part of it.

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And so that's where
they all lived.

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And so I grew up there mostly.

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But of course, we went
down to Florida for

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a while just before
the depression.

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>> And what was your
father's personality?

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>> Very sweet and humble.

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He was not as educated
as my mother.

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Mother had gone to college

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and had taught school
several years.

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Daddy had to quit school

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young so that he could
help his Daddy farm

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because they had 11 children

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and they had to eat
and be provided for.

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So he had to help his Daddy.

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>> And do you know
how your parents met?

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>> Mother said she saw Daddy

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walking down the
highway one day,

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a road right close to where she

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lived and he was whistling
and she thought,

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oh, what a good-looking boy.

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He wanted to go with Aunt Ollie,

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which was mother's assistant.

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Mother said she was a little
bit prettier than I was.

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But finally Mother
got a date with him.

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And from then on, that
was it, that couple.

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And Daddy one time started to

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tuck a blanket around her legs

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that were in the buggy dating

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and Mother said
you getting fresh.

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And all he was trying
to do was tuck

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a blanket around her legs

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because it was
cold in the buggy.

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>> So you said they were
originally from Georgia.

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That's where they
met and married.

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But they moved to Florida.

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Why did they move to Florida?

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>> Well, let me tell you

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something about the
marriage first.

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Mother and Dad did not have

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any money to fix up a
fine wedding and all.

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So they sat in a
buggy and went to

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the preacher's house and

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told him that they
wanted to get married.

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So that's where
they got married.

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And then when they had
their 50th anniversary,

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all of us children got
together and got a buggy and

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let them sit in and we got

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a picture of it 50 years later.

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>> And that would
have been 1962.

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>> Yes.

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>> Because they were
married in 1912.

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>> That's right.

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>> So you said you

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were born in Florida,
they'd moved there.

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And what do you
think prompted them

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or motivated them to move
to Florida? Why Florida?

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>> My Daddy had built a house.

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He was pretty good with
lumber and building.

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He was right good and he
had built [inaudible]

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a decent three-bedroom home in

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the country there on
that land that his Daddy

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had at least gotten
from the government.

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But anyway, we heard
that everybody

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down in Florida was on a boom,

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making a lot of money.

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So my Daddy got
his good friend to

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live in our house and we
went down to Florida.

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I was born in 1927 while
they were down there.

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But anyway, the
depression came along,

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and everybody lost everything.

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Florida went down like this,

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and my Daddy had bought land
and got nothing for it.

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He had bought a
store and lost that.

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All the people that were

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boarding with
Mother and Daddy in

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the boarding house
and Mother was

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cooking for and making
a little bit of money,

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all of them lost that job.

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So they had to pull up stakes
and move back to Georgia.

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Well, I was about two years
old when this happened,

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when this move came.

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I had been born
there in Florida.

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And they said as we were riding
out of Sarasota, Florida,

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that I said hot dog ongie
and that's the first thing

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I remember them saying what I

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said because I was just two
years old at that time.

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And so we moved back to Georgia

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on the farm and my
Daddy started farming

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and gradually
getting where we had

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enough everybody to have plenty
to eat and a few clothes.

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We had a church right
down the hill that we all

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went to every Sunday
and heard about Jesus.

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And then we had a store
right down the hill

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that was my mother's
sister on that store.

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And so we would buy things on

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credit because my Daddy
didn't have much money,

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and we bought things
on credit and she'd

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write it down in a book
every time we bought.

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And then when we sold

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the crops of peanuts
and cotton, usually,

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that's what Daddy
would sell and make

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a good bit of money,

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we would pay off everything
we had bought down there.

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But as children, we
wanted some candy.

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We didn't even have money
for candy, or anything.

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Mother would give me an egg

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and me and my little
sister could go down

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the hill and buy a little
bit of candy with that egg.

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>> It looks like it was trading.

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>> That's right. Trading an egg

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for some candy. [LAUGHTER]

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>> So how many
siblings did you have?

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>> I had one smaller sister,

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and then I had two bigger
sisters Veron and Vivian,

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and then one brother Ruben.

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>> And which sibling
were you closest to?

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>> Gene because she was two
years younger than I was.

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And she could sing.

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She could sing curry out

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by the time she was
three or four years old.

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And I sang soprano and so
we were little tiny girls,

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maybe six and eight,
something like that.

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And we would sing an
amateur contest and we

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won several all they do is
clap for you like that.

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That was our grand prize.

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But anyway, we sang songs

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together and harmonized and
did right good with that.

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>> So tell me about yours
and Gene's personalities.

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How were you all the
same and different?

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>> Well, Mother said I always

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tried to make Gene
behave. She was not bad.

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She was the baby of all of us,

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and she was not
crazy about work.

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Well, none of us are really.

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But anyway, I was always
trying to boss Gene,

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and one day I was
going to whip her

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because she didn't do
good my mother said,

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listen, that's my job.

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So from then on, I didn't
whip Gene anymore.

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Gene was my baby sister.

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And I remember when
we were that age,

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Shirley Temple was real popular.

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And Shirley Temple's
birthday was

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the 23rd of April and

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Gene's birthday was
on 22nd of April.

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We changed the date
of Gene's birthday so

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she could have the same
birthday as Shirley Temple.

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She was a big star
when we were children.

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>> So tell me about
Martha [inaudible].

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>> Martha lived next door to her

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when we lived down
in Florida with us.

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And I was just a baby

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at that time before
we moved back to

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Georgia and Martha's Mother
and Daddy got a divorce.

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Well, Martha was about 12 or 13.

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She was playing with
Veron and sister.

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And I was very small then.

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And she got coming over to

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our house all the time
and looking after me,

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she was like my mother,

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second mother because
my mother was

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busy cooking for boarders.

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That was before the birth

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of depression before the
depression happened.

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And so Martha's Mother
and Daddy got a divorce.

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The mother didn't have
enough money to keep her.

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So Martha, we just
brought her home

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with us when we moved
back to Georgia and

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she lived with us six years

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and was sweet as she could be in

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Mother and Daddy did for her

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just like they did
for the other girls.

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>> Why do you think your mom and

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Dad were willing to
take her in like that?

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>> Because she was so sweet
and good and they both

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loved her and they knew

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her mother did not have
money to keep her.

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So at that time, I guess
you didn't have to

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give Alimony when you
got divorced or what?

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I don't know what but I know

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that her mother didn't
have money to keep her.

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So we kept her for six years.

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She went to college and
everything with my sister.

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>> So tell me about the home

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your father built
in Patmos, Georgia.

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>> It was a good-sized home.

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We had three big bedrooms

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and we had one sleeping
porch, they called it.

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All of us got the itch one year.

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Way back then, you got itch in

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schools and lice way back then.

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Don't ask me why they
don't get them now,

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but I guess they're
cleaner or something.

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But anyway, we had

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that sleeping porch out there
and when you had the itch,

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we'd sleep on that
special place out there.

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But anyway, we had a
good life in Patmos.

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It was good. I was kin
to a lot of people.

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Kin to just about everybody,

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and then I could walk a
half mile and go to school.

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One time we had one of the
students right across from

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us and I didn't
mind the teacher.

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The teacher told us not to
go behind where Johnny was.

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We called it Johnny then
it was an outdoor toilet.

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And she said, don't go
back there and play.

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Well, I disobeyed me and

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my little friend and
we went back there

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and played and the teacher
was going to whip me.

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Well, my home was right across

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the street and I ran home
to Mother and Daddy.

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And Mother said she doesn't
need a whipping about that.

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00:09:49,925 --> 00:09:51,510
No, she does not
need a whipping.

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My Daddy said she's
going to get a whipping.

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She disobeyed the teacher.

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So Daddy took me in his arms.

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I was six years old took
me across the street and I

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00:10:00,290 --> 00:10:03,590
got a good whipping because
I had disobeyed the teacher.

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Daddy was right. I
can surely see now.

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00:10:06,065 --> 00:10:09,645
>> So tell me about the
way you got rid of lice.

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00:10:09,645 --> 00:10:11,970
>> We had something
that you bought at

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00:10:11,970 --> 00:10:14,190
the drugshop because a
lot of people had them.

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And also, Mother would
put a white paper

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and you would hold your head and

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she did like that and the
lice would hear them plop,

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plop right down there.

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And so Mother did that.

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And then we use
whatever that I don't

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00:10:31,730 --> 00:10:33,510
remember the name
of the medication

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that we would put on now.

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Mother said it's no shame to get

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lice and it's no shame

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to get itch which
we got at school.

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But she said it's a
shame to keep them.

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So we combed and got them and
then we put that whatever,

255
00:10:50,510 --> 00:10:52,410
I don't remember the
name of the medication,

256
00:10:52,410 --> 00:10:54,570
but we put it on our heads to

257
00:10:54,570 --> 00:10:56,915
keep any more lice
from coming in.

258
00:10:56,915 --> 00:10:59,210
>> I see. So can
you tell me about

259
00:10:59,210 --> 00:11:03,000
the community of Patmos?
What did it look like?

260
00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,760
>> It was a very
small community.

261
00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,180
But we lived up
on this high hill

262
00:11:09,180 --> 00:11:12,000
and we never did get
money to paint our house.

263
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,700
All these years a nice
house up on a high hill,

264
00:11:14,700 --> 00:11:17,120
and Daddy put a rock
fence right in front

265
00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:19,860
of it that made it a little
bit distinguished looking.

266
00:11:19,860 --> 00:11:22,740
But my Mother and
Daddy were good folks,

267
00:11:22,740 --> 00:11:25,220
so everybody respected
us because we were good,

268
00:11:25,220 --> 00:11:28,115
and went to church every
Sunday right down the hill.

269
00:11:28,115 --> 00:11:32,690
And around me, lived several
of my kin folks Daddy's five

270
00:11:32,690 --> 00:11:34,590
or six of his
brothers and sisters

271
00:11:34,590 --> 00:11:37,170
lived within I could walk
there in three minutes.

272
00:11:37,170 --> 00:11:39,450
And then we all saw
each other at church.

273
00:11:39,450 --> 00:11:41,890
And I got baptized right up

274
00:11:41,890 --> 00:11:43,970
a half mile in the creek

275
00:11:43,970 --> 00:11:46,335
that we had there and
had all my kinfolks,

276
00:11:46,335 --> 00:11:50,400
friends standing up on the
shore singing on Jordan.

277
00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,370
That song that you sang

278
00:11:52,370 --> 00:11:54,470
when somebody was
being baptized.

279
00:11:54,470 --> 00:11:58,490
>> So do you
remember noticing if

280
00:11:58,490 --> 00:12:00,170
there were people
with more money

281
00:12:00,170 --> 00:12:02,270
or less money than your family?

282
00:12:02,270 --> 00:12:07,145
>> I don't remember as a child
feeling any inferiority.

283
00:12:07,145 --> 00:12:10,910
My mother made me feel
good about myself and I

284
00:12:10,910 --> 00:12:12,260
did not feel inferior to

285
00:12:12,260 --> 00:12:14,900
anybody because they had
more money than we did.

286
00:12:14,900 --> 00:12:18,830
No, I didn't have that
inferiority complex. No.

287
00:12:18,830 --> 00:12:21,830
>> So did you know there
was a depression going on?

288
00:12:21,830 --> 00:12:23,825
>> Well, when we left Florida I

289
00:12:23,825 --> 00:12:26,285
knew it was because that's
the reason we left there.

290
00:12:26,285 --> 00:12:27,845
Everybody was going broke.

291
00:12:27,845 --> 00:12:29,270
My daddy lost the store,

292
00:12:29,270 --> 00:12:30,620
lost some land he had bought.

293
00:12:30,620 --> 00:12:32,780
Everybody didn't have any money.

294
00:12:32,780 --> 00:12:34,400
So that's when we came back

295
00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:36,350
to Georgia and
lived in the house

296
00:12:36,350 --> 00:12:37,880
that my daddy had built years

297
00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,220
before and let Mr.
Campbell stay in it.

298
00:12:40,220 --> 00:12:43,730
>> Did people talk
about the depression?

299
00:12:43,730 --> 00:12:45,710
Did they say the
word depression?

300
00:12:45,710 --> 00:12:47,060
>> I don't remember as a little

301
00:12:47,060 --> 00:12:48,365
girl hearing it that much.

302
00:12:48,365 --> 00:12:50,405
I just knew people
didn't have any money.

303
00:12:50,405 --> 00:12:50,855
>> That's it?

304
00:12:50,855 --> 00:12:53,945
>> Nobody seemed to have
any money right then.

305
00:12:53,945 --> 00:12:57,980
>> So did you have
electricity in the house?

306
00:12:57,980 --> 00:13:02,450
>> I remember when we got
it we had what we call

307
00:13:02,450 --> 00:13:07,205
a lantern lamp and we used
that and it was really good,

308
00:13:07,205 --> 00:13:09,710
a lot better than just
a little kerosene lamp.

309
00:13:09,710 --> 00:13:11,510
And we used a lantern
lamp and would

310
00:13:11,510 --> 00:13:13,715
take it when somebody
wanted to read at night.

311
00:13:13,715 --> 00:13:16,790
I remember when we
got electricity.

312
00:13:16,790 --> 00:13:18,590
I don't remember
what year it was,

313
00:13:18,590 --> 00:13:21,605
but I remember everybody
was so excited about

314
00:13:21,605 --> 00:13:23,450
the electric lights and things

315
00:13:23,450 --> 00:13:26,030
that happened after
we got electricity.

316
00:13:26,030 --> 00:13:27,770
>> How were they installed?

317
00:13:27,770 --> 00:13:29,660
>> I can't even remember

318
00:13:29,660 --> 00:13:31,580
because the men
folks did all that.

319
00:13:31,580 --> 00:13:33,695
James and I didn't fool around.

320
00:13:33,695 --> 00:13:37,760
I can tell you one fun thing
that happened in that house.

321
00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,640
RT is a lady that helped

322
00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,895
us and she loved us
and we loved her.

323
00:13:43,895 --> 00:13:45,770
Well, our house caught on fire

324
00:13:45,770 --> 00:13:48,395
right up around the
chimney. It was wooden.

325
00:13:48,395 --> 00:13:51,740
So the next day we were
going to have graduation.

326
00:13:51,740 --> 00:13:54,170
My brother Ruben was going to
graduate from high school.

327
00:13:54,170 --> 00:13:55,730
We were going up to Arlington,

328
00:13:55,730 --> 00:13:59,390
11 miles away and we were going
to go for the graduation.

329
00:13:59,390 --> 00:14:00,770
Well, we had already
gotten all of

330
00:14:00,770 --> 00:14:02,735
our clothes out, what
we were going to wear.

331
00:14:02,735 --> 00:14:04,655
Well, the house caught on fire.

332
00:14:04,655 --> 00:14:06,275
And I went in there
and I got thinking,

333
00:14:06,275 --> 00:14:08,240
I got to get all these
clothes out of here so

334
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:10,535
we'll have something to wear
tomorrow to the graduation.

335
00:14:10,535 --> 00:14:13,235
So I went in there and
started pulling them out.

336
00:14:13,235 --> 00:14:14,570
Well, our [inaudible]
was a black

337
00:14:14,570 --> 00:14:15,980
lady that was helping us.

338
00:14:15,980 --> 00:14:17,450
She saw me and she said,

339
00:14:17,450 --> 00:14:20,075
put them clothes
down and get water.

340
00:14:20,075 --> 00:14:23,150
And I just never forget
that something about.

341
00:14:23,150 --> 00:14:25,565
She was so right
and I was so wrong.

342
00:14:25,565 --> 00:14:28,010
So I put down those clothes
and I carried water,

343
00:14:28,010 --> 00:14:29,720
and we put that fire out.

344
00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:30,035
>> I see.

345
00:14:30,035 --> 00:14:31,715
>> House didn't burn up.

346
00:14:31,715 --> 00:14:36,000
>> So how did your
family get the news?

347
00:14:38,620 --> 00:14:41,300
>> Just heard it from everybody.

348
00:14:41,300 --> 00:14:42,280
>> Did you have radio yet?

349
00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:44,135
>> We got a newspaper every day,

350
00:14:44,135 --> 00:14:45,245
I don't even remember it,

351
00:14:45,245 --> 00:14:49,730
but at that age I was not
into reading the newspaper.

352
00:14:49,730 --> 00:14:52,445
Just from hearing
it from everybody

353
00:14:52,445 --> 00:14:54,455
and we did listen to the radio.

354
00:14:54,455 --> 00:14:56,075
We had a radio going.

355
00:14:56,075 --> 00:15:00,260
And I remember the
first telephone we had,

356
00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:02,780
I didn't know how to talk on
the telephone along time.

357
00:15:02,780 --> 00:15:04,550
In fact, I remember picking it

358
00:15:04,550 --> 00:15:06,890
up and I was talking in
the wrong end of it.

359
00:15:06,890 --> 00:15:09,230
But anyway, I learned
to pick it up.

360
00:15:09,230 --> 00:15:11,165
That's when the
telephone came along,

361
00:15:11,165 --> 00:15:13,190
we all began to use that.

362
00:15:13,190 --> 00:15:16,190
>> So what chores did you
have to do around the house?

363
00:15:16,190 --> 00:15:19,040
>> Anything that mother
wanted me to do.

364
00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:21,740
Keep your clothes
picked up and you

365
00:15:21,740 --> 00:15:24,515
always had to study for school,

366
00:15:24,515 --> 00:15:26,720
and then always your
Sunday school lesson.

367
00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,700
We had church every Sunday,

368
00:15:28,700 --> 00:15:31,100
and I had a good Sunday
school teacher and we studied

369
00:15:31,100 --> 00:15:34,460
that lesson and that
was a thing to do,

370
00:15:34,460 --> 00:15:36,110
mother taught, and music.

371
00:15:36,110 --> 00:15:37,670
I took music from

372
00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:40,040
my first cousin that lived
right down the hill,

373
00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:41,600
and by the way,
she's still living,

374
00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:44,885
she's 109, and she
taught me music.

375
00:15:44,885 --> 00:15:45,680
>> What's her name?

376
00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:47,765
>> Lois Cunningham.

377
00:15:47,765 --> 00:15:52,085
Recently she played up at the
Grand Opera, Josh Turner.

378
00:15:52,085 --> 00:15:58,460
That's his wife's grandmother.

379
00:15:58,460 --> 00:15:59,060
>> That's right.

380
00:15:59,060 --> 00:16:00,170
>> His wife's grandmother.

381
00:16:00,170 --> 00:16:01,985
>> Did you have to
clean up the yard?

382
00:16:01,985 --> 00:16:05,090
>> Well, we had some brooms.

383
00:16:05,090 --> 00:16:06,590
You'd go to the woods and

384
00:16:06,590 --> 00:16:08,240
pick these and then tie them all

385
00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:11,495
together and we had to
sweep yards with that.

386
00:16:11,495 --> 00:16:13,610
We didn't have a rake
broom at that time.

387
00:16:13,610 --> 00:16:15,260
They evidently hadn't
made them or we

388
00:16:15,260 --> 00:16:17,030
didn't have the money to buy
them, I don't know what.

389
00:16:17,030 --> 00:16:20,565
But yes, I had my
mother sweep the yards.

390
00:16:20,565 --> 00:16:25,175
>> Did you help in the
fields at all with the crop?

391
00:16:25,175 --> 00:16:28,655
>> Well, we had four
girls and one boy.

392
00:16:28,655 --> 00:16:30,620
She thought girls were
supposed to work in

393
00:16:30,620 --> 00:16:33,125
the house and cook but
not in the fields.

394
00:16:33,125 --> 00:16:34,850
But once in a while daddy would

395
00:16:34,850 --> 00:16:36,980
get us to pick some cotton.

396
00:16:36,980 --> 00:16:38,420
And you know back
then they didn't

397
00:16:38,420 --> 00:16:40,055
have cotton pickers
like they have now.

398
00:16:40,055 --> 00:16:42,140
You just pick it with your
hands and stick it in.

399
00:16:42,140 --> 00:16:44,270
And mother fixed me a
little old bag and I

400
00:16:44,270 --> 00:16:46,280
put it back here and
you'd pick cotton and

401
00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,190
put then they'd weigh
it and you'd get

402
00:16:49,190 --> 00:16:53,405
a few cents for how
much cotton you picked.

403
00:16:53,405 --> 00:16:56,810
Yeah. But Ruben mostly did
the work in the fields.

404
00:16:56,810 --> 00:17:00,410
>> I see. So tell me about
picking blackberries.

405
00:17:00,410 --> 00:17:03,320
>> Something terrible
happened there.

406
00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:05,150
Me and my brother always picked.

407
00:17:05,150 --> 00:17:07,130
We had a whole fence row

408
00:17:07,130 --> 00:17:09,350
that had blackberries growing
on them, all of them.

409
00:17:09,350 --> 00:17:12,050
And so every year we
were the best pickers,

410
00:17:12,050 --> 00:17:13,430
we'd go out there and pick.

411
00:17:13,430 --> 00:17:15,440
Again you'd see a snake,

412
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:17,870
but we learned to watch
for them and run away.

413
00:17:17,870 --> 00:17:20,000
Well, one year we were

414
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:21,140
picking them and
mother was going

415
00:17:21,140 --> 00:17:22,775
to make blackberry wine,

416
00:17:22,775 --> 00:17:25,805
a blackberry nectar,
and blackberry

417
00:17:25,805 --> 00:17:28,925
jelly and two other things.

418
00:17:28,925 --> 00:17:31,565
Anyway, she was really
good in the kitchen.

419
00:17:31,565 --> 00:17:33,365
So we're picking
the blackberries,

420
00:17:33,365 --> 00:17:36,155
and my brother said, I'm
tired. I'm going to the house.

421
00:17:36,155 --> 00:17:37,550
I said, listen,

422
00:17:37,550 --> 00:17:40,640
I've got almost that dish pan,

423
00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:41,900
this big full of berries.

424
00:17:41,900 --> 00:17:43,880
I said, I'm going to
pick one more quart,

425
00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:45,410
and then I'm coming with you.

426
00:17:45,410 --> 00:17:46,880
So I was out there right by

427
00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:48,710
myself finishing
up those beeries.

428
00:17:48,710 --> 00:17:50,225
And I looked around,

429
00:17:50,225 --> 00:17:53,510
an old cow had come up
without making a bit of

430
00:17:53,510 --> 00:17:56,900
noise and had eaten every
one of my blackberries.

431
00:17:56,900 --> 00:17:58,535
A whole dish pan.

432
00:17:58,535 --> 00:18:00,800
You can imagine how long
it took me to pick them.

433
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:02,900
A whole dish pan full
of blackberries.

434
00:18:02,900 --> 00:18:05,390
I wanted to kill that cow.

435
00:18:05,390 --> 00:18:08,315
>> So tell me about curb market.

436
00:18:08,315 --> 00:18:11,975
>> Well, when my
sisters got in college.

437
00:18:11,975 --> 00:18:13,430
Now, when Ruben and
I went to college,

438
00:18:13,430 --> 00:18:14,960
we went to college over at

439
00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:16,940
Eibach and didn't
cost that much.

440
00:18:16,940 --> 00:18:19,925
I worked a little to
help with the finance.

441
00:18:19,925 --> 00:18:23,390
But my sisters went
to Tift College,

442
00:18:23,390 --> 00:18:26,510
and that was a good
Christian school,

443
00:18:26,510 --> 00:18:31,580
and yet it was very respected
in everybody's area,

444
00:18:31,580 --> 00:18:32,960
that it was a good college.

445
00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,840
So that's where Mother
sent Vern and Martha,

446
00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:37,145
the one that lived with us.

447
00:18:37,145 --> 00:18:40,505
And sister went up to
America's I think to college.

448
00:18:40,505 --> 00:18:44,030
But anyway, all of us got to
go to college for a while.

449
00:18:44,030 --> 00:18:46,130
Now, Gene did not want
to go to college.

450
00:18:46,130 --> 00:18:49,295
She wanted to take a
bookkeeping, which she did.

451
00:18:49,295 --> 00:18:54,065
And right there in Albany she
took a bookkeeping course.

452
00:18:54,065 --> 00:18:56,540
In fact, she wound up having

453
00:18:56,540 --> 00:18:58,460
a bookkeeping business and

454
00:18:58,460 --> 00:19:00,890
did real good with what
she knew how to do.

455
00:19:00,890 --> 00:19:04,010
>> So did you participate
in curb market?

456
00:19:04,010 --> 00:19:08,285
>> Yes, I helped mother because
she would clean chickens

457
00:19:08,285 --> 00:19:13,160
and with shell peas and
snap beans and make jelly,

458
00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,395
all kind of stuff
that city people

459
00:19:15,395 --> 00:19:18,830
really wanted that fresh
from the farm things.

460
00:19:18,830 --> 00:19:21,680
So I helped mother a whole lot.

461
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:23,780
And sometimes they would sell

462
00:19:23,780 --> 00:19:26,090
when they would go
and work all morning,

463
00:19:26,090 --> 00:19:29,540
we had these stalls where
you put all your things out.

464
00:19:29,540 --> 00:19:30,920
And then the rich ladies

465
00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:32,615
that had a lot more
money than we did,

466
00:19:32,615 --> 00:19:34,100
we'd come in and buy

467
00:19:34,100 --> 00:19:36,500
things from us because
they knew it was fresh,

468
00:19:36,500 --> 00:19:38,525
they knew it was good.

469
00:19:38,525 --> 00:19:41,420
If they sold $50 worth,

470
00:19:41,420 --> 00:19:45,365
that was like 500
now, it's about that.

471
00:19:45,365 --> 00:19:49,100
$50 was a lot of money back
when I was a little girl.

472
00:19:49,100 --> 00:19:50,570
And mother would buy us

473
00:19:50,570 --> 00:19:52,865
clothes and things like
that that we needed,

474
00:19:52,865 --> 00:19:56,840
like a coat and just things
that she wanted us to have.

475
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,845
>> So curb market took place
not in Patmos, but where?

476
00:20:00,845 --> 00:20:01,970
>> In Albany, Georgia.

477
00:20:01,970 --> 00:20:03,080
>> And how far away was that?

478
00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:07,535
>> 50 miles from Baker
county where we lived.

479
00:20:07,535 --> 00:20:10,370
>> What kind of car
did you drive in?

480
00:20:10,370 --> 00:20:15,200
>> I didn't drive
until I get 16 or 17.

481
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:16,520
I might have been
older than that.

482
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:17,840
>> How did you transport

483
00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,080
the vegetables and
things to Albany?

484
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,855
>> Daddy had a Dodge car,

485
00:20:23,855 --> 00:20:25,775
and then he had a pickup.

486
00:20:25,775 --> 00:20:28,340
And sometimes if we had
enough we'd put in the back

487
00:20:28,340 --> 00:20:30,890
of that pickup and
that Dodge car,

488
00:20:30,890 --> 00:20:32,435
and it was a very good car,

489
00:20:32,435 --> 00:20:34,700
and we'd go to Albany.

490
00:20:34,700 --> 00:20:38,360
I think it was every Saturday
they went and mother would

491
00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:39,650
make enough money to help

492
00:20:39,650 --> 00:20:42,320
pay for the college
for all of us.

493
00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,035
>> So what was the name
of your church in Patmos?

494
00:20:45,035 --> 00:20:47,330
>> Patmos Freewill
Baptist Church and

495
00:20:47,330 --> 00:20:51,030
my great grandmother
started that church.

496
00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:53,960
See they just leased this land,

497
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,525
the government gave them
the land way back when

498
00:20:56,525 --> 00:21:01,550
my daddy's granddaddy came
in and leased all that land.

499
00:21:01,550 --> 00:21:03,200
That's reason so many
of our kin folks

500
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:04,340
live close around because he

501
00:21:04,340 --> 00:21:07,565
got land for all of his
children, had 11 children.

502
00:21:07,565 --> 00:21:11,045
And his mother started

503
00:21:11,045 --> 00:21:13,250
the Freewill Baptist
church right down

504
00:21:13,250 --> 00:21:15,950
the hill from where we
lived and so naturally.

505
00:21:15,950 --> 00:21:17,540
Plus there's a big cemetery,

506
00:21:17,540 --> 00:21:19,550
that's where my mother
and daddy are buried.

507
00:21:19,550 --> 00:21:22,355
That's where my sister Gene
and her husband are buried.

508
00:21:22,355 --> 00:21:24,110
So it's real [inaudible] we go

509
00:21:24,110 --> 00:21:26,255
down there to a
reunion every year.

510
00:21:26,255 --> 00:21:28,160
>> Tell me about that reunion.

511
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,320
>> It comes around
the 10th of June

512
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,005
because that's one of my
grandparent's birthday,

513
00:21:33,005 --> 00:21:35,135
and so the nearest
to 10th of June

514
00:21:35,135 --> 00:21:37,595
and there were 11 of
those Griffin children.

515
00:21:37,595 --> 00:21:39,830
And so what they do
is go from child to

516
00:21:39,830 --> 00:21:42,440
child and let them sponsor it

517
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,440
that year and they have
to go buy the meat and

518
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,665
the rest of us bring food
and whatever to go with it.

519
00:21:48,665 --> 00:21:50,350
So we go in there every year.

520
00:21:50,350 --> 00:21:52,165
Your mother has been there

521
00:21:52,165 --> 00:21:55,220
with that and sang
a time or two.

522
00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:57,910
The year was our,

523
00:21:57,910 --> 00:22:00,310
we all sang together
and told them

524
00:22:00,310 --> 00:22:02,900
about what each family
member was doing.

525
00:22:02,900 --> 00:22:04,370
Then we go in and eat

526
00:22:04,370 --> 00:22:07,190
a whole bunch and just
visit and have a good time.

527
00:22:07,190 --> 00:22:10,080
>> And how many years
has it been going on?

528
00:22:10,300 --> 00:22:13,730
>> I'd say at least 50 or 60;

529
00:22:13,730 --> 00:22:15,080
at least that long.

530
00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,780
>> Okay. And tell me some of

531
00:22:17,780 --> 00:22:19,220
the other gatherings that took

532
00:22:19,220 --> 00:22:21,470
place at the church
when you were a child.

533
00:22:21,470 --> 00:22:24,110
>> Well, one thing
that I remember

534
00:22:24,110 --> 00:22:26,885
special because they don't
really do it that much now,

535
00:22:26,885 --> 00:22:30,065
my grandmother was still
alive and I had to be little

536
00:22:30,065 --> 00:22:31,640
because my grandmother Griffin

537
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,815
died when I was real young.

538
00:22:33,815 --> 00:22:38,105
But Grandmother Griffin was
there and she was real heavy.

539
00:22:38,105 --> 00:22:41,750
And she sat there and she
put her towel right around

540
00:22:41,750 --> 00:22:44,660
her waist and somebody

541
00:22:44,660 --> 00:22:47,075
sat in front of her and
she washed their feet.

542
00:22:47,075 --> 00:22:49,610
That was one of
the rituals there.

543
00:22:49,610 --> 00:22:51,410
That's what Jesus did.

544
00:22:51,410 --> 00:22:52,880
He washed the feet of people.

545
00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,250
And back then, they walked

546
00:22:55,250 --> 00:22:58,055
in sandals and their
feet were really dirty.

547
00:22:58,055 --> 00:23:01,520
But that was something to
remember Jesus and to remind

548
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,110
us to be humble with one or

549
00:23:03,110 --> 00:23:05,495
another and that's what
my grandma Griffin did.

550
00:23:05,495 --> 00:23:09,380
>> So when did you start
singing regularly?

551
00:23:09,380 --> 00:23:11,390
When did you learn that
you had a voice to sing?

552
00:23:11,390 --> 00:23:14,850
>> When I was about two
or three years old.

553
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:18,560
You know how some people
can just carry a tune?

554
00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,690
Gene could sing out by

555
00:23:20,690 --> 00:23:22,880
the time she was four
or five years old.

556
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:24,965
She didn't need any
notes or anything,

557
00:23:24,965 --> 00:23:27,650
she could just
sing out with you.

558
00:23:27,650 --> 00:23:30,620
We sang in a lot of
amateur contests.

559
00:23:30,620 --> 00:23:32,780
Years ago, they'd go
to different schools

560
00:23:32,780 --> 00:23:34,415
and have amateur contest.

561
00:23:34,415 --> 00:23:36,740
You would stand up
there and the one

562
00:23:36,740 --> 00:23:39,710
that got the most clapping
is the one that won.

563
00:23:39,710 --> 00:23:42,335
Gene and I won several
amateur contests

564
00:23:42,335 --> 00:23:44,345
and it's because she
could sing so good.

565
00:23:44,345 --> 00:23:46,160
I remember one time we

566
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,365
sang something that was
not appropriate at all.

567
00:23:48,365 --> 00:23:51,215
It was Daddy Has Gone;
was the title of it.

568
00:23:51,215 --> 00:23:54,425
But we could harmonize
real good on that song.

569
00:23:54,425 --> 00:23:56,900
So we sang Daddy Has Gone in

570
00:23:56,900 --> 00:23:59,870
the amateur contest and won
first place in that contest

571
00:23:59,870 --> 00:24:01,715
>> Do you remember the
words to Daddy Has Gone?

572
00:24:01,715 --> 00:24:04,895
>> No. I can't
remember the words,

573
00:24:04,895 --> 00:24:06,530
but it was all about
that he had just

574
00:24:06,530 --> 00:24:09,575
passed away and we don't
have daddy anymore.

575
00:24:09,575 --> 00:24:13,950
>> Did you have any
favorite hymns as a child?

576
00:24:14,710 --> 00:24:16,925
>> Every Sunday now,

577
00:24:16,925 --> 00:24:19,160
I work with internationals
trying to teach them

578
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:23,640
English and I've learned
all kind of real choruses.

579
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,530
Bringing that, doing right,

580
00:24:27,530 --> 00:24:30,110
loving Jesus, doing
the right thing.

581
00:24:30,110 --> 00:24:33,020
Like Sunday we did wide,
wide as the ocean.

582
00:24:33,020 --> 00:24:34,490
High is the heavens above,

583
00:24:34,490 --> 00:24:37,760
deep deep as the deepest
sea is my Savior's love.

584
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,680
I though so unworthy,

585
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,005
still am a child of His care.

586
00:24:42,005 --> 00:24:45,275
For His Word teaches me
that His love reaches me.

587
00:24:45,275 --> 00:24:47,120
Far His word teaches me that

588
00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:49,850
His love reaches me everywhere.

589
00:24:49,850 --> 00:24:51,515
That's what I taught on Sunday.

590
00:24:51,515 --> 00:24:54,200
See, they're trying to learn
the English language and

591
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,035
they're trying to learn about
Jesus all at the same time.

592
00:24:57,035 --> 00:24:59,045
And this older couple;

593
00:24:59,045 --> 00:25:01,445
both are my retired teachers.

594
00:25:01,445 --> 00:25:03,500
We've got probably 60 or

595
00:25:03,500 --> 00:25:06,335
70 of them in there
and they have gotten

596
00:25:06,335 --> 00:25:09,170
their citizenship from going

597
00:25:09,170 --> 00:25:10,790
to this class because
we also teach

598
00:25:10,790 --> 00:25:14,735
them that what is necessary
to get past your citizenship.

599
00:25:14,735 --> 00:25:18,755
>> Okay. So let's move on.

600
00:25:18,755 --> 00:25:21,605
Can you tell me, you
had a young cousin

601
00:25:21,605 --> 00:25:25,070
who died young. Do
you remember that?

602
00:25:25,070 --> 00:25:26,645
>> Hugh O'neill.

603
00:25:26,645 --> 00:25:29,495
>> And tell me about
going to see him.

604
00:25:29,495 --> 00:25:32,570
>> Hugh was my first cousin

605
00:25:32,570 --> 00:25:34,835
and he lived maybe a
half mile from us.

606
00:25:34,835 --> 00:25:37,595
I never had been to
a funeral before.

607
00:25:37,595 --> 00:25:39,200
Well, I was too young

608
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:40,610
really because I don't
know how old I was;

609
00:25:40,610 --> 00:25:42,680
five, six, seven,
something like that.

610
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,410
And we went to that funeral
and I told my mother.

611
00:25:45,410 --> 00:25:47,585
I said, "I want to
touch a dead person.

612
00:25:47,585 --> 00:25:49,775
I never have touched
a dead person."

613
00:25:49,775 --> 00:25:51,860
I don't know if she
ever let me or what,

614
00:25:51,860 --> 00:25:54,020
but I just remember how curious

615
00:25:54,020 --> 00:25:56,510
I was about death at that age.

616
00:25:56,510 --> 00:25:58,415
After a while you learn.

617
00:25:58,415 --> 00:26:01,580
>> So tell me about
Ichawaynochaway Creek.

618
00:26:01,580 --> 00:26:03,815
>> Well, that's where
I was baptized.

619
00:26:03,815 --> 00:26:07,190
It was about a half mile,
maybe a little bit more.

620
00:26:07,190 --> 00:26:10,205
And that's where Grandma
fished and we'd take

621
00:26:10,205 --> 00:26:14,570
my mother's mother up
there and she'd dip snuff.

622
00:26:14,570 --> 00:26:17,600
I remember Gene was
with us one time;

623
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:21,410
my baby sister and grandma
thought the window was down so

624
00:26:21,410 --> 00:26:23,630
she spit and it got right

625
00:26:23,630 --> 00:26:26,015
on the window and I
won't ever forget that.

626
00:26:26,015 --> 00:26:28,340
And we were headed up to
that creek for her to

627
00:26:28,340 --> 00:26:31,670
fish because she liked
to fish and catch fish.

628
00:26:31,670 --> 00:26:33,695
She wasn't able to
do a lot of things,

629
00:26:33,695 --> 00:26:35,180
she could still fish.

630
00:26:35,180 --> 00:26:37,670
>> Tell me about the
little girls that were

631
00:26:37,670 --> 00:26:40,860
drowning at
Ichawaynochaway Creek.

632
00:26:42,250 --> 00:26:46,880
>> My dad was probably
in his 30s or 40s.

633
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,190
Mother, she must have been

634
00:26:49,190 --> 00:26:52,115
carrying Gene then because
I remember her saying,

635
00:26:52,115 --> 00:26:53,615
"And here I was pregnant."

636
00:26:53,615 --> 00:26:55,550
Several girls had gone out

637
00:26:55,550 --> 00:26:57,410
into Ichawaynochaway
Creek and they

638
00:26:57,410 --> 00:26:59,120
were swimming and
I don't know what

639
00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:01,070
happened if they went
too deep or what,

640
00:27:01,070 --> 00:27:03,305
but one of them started
screaming and saying,

641
00:27:03,305 --> 00:27:04,775
"I'm drowning, I'm drowning."

642
00:27:04,775 --> 00:27:07,625
Well, there were several
people on the banks.

643
00:27:07,625 --> 00:27:09,980
They heard them, but they didn't

644
00:27:09,980 --> 00:27:11,720
want to go in there
and try to save.

645
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:16,025
But my dad swam out there
and saved that girl's life.

646
00:27:16,025 --> 00:27:18,905
And here was my mother
standing up on the bank.

647
00:27:18,905 --> 00:27:21,080
I don't know if she's
holding me on one of

648
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,750
the children and
with carrying Gene.

649
00:27:24,790 --> 00:27:27,470
She's afraid something
had happened to daddy,

650
00:27:27,470 --> 00:27:30,920
but he got that girl out of
there and saved her life.

651
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,885
So every time we
passed that Creek;

652
00:27:32,885 --> 00:27:35,975
Flint River, we talked about
that and think about it.

653
00:27:35,975 --> 00:27:40,070
So you've talked about
how your parents

654
00:27:40,070 --> 00:27:44,810
were different in regards to
money and things like that.

655
00:27:44,810 --> 00:27:47,045
So can you talk a
little bit about that?

656
00:27:47,045 --> 00:27:50,720
My mother had more education
than my daddy did.

657
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:52,430
Daddy didn't have
a chance to go.

658
00:27:52,430 --> 00:27:54,440
He was busy at the
field working.

659
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,245
He trusted everybody.

660
00:27:57,245 --> 00:27:59,825
He thought everybody
was telling the truth.

661
00:27:59,825 --> 00:28:01,805
Mother was the one that said,

662
00:28:01,805 --> 00:28:04,010
"Eldridge, they
might not do that.

663
00:28:04,010 --> 00:28:05,555
Be careful, be careful."

664
00:28:05,555 --> 00:28:08,900
But daddy of course was
a man so he usually went

665
00:28:08,900 --> 00:28:12,260
ahead and they had a lot of
disagreements about that.

666
00:28:12,260 --> 00:28:16,355
I slept in the near bed and I
could hear him going at it.

667
00:28:16,355 --> 00:28:18,770
And daddy sometimes
would go right

668
00:28:18,770 --> 00:28:21,140
ahead and do what he wanted to

669
00:28:21,140 --> 00:28:23,480
do and then they
would take advantage

670
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,030
of my daddy and take
our money and all that.

671
00:28:26,030 --> 00:28:29,060
Mother, I don't remember
saying I told you so,

672
00:28:29,060 --> 00:28:31,940
but she could have said it
because she tried to warn

673
00:28:31,940 --> 00:28:35,555
him not to trust everybody
because everybody,

674
00:28:35,555 --> 00:28:37,550
they don't want to
do the right thing.

675
00:28:37,550 --> 00:28:41,010
So many people, they'll
advantage of it.

676
00:28:41,140 --> 00:28:43,550
After mother and
dad got married,

677
00:28:43,550 --> 00:28:45,320
he got a job in Arlington with

678
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,215
this man and this man
was a wrong kind of man.

679
00:28:48,215 --> 00:28:51,155
He was making my
daddy do all the work

680
00:28:51,155 --> 00:28:54,620
and he was just doing
things he want to do;

681
00:28:54,620 --> 00:28:56,720
drinking whiskey and not coming

682
00:28:56,720 --> 00:28:58,940
to work and all that and
mother tried to tell him.

683
00:28:58,940 --> 00:29:01,685
Daddy, he's not a good man you
ought not to work for him,

684
00:29:01,685 --> 00:29:03,980
blah blah, but daddy
didn't listen to her.

685
00:29:03,980 --> 00:29:08,570
But it finally dawned

686
00:29:08,570 --> 00:29:10,235
on him mother was
telling the truth.

687
00:29:10,235 --> 00:29:11,630
I don't remember
him ever saying,

688
00:29:11,630 --> 00:29:13,265
"Bera, you were right."

689
00:29:13,265 --> 00:29:16,460
You know how you don't want
to admit you you were wrong.

690
00:29:16,460 --> 00:29:18,260
>> Right. Well, tell me about

691
00:29:18,260 --> 00:29:21,950
your first big trip to Texas.

692
00:29:21,950 --> 00:29:24,230
>> Well, that trip,

693
00:29:24,230 --> 00:29:27,620
that was before I had ever
talked on the telephone.

694
00:29:27,620 --> 00:29:31,385
In fact, they were just
really coming in a good bit.

695
00:29:31,385 --> 00:29:34,355
And I never had talked
on the telephone.

696
00:29:34,355 --> 00:29:36,710
My cousin lived
across the street

697
00:29:36,710 --> 00:29:38,795
and he was going out there
to see his girlfriend.

698
00:29:38,795 --> 00:29:40,130
He was probably 25;

699
00:29:40,130 --> 00:29:42,095
I don't know how old Morris was.

700
00:29:42,095 --> 00:29:44,135
But he said, "I want
to take Dot out."

701
00:29:44,135 --> 00:29:47,510
I was just 13, maybe 14,
something like that.

702
00:29:47,510 --> 00:29:49,145
Anyway, that trip really

703
00:29:49,145 --> 00:29:50,915
educated me about
a lot of things.

704
00:29:50,915 --> 00:29:53,480
I tried to use that telephone
and this lady said,

705
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,565
"You're talking in
the wrong end."

706
00:29:55,565 --> 00:29:59,240
So you strip your ignorance

707
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:00,950
every now and then and

708
00:30:00,950 --> 00:30:02,420
I stripped mine in
a lot of places.

709
00:30:02,420 --> 00:30:04,820
>> And what else new did
you see on that trip?

710
00:30:04,820 --> 00:30:07,730
>> Well, I just saw a
lot of different things.

711
00:30:07,730 --> 00:30:11,780
I think I saw electric lights
for the very first time.

712
00:30:11,780 --> 00:30:14,000
Anyway, I came back
a little bit more

713
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:15,470
knowledgeable about the world

714
00:30:15,470 --> 00:30:17,135
and Morris was real good to me.

715
00:30:17,135 --> 00:30:19,505
He'd buy me an ice cream cone.

716
00:30:19,505 --> 00:30:21,920
I was about 13 when
this happened.

717
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:23,855
>> How did you travel to Texas?

718
00:30:23,855 --> 00:30:27,140
>> In his car. See, he was
going out there courting

719
00:30:27,140 --> 00:30:30,905
this woman and I guess he
didn't want to go by himself.

720
00:30:30,905 --> 00:30:32,780
They lived right across
the street from me.

721
00:30:32,780 --> 00:30:34,880
That was Aunt Mary's son;

722
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,580
my daddy's sister's son.

723
00:30:37,580 --> 00:30:39,710
I guess he kind of liked me.

724
00:30:39,710 --> 00:30:41,270
I was out of school;

725
00:30:41,270 --> 00:30:42,740
it was in the summer so that's

726
00:30:42,740 --> 00:30:44,555
the reason I went
out there with him.

727
00:30:44,555 --> 00:30:47,000
>> Did you go to any restaurants
or anything like that?

728
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,310
>> We would stop and
buy something to

729
00:30:49,310 --> 00:30:52,670
eat but I was so ignorant
about everything.

730
00:30:52,670 --> 00:30:56,660
Because he was grown;
whatever he wanted to do.

731
00:30:56,660 --> 00:30:59,390
He seemed to have enough money

732
00:30:59,390 --> 00:31:02,225
to spare me a
Coca-Cola or whatever.

733
00:31:02,225 --> 00:31:04,040
>> So let's move ahead.

734
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:09,215
In 1941, there was the
attack on Pearl Harbor.

735
00:31:09,215 --> 00:31:13,115
And what are your
memories of that event?

736
00:31:13,115 --> 00:31:15,110
>> I remember walking down

737
00:31:15,110 --> 00:31:16,820
the street and we had evidently

738
00:31:16,820 --> 00:31:20,195
heard the news or somebody
had heard and I said,

739
00:31:20,195 --> 00:31:22,340
I don't even know
where Pearl Harbor is,

740
00:31:22,340 --> 00:31:23,795
and I really didn't.

741
00:31:23,795 --> 00:31:26,180
I didn't know exactly
where it was.

742
00:31:26,180 --> 00:31:30,440
So the war gradually dawned
on me how bad this is.

743
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:32,675
And I was actually
in college over at

744
00:31:32,675 --> 00:31:35,900
ABAC when Roosevelt
declared war.

745
00:31:35,900 --> 00:31:38,540
Because I remember
standing in the hall in

746
00:31:38,540 --> 00:31:41,150
the dormitory and somebody said

747
00:31:41,150 --> 00:31:44,255
Roosevelt has just
declared war on Germany.

748
00:31:44,255 --> 00:31:46,115
And I remember hearing that.

749
00:31:46,115 --> 00:31:48,905
And actually, being
involved with it deeply,

750
00:31:48,905 --> 00:31:51,890
I would not accept that
my brother went and

751
00:31:51,890 --> 00:31:56,855
served time and told
me about he landed on.

752
00:31:56,855 --> 00:31:58,940
Well, anyway,

753
00:31:58,940 --> 00:32:01,250
a lot of people had been
killed the very day that he

754
00:32:01,250 --> 00:32:04,145
landed over there to fight.

755
00:32:04,145 --> 00:32:08,675
And he brought back a bunch
of silk from Japan for me.

756
00:32:08,675 --> 00:32:11,540
Mother made my wedding
dress out of that silk.

757
00:32:11,540 --> 00:32:13,310
He got it real reasonable.

758
00:32:13,310 --> 00:32:15,470
And he brought that
and mother said,

759
00:32:15,470 --> 00:32:17,810
we can't have the wedding
until Ruben gets back.

760
00:32:17,810 --> 00:32:19,400
He's going to bring
you some silk and

761
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,680
mother made it for
me, my wedding dress.

762
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:23,375
>> And that silk
came from Japan?

763
00:32:23,375 --> 00:32:25,610
>> That's right. Extra good silk

764
00:32:25,610 --> 00:32:27,515
and didn't cost that
much over there.

765
00:32:27,515 --> 00:32:30,275
>> So where did you
graduate from high school?

766
00:32:30,275 --> 00:32:31,790
>> Arlington, Georgia,

767
00:32:31,790 --> 00:32:33,410
and I just went to the reunion.

768
00:32:33,410 --> 00:32:35,570
I graduated in 1943.

769
00:32:35,570 --> 00:32:39,860
We had 11 people in
our graduating class.

770
00:32:39,860 --> 00:32:42,740
But the principal was real good

771
00:32:42,740 --> 00:32:45,815
and I remember I liked
this one boy so well.

772
00:32:45,815 --> 00:32:48,170
But this girl liked him too.

773
00:32:48,170 --> 00:32:50,270
And she wouldn't
let him look at me,

774
00:32:50,270 --> 00:32:52,430
and he was scared of that girl.

775
00:32:52,430 --> 00:32:57,410
He wound up marrying her and
I think both of them did.

776
00:32:57,410 --> 00:32:59,615
Anyway, they were
not at the reunion

777
00:32:59,615 --> 00:33:01,400
because I got over him

778
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:03,290
because Jermaine Smith
got him. [LAUGHTER]

779
00:33:03,290 --> 00:33:07,700
>> I see. So why did you go
to ABAC. Explain that again?

780
00:33:07,700 --> 00:33:10,400
>> Well, I think that

781
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,445
school did not cost
quite as much as other.

782
00:33:13,445 --> 00:33:15,305
So it was just junior college.

783
00:33:15,305 --> 00:33:17,450
Plus you could be
there in an hour from

784
00:33:17,450 --> 00:33:19,880
Albany just right
on over to Tifton.

785
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,100
And so Ruben went

786
00:33:22,100 --> 00:33:24,935
there and graduated after
two years, and I went there.

787
00:33:24,935 --> 00:33:26,570
And I would work,

788
00:33:26,570 --> 00:33:28,400
I cleaned the offices of

789
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,210
the president of the
college and dust and

790
00:33:32,210 --> 00:33:34,625
things like that to
help with the tuition

791
00:33:34,625 --> 00:33:37,985
because we never were wealthy,

792
00:33:37,985 --> 00:33:40,700
and so mother did all
she could to be saving.

793
00:33:40,700 --> 00:33:44,725
>> How did you travel
from your home to Tifton?

794
00:33:44,725 --> 00:33:46,780
>> In a car, mother would
carry me over there.

795
00:33:46,780 --> 00:33:49,990
And the first car daddy
ever bought was a Dodge.

796
00:33:49,990 --> 00:33:51,400
He liked Dodges.

797
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,790
He thought they were
the best cars of all.

798
00:33:53,790 --> 00:33:56,930
>> Well, tell me about
the ABAC campus.

799
00:33:56,930 --> 00:33:58,115
What did it look like?

800
00:33:58,115 --> 00:34:00,035
>> It was nice.

801
00:34:00,035 --> 00:34:05,375
Mr. Pete Donaldson was dean,
I believe they called it.

802
00:34:05,375 --> 00:34:06,785
He wasn't the president
of the college.

803
00:34:06,785 --> 00:34:11,705
He was the dean and me and two
other girls sang together,

804
00:34:11,705 --> 00:34:15,110
and he would take us to all
the civic clubs trying to

805
00:34:15,110 --> 00:34:18,560
advertise ABAC and get more
people to come to ABAC.

806
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:20,570
And so I enjoyed that.

807
00:34:20,570 --> 00:34:23,090
One of those girls I
know is dead and I

808
00:34:23,090 --> 00:34:25,250
don't know if the other
one is dead or not,

809
00:34:25,250 --> 00:34:27,260
but I'd like to find out
because she could play

810
00:34:27,260 --> 00:34:29,885
the piano and sing too.
And we had a ball.

811
00:34:29,885 --> 00:34:33,650
>> Did you sing hymns or
did you sing popular songs?

812
00:34:33,650 --> 00:34:35,210
>> Chutney Chuchu.

813
00:34:35,210 --> 00:34:37,640
[LAUGHTER] We didn't sing hymns

814
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:41,135
usually because it was at
civic clubs or something.

815
00:34:41,135 --> 00:34:43,070
Now, I did sing in

816
00:34:43,070 --> 00:34:44,765
the Tifton Baptist Church some

817
00:34:44,765 --> 00:34:46,895
and the choir there.
Yeah. I did that.

818
00:34:46,895 --> 00:34:49,565
>> So what did you
study in college?

819
00:34:49,565 --> 00:34:51,020
>> Homemake.

820
00:34:51,020 --> 00:34:52,310
>> Tell me about
homemake classes?

821
00:34:52,310 --> 00:34:54,710
>> Well, actually,

822
00:34:54,710 --> 00:34:57,395
I didn't have my mind
on it enough. I should.

823
00:34:57,395 --> 00:34:59,660
The best thing I
learned was how to set

824
00:34:59,660 --> 00:35:01,910
the table and some of

825
00:35:01,910 --> 00:35:03,560
the cooking recipes and

826
00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:05,300
where you're supposed
to put the fork

827
00:35:05,300 --> 00:35:07,010
and the spoon and all that kind

828
00:35:07,010 --> 00:35:08,855
of stuff, which I didn't think.

829
00:35:08,855 --> 00:35:11,330
I guess I was thinking
about boys too much.

830
00:35:11,330 --> 00:35:13,805
I wasn't greatly interested in.

831
00:35:13,805 --> 00:35:15,605
I wasn't planning
to teach anything.

832
00:35:15,605 --> 00:35:19,130
I just wanted to get
married when the time came.

833
00:35:19,130 --> 00:35:21,350
>> Did you do theater?

834
00:35:21,350 --> 00:35:22,655
>> Did I what?

835
00:35:22,655 --> 00:35:24,485
>> Did you participate
in theater?

836
00:35:24,485 --> 00:35:25,850
>> We had plays,

837
00:35:25,850 --> 00:35:26,915
and I participated in

838
00:35:26,915 --> 00:35:29,795
every play that they
had at ABAC. Yes.

839
00:35:29,795 --> 00:35:31,775
>> Always sitting
back in the chair.

840
00:35:31,775 --> 00:35:33,410
>> Yeah, grandmum, if you can

841
00:35:33,410 --> 00:35:35,840
just sit back a little
bit for volume.

842
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:36,695
>> I'm sorry.

843
00:35:36,695 --> 00:35:40,160
>> No, you're good.
Is that good?

844
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:44,645
>> So you said you participated
in some of the plays?

845
00:35:44,645 --> 00:35:48,050
>> Yes. I can't remember
the titles but I

846
00:35:48,050 --> 00:35:52,595
enjoyed acting in
plays and things.

847
00:35:52,595 --> 00:35:54,620
>> And who did you date?

848
00:35:54,620 --> 00:35:58,130
>> His name was Logan
Lewis and we'd go to

849
00:35:58,130 --> 00:36:00,035
the library and was

850
00:36:00,035 --> 00:36:02,300
supposed to be studying
and sit there together,

851
00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:05,630
but we just talk about
everything but study.

852
00:36:05,630 --> 00:36:10,580
And we'd go on bus trips
to different places.

853
00:36:10,580 --> 00:36:13,730
And I remember one time the
first boy I ever kissed and

854
00:36:13,730 --> 00:36:16,925
I kissed Logan a time
or two on that bus.

855
00:36:16,925 --> 00:36:19,430
Nobody was looking. We were
sitting way back in the back.

856
00:36:19,430 --> 00:36:22,130
[LAUGHTER]

857
00:36:22,130 --> 00:36:23,090
>> Did you enjoy that?

858
00:36:23,090 --> 00:36:25,250
>> Oh, yeah, it was fun to kiss.

859
00:36:25,250 --> 00:36:26,660
It was fun. [LAUGHTER]

860
00:36:26,660 --> 00:36:29,440
>> So all during this time,

861
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:32,560
you're in college
from 1943-1945.

862
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,090
There's a war going on.

863
00:36:34,090 --> 00:36:34,735
>> That's right.

864
00:36:34,735 --> 00:36:36,645
>> And do you have

865
00:36:36,645 --> 00:36:39,530
memories of that beyond
knowing that it was going on?

866
00:36:39,530 --> 00:36:40,760
Did you participate in any way?

867
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,840
Were there any
local fundraisers?

868
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:46,445
How did you participate?

869
00:36:46,445 --> 00:36:49,625
>> I'm afraid I didn't
have my mind on it much.

870
00:36:49,625 --> 00:36:53,030
A lot of the women would
work at different things.

871
00:36:53,030 --> 00:36:55,370
But of course, I was
in school and when

872
00:36:55,370 --> 00:36:57,890
I got back after two
years of college,

873
00:36:57,890 --> 00:37:00,380
I went home to Albany
and got a job in

874
00:37:00,380 --> 00:37:04,310
a tire company and worked
there for a while.

875
00:37:04,310 --> 00:37:07,610
And I would hear about a
lot of women working in

876
00:37:07,610 --> 00:37:09,740
jobs that they never had before

877
00:37:09,740 --> 00:37:12,605
to help with the war efforts.

878
00:37:12,605 --> 00:37:16,205
>> So did you have
to ration food?

879
00:37:16,205 --> 00:37:20,105
>> Yes. Everybody was rationing

880
00:37:20,105 --> 00:37:21,830
and trying to eat sensibly and

881
00:37:21,830 --> 00:37:24,350
save and do things to
help the war effort?

882
00:37:24,350 --> 00:37:25,490
Yes. I remember that.

883
00:37:25,490 --> 00:37:27,515
>> But would you get
ration books yourself?

884
00:37:27,515 --> 00:37:30,230
>> No. My mother did all that.

885
00:37:30,230 --> 00:37:32,735
>> And when you were in college,

886
00:37:32,735 --> 00:37:34,745
did you go to a
dining hall to eat?

887
00:37:34,745 --> 00:37:35,705
>> Yes.

888
00:37:35,705 --> 00:37:37,115
>> So you didn't have to

889
00:37:37,115 --> 00:37:38,615
put up a ration
card or anything?

890
00:37:38,615 --> 00:37:40,020
>> No.

891
00:37:40,540 --> 00:37:43,235
>> So what can you tell me

892
00:37:43,235 --> 00:37:47,810
about President
Roosevelt's death?

893
00:37:47,810 --> 00:37:51,215
Do you have any memories of
that when he died in Georgia?

894
00:37:51,215 --> 00:37:53,990
>> I've been to the
very room where they

895
00:37:53,990 --> 00:37:57,420
said he died at Warm Springs.

896
00:37:57,460 --> 00:38:00,740
I'm forgetting what year
I went there right now,

897
00:38:00,740 --> 00:38:02,870
but they carried
me to this room.

898
00:38:02,870 --> 00:38:04,460
They said he came
down there real

899
00:38:04,460 --> 00:38:07,025
often and bathed
in Warm Springs,

900
00:38:07,025 --> 00:38:08,735
and it seemed to help him.

901
00:38:08,735 --> 00:38:10,385
I think he had polio.

902
00:38:10,385 --> 00:38:12,170
That's the reason why
he was in a wheelchair.

903
00:38:12,170 --> 00:38:14,030
Do you remember exact details

904
00:38:14,030 --> 00:38:16,160
of why he was in the
wheelchair? Was it polio?

905
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:16,595
>> Polio.

906
00:38:16,595 --> 00:38:19,670
>> And back then, they had not

907
00:38:19,670 --> 00:38:23,525
discovered any way to
really prevent polio.

908
00:38:23,525 --> 00:38:25,670
I had a cousin that had to be in

909
00:38:25,670 --> 00:38:27,515
an iron long for a while.

910
00:38:27,515 --> 00:38:30,155
Jimmy Nesbitt my first cousin.

911
00:38:30,155 --> 00:38:32,300
But anyway, the
president would come

912
00:38:32,300 --> 00:38:35,420
there and bathe and stay awhile.

913
00:38:35,420 --> 00:38:37,790
I saw the very room
where they said he

914
00:38:37,790 --> 00:38:40,985
died there at Warm Springs.

915
00:38:40,985 --> 00:38:45,200
>> So did you go to the movies
when you were in college?

916
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:47,240
>> I don't remember ever

917
00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:49,175
going to the movie
because one thing,

918
00:38:49,175 --> 00:38:52,190
I knew my folks didn't
have a lot of money,

919
00:38:52,190 --> 00:38:56,330
James, and I tried my
best not to spend money.

920
00:38:56,330 --> 00:38:57,590
And that would take
a little bit of

921
00:38:57,590 --> 00:38:58,940
money to go to those movies.

922
00:38:58,940 --> 00:39:00,860
So I don't remember
as college kids

923
00:39:00,860 --> 00:39:02,435
getting to go to the movies.

924
00:39:02,435 --> 00:39:04,700
>> So you said you had
one brother and he

925
00:39:04,700 --> 00:39:07,400
served in the Pacific
during the war.

926
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,680
What was your
feeling about having

927
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,080
a brother going overseas
to serve in the war?

928
00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:14,060
>> Well, that's what
everybody was doing.

929
00:39:14,060 --> 00:39:17,510
So I just knew it was his
place to do that too.

930
00:39:17,510 --> 00:39:19,040
And since the man that I married

931
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:20,600
later was over there, too.

932
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,860
He was an airplane mechanic,

933
00:39:24,860 --> 00:39:26,780
the one that worked
on airplanes.

934
00:39:26,780 --> 00:39:30,155
That's what my future
husband did in Albany.

935
00:39:30,155 --> 00:39:36,210
>> So do you remember the
end of the war, Victory Day?

936
00:39:37,430 --> 00:39:40,110
>> I think it didn't.

937
00:39:40,110 --> 00:39:42,720
I had my mind on other
things, I reckon.

938
00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:44,025
I wasn't married then,

939
00:39:44,025 --> 00:39:47,970
but I had met my future husband
and we were dating real.

940
00:39:47,970 --> 00:39:51,990
So I guess I wasn't thinking
about a whole bunch.

941
00:39:51,990 --> 00:39:57,645
>> So where did you go after
you graduated from college?

942
00:39:57,645 --> 00:39:59,430
>> After I graduated
from college,

943
00:39:59,430 --> 00:40:01,755
I went back to Albany
and my mother said,

944
00:40:01,755 --> 00:40:04,215
if you want to go on to finish,

945
00:40:04,215 --> 00:40:06,240
well, but she let me know

946
00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:08,490
that it would really
be a financial burden.

947
00:40:08,490 --> 00:40:10,050
So I went to work at

948
00:40:10,050 --> 00:40:11,490
a tire company Dobbs

949
00:40:11,490 --> 00:40:13,680
Adams Tire Company
in Albany, Georgia.

950
00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:14,790
And I worked there a year.

951
00:40:14,790 --> 00:40:15,870
So then I heard of

952
00:40:15,870 --> 00:40:18,315
a better job at Cudahy
Packing Company.

953
00:40:18,315 --> 00:40:21,045
>> But what did you do at
Dobbs Adams Tire Company?

954
00:40:21,045 --> 00:40:24,000
>> Kept books and wrote
down who bought tires,

955
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,435
and such as that and

956
00:40:27,435 --> 00:40:29,610
stood at the desk trying to

957
00:40:29,610 --> 00:40:31,710
sell tires and different things.

958
00:40:31,710 --> 00:40:33,075
>> So that was an office job?

959
00:40:33,075 --> 00:40:33,975
>> Yes.

960
00:40:33,975 --> 00:40:36,375
>> Were you the only
woman working there?

961
00:40:36,375 --> 00:40:37,980
>> No. It was a woman that

962
00:40:37,980 --> 00:40:39,735
had been there for
years and years.

963
00:40:39,735 --> 00:40:41,850
She was trying to teach
it to me, I'm sure.

964
00:40:41,850 --> 00:40:44,130
[LAUGHTER]

965
00:40:44,130 --> 00:40:45,210
>> So you said you heard about

966
00:40:45,210 --> 00:40:46,890
a better job and where
was that better job?

967
00:40:46,890 --> 00:40:48,450
>> Cudahy Packing Company,

968
00:40:48,450 --> 00:40:49,770
which was not better

969
00:40:49,770 --> 00:40:52,365
about a half mile from
where I worked already.

970
00:40:52,365 --> 00:40:54,420
But this job paid a lot better.

971
00:40:54,420 --> 00:40:56,400
And at this job, I worked on

972
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:59,385
the Comte keeping records
of all the sales,

973
00:40:59,385 --> 00:41:01,875
and it was something
like a typewriter comtet

974
00:41:01,875 --> 00:41:03,420
I don't hear about a much sound.

975
00:41:03,420 --> 00:41:05,070
I don't know if they invented

976
00:41:05,070 --> 00:41:06,795
things at a lot better or what.

977
00:41:06,795 --> 00:41:10,290
But anyway, I was working
there when my husband and I

978
00:41:10,290 --> 00:41:14,325
got married and I
met him at church.

979
00:41:14,325 --> 00:41:16,845
>> Well, let's talk a little
bit more about Cudahy's.

980
00:41:16,845 --> 00:41:19,570
What did the company produce?

981
00:41:19,670 --> 00:41:22,440
>> Meat products, bacon,

982
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,960
and all kind of meat products.

983
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,225
That's and they are
out of business now,

984
00:41:27,225 --> 00:41:29,595
but that's what they, all
kind of meat products.

985
00:41:29,595 --> 00:41:32,040
And they sold them to
different stores and things.

986
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:34,080
And my job was to
keep a record of all

987
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:36,375
of it, on computer.

988
00:41:36,375 --> 00:41:38,520
>> What did the building
look like where you work?

989
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:40,335
>> Well, not a real fine,

990
00:41:40,335 --> 00:41:43,620
pretty building it
was long and they

991
00:41:43,620 --> 00:41:46,440
had different products that

992
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,840
they sold in different
parts of the building.

993
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:49,770
They had the restroom
right here in

994
00:41:49,770 --> 00:41:51,075
the offices right here,

995
00:41:51,075 --> 00:41:53,010
and then all the rest
of it was where they

996
00:41:53,010 --> 00:41:54,975
kept the products
that they solve.

997
00:41:54,975 --> 00:41:56,835
>> And where was it
located in Albany?

998
00:41:56,835 --> 00:42:01,115
>> It was, where the
main block in Albany is.

999
00:42:01,115 --> 00:42:02,930
You know where the
Albany Harald is

1000
00:42:02,930 --> 00:42:05,870
just one block down
further south.

1001
00:42:05,870 --> 00:42:07,490
>> So downtown Albany?

1002
00:42:07,490 --> 00:42:08,375
>> Yes.

1003
00:42:08,375 --> 00:42:12,340
>> So describe a typical
day of work at Cudahy?

1004
00:42:12,340 --> 00:42:14,730
>> Well, I had a lady in

1005
00:42:14,730 --> 00:42:17,730
the office that had been working
there for several years.

1006
00:42:17,730 --> 00:42:21,255
And she and I would talk
a little bit and then

1007
00:42:21,255 --> 00:42:23,670
she'd show me all
the papers that I

1008
00:42:23,670 --> 00:42:25,785
had to figure up, on the Cudahy.

1009
00:42:25,785 --> 00:42:28,065
And so that's what I would

1010
00:42:28,065 --> 00:42:30,540
get them and and
start working on

1011
00:42:30,540 --> 00:42:32,610
that computer and then turn in

1012
00:42:32,610 --> 00:42:37,935
the final results of what
I'd gotten on the computer.

1013
00:42:37,935 --> 00:42:40,200
>> How much money did you make?

1014
00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:41,940
>. Not much, honey.

1015
00:42:41,940 --> 00:42:44,850
I tell you I don't
seem like it was 37,

1016
00:42:44,850 --> 00:42:47,250
50 a week, but I could
be wrong about that.

1017
00:42:47,250 --> 00:42:48,945
I'm just not dead positive.

1018
00:42:48,945 --> 00:42:50,850
Because I kept working there for

1019
00:42:50,850 --> 00:42:53,040
a little while after I
got married because I

1020
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:55,290
remember I was expecting

1021
00:42:55,290 --> 00:42:59,790
the first time we
got married in 46.

1022
00:42:59,790 --> 00:43:01,230
I met him at church,

1023
00:43:01,230 --> 00:43:06,420
and we got married
in church in 1946.

1024
00:43:06,420 --> 00:43:12,075
And in 1948, I was
carrying Terry,

1025
00:43:12,075 --> 00:43:13,920
my daughter, my first born.

1026
00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,460
And so I got so sick and
I went and lay down in

1027
00:43:17,460 --> 00:43:18,720
the bathroom because
it didn't have

1028
00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:21,285
any place on the
floor. I was so sick.

1029
00:43:21,285 --> 00:43:24,195
Of course, my husband heard
about that and he said,

1030
00:43:24,195 --> 00:43:25,920
I aren't going to work anymore.

1031
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:28,155
So I didn't work anymore.
I stayed at home then.

1032
00:43:28,155 --> 00:43:32,295
And that by my first baby
came in 1948, Terry.

1033
00:43:32,295 --> 00:43:36,795
>> So you started going
to church at where?

1034
00:43:36,795 --> 00:43:37,935
>> By memorial.

1035
00:43:37,935 --> 00:43:39,420
That's where I met my husband.

1036
00:43:39,420 --> 00:43:41,100
When we moved to Albany from

1037
00:43:41,100 --> 00:43:43,890
Baker County and the
reason my folks moved,

1038
00:43:43,890 --> 00:43:48,030
my daddy produced milk and he
had a lot of cows and all,

1039
00:43:48,030 --> 00:43:50,460
and there was a dairy
right close that he

1040
00:43:50,460 --> 00:43:53,085
could sell all that milk too.

1041
00:43:53,085 --> 00:43:55,800
And then too he raised
vegetables and he

1042
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:59,490
could sell those in
Harvey's supermarket.

1043
00:43:59,490 --> 00:44:03,390
So we really moved to Albany
to be closer to a market.

1044
00:44:03,390 --> 00:44:06,135
And so that's the reason
why we actually moved.

1045
00:44:06,135 --> 00:44:07,740
And so we all started going

1046
00:44:07,740 --> 00:44:09,930
to that same church by memorial.

1047
00:44:09,930 --> 00:44:13,380
>> So tell me about
meeting DS Holtmann?

1048
00:44:13,380 --> 00:44:16,140
>> When I went to that church,

1049
00:44:16,140 --> 00:44:19,845
we had what you call training
union and that would train

1050
00:44:19,845 --> 00:44:21,980
the members to get to knowing

1051
00:44:21,980 --> 00:44:24,230
the Bible enough that
you could be a teacher.

1052
00:44:24,230 --> 00:44:25,790
It was actually
that's what it was.

1053
00:44:25,790 --> 00:44:28,625
It was training you to
be a good Bible teacher.

1054
00:44:28,625 --> 00:44:32,060
And so my husband
went to that class

1055
00:44:32,060 --> 00:44:35,450
too and he evidently he
liked me and I liked him.

1056
00:44:35,450 --> 00:44:37,175
So we started dating after that.

1057
00:44:37,175 --> 00:44:39,080
>> What impressed you about him?

1058
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:40,520
>> He was good.

1059
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,180
He was good to me

1060
00:44:44,180 --> 00:44:47,900
and he was a good Christian
and nice looking,

1061
00:44:47,900 --> 00:44:51,590
but that was mine compared
to the character.

1062
00:44:51,590 --> 00:44:54,490
He had character, and
I could tell he did.

1063
00:44:54,490 --> 00:44:58,875
>> So can you describe
his marriage proposal?

1064
00:44:58,875 --> 00:45:04,125
>> Yes. We sat in right
in front of our house.

1065
00:45:04,125 --> 00:45:06,225
We had our house on
O Pretoria Road,

1066
00:45:06,225 --> 00:45:07,650
we were sitting right out there.

1067
00:45:07,650 --> 00:45:08,790
>. Your parents house.

1068
00:45:08,790 --> 00:45:11,190
>> My mother and daddy
lived there and we were

1069
00:45:11,190 --> 00:45:13,935
sitting there before I
went into the house.

1070
00:45:13,935 --> 00:45:18,225
And he asked me out there
if I would be his wife.

1071
00:45:18,225 --> 00:45:19,470
And I said, well,

1072
00:45:19,470 --> 00:45:21,120
I'm going to think about
it and pray about it

1073
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:22,980
and talk to my mother
about it and all that.

1074
00:45:22,980 --> 00:45:25,530
Well, she knew he was
a good Christian man.

1075
00:45:25,530 --> 00:45:29,340
And so that answered her.

1076
00:45:29,340 --> 00:45:32,010
What she wanted to know about
him was that if he knew

1077
00:45:32,010 --> 00:45:35,115
the Lord and he wanted to do
what was right and he did.

1078
00:45:35,115 --> 00:45:37,665
>> So you said he was a
veteran of World War II.

1079
00:45:37,665 --> 00:45:40,335
Did he tell you anything
about his service in the war?

1080
00:45:40,335 --> 00:45:42,900
>> Some, but not a whole bunch.

1081
00:45:42,900 --> 00:45:46,455
His mama had warned
him not to drink beer.

1082
00:45:46,455 --> 00:45:48,840
And I don't think he did.

1083
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:51,075
He didn't talk about it much.

1084
00:45:51,075 --> 00:45:53,680
I guess it was unpleasant.

1085
00:45:54,140 --> 00:45:58,290
I think he landed on
Normandy beach right after

1086
00:45:58,290 --> 00:46:01,785
they had a big battle
and he saw people dead.

1087
00:46:01,785 --> 00:46:04,020
That was most traumatic thing

1088
00:46:04,020 --> 00:46:06,165
that ever happened to
him in the service.

1089
00:46:06,165 --> 00:46:07,650
But the rest of the time,

1090
00:46:07,650 --> 00:46:09,000
it seemed that he was not in

1091
00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:12,990
a battle situation that much.

1092
00:46:12,990 --> 00:46:15,090
So he fixed airplanes.

1093
00:46:15,090 --> 00:46:18,120
That's what his actual
job was in the service.

1094
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:20,130
>> [OVERLAPPING] repair
fixed airplanes.

1095
00:46:20,130 --> 00:46:21,465
>> And he was in the air corps?

1096
00:46:21,465 --> 00:46:22,980
>> Yes.

1097
00:46:22,980 --> 00:46:27,345
>> So what did he do
for a living in Albany?

1098
00:46:27,345 --> 00:46:29,670
>> He was working,

1099
00:46:29,670 --> 00:46:32,685
he came to Albany in
the first after the war

1100
00:46:32,685 --> 00:46:37,440
because they had a
tornado in 1942,

1101
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:39,495
I believe it was, maybe 44.

1102
00:46:39,495 --> 00:46:42,270
Anyway, a big
tornado and torn up

1103
00:46:42,270 --> 00:46:46,570
buildings everywhere that
Cudahy back in company.

1104
00:46:46,610 --> 00:46:50,025
Everything was torn up
because of the tornado.

1105
00:46:50,025 --> 00:46:52,020
And so his daddy sent him over

1106
00:46:52,020 --> 00:46:54,570
here he was home at that time,

1107
00:46:54,570 --> 00:46:57,510
sent him over here to get a
good job because to clean

1108
00:46:57,510 --> 00:46:59,400
up the jobs everywhere

1109
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:01,140
because the town had
to be cleaned up.

1110
00:47:01,140 --> 00:47:04,530
And so daddy started working
at Smith's Lumber Company.

1111
00:47:04,530 --> 00:47:08,745
And he worked real hard and
they liked the way he worked?

1112
00:47:08,745 --> 00:47:10,740
They liked the kind
of man he was.

1113
00:47:10,740 --> 00:47:12,435
They knew he was a good man.

1114
00:47:12,435 --> 00:47:15,630
If we had a meeting
of some sort,

1115
00:47:15,630 --> 00:47:17,460
and some of them
would be sitting

1116
00:47:17,460 --> 00:47:19,395
at tables and drinking,

1117
00:47:19,395 --> 00:47:20,760
he said, I'm not sitting at

1118
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:22,680
a table where there's
a whiskey bottle.

1119
00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:25,260
I'm not sitting there because
he had a good name by

1120
00:47:25,260 --> 00:47:26,940
that time in Albany and

1121
00:47:26,940 --> 00:47:28,980
people knew he was a
good Christian man.

1122
00:47:28,980 --> 00:47:30,480
And so he worked in

1123
00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:32,700
Smith's Lumber Company for
several years and finally,

1124
00:47:32,700 --> 00:47:34,470
the boss said, "Would you like

1125
00:47:34,470 --> 00:47:37,140
to have a company
over in East Albany?"

1126
00:47:37,140 --> 00:47:39,240
And he said, "Yes."

1127
00:47:39,240 --> 00:47:41,220
But of course, he
didn't have any money,

1128
00:47:41,220 --> 00:47:44,130
but they could
loan him the money

1129
00:47:44,130 --> 00:47:47,055
to get it started and
so that's what he did.

1130
00:47:47,055 --> 00:47:48,750
That's why he made a living for

1131
00:47:48,750 --> 00:47:51,420
the next few years

1132
00:47:51,420 --> 00:47:55,470
until after our children
grow and gone to college.

1133
00:47:55,470 --> 00:47:58,920
>> So you said during
your first pregnancy,

1134
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:00,900
you were still working at
Cudahy Packing Company.

1135
00:48:00,900 --> 00:48:01,845
>> That's right.

1136
00:48:01,845 --> 00:48:04,080
>> And then you had talked

1137
00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:06,330
to your husband and
you quit working?

1138
00:48:06,330 --> 00:48:09,000
>> I didn't feel
like working there.

1139
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,195
>> Tell me about your first
home. Where was it located?

1140
00:48:12,195 --> 00:48:18,105
>> Well, we lived on and a
little bit the apartment,

1141
00:48:18,105 --> 00:48:21,570
we played on Gillespie
Avenue in Albany,

1142
00:48:21,570 --> 00:48:25,425
we played 2750 a month
for that apartment,

1143
00:48:25,425 --> 00:48:28,695
and it was cute as it
could be real small.

1144
00:48:28,695 --> 00:48:32,445
But after we'd been in just
a short while one night,

1145
00:48:32,445 --> 00:48:34,545
me and my husband
woke up and I said,

1146
00:48:34,545 --> 00:48:36,360
"Honey, something is biting me."

1147
00:48:36,360 --> 00:48:39,210
I was doing like this
he said, "Me too."

1148
00:48:39,210 --> 00:48:40,935
And we turned on the light and

1149
00:48:40,935 --> 00:48:43,680
bed bugs crawling everywhere.

1150
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:45,300
Well, what they had gotten

1151
00:48:45,300 --> 00:48:47,130
into the walls of
that apartment.

1152
00:48:47,130 --> 00:48:48,420
And I'm telling you,

1153
00:48:48,420 --> 00:48:50,505
DS took that whole mattress

1154
00:48:50,505 --> 00:48:53,175
out and burned it in
the field out there.

1155
00:48:53,175 --> 00:48:55,290
And then we moved

1156
00:48:55,290 --> 00:48:57,420
out of that apartment and
went back with mother and

1157
00:48:57,420 --> 00:49:02,205
daddy for a few nights and
they burned something that the

1158
00:49:02,205 --> 00:49:05,100
fumes and all we kill
everything because they

1159
00:49:05,100 --> 00:49:08,115
were in the walls of that
apartment when we got there.

1160
00:49:08,115 --> 00:49:10,305
So they found a good place to

1161
00:49:10,305 --> 00:49:12,870
get them a good super and a
good breakfast and to go.

1162
00:49:12,870 --> 00:49:14,460
[LAUGHTER] So, they ate on

1163
00:49:14,460 --> 00:49:16,410
DS and until we discovered them.

1164
00:49:16,410 --> 00:49:18,600
So we went out and
stayed with mother and

1165
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:21,045
daddy a few nights
until they had

1166
00:49:21,045 --> 00:49:24,060
burned that something that would

1167
00:49:24,060 --> 00:49:28,005
destroy all the bugs in the so.

1168
00:49:28,005 --> 00:49:30,690
>> How did you decorate
that apartment?

1169
00:49:30,690 --> 00:49:33,000
Well, I didn't have much, Gene,

1170
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,745
but I got a lot of gifts
when I got married.

1171
00:49:35,745 --> 00:49:39,120
So just and the
apartment was so little

1172
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,940
until just a few little things

1173
00:49:41,940 --> 00:49:44,890
that people had
given me at showers.

1174
00:49:45,990 --> 00:49:48,940
When Terry was about two,

1175
00:49:48,940 --> 00:49:53,365
we got able to build a house.

1176
00:49:53,365 --> 00:49:55,840
And so mother and daddy gave us

1177
00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:59,170
six acres of land
right next to theirs.

1178
00:49:59,170 --> 00:50:01,420
And so he was at

1179
00:50:01,420 --> 00:50:04,020
[inaudible] that's where he was

1180
00:50:04,020 --> 00:50:07,095
making our living and
doing well with it.

1181
00:50:07,095 --> 00:50:09,870
I've got some people
that told me they knew

1182
00:50:09,870 --> 00:50:13,175
him and what a good
businessman he was and I was,

1183
00:50:13,175 --> 00:50:16,180
I knew he would work
hard and try hard.

1184
00:50:16,180 --> 00:50:22,450
But anyway, we built that house.

1185
00:50:22,450 --> 00:50:25,315
It was three bedrooms
up on that high hill,

1186
00:50:25,315 --> 00:50:26,860
and I thought it
was real pretty.

1187
00:50:26,860 --> 00:50:29,920
I've got a picture of it
in my house right now.

1188
00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:31,975
Terry was two years old,

1189
00:50:31,975 --> 00:50:34,570
our first child when
she walked into that.

1190
00:50:34,570 --> 00:50:37,690
And of course, before
long, we had Cindy,

1191
00:50:37,690 --> 00:50:40,240
our second child, and
then Dotty was our

1192
00:50:40,240 --> 00:50:43,165
third and we lost
our little boy.

1193
00:50:43,165 --> 00:50:44,455
We had one little boy.

1194
00:50:44,455 --> 00:50:45,560
>> I want you to
tell me about that.

1195
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:48,085
Tell me about your
stillborn son.

1196
00:50:48,085 --> 00:50:51,190
>> I had the RH negative factor

1197
00:50:51,190 --> 00:50:55,110
and it was the incompatibility

1198
00:50:55,110 --> 00:50:57,255
with RH negative
and RH positive.

1199
00:50:57,255 --> 00:51:00,210
DS is one or I was the
other. I don't know what.

1200
00:51:00,210 --> 00:51:04,410
But it was the incompatibility
of those two bloods.

1201
00:51:04,410 --> 00:51:09,190
And the doctors didn't know
what to do with it back then.

1202
00:51:09,190 --> 00:51:10,960
And so they discovered
while I was

1203
00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:13,495
pregnant that that
baby was dead.

1204
00:51:13,495 --> 00:51:14,770
And so when it was born,

1205
00:51:14,770 --> 00:51:16,405
that's what they said it was,

1206
00:51:16,405 --> 00:51:19,315
blood incompatibility
of me and my husband.

1207
00:51:19,315 --> 00:51:21,655
So the World War II,

1208
00:51:21,655 --> 00:51:24,670
they discovered some
medication that they

1209
00:51:24,670 --> 00:51:27,970
could give you to
prevent that trouble.

1210
00:51:27,970 --> 00:51:31,450
And so now everybody
has pills to take if

1211
00:51:31,450 --> 00:51:35,785
their mate is one blood type
and you another blood type.

1212
00:51:35,785 --> 00:51:37,450
And see that was what
our trouble was.

1213
00:51:37,450 --> 00:51:40,285
And that little boy was
our only little boy.

1214
00:51:40,285 --> 00:51:42,640
The next two children
we had were girls.

1215
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:44,470
So we stopped getting them.

1216
00:51:44,470 --> 00:51:46,825
>> So where is that
little boy buried?

1217
00:51:46,825 --> 00:51:48,130
>> He's buried in

1218
00:51:48,130 --> 00:51:53,140
the old cemetery there in
Albany right on the River Bank.

1219
00:51:53,140 --> 00:51:55,075
>> And how did that make
you feel to lose him?

1220
00:51:55,075 --> 00:51:57,475
>> Well, real sad.

1221
00:51:57,475 --> 00:52:00,490
My husband didn't
let me even see him.

1222
00:52:00,490 --> 00:52:01,810
He said he thought that would

1223
00:52:01,810 --> 00:52:03,610
not be good for me to see him.

1224
00:52:03,610 --> 00:52:05,020
But he said he looked very

1225
00:52:05,020 --> 00:52:07,945
much like Terry, our first baby.

1226
00:52:07,945 --> 00:52:11,620
And so I never did even see him,

1227
00:52:11,620 --> 00:52:15,070
but they had a regular funeral
and several people from

1228
00:52:15,070 --> 00:52:16,870
our church went out there to

1229
00:52:16,870 --> 00:52:19,250
the funeral for our
little baby boy.

1230
00:52:19,250 --> 00:52:21,540
>> Well, tell me about
your time in the hospital

1231
00:52:21,540 --> 00:52:24,195
after your second
daughter Cindy was born.

1232
00:52:24,195 --> 00:52:30,700
>> Well, she had had the
blood incompatibility too,

1233
00:52:30,700 --> 00:52:34,075
and they had not discovered
medication to cope with it.

1234
00:52:34,075 --> 00:52:35,950
But they started giving her

1235
00:52:35,950 --> 00:52:38,635
blood transfusions and
doing what they could.

1236
00:52:38,635 --> 00:52:43,465
And she had to stay there
several weeks really.

1237
00:52:43,465 --> 00:52:47,215
And daddy said we are going
to bring that girl home.

1238
00:52:47,215 --> 00:52:50,990
And so they had done all they
could do in the hospital.

1239
00:52:51,060 --> 00:52:54,100
I guess I just said

1240
00:52:54,100 --> 00:52:56,455
about changing your
blood type of something,

1241
00:52:56,455 --> 00:52:59,965
I don't know exactly what
they did, medically speaking.

1242
00:52:59,965 --> 00:53:02,140
And so we brought

1243
00:53:02,140 --> 00:53:04,510
Terry home and from the
time we brought her home,

1244
00:53:04,510 --> 00:53:06,085
she got along real good.

1245
00:53:06,085 --> 00:53:08,470
And then we had another
one and the doctor

1246
00:53:08,470 --> 00:53:11,305
advised us we better not
have any more children.

1247
00:53:11,305 --> 00:53:14,830
But we had one more and
daughter got along real good.

1248
00:53:14,830 --> 00:53:19,090
She didn't have any problems
there when she was born.

1249
00:53:19,090 --> 00:53:21,190
>> What was it like to go into

1250
00:53:21,190 --> 00:53:23,800
the hospital and have
children in those days?

1251
00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:26,170
>> Well, you

1252
00:53:26,170 --> 00:53:29,660
didn't go until you were
having birth pains.

1253
00:53:30,030 --> 00:53:36,085
Doctor Holtmann that still comes
to visit me was my doctor.

1254
00:53:36,085 --> 00:53:40,195
When you begin to have pain,

1255
00:53:40,195 --> 00:53:42,820
you knew that baby
was coming and you'd

1256
00:53:42,820 --> 00:53:44,110
go to the doctor and call

1257
00:53:44,110 --> 00:53:45,700
your doctor and say you're here.

1258
00:53:45,700 --> 00:53:47,320
And he'd come sit beside you.

1259
00:53:47,320 --> 00:53:50,875
[LAUGHTER] I wanted to
kick him in the face

1260
00:53:50,875 --> 00:53:52,720
because I was hurting so bad and

1261
00:53:52,720 --> 00:53:54,895
he was sitting over there
reading the newspaper.

1262
00:53:54,895 --> 00:53:56,680
Well, he knew it'd take
a certain amount of

1263
00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:58,945
time for the baby so
it didn't worry him.

1264
00:53:58,945 --> 00:54:02,080
He had delivered probably
several thousand babies.

1265
00:54:02,080 --> 00:54:04,330
And that baby still visited with

1266
00:54:04,330 --> 00:54:06,565
granddaddy just before he died.

1267
00:54:06,565 --> 00:54:09,355
Sure did. And he
visited me since.

1268
00:54:09,355 --> 00:54:12,110
>> What was the
hospital room like?

1269
00:54:12,890 --> 00:54:16,885
>> I'm sure Phoebe Putney

1270
00:54:16,885 --> 00:54:19,720
is still standing
there and I'm sure it

1271
00:54:19,720 --> 00:54:22,960
was something of nature
like it is except they

1272
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:24,820
keep improving and getting

1273
00:54:24,820 --> 00:54:26,380
it bigger and bigger and bigger.

1274
00:54:26,380 --> 00:54:29,410
But they looked at
you and loved you,

1275
00:54:29,410 --> 00:54:31,165
did what was necessary.

1276
00:54:31,165 --> 00:54:33,310
>> Did you want to
have any more children

1277
00:54:33,310 --> 00:54:35,425
after your third
daughter came along?

1278
00:54:35,425 --> 00:54:38,215
>> Well, I think we
thought three was enough.

1279
00:54:38,215 --> 00:54:40,765
I don't remember discussing
anything anymore.

1280
00:54:40,765 --> 00:54:42,340
We'd lost our little boy

1281
00:54:42,340 --> 00:54:46,720
and I guess we just
decided three was enough.

1282
00:54:46,720 --> 00:54:48,790
>> So you said that you

1283
00:54:48,790 --> 00:54:50,800
had the home on
Old Pretoria Road,

1284
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:53,800
and what did you name that home?

1285
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:55,750
>> We didn't actually name it.

1286
00:54:55,750 --> 00:54:57,920
It was just our home.

1287
00:54:58,590 --> 00:55:01,835
>> It was named after
your three daughters.

1288
00:55:01,835 --> 00:55:03,610
Do you remember?

1289
00:55:03,860 --> 00:55:07,260
>> Tecido, I think.

1290
00:55:07,260 --> 00:55:08,760
[LAUGHTER]

1291
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:11,010
>> So you took the first
two letters of each of

1292
00:55:11,010 --> 00:55:14,170
your daughter's names
to make Tecido Hill?

1293
00:55:14,170 --> 00:55:15,565
>> Yeah, that's right.

1294
00:55:15,565 --> 00:55:16,810
>> Whose idea was that?

1295
00:55:16,810 --> 00:55:18,940
>> I don't know if
it was mine or De's.

1296
00:55:18,940 --> 00:55:21,520
I don't know, I don't
remember exactly.

1297
00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:24,400
>> So you were a gardener?

1298
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:26,695
>> Not much of a gardener.

1299
00:55:26,695 --> 00:55:28,855
De not much either,

1300
00:55:28,855 --> 00:55:30,175
but my daddy was.

1301
00:55:30,175 --> 00:55:33,100
Now, DS raised a little bit.

1302
00:55:33,100 --> 00:55:35,020
Daddy was raised in fact,

1303
00:55:35,020 --> 00:55:38,185
he was out picking peas
when he had a stroke

1304
00:55:38,185 --> 00:55:42,265
and that stroke is what
killed him eventually.

1305
00:55:42,265 --> 00:55:44,710
They lived right
next door to us.

1306
00:55:44,710 --> 00:55:46,345
>> And how long did
your mother live?

1307
00:55:46,345 --> 00:55:48,985
>> She lived almost 100.

1308
00:55:48,985 --> 00:55:52,360
Daddy died when he was
93, I believe it was.

1309
00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:54,445
And Mother, of course,

1310
00:55:54,445 --> 00:55:56,290
lived next door and she would

1311
00:55:56,290 --> 00:55:58,390
have a cousin
occasionally come to

1312
00:55:58,390 --> 00:56:00,400
spend the night with
her and I'd take her to

1313
00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:03,025
the doctor and buy grocers
and things like that.

1314
00:56:03,025 --> 00:56:06,580
Her brain was sharp right
up to the very last.

1315
00:56:06,580 --> 00:56:07,930
She was a smart,

1316
00:56:07,930 --> 00:56:10,495
good, Godly Christian woman.

1317
00:56:10,495 --> 00:56:13,195
I've still got a lot
of books that she

1318
00:56:13,195 --> 00:56:16,975
bought and read and got
something written in them,

1319
00:56:16,975 --> 00:56:18,700
and I've still got
a lot of them,

1320
00:56:18,700 --> 00:56:20,200
Nana. I had a good mother.

1321
00:56:20,200 --> 00:56:22,210
Mother lived almost 100.

1322
00:56:22,210 --> 00:56:24,505
She was up at my
house when she died,

1323
00:56:24,505 --> 00:56:26,860
and we knew she did not

1324
00:56:26,860 --> 00:56:29,635
have long and so she was up
at my husband when she died,

1325
00:56:29,635 --> 00:56:33,160
and Gail was there and I
believe Cindy was there

1326
00:56:33,160 --> 00:56:37,945
beside her bed and her
feet began to get cold.

1327
00:56:37,945 --> 00:56:39,850
And I knew from that
the circulation

1328
00:56:39,850 --> 00:56:42,190
was not going down in her feet.

1329
00:56:42,190 --> 00:56:45,595
And she just closed
her eyes and died.

1330
00:56:45,595 --> 00:56:49,060
>> So you were married over

1331
00:56:49,060 --> 00:56:53,215
67 years when your husband
passed away two years ago?

1332
00:56:53,215 --> 00:56:54,070
>> That's right.

1333
00:56:54,070 --> 00:56:57,140
>> So what did it feel
like to lose him?

1334
00:56:57,660 --> 00:57:01,090
>> You wouldn't believe
how I still miss him.

1335
00:57:01,090 --> 00:57:06,670
See he had a stroke seven
years before he died.

1336
00:57:06,670 --> 00:57:08,170
Well, that impaired him

1337
00:57:08,170 --> 00:57:10,375
because he couldn't do as
much with his right hand.

1338
00:57:10,375 --> 00:57:13,045
So I would help him a lot.

1339
00:57:13,045 --> 00:57:14,740
He used to like to work out in

1340
00:57:14,740 --> 00:57:16,420
the garage building things

1341
00:57:16,420 --> 00:57:18,550
in fact he built
some bookcases for

1342
00:57:18,550 --> 00:57:21,220
each one of the
grandsons and I've got

1343
00:57:21,220 --> 00:57:22,360
one sitting right there with

1344
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:24,340
a cross on the end
of it that he built,

1345
00:57:24,340 --> 00:57:26,170
and he wrote him a
letter telling him to

1346
00:57:26,170 --> 00:57:28,630
look at that cross
and remember Jesus.

1347
00:57:28,630 --> 00:57:30,880
But De was a good husband.

1348
00:57:30,880 --> 00:57:33,655
He let me do exactly
what I wanted to do.

1349
00:57:33,655 --> 00:57:35,140
And then I tried not to do

1350
00:57:35,140 --> 00:57:38,035
anything that he
wouldn't approve of.

1351
00:57:38,035 --> 00:57:40,810
>> So where do you live now?

1352
00:57:40,810 --> 00:57:43,945
>> I live in an
assisted living place.

1353
00:57:43,945 --> 00:57:47,980
After De died, the girls decided

1354
00:57:47,980 --> 00:57:49,720
I would be safer there because

1355
00:57:49,720 --> 00:57:52,135
all three daughters
lived out of town.

1356
00:57:52,135 --> 00:57:54,220
And they thought there
you don't have to

1357
00:57:54,220 --> 00:57:56,860
cook and it's a safe place.

1358
00:57:56,860 --> 00:58:00,415
So that's where I am at
Century Pines in Albany.

1359
00:58:00,415 --> 00:58:02,860
>> So how many
grandchildren do you have?

1360
00:58:02,860 --> 00:58:07,465
>> My goodness. [LAUGHTER]
I've got a lot.

1361
00:58:07,465 --> 00:58:11,845
My first daughter has got,

1362
00:58:11,845 --> 00:58:14,230
I should have written that.

1363
00:58:14,230 --> 00:58:17,035
My first daughter's got
three grandchildren.

1364
00:58:17,035 --> 00:58:19,330
That's right from John, her son.

1365
00:58:19,330 --> 00:58:20,980
And then my second daughter has

1366
00:58:20,980 --> 00:58:29,560
got nine grandchildren that's

1367
00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:32,185
where we're going to Saturday.

1368
00:58:32,185 --> 00:58:36,715
And then Dotty she's
the one this year,

1369
00:58:36,715 --> 00:58:39,010
all of her children,
her daughter has got

1370
00:58:39,010 --> 00:58:43,345
one baby and each one of
her sons has got two sons.

1371
00:58:43,345 --> 00:58:45,610
So she's got seven
grandchildren.

1372
00:58:45,610 --> 00:58:47,455
>> So 18 great-granddaughter.

1373
00:58:47,455 --> 00:58:48,445
>> That's right.

1374
00:58:48,445 --> 00:58:52,450
>> So what's the most important
thing to you in life?

1375
00:58:52,450 --> 00:58:54,250
>> To love the Lord and do

1376
00:58:54,250 --> 00:58:56,290
what's right and
teach my children and

1377
00:58:56,290 --> 00:58:58,180
grandchildren to be right with

1378
00:58:58,180 --> 00:59:00,325
God because that's where
we all going to wind up,

1379
00:59:00,325 --> 00:59:02,290
we're going to be
in heaven or hell,

1380
00:59:02,290 --> 00:59:04,150
and I aim to go to heaven with

1381
00:59:04,150 --> 00:59:08,125
Daddy and be up
there with Jesus.

1382
00:59:08,125 --> 00:59:12,025
>> Well, I think that's enough,

1383
00:59:12,025 --> 00:59:14,095
is there anything
else you want to add?

1384
00:59:14,095 --> 00:59:16,375
>> I love my grandson,

1385
00:59:16,375 --> 00:59:18,545
James because he likes history.

1386
00:59:18,545 --> 00:59:21,880
And I love somebody
that loves history.

1387
00:59:21,880 --> 00:59:24,365
My mother loved it too.

1388
00:59:24,365 --> 00:59:28,900
>> Well, thank you, Dot
Hotman and we will end there.