Interviewing the Aunts, Pt 1 - Amanuensis Monday

     This is short video from last Friday's interview with my paternal Aunts, June and Charlotte. In this segment, they talk about where the family lived when they were children, as well as some of the amenities they did - and did not - have. If you have any trouble understanding what they're saying, I've posted a transcript below the video.

Charlotte: The reason is, we lived on the line, the county line. 

Valerie: Ok

Charlotte: And I think the house was half and half. And the bedroom half was in Hart County [Georgia]. Somethin' about - like that. So my birth had to be registered in Hart County. 

Valerie: Ok

Charlotte: But we actually lived in the Rock Branch Community down in Elberton. And, always, we lived several different places. Like, we lived - uh, like when I was born it was only a two room house. We lived in several little two room houses that Daddy [Thomas Craft] rented. And then Daddy started renting the farm from Uncle Claude, and then eventually bought it. 

Valerie: Oh, ok.

Charlotte: But he didn't own it long before he sold it and he - we moved to Stone Mountain [Georgia]. When I was seven [1948] And - and it was me and June and Wayne then. And uh, uh... So I remember when we lived in the house with Aunt Frances [Craft Adams].

Valerie: Ok

Charlotte: It was a big house and she - they lived in half and we lived in half. 'Cause I gave everybody measles and chicken pox. 

Valerie: [laughing]

Charlotte: All the kids. And uh, uh... So, lets see, there was at that time - like I said there was three of us and Aunt Frances -  I think she had three at that time.  But yeah, it - you know - And I remember we lived in the house with them and then we moved to what you call a shotgun house. Just a little long house. It was a little bit bigger than two rooms. Um, then we moved from there - I don't remember what  - June won't probably remember what road that was on. We moved there to Huff - what was then Huff Road, which has since been renamed to somethin' else. 

Valerie: Oh, ok.

Charlotte: And, and we lived on Huff Road 'til I was in eighth grade. I was 13 I think. 12 or 13. 13. And we moved to Tucker [Georgia].

Valerie: Ok.

Charlotte: 'Cause Mama and Daddy promised - they - we knew what they were lookin' for a house. I mean, we lived in this house... uh, it... when we moved there we had no water. Daddy had - Daddy would take big trash cans - the big metal cans - and go up to the store and fill 'em up with water. Then Papi [maternal grandfather, Nathan Britt] built-dug a well in between us and the neighbors so we could both use it. And then eventually we got running cold water into the kitchen of the house. But we had no bathrooms.

Valerie: And this is on Huff Road?

Charlotte: Huff Road.

Valerie: Ok

Charlotte: June! What's Huff Road called now?

June: Spring Vally I think it is...

Valerie: Spring Vally?

June: Yeah

Charlotte: And all we had was...

June: Somethin' Vally

Charlotte: All we had was a path up the hill to the outhouse. 

June: Yeah

Charlotte: So I was 13 and June was 11 before we had a house with, with an inside bathroom when we moved to Tucker. 

June: Mama was pregnant with Kenny...

Valerie: Ok, ok.

June: ...when we moved to Tucker.  

Charlotte: Yeah, he was born in - when we lived in Tucker. I think she went back to Stone Mountain to have him though.

June: Yeah, she did.

Valerie: He, he said he was born in a hospital. 

June: Uh-hu

Charlotte: Yeah, the little white hospital up on the hill then. 

June: No, uh - the only time I remember me and Charlotte fussin' about who was goin' to wash dishes was the day we got runnin' water in the kitchen. You remember that? 

Ree's WWII Memories Pt2 - Amanuensis Monday

     More of the interview my mom and aunt did with my Great-Aunt Ree, regarding her memories of World War II.

Audio:

Transcript:

"June: Were y'all scared - when you heard it [Pearl Harbor]? Was it scary? You didn't understand what was going - 

Ree: No, I didn't - you know, I, I knew what he was saying, but I wasn't old enough to, you know...

Ruby:  To understand. 

Ree: try to make any, you know...

Ruby: The impact.

Ree: Yeah. You, you know, you heard it and you knew it, but it's just like death. When children - people die. Children, they know it. It's happenin', but they don't understand it. Or they don't - 

June: They don't understand what it means.

Ree: What it means or - you know. I remember, clearly, what happened then, that's never left me. I guess 'cause it was just such a devastating thing for the whole country. But um.... Yeah, we had our little Victory Garden across the street in the field. They give everybody a little piece of land to grow vegetables. [laughter] 

June: [jokingly] So then you wouldn't starve? 

Ree: Oh, yeah, well... It helped too, when they sent all the things to the, to the boys fightin'. And, you know, and we were on rations. We had ration cards for each person in the family got so much. So, you know. And you had to use your stamps out of your book to get certain things. And if you run out of stamps, you couldn't get no more until you got your next book, you know. 

Ruby: So, how often would y'all get a new book? Is it...

Ree: Every month. 

Ruby: Every month?

Ree: Mm hm. 

Ruby: At the beginning of the month? Yeah, that's one of the things she had down here [referring to interview questions]. 

Ree: Mm hm. Yeah, there was um.... I don't know where it is now. I don't know why - it was with Daddy's things, with his billfold things. It wasn't in the billfold, but it was with - with 'em in the box. But it was one of the ration books. It still had a few stamps in it. 

Ruby: Did it?

Ree: Yeah, and I've had it all these years...

Ruby: Did you have any, like, metal drives or rubber drives or anything like that?

Ree: Uh... Well, everything was, uh, rationed. And, people saved their grease. They used the grease for somethin'... for the war. But, everybody, uh, when they fried meat or bacon or anything like that, they had these cans that - well, they took vegetable cans and things and filled 'em up with grease and then turned 'em in. Yeah, they uh... you know everything was rationed. Then, uh... they did say that grease... I'm tryin' to think what it was - what they used it for. It was somethin' durin' the war.

Ruby: I think they used it with the bombs - to make bombs with. 

Ree: Well, everybody saved...

Ruby: To make glycerin or somethin'.

Ree: Yeah, everybody saved their grease, they did.

June: What'd they do, turn it in somewhere?

Ree: Yeah, I don't remember where we turned it in, 'cause see, still I was a little girl and I didn't pay much attention to Mamma and Daddy. Yeah, and I didn't know what they did with it, I just knew they saved it and turned it in somewhere. Everybody did that. And uh... 'cause.... we bought, uh, stamps. The children in school bought war bond stamps. And uh, they called um...

Ruby: Saving stamps? I think they called 'em saving stamps?

Ree: When we got enough stamps in you got a...

June: Savings bond.

Ree: Yeah, after we got - we got, uh, enough stamps, you could get a that size [gesturing] bond. Then you could trade your stamps in bond. Everybody was investing in the country. You know, even the kids were buying the stamps."

Ree's WWII Memories Pt1 - Amanuensis Monday

This past Saturday my mom, Ruby, and her sister, June, went to visit their Aunt Ree. I had to work, but I sent along my audio recorder and some questions about World War II that I wanted to ask my Great Aunt. Here's part one of her response, first in a video and then transcribed below.

Ruby: Well, she [Valerie] was wanting me to ask you about - 'cause you has said somethin' - we had, you know, she had asked you about Daddy [Roy Albea] and not bein' able to get into the, the war. And you had said somethin' about all - all the young boys had… once - once Pearl Harbor, uh, the the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, all the boys were wantin' to go enlist. So she was just wonderin', um, what it was like when you first heard about Pearl Harbor and how you found out.

Ree: Oh well, uh, for a while the, uh, President Roosevelt, came on the radio and, and announced it.

Ruby: So you heard it when he made his announcement?

Ree: Yes. On the radio, 'cause that's all we had back then.

Ruby: Yeah.

Ree: And Daddy [Vernon Albea] didn't go in the service because he had four children. They weren't takin' the men that had, you know, that many children. Daddy's health was fine. He - he, as far as a physical, he passed the physical. But he had a different rating because he had four children.

Ruby: So did he go to volunteer or was he, like part of the ---

Ree: Everybody had to sign up.

Ruby: Everybody had to sign up?

Ree: Mmm hmm. They had to sign up and take a physical. And they had to be graded or, given uh, you know, uh…

June: Classification?

Ree: Yeah.

June: That was your Daddy?

Ree: Yeah. I think it - I think that card's in those things you had. He was healthy enough and everything, it was just the number of children he had. [Pointing to a photo] That's Linda right there. [intelligible] lets see… [looking at Vernon Albea's WWII Draft Card] Local board… I need to go get my glasses.

Ruby: So anybody - an - ev - everybody over a certain age had to al - over a certain age had to go sign up?

Ree: Yeah, they drafted… they drafted people and uh, they said when they got to be 18 they had to sign up. Daddy was already older than 18 and why… but I think everybody had to register under a certain age. And uh, this was in… He was 3AH was his classification. 3AH. And he - that, that told him that he was 3A, but he had children children or somethin'. This, this is it [indicating draft card]. If I go get some glasses I can see.

Ruby: I think that the date it was mailed out. July 8th 1943.

Ree: This is Director of Register. This might be part of that. I think this' prob'ly part part of that. Ella Mallard she was our, uh, school principle. That's uh, I think that and that's was folded over.

Ruby: The registration certificate.

Ree: Mm um. And that part of it… registration

Ruby: Yeah, he was s'posed to keep this with him at all - yeah it's his registration certificate.

Ree: This is where he registered to vote [indicating voter ID card]. That's what that is. Well, lets see. Oh, he's 40 years of age. He was registered to vote at Brandon [Mill].

Ruby: And Brandon was the name of the mill.

Ree: Yes. Brandon Mill.

Ruby: And then - and then she asked, um… She was wonderin' if you remember who you were with whenever you heard.

Ree: I was, uh, in the, uh, bedroom at home. And I don't know how many of 'em were in there with me. Uh, me… I don't know. Well, it was… during the daytime when we heard it.

June: You first heard about it on the radio?

Ree: Yeah.

June: Y'all had the radio on all - uh, a lot?

Ree: Yeah, that's all we had. You know, back then we didn't have no TV, no nothin'. We we didn't have no telephone. You know, we just lived in a little four room house with a little fireplace that you burned coal in to keep warm. And uh, it was - it was just - everything was different. This [Vernon Albea's unemployment card]- well, that when he was outta work, he applied for… for uh, you know

June: Unemployment.

Ree: Unemployment. [laughter] Don't mind me!

Ruby: He wasn't unemployed for long, 'cause he's only got one report date on here.

Ree: Yeah. That - they probably somebody gave him a job to keep him from drawin' it. [laughter]

Ruby: And then she's got um… Now, now when he, when he made that radio broadcast did he, he declare war at the same time? I know I've heard that, that broadcast so many times, but I don't remember… or did they come back later and just whatever-

Ree: I don't know, you know I was 11 years old.

Ruby: You were 11? Yeah, that's young. 

Ree: I say I was 11 then in uh, July. That happened in December. So, um… That um, the speech he made about… somethin'… infamy. That one word stuck with me and - and uh, I know that there was words before that and I couldn't used to remember but I can't remember 'em now but that word's never left me. But uh, yeah he said that, um, the Japs had bombed Pearl Harbor. But I don't remember exactly what he said either, 'cause I was so young. But I remember I was in the front bedroom and the radio - it was one you set on the floor, you know, it was a cabinet radio. We just had a little radio - little speakers. But it, it all was settin' against that wall. [gesturing] well, really it would have been that wall because there was [gesturing left to right] a back bedroom, bedroom, living room and kitchen. But um, yeah, I remember it. I was there in that room when that happened.

Monday Memories - Dinner Time, pt 1

This is an audio story from Mom, about her memories of dinner growing up. It surprised me what simple meals they ate.

Remembering the Moon Landing

On 21 July 1969, man walked on the moon. It's one of those moments that stand out in history and that will be remembered by the millions who watched the event live on television. My parents both remember watching the event when they were young teens. Here's what they remember:

(audio may not display in blog readers)

Monday Memories - Touching Heads

Story from Mom about my sister and I as babies.

Transcription:

"When I was talkin' about y'all - y'all entertained each other. Y'all also, uh - they had - they had told me that I could put y'all in the same crib until y'all started movin' around. But, y'all were just like, almost immediately, you know, like within a - whenever I brought you home from the hospital I'd put y'all in the little bassinet downstairs. Well, it was - it was more like a portable crib. And y'all would scoot around until your heads would touch. So it's like, I could put y'all on opposite ends, but y'all would just scoot towards each other until y'all found each other.

So, y'all were really pretty uh - I guess from, um, all the pushing and shoving that y'all did before y'all were born, y'all were - y'all were used to being close together and that the way y'all liked to be. So, I've actually got a picture of you, whenever y'all hadn't been home.. yeah maybe, prob'ly the first day y'all were home. And y'all were downstairs and y'all had already scooted till - till your little heads would just touch. Like y'all would just be, you know. And then y'all would be fine. Then you'd just lay there and sleep and everything. But y'all always liked to be close to each other.

And at night, at night when y'all first came home - I was tryin' to breast feed you so I was the only one who could take care of you at night - And uh, y'all did real good 'cause one of you would, uh - you would wake up right after I got through feedin' the other one. Y'all didn't wake up at the same time. Y'all sorta did the shift thing really well. So, that was really nice. And y'all slept through the night early too. So... Probably 'cause I was so exhausted taking care of both of you, it was hard to wake me up. No, y'all - y'all did real good. Y'all enjoyed, um, bein' together, always."

(belated) Monday Memory - Albea Birthdays

Transcription to be updated later. This is a memory from my mom about how birthdays were celebrated when she was a child.

Monday Memories - Uncle Roy & Vietnam

Last monday I helped plan a going away party for my friend, Ashley, who's an Alabama National Guard Sergeant who's being deployed to Afghanistan. It reminded me of some photos of my Uncle Roy's welcome home party when he returned from Vietnam.

I asked mom about these photos and the party.

Uh, Roy served in the Vietnam War. He joined the army with, um, my cousin Bobby and Gary Anderson from up the... Anderson? Yeah - from up the street. And, uh, the three of 'em enlisted together and went through boot camp together, but then they got split up.

Uh, and your Uncle Roy went to Vietnam and was over there. And while he was over there, of course it was hard on Mama and Daddy. I think I told you before about the map that Grandaddy had up in the living room. And when he'd watch the news at night he'd put the little push pins on the map where the bombing would go on. And he'd have a different color push pin for where Roy was supposed to be.

So, um, we were looking through the pictures and I was tellin' Valerie - I was tellin' you - about the - when he came home we had a welcome home party. And we had it out on the carport, out on your Grandmama's house. So we've got some pictures of it. And uh, Mama had cooked - baked cupcakes and she put the little flags on there. And she had a cake and we had punch and just, you know, stuff and just welcomed him home. We had balloons and streamers up and, uh, we'd made a big banner to put across the front of the carport when he came home, so it'd say "welcome home roy" so that he'd see that when he came home.

And uh, all the - all the families in the neighborhood came down and - and uh, my Aunt Ree and Uncle Bill, my Grandmama was there and all of us kids. And we were just really happy that Roy was home safe and sound and uh, home from Vietnam.

And then after he was in Vietnam he went and served a year in Germany. And then from Germany he came back home. So, it was - it was a hard time for the family and we were just glad that he was home. He was just so young and uh, he made it home safe.

Monday Memories - The Beatles

An audio story from mom

"When I [Ruby] was prob'ly around 9 years old, um, the Beatles came to Atlanta [1965]. And your Aunt June wanted to, um, see them. And, uh - but Daddy said 'no' and aunt Marie had even said that she would, you know, buy the tickets and stuff. But, Daddy said 'no' - Daddy couldn't stand the Beatles. 

And, um, so your Aunt June came up with this idea with your Uncle Charlie that, um she would... she was gunna go see the Beatles. Oh, well they were... I don't know how old they were. So... older than me. So, anyway, um, the thing is that me and, uh, your Aunt June shared a bedroom. So she decided that she was gunna bribe me into not telling Mamma and Daddy that she wasn't in bed. 

You know, I prob'ly wouldn'ta thought to tell 'em anyway, but she decided to bribe me. So, she told me that I could have her Barbie doll if I didn't tell that, um, Aunt... that she didn't go to bed and, um, because she was sneakin' out. So I didn't tell. So, I went to bed. 

Then, the, um... what happened was they did actually go... they made it all the way to Downtown Atlanta and the police picked 'em up and, uh, ended up bringin' 'em home. And there was a big, big, big, big, row about it. 

But, um, the next day, um, whenever I went to get my new Barbie doll to play with, your aunt June said I couldn't have it. And I said, 'why?' And she said, 'well, because we didn't get to see the Beatles.' And I said, 'no, that wasn't the deal. The deal was that if I didn't tell, I got the Barbie doll.' So, I went and told Mamma because June wouldn't give me the Barbie doll. I was cryin' and she said, 'what's wrong,' and so I told her. 

And, uh, I don't remember for sure, but I think Mamma.... I guess I'm sorta lucky she didn't get mad at me for not telling, but she got mad at June for telling - you know, for telling me I could have the Barbie dolls and then not giving 'em to me. And I think I got the Barbie dolls - I'm not sure. But, maybe I didn't get the Barbie dolls, but I got Barbie dolls that year for Christmas. So, I finally got my Barbie dolls. But, uh, it was... it was somethin... but your Aunt June and your Uncle Charlie were just determined that they were gunna get to see the Beatles. I think she was gunna go see 'em off at the Airport or somethin' but they got caught. And that's the Beatles story.”

Monday Memories - Learning to make Biscuits

Mom: I was telling Valerie about, um, when my mom got married - um, really young - my mom got married real young. And so, she didn't know how to cook. So she had to teach herself how to cook. So, um, one day she was trying to teach me how to cook biscuits and I was not doing a very - I, I just couldn't understand it - I couldn't do it. And, the way your Grandmama would cook biscuits is she would take the flower, and she had it in a big bowl and then she'd make a little well with her hand. She's sorta stir it so you'd have this little impression there. And then she just put her ingredients in there and mix 'em up - with her hands. And with your Grandmama, whenever she was cooking, she didn't measure anything. It was just like she knew how much to put in there. And then she could feel when the biscuit dough was right. And so, whenever I tried to do it and she was trying to tell me, she just go so frustrated. And, um, because I was tryin' to do it and the dough was sticking to my hands. And she was tryin' to explain why. And so finally she just made the biscuits. And so, um - but she told me, uh I - I was frustrated and I said, "I'm never gonna learn how to make biscuits" - which I never did. But, um, she was saying how she had to teach herself how to make 'em. And I said, "Why didn't your, um, your mom teach you?" And she says, "Well one - one day my Grandmama was gonna teach me how to bake biscuits. And, uh, she - she told me to come home by a certain time 'cause she was teachin' me - gonna teach me how to bake biscuits. And she said, but, um, what happened was she come home and, uh, she washed her hands and she went to go help her make biscuits. And she had put on - she had been over at one of her girlfriends house and she'd put on finger nail polish. And when her grandmother saw that fingernail polish on her hands, she had a fit! And told her, "how dare she think she's gonna make biscuits in her kitchen with that stuff on her fingers. And just get outa there." And, uh, she never would teach my mom how to make biscuits after that, because she come home wearin' finger nail polish one day. She just thought that was shocking that she was gonna make biscuits with finger nail polish on.

Valerie: What about other food?

Mom: She, she didn't teacher her how to cook anything.

Valerie: What about her mom - did her mom teach her how to cook?

Mom: No, she didn't know how to cook anything when she got married.

Valerie: Not a single thing?

Mom: Not a single thing.

Valerie: Did she talk about what they ate when they first got married?

Mom: Your Grandaddy used to laugh and say she didn't even know how to boil water when they got married.

Valerie: So what did they eat?

Mom: I don't know! They didn't starve. I guess got - like I said she taught herself how to cook.
Well, you know, for a while - for a little while she lived with, um, they lived with Aunt Tootsie.

Daddy's sister in South Carolina. And so finally Mama got fed up with that. And one day she just told - she just packed up and moved back to her parent's house. And she told her Daddy - she told Daddy, um, my Daddy - that he could either find a home, provide her a home or, or do without her. 'Cause she wasn't livin' with people anymore unless it was her people. So, he got a job in Atlanta and, and they got a hou- an apartment. And that's when it started... [unintelligible] So, I don't know. She just - she just taught herself how to cook.

Monday Memories - Betty the Artist

Valerie: Ok, um, we're looking at a picture of Grandama. And she looks like she's at, um, some sort of, uh, ceramics show, and she's got a bunch of different pieces that she's done. She's got two blue ribbons and two white ribbons. And, um, I remember Grandmama always had all these different ceramic pieces all over the house that she had done - with their ribbons that she got awards for. So I was just wondering what you remember about Grandamma and her ceramics and that kind of thing.

Mom: Well, um, Grandmama really enjoyed doing ceramics. And that was somethin' that she started after I was grown. I had, uh, started goin' to ceramics with one of, uh, one of my friends. And I - I didn't go for a long time, but I did a couple of pieces and I really enjoyed doin' it. And then, um, I got Mama to go with me one day, and she really enjoyed it. And ceramics, you would go into the shop and they would have the different pieces of greenware, where they had poured the molds. And then it had dried and you would decide what you were gonna do with the ceramic pieces. And most of your Grandmama's pieces, she would paint. So you - what you would do is you would take the piece and you would clean all the seams off of it. Because where they put the molds together and poured 'em, there would be little, like, crusty edges or seams that you would clean off. And your Grandmama really, um, took to ceramics. She like to do a lot - a wide range of different, um, crafts and hobbies and so on. And embroidery and she croqueted and she did a lot of different things. So, with her ceramics she was very, um - your Grandmama was very detailed oriented, so she always took a lot of, um, pride in her work. She worked really hard and, uh, when she'd clean her pieces you couldn't even tell where the seams were. And then they would fire 'em, and then she would paint 'em. And she, um, she kept goin' to ceramics long after I quit goin'. I just got to busy with Allen - he was just a baby and I got too busy, um, taking care of him. But your Grandmama kept goin'. And then she started goin' to ceramics with your Aunt Marie, who was my Daddy's sister. And, uh, they would go. And for a long time, Mama went to ceramics and she did a lot of beautiful pieces. And I've got, uh, some of the pieces that she did.
You could also do under-glazing, which you would paint the piece with a special paint and then you would put a glaze over it. And they would fire it and it would be, um, that would give it this look...

Valerie: Like these birds up here?

Mom: The chickens - and hens and biddies. And she also won a ribbon for those too. She did several different kind. And, uh, but she always did really beautiful work. So the pictures in the ceramics [ceramics in the pictures], um, one of 'em is a book. And it's a biblical ceramic book, with a, uh, one of the three wise men on a camel. And you can see the other two in the background. And she put a lot of detail into all her work. And uh - but she eventually had to give up ceramics, because she developed an allergy to it. And it was, um, it was um, damaging - destroying her finger nails, so she had to give it up. So, she really missed it, but that was one of her hobbies. Um, whenever, um, you girls were - even, even after the girls were growing up, she would do pieces for 'em.

Valere: Um, what about this - the awards show. Did she go to a lot of those, or...

Mom: There were about three or four that she went to. And she always won a ribbon whenever she did that. And she - she would get really excited about it. And they would, um, sometimes the judges would write little notes on things she could improve on. But, she was very, uh, she was very detailed oriented and even finishing the inside seams and the bottoms of her pieces, making sure that they were cleaned really well. And, um, that was one of the things that she would just be so happy when they'd write somethin'. You know, she'd get these little notes, like, "beautiful piece" or "love the detail work." And she would paint her own eyes and, uh, just really studied a lot as far as how to get different techniques.

Valerie: And she did the, um, the women, with the dresses. How would she do that?

Mom: Oh, yeah! When she did the womens with the dresses. Um, my favorite one is the one with the lady and - the um, Southern lady in the black dress. And, uh, what you would do is, you would - she would paint it - the ceramic piece - and then you had fabric stiffener that you would add to the material - or the lace - and then you would add that on top of the ceramic piece. And then she also, um, would croquet little necklaces for chains and put little jewelry. And of the ladies had the little ring that she made, that she's looking at. So, um, those were, um, very beautiful pieces when she did that. So she was always lookin' for different techniques and styles that she could do with her ceramics.

Valerie: And you said she went out. So she always did this outside of her house? She didn't have, like, supplies at home or anything?

Mom: Well she had all her own supplies, because she, she had her supplies. She had her paints and everything. And she would work on-at 'em at home, but I think they had like a regular night, it was prob'ly a tuesday night, that they would go to ceramics together.

Valerie: 'Cause I know whenever we were cleaning up - like in this picture, you've got this shelf back here, so... I remember when we were sorta cleaning out the house, that there was just a lot of pieces left over.

Mom: Yeah, they were. And, uh, your Aunt June took those and, um, we.... Because I don't do ceramics now. So we, uh, the pieces that, uh, the greenware and stuff was old and so it really couldn't be used. But there were some pieces that had been fired and, uh, those we put in a garage sale. But she's prob'ly got - still got some pieces over - and 'cause a lot of the stuff went over to your Aunt June's. And, uh, of course we could go over there at any time we wanted to and use it. So, it was really hard for me to - for me when we lost your Grandmama and it was hard for me to go through her stuff. So a lot of the stuff just got moved over to your Aunt June's.
So, but I've got some pieces that she would give me. Um...

Valerie: Daddy said she made that box over there for 'im.

Mom: Yeah, there's a little ceramic box with a lid on it that has a piece - uh, uh winter scene with a deer on it. She also made, um, the steins that year. The Eagle stein that we have, your Grandmama made that. And it's probably, what, about 12 inches tall? It has an American Bald Eagle on it and - on the lid it's an eagle. And, uh, the handle is made out of - it made to look like drift wood. And, uh, that was another, um, technique that she would do. And um, because in ceramics you paint, but you could also stain and you could do, um, dry brushing. Which is, you get your paint on your brush, but it's really dry, uh, it's almost dry. You just have a little bit on there and you just brush it over the highlights and the texture in the ceramics and it picks up the paints. And you can build layers of colors, so she was really good at that.
And then, um, she's also added some gold, that you fire on there, so there's like this liquid gold that you could paint on there. And then, and then it would be fired and then you would do your painting. So all the painting are really acrylic, um, paints and - they call 'em stains but they're really acrylic paints. But when you fire your ceramics if you're gonna stain it or paint it you fire it at a lower temperature than you do if you're going to glaze it. So it's, it um, so that the paint'll soak into the ceramics more, but it seals it.

Valerie: Did she deal directly with the firing or was that a service she had done?

Mom: That was a service she had done. She had talked about getting a kiln, she wanted to get a kiln, um, and she had actually bought a couple of molds, but she never got that far into it before it started hurtin' her hands.
Yeah, and ceramics was one of your Grandmama's many hobbies. She was just really good at a lot of different things. Whenever, when Allen was a baby, she was crocheting a lot. In the winter time she would croquet afghans - and we've all got our afghans that, um, she made. But she would, that was what she would do in the winter time. Um, but after a while, the arthritis made it hard for her to crochet. Um she's - I remember, um, some of the projects she did when, um, I was a little girl. She sewed some pillows for the house and she made all these beautiful pillows. And she would get the patterns and, uh, but there was some where you could do smocking. Which is - it's where you make little pleats of material and sew 'em together in pieces so you can make a pattern out of it. And she had some pillows that she made that way, and she round pillows and square pillows and oblong pillows. And one time she re-apolstered a couch. Um, and uh, it looked just like somthin' you buy in the stores. She did an excellent job. Um, she um, embroideried and did some beautiful pieces with embroidery. Uh, she... She was just - you know, anything that um - she liked to do detailed stuff, things that you put a lot of detail into. And she really enjoyed doing different things. Um, just, um... created

Valerie: Where did she learn - where did she learn that stuff from?

Mom: She taught herself.

Valerie: All of it? The crochet and the sewing and everything?

Mom: Mm-hm, the uh... You know it's just like, even at ceramics, you go to ceramics and they get you started. You know, like they'll tell you, "This is what you do." But your Grandmama, um, when she started a new hobby, she would get - she would just get - she loved to read. And um, she would get all these instruction books and everything. And she taught herself.

Your Grandmama, she always felt like she wasn't very smart because she didn't graduate from High School, but your grandmother was just so intelligent. And, uh, she was very well read. Uh, she loved to read. Um, she loved to learn new things, um, and she was a great inspiration.

Monday Memories

Mom remembers Zoo Atlanta:

Valerie: Ok, yesterday we went to the Zoo and we were talking about, you know, what we remembered from when we were little when we went. And me 'n' Sarah remembered that there used to be bears, and you said, yeah, there were. 'Cause we weren't sure if we remembered right. Um, so I was wondering: what was some stuff that you remembered from going to Zoo Atlanta when you were a kid. Um, did you go a lot? Did you go once...?

Mom: I think maybe we went once. We might have gone twice, but I think we went once.

Valerie: How old were you?

Mom: Oh, I was just a little thing. A little ol' thing. And, um, lets see, I was prob'ly around eight or nine if I was that old. And, so, um... I remember we went one time with Mamma & Daddy, and then some of my aunts were there. I think aunt Tootsie was there - they might have all been there. Usually when they came down from Greenville they would get together with my other aunts.

Valerie: ... and do a buch of stuff

Mom: Yeah, and so what we did is we went to Grant Park. And I guess we had a picnic, I don't

 remember that much - too much. But I remember going to the park beside the zoo. I think we had some ice cream. And then we went to the zoo. And we went around the zoo. And, uh, they had the Reptile House, like they did now. And I didn't like the reptile house. It was really noisy and there were a lot of people in there. And the way they had it set up, is it's the same reptile house they have now. So some of the displays were the same, but they had bars up. So, like railings. So, like, you went in and there was - it was sorta like a maze the way they had it. I don't know how to explain it, but they had the railings up, so you couldn't just go anywhere, you had to follow the pathway.

Valerie: 'Cause now it's sorta like an open room.

Mom: But they had, they had, railings that went down to the center of the room and then they went out from each side so you could go in. And you had to, you had to go along the walls. And then you went around - it had where you went around the other wall. So it was more a trap feeling. It was really, really noisy in there 'cause of all the people...

Valerie: Like echo-y

Mom: Echo-y. It was like - like really loud. And it was dark and I was a small child and I was afraid I was gonna get lost. Plus they all had all these snakes and everything. But, um, they way they've got the alligator pit now, that was the same... [to Dad] Are you tryin' to get my attention dear?

Valerie: He was pretending he was a snake and he was biting you

Mom: Oh, is that it? Kenny's here too. So, anyway, I remember that about the reptile house. But I know, when we were at the zoo yesterday, I was tellin' y'all that the front part of the building - it has like this relief sculpture. And that's the way a lot of the buildings were then. They had, like, these, um, almost like hieroglyphics. But they were like, um- they were like relief sculptures on the side of the building

Valerie: Like kinda mosaics

Mom: Sorta like mosaics. But I don't think they were painted. I think they were just the concrete. They weren't finished. I mean, they didn't have like a finished, colorful surface to 'em. So they had that on the reptile house; they had one on the monkey house - it had monkeys on it. Um, I remember going in the monkey house and it had all these different displays. And they had, um , Willie B. And it's back then they had him in a big cage. And it took up, like, the whole end of the building. And he was sittin' there in his little hammock thing. And they had a tv for him to watch and he had a tire swing or somethin'. And he's just in this big cement cage. So it was a glass front to it. And everybody wanted to see Willie B. And then they had some different - all the monkeys - they weren't - it wasn't like it is now, where they have a natural habitat for 'em to be able to go out into or anything. It was, everything was like cement cells with glass window fronts. And then, I remember we went down to the Polar Bears exhibit. And it was also like a big wall that, that - I mean, it was a pretty long exhibit, but it had, like, cinder block walls and concrete floors. And they could, um, there was a little opening so they could go inside. But mostly they, like, walking around outside or swimming cause they had a big pool that they could swim in. And they had seals too in a different section. But, um, that's pretty much what I remember when I was a kid. The Zoo's really nice now, they way they've got it. But, um, of course, I think for the time period, it was, it was pretty much what the other zoos were doin' too. 

Valerie: Yeah, it just they didn't bother to change it, after that. 'Cause I know they didn't start changing it 'til like the 80s

Mom: I think it almost went out of business there for a while. But yeah, they um, they have, they, the zoo now is really, really nice. So... but yeah, I remember when we um, when we were little. But yeah, we took y'all to the zoo when y'all... [to dad] what were they, prob'ly about four?

Dad: I don't remember.

Mom: I think we took you a couple of times. We took you when you were about three or four. But then we took you again when you were older.

Audio Story

I ambushed mom and got this audio story.

Transcript:

Mom: I do think you should have to watch "He Haw" with me again before we talk about "He Haw."
Valerie: I already watched it
Mom: I know, but Sarah hasn't seen it
Sarah: I've seen the show
Mom: You've seen "He Haw" before?
Sarah: Well, I know what you're talkin' about. We watched that one night on tape with Dolly Parton
Mom: Yeah! I asked you if you'd seen it and you said 'no.' That....
Valerie: Well, why don't you tell us-
Sarah: I thought you meant a specific episode-
Mom: No...
Valerie: Why don't you say what you were just sayin'
Mom: What? That-
Valerie: That when it came on, y'all came runnin'
Mom: Yeah, all of us would come runnin' and flop around in the livin' room 'cause there would be kids everywhere. And we'd watch the show with Mama and Daddy when it come on. We'd hear that song goin' "He he he haw haw - He he he haw haw - He he he haw haw haw haw." And we'd all come runnin' to the livin' room and the He Haw gang would be comin' on.
Valerie: And Dad, you watched it?
Dad: Oh yeah!
Mom: And you watched it too. That was the thang
Dad: Not with them, but I watched it
Mom: Yeah, 'cause we didn't know him then
Valerie: And what was that other song you were singin'?
Mom: Gloom, despair and agony on me?
Valerie: uh hu
Mom: It was: Gloom, despair and agony on me. Deep dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren't fer bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair and agony on me. And then your Dad said that should have been is theme song.
Valerie: And you said you... what did Grandmama think about it?
Mom: Oh, I don't know what Grandmama used to think about it 'cause I couldn't imagine... watchin' it now how she stood sittin' there watchin' with all those scantily dressed women in their little Daisy Mae outfits, lazin' around on the porches, layin' there just talkin' about silly stuff. Definitely not the role model she wanted for us.

Monday Memories

The Pink Easter Dress (circa. 1963)

When I was a little girl, there weren't a lot of place to go shopping, as far a clothes goes. There was Rich's, which is now Macy's, and then we had a new mall... they built a new mall - it was Columbia mall and they had a Sears there. So... and Sears had also what was called a Davidson's - I mean the Columbia Mall had a Davidson's too. But, Sears is where my mom took me shoppin for my Easter dress.

So, this particular year, the one that she found she really liked. And it was on sale and it was a good price and everything. And I thought it was really pretty too. And it was a pink dress and it had layers to it, so it had the.... the different layers. And it had this pretty little white jacket that went with it and it just looked adorable. But they didn't have it in my size. And mom and the sales rep... lady looked all over tryin' to find one in our size, but they just didn't have one. And then, all the sudden, Momma asked her about the one on the mannequin - what size that was. And the mannequin was up on top of the rack, so it wasn't like they could get to it real easy, but she found out it was a size 10, which is the size that they needed for me. So they undressed the mannequin and I got to try it on and it fit perfect. And it just looked... I just looked... Momma thought I just looked so pretty in it and it was just perfect for me. So she got the dress, and so she... of course we take it home and put it up and everything.

So then, unfortunately, I had a growing spurt and I kept growing. And I was just growing and growing and growing. Momma got upset with me on day and she said, "You're gonna have to stop growing you're gonna outgrow your easter dress."

So, sure enough come Easter, I didn't actually outgrow, but it was a little sho... a little shorter than what normally I was allowed to wear, during that time period. But we've got a picture of me in the pink dress, but I'm not wearing the jacket. So, I don't know if maybe I outgrew the jacket part, or if I just got somethin' spilt on it or if it was just really hot and I just wasn't wearin' my jacket whenever the picture was taken.

But that was always a big thing for us, was to have a new outfit to wear for easter.

Monday Memory

As told by my mother:

Grandaddy Mack

When I was a little girl, my Grandaddy would come to visit, and his name, uh... his name was... Mack. And he would come to visit and he would bring Ruth, who was his wife. So we always called 'em Grandaddy and Ruth. And we would just have a wonderful time.

And my Grandaddy loved to tell stories and he would tell all kinda stories and some stories my brothers later told to me that he would tell about when he was a hobo. And so that would have been during the depression. He had left my Grandmother and my mom when she was a little girl... and lookin' for work and didn't come back until she was like, 14.

But, uh... one of the stories that he told 'em was about when he was a hobo and they said that he useta, um, ride the trains and everything. And he was tellin' 'em one day 'bout how they used to smoke this ol' wacky weed that they would find on the tracks. But, he uh... Anyway, they tried to tell me it was marijuana, but I said they were just tellin'... pullin' my leg. But, that's what they would say, but...

I was talkin' to my mom one time, long, long after that. And she said that, yeah, my grandfather was a great story teller and that he loved telling stories. And that as he would tell a story, he would get very involved in it 'cause people would enjoy it so much, and that, uh, he liked to embellish the stories. So, she said that you couldn't always believe everything that he told you, 'cause he just like to tell stories.

So... and that was my Grandfather, and his... born... he was born Vary Americus Huyler and, uh, had his name legally changed to Mack. So, that was my Grandaddy.