Transcript

Q: How old are you?

A: 61

Q: What were your parents' names?

A: Freeman and Ethel Varner.

Q: Do you have any children?

A: Yeah, Della and Sonji.

Q: Do you have any childhood memories from Lottridge?

A: I stayed with my aunt and uncle, Fred and Ruth Varner, out on Varner Road a lot when I was little.  I attended church there in Lottridge. We used to have lunch out on the school ground. And I knew there was a store there. I always used to be the first one on the bus because my uncle drove it. Got my favorite seat and whoever I wanted to set with. Mom and Dad moved from West Virginia out here when I was three years old, and moved into a house on a hill. It’s no longer there. It belonged to Wendell Barnhill and Fannie Barnhill.   I started school there and went half my first-grade year there. At that time we had two classes in the same room taught by one teacher. And our toilet and water fountain was outside.  We used a pump and a bucket in a building. I just remember going up to the Ackleys 'cause that was my aunt's parents' houses, going up there for Sunday dinners and reunions.

Q: What school did you go to?

A: Well, I went to the Lottridge School when I stayed with them - with Uncle Fred and Ruth.  Then when I came home I went to Federal Hocking School.

Q: What did you do for activities down in Lottridge?

A: Really there wasn’t much activities then.  I mean you just - everyone just helped on the farm. Every once in a while, being what after couples got married back then, you went back to their house and made all kind of noise and took gifts and had something to eat - ice cream, cake whatever. But there really wasn’t that much.

Q: Was there any specific chores you did on the farm?

A: Feed the dogs and cats. When I was with Aunt Ruth I was so small.

Q: When you got older did you work on the farm?

A: Well yeah, we worked in hay and they always thrashed down on the Grain Way, which is still there. We hooked corn, whatever needed done.

Q: Did you participate in any sports?

A: No.

Q: What was your church like in Lottridge?

A: I generally rang the bell every Sunday morning by somebody holding me up and me taking hold of the bell.  My weight would pull it down. Aunt Ruth and Uncle Fred went to that church. It wasn’t, I mean, it wasn’t many people but a lot for then.

Q: Where did you and your friends go after school or did you just go home?

A: Straight home.

Q: What about Fannie's house?

A: Ever since I can remember there was a filling station there 'til they had to close it down. And I remember I saw my first T.V. there at Fannie's house.

Q: When you lived with your uncle did he have electricity?

A: In the beginning they had gas lights and heated with gas and gas lights.  And carried water from over where the Washburns are now, mostly at that time for drinking water.  And we used cisterns for washing with.  They had gasoline washers then they eventually got electricity.

Q: Did your family work in coal mines or the railroad?

A: Yes, my dad worked the coal mines in West Virginia.  Dad worked on the railroad with my three brothers.

Q: What were your brothers' names?

A: Bernard (oldest), William, Jacob, Jodie.  I want to call them by their nicknames. I have one sister, Ruby.

Q: Did you have a nickname?

A: Just Meada.

Q: Who started it?

A: I really don’t know.  I have always been called that.

Q: Did your dad tell stories about the coal mine?

A: He told pretty bad since he saw a man killed.  He took mom's brother in there. There was a cave-in and they made it just in time before the river broke through. He said, "That was my first day and my last."

Q: Do you remember any more stories your dad told you?

A: Dad didn’t tell he sang. The wreck of the old '77 train wreck.

Q: What was your grandparents' names?

A: Jacob and Rebecca Varner.

Q: Do you have any stories?

A: Isaac and Minnie Bell Cook

Q: What type of classes did you take?

A: High school or grade school?