My houses

When I was born I was born at a very nice, new house. My dad and a carpenter had built the house. My brother Lester was a baby when the family moved there so Jim and I were born there. The home had 4 fireplaces downstairs and 2 upstairs, so it was a warm house. It had tile floors and the mantle in the main area had a mirror over it. This was the nicest house my mother ever had. When I was 6 my dad bought a bigger farm. The new farm was actually closer to town, while still adjacent to the old farm that he sold to his brother. However, the house on this farm was big and old. It was built in the 1800's and looked like the homes in the movies, like Gone With the Wind. (I lived here probably until I was finished with High School. I think that is about right- leah's note) This old house actually had slave quarters, which we used as a smoke house. The floors were big, wide planks. This house was always cold and its where I have most of my childhood memories. There was a big tree where we had a swing. There was a grove of trees, and somewhere in that we had a basketball court. We also had a croquet set. Once a man visited our house and challenged me to a game of croquet. I was still young then, and I don't think he expected it, but I beat him. At this farm we had a big big barn. It was probably the biggest barn around the area. It burned down. At the time, John and Forest were married and Lester was in the Army. Jim was working for TVA on bridges. I was the only one of the children home at the time. Dad used to let men passing through sleep in the barn. Not that they had permission, just that Dad did not stop them. He wondered if one of them was careless with smoking or if the barn just went up in flames. The next house we had was one Dad and Lester built. When Lester was in the Army he was in Morocco and he built a church and did other carpentry work. This house was smaller and was just fine. I lived here when I was teaching school. Actually, I lived there when the weather was nice. In the winter I boarded with someone closer to where I taught school. That was where I lived when I got married. In the 1940's my dad and brothers left Roane County and moved to Bledsoe and Sequatchie Counties. John and Margaret moved first and lived in the house that would be my mother and dad's. When my mother moved there was no place to put her things except on the porches, so a lot of her things were ruined because John and Margaret could not get into their house just yet. This was an old house and the only house Leah ever visited. It had 4 rooms and 2 fireplaces. Later a kitchen and bathroom were added. John had his own farm. Lester and my dad farmed together. They did 2/3, 1/3. My dad got 2/3 of the profit, but bought the machinery, animals etc. and paid the bills. Lester got 1/3. John had the farm adjacent to theirs. Forest was closer to Dunlap. He had an old house that had no indoor bathroom until about 1964 when they built a new house on the spot where the old one was. When Jim retired from the Army he bought a farm closer to Pikeville. He seemed to have more trouble- rattlesnakes, and the land was somewhat closer to the mountain and not as nice as river bottoms like Forest's or in the valley like John's and my dad's.

Thoughts on my mother, showers and baths

My dad put up a shed adjoining the back of the house and a tank of water that would warm in the sun for our showers in the summer. He did the same down at the barn, so especially during hay season in the summer the men could shower before going home or coming to the house at day's end. Usually in hay season several men would get together and help each other going from farm to farm. If they worked at our place Mother usually fed them the noon dinner. Our stove was catty corner in the kitchen and dad did the same thing there. He put a tank next to the stove so Mother would have warm water. In the winter we would bathe in a big tub behind the stove. Dad piped water from the spring up to the house so Mother always had water in the kitchen and did not have to go get it. My mother was always asked to bake a cake or provide a chicken every time there was something going on in town. Some kind of supper or something. I used to think they used her as a maid. When they wanted a chicken she would have to kill it and take out the feathers and dress it for them. They being town women, they did not do that sort of work.

Did you ever play a musical instrument?

I played the piano from 3rd grade to 8th grade and I hated it. The reason I hated it is that I had to practice in a cold room. Dad got a player piano and we had religious music and the music of the old South that it would play, (Old Black Joe, My Old Kentucky Home). And it could also be played. The part of piano lessons I did like was the recitals. There were about 2 or 3 girls my age and we would play duets and sometimes we would use 2 pianos and 4 of us would play. That was really fun. But I was the slowest one. They all lived in town and had warmer houses so they practiced more than I did.

Do you know what a soda mom is?

I have never heard of a soda mom. When we wanted a soft drink we just called it what it was. If you wanted coke, you called it coke. If you wanted 7up, you called it that. We did not use the terms soda or pop. We called it root beer or orange drink, whatever it was.

Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?

I would have to say it was my mother and dad. My mother was a Methodist and I followed her in religion. She showed kindness and love and was a good neighbor. When she was older she would have my dad drive her to someone's house and she would go in and visit while he would wait in the car for her. The special thing that she would do for people is make an angel food cake. She had her own eggs and would beat the egg whites by hand, no small job. My mother sewed and made things herself. She liked to take care of her home. She made drapes and wallpapered and put down new linoleum from time to time on her floors. She had a good garden and canned in her early years, but in the later years she had a freezer and used that a lot. I inherited my split front teeth from my mother. I felt like, being the only girl, I should have been spared that. My brothers all had the split too.

From my dad I was influenced in politics, which sometimes disagreed with Edd's. My dad was outgoing. He went with a group to Nashville to meet on some issue at the state Capitol. They had a group of about four. They planned what they would say. When they got there, the others were all tongue tied and my dad had to do all the talking. Then on the way home the others wanted to stop in every little town to get a beer. That disgusted my dad. My dad also would rather people not smoke. My brothers Forest and John never did, but Lester smoked cigarettes and Jim, or J.T. smoked a pipe at the end of a day's work. From my dad I inherited my loss of skin pigment. You won't remember it, but I was once olive skinned and had very dark brown eyes. In my 50's and 60's my skin lost its pigment and I became spotted like some animal. Now I am white as can be. Again, I wondered why the only girl had to have that. My brothers didn't.

What attracted you to Edd?

Edd was so polite. The boys I dated were from around Kingston and I had known them all my life. They would pick me up and expect me to open my own door. Edd was from "out of town", Lenior City. He came to our house on Mother's Day and he brought a gift for my mother, a box of stationary. My dad liked him too. Once Edd's car would not start so we had to wake up Dad and he pushed the car to the top of the hill so Edd could start it. Edd was tall and had curly hair, he was good looking, but I liked how polite he was.

Do you want to live to be 100? What did you want to be when you were young?

No, I do not want to live to be 100. My facilities are leaving me. Its hard to walk and my hands don't work and my mind is drifty. When I was a girl I probably answered that I wanted to be a teacher. If we had had typing in school I think I would have liked to be a secretary. I thought it would be fun to be a dentist's helper. But I became a teacher. That was what you could do if you graduated from High School and went to college. We didn't have money for college, but my dad was on the board of trustees at the bank and a Justice of the Peace. He was very energetic knew everyone in town and he worked it out for me to go to college.

What was life like in the Great Depression?

During the depression my dad lost his farm, but we did not have to move. So we had the dairy cows, chickens, pigs, the garden and other crops. We did not have any lack of good food. What we did not have was money and we could not buy things.

Did you have electricity as a child?

I never had electricity as a child. We had kerosene lanterns. People in town had electricity, but out on the farms the lines did not bring electricity until after the TVA built dams and then electricity was sent out to the rural areas. Edd and I always had electricity after we married in 1940.

Where were you born?

I was born at home on a dairy farm on Wedesday about supper time. The regular doctor was on another call, so Dr. Zirkle came. Sarah and Jess lived on our property and were hired by my dad. So they no doubt helped out until Mother was on her feet again. When we had to be left at home, if Mother and Dad had to go someplace, we went to their house.

What is your favorite color?

My favorite colors are probably blues and pinks. In the winter I like red and navy.

What is the most annoying thing about growing old?

The most annoying thing about growing old is to have to give up driving. You can't go where you want to when you want to.

When did you decide that the Book of Mormon was true?

I don't remember when I knew the Book or Mormon was true. The missionaries, Brother and Sister Starr taught me the lessons and I believed them. I just grew into the Book or Mormon as I read it. (Oct 1986, 2 months after Edd died) I do remember the big tree across the street. It had gold leaves on it at the time of my baptism. The missionaries and I would comment on it.

What things would Edd do to cheer you up if you were having a bad day?

I don't really remember what Edd did to cheer me up if I'd had a bad day. I do remember that if we had worked hard or were worn out, we would go to Dairy Queen and get an ice cream.

Tell me some of your Mother's positive qualities

1949-Mother Neergaard June...came up from Dunlap, TN to Albuquerque, NM.
Stayed with me for a week or so.

My Mother's positive qualites: Farmers would come to our place and Dad would sell hay to them. The men would go down to the barn and end up talking a while. Sometimes they brought children along for the trip. My mother would go down the the car and get the child or children and bring them up to the house and give them milk and a biscuit with jam or whatever she had. She was very kind to children. She also did not say unkind things about others. If someone did, she would say, "You best not be sayin that, it might be a falsehood." Once my sister in law, her daughter in law, thought we were talking about her. We never said anything but good about her. My mother hated that she thought we talked about her.

Where were you and what were you doing when JFK was shot?

I was at home in the kitchen when JFK was shot. I got in touch with my next door neighbor Kay. She was Catholic. Kay cried. It seemed we (Edd and I and our other friends) could talk about it, but all the Catholics were crying. JFK was the first Catholic president and the Catholics felt close to him.

Did you have a nickname? How did you get it?

1924-Pauline

My nickname was Tommy. My dad gave it to me. It was just convenient. My mother named me Pauline. It was popular at the time. There were 2 other Paulines about my age. Its like we have two Melissa's. A pretty name that people liked. Once, after I was married, and was at home with Edd my dad turned to me and said, "Tommy," then he corrected himself.