The Herald-Advocate tLUSPS 578-78, Thursday, January 6, 2005 ***********************3-DIGIT 326 935 05-08-03 16P 15S UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LIBRARY OF FLORIDA HISTORY 404 LIBRARY WEST GAINESVILLE FL 32611 TEENS INTERVIEW ELDERS COOK By ASHLEY TIMMONS Special To The Herald-Advocate I interviewed my great-grandmother Alverna Lee Carrier. Q: When were you born? A: Aug. 8, 1922. Q: How old are you now? A: I am 82 years old. / Q: Where were you born? A: I was born in Wise County, Va. My daddy, who I called Poppy, was 19 years ,old and a coal miner. My mother was 17 years old.' Q: How many brothers and sisters do you have? A: 'I have nine sisters and two brothers. Q: What are their names? A: I am the oldest, then there is Loretta Ruth, Lois Marie, James Arthur Jr., William Harold, Dorothy Mae, Charlotte Josephine, Eva Jean, Alice Faye, Helen Elizabeth and Douglas Evelyn, who we call' "Sissy". Q: Are any or them still alive? A: All of them except Helen' Elizabeth ,who died at 5 months' with spinal meningi- tis and James Aithur, 19 years old. He was ,home on leave from the Navy, and was ,killed in a car wreck the night before he was to go back. Q: Did you go to school? A: Yes, I went to the sixth grade. Q: What did your school look like? A: It was a three-room house with two or three classes together. And we had an outside'toilet.. Q: What studies did you lake? A: Math, History, Spelling' and English.. , Q: What kind of sports did you have? A: Well, we played basketball, softball,' jumping over a stick held up by two people to see who could jump the highest. throw .- NG BREAKFAST AT 9 YEARS OLD ing a flat thing to see how far it would go used chop sacks, and flour sacks for materi- and which one did you hate the most? and who could throw the farthest,-and al. The chop sacks were coarse and she A: Doing housework, and helping take , footraces. would use the flour sacks for collars, cuffs care of the babies. I can't say I hated any of Q: Did you enjoy the games? and trim. I never owned a store-bought my chores, I just did them. And it also was,". A: Yes, I did, Once a year we had a field dress when I was a child. just a matter that Mommy could not do all day where the other schools would get Q: What did your house look like? the work by herself. together and play. I always won the blue (Lookin' Back ribbons. The girls from the other schools did not like me, because I was always the' best at running and jumping. Q: What kind of illnesses did people suffer from? A: Measles, mumps, whooping cough and, of course, there was always head lice to worry about., Q: Was anyone in your family ever really sick? A: Yes, my brother Harold, who we 1lI called "Dolly" cause he was so cute, got sick and no one knew what was wrong with him,. He had lost a lot of weight and was so weak we had to help him sit on the slop jar (toilet). My grandma sent for a doctor in another town to come see him. He said he did not know what was wrong with him. He. finally gave him some kind of medicine and- Ssaid it would either kill him or cure him. He finally got better, but I don't know what he had. My mother had cancer and died at age 39, Nov. 3, 1945, before your grandmother Margie was born in Dec. of 1945. "Sissy" was only nine months old. Q: What kind of clothes did you wear and how much did they cost? A: My, Mommy made all our clothes, including our underwear. She could look at a pattern ori-see a dress and.make it. She A: We lived in a four-room company house with two rooms upstairs and two rooms downstairs. We had a toilet on the back porch. The Coal Company owned it. Q: Did you share a room? A: Yes, we slept three to a bed. , Q: Did you have a garden and what all did you raise? A: With as many of us, we had to have a garden! We raised potatoes, onions, beets, corn, carrots, turnips, green beans and 'cab- bage. , Q: Did you all have to work in the garden? SA: Yes, my sisters and I dug it up and got-it ready for planting. It was on the side of the mountain so it was hard work. Q: How old were you when you first learned to cook? A: I was nine years old and M6mmy had just given birth to a baby during the night and Poppy woke me up and told me to cook breakfast. I slipped into mommy's room to ask her how to make biscuits and she told me. Poppy was never one to brag on any- thing. His only comment was "you could knock a bull down with these biscuits." Q: What kind of chores did you have ,Q: What kind of food did you have at' meal time? A: Soupbeans, potatoes, combread or biscuits. Sometimes mommy would cook a- piece of beef and I would have some of the broth. There was never any waste at our house when it came to food. We took corn- bread, or biscuits and put apples, tomatoes or blackberries over them and ate that for lunch. Or we would just have combread and buttermilk. i1 Q: Did your family own any guns? A: JMy Poppy had guns he used for hunt-. ng. Q: What did he hunt? A: He hunted squirrels and pheasants. Q Did he fish? A: Yes, but not as often as he hunted. He' mostly hunted for squirrels. Sometimes he would deer hunt. Q: Did you go to church? A: Yes, we went to the only church in our area. Q: What religion was it? A: Methodist. The United Methodist Church, a big white building with a steeple. See INTERVIEW 3C Start 2005 on the right foot by attending a New Year Crusade First Baptist Church of Bowling Green january 9 -12 2005 Services will be held at S 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Sunday and at 7:00 p.m. Monday Wednesday. NEW YEAR CRUSADE Guest Speaker will be Evangelist , John Randalls of Lubbock, Texas Bro. Randalls has served as chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys, Texas Tech, and the Oklahoma Sooners. Special music will be provided by members of. First Impression with a mini concert by the original group on Monday evening. ake your plans to join us in this exciting time! Jim Strickland-Senior Pastor 4531 U.S. Highway 17 North Bowling Green, Florida -, '(863) 375-2253 " 12 30,1 6c .LUMBER BUILDING MATERIALS HARDWARE HAND & POWER TOOLS ELECTRICAL PLUMBING LAWN & GARDEN PAINT FLOORING STORAGE LIVE PLANTS HOME & GARDEN CHEMICALS MORE! 77,. M i I23,16