{"id":9548,"date":"2023-04-27T21:47:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T21:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9548"},"modified":"2023-04-27T21:47:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T21:47:49","slug":"jane-dunlap-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/jane-dunlap-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Jane Dunlap Oral History"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]\n

Jane Dunlap Oral History<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][page_submenu alignment=”center” sticky=”true” bg_color=”#008542″ link_color=”#ffffff”][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/manuscripts-and-guides\/” title=”Manuscripts & Subject Guides<\/strong>” id=”1682631660232-10″ tab_id=”1682631660234-9″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1682631660243-7″ tab_id=”1682631660243-2″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1682631667901-5″ tab_id=”1682631667902-2″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1682631668906-7″ tab_id=”1682631668908-0″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1682631669618-3″ tab_id=”1682631669619-8″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1682631670310-0″ tab_id=”1682631670312-10″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/yearbooks-alumni-magazines-delta-state-histories\/”][\/page_link][\/page_submenu][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Interview with Jane Dunlap 7.12.07 OH# 372<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewed by Emily Weaver and Cam McMillen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transcribed by W. Ray <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Side A<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is Emily Weaver and I am with Dr. Cameron McMillen and Mrs. Jane Dunlap on Thursday the 11th \u2013 12th of July, 2007, in the Capps Archives Building and we are discussing the Historic Neighborhood in downtown Cleveland, aspects of that.\u00a0 Mrs. Dunlap are you okay with sharing these stories with us and the general public?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ll be glad to give you any information I possibly can.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Great.\u00a0 Thank you very much.\u00a0 Well Dr. McMillen I\u2019ll let you get started.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 How did you get involved with the Beautification Project downtown?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Back in 1969 I believe it was, there were a group of Cleveland that organized a Rose Society.\u00a0 And it was a very active Rose Society.\u00a0 And I was involved in the Rose Society and my husband also.\u00a0 And we grew a lot of roses at home and I would say in about 1984 or 5, I had planted some roses in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church. And we had such good luck with those roses until I thought, well now wouldn\u2019t it be nice to plant a few roses downtown.\u00a0 So I go to the mayor and I asked him about planting a bed or two of roses down along the railroad.\u00a0 And he said, \u201cOh, you don\u2019t want to do this.\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cWhy not?\u201d\u00a0 And he said, \u201cWell people won\u2019t leave them alone.\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cWell just let me try.\u201d\u00a0 So he gave me permission to do whatever I wanted to do down there.\u00a0 So probably there were about maybe three or four Rose Society members that assisted in planting probably the first bed on the north end of the green strip.\u00a0 And we planted a bed there and we planted two beds down there.\u00a0 And then later on we were so successful with that, that we just came on down.\u00a0 We gradually added some beds and this was all done without the expense of the city.\u00a0 This was all volunteer work.\u00a0 Also I had gotten a friend of mine who was a member of this local Rose Society, but worked in Jackson at the Ag Museum.\u00a0 Told me how to go about contacting different people about making donations of roses.\u00a0 So I did that.\u00a0 And we just got plenty of roses.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Had they already been declared a green space at that point?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh it was a green space originally even when the railroad was there it was a green space.\u00a0 And in fact, it was more than today\u2019s green space almost.\u00a0 There was a row of hedge on the east side of the railroad.\u00a0 And in that row of hedge there was honeysuckle and poison ivy and that sort of thing growing in that row of hedge.\u00a0 And occasionally they would come along and trim that hedge a little bit, but it was a very unkept looking row of hedge.\u00a0 And \u2013 I\u2019m getting off the track about that –<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No you\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 about getting the roses.\u00a0 I made contact with Jackson Perkin\u2019s Nursery.\u00a0 And (inaudible).\u00a0 And they supplied us with the roses that we needed.\u00a0 Not the roses we wanted, but the roses we needed.\u00a0 I would always, I would select certain varieties.\u00a0 And they wouldn\u2019t send me those particular varieties unless they had plenty of them.\u00a0 They would send us what they had an oversupply of.\u00a0\u00a0 Which we were glad to get.\u00a0 Goodness gracious, saved us a lot of money.\u00a0 And we took care of those roses and as we, as the success of those beds grew, we just began to add more roses.\u00a0 Then one day the mayor said, \u201cWhen are you going to plant some roses by the City Hall?\u201d\u00a0 And his favorite rose was yellow.\u00a0 So I did my best to plant some yellow roses at City Hall. Didn\u2019t have many, but I made a request for yellow roses anyway.\u00a0 So of course that bed has changed somewhat during the growing period.\u00a0 And we planted those.\u00a0 And then we planted the roses, the bed at the corner of Sharpe and Court Street.\u00a0 That sort of took care.\u00a0 Oh no, we went on down below that.\u00a0 The big bed that is in front of the Depot, we don\u2019t know who did it, but we have a pretty good idea.\u00a0 At one time that big bed had iris, just unkept iris, and some kind of trees in there.\u00a0 And one night they were in there, and the next morning they were not there.\u00a0 That bed was just cleaned out.\u00a0 So, we thought, well we\u2019ll just do something with that bed.\u00a0 And that carried us on across Court Street.\u00a0 We were getting a pretty good array of beds up and down the green strip. Now this is still while the railroad was there.\u00a0 And basically, George Harrison who was a member of the Rose Society, and at one time Wilburn Wilson helped us by spraying the roses, and Mrs. Dorothy Bacon, and I am sorry you didn\u2019t get to interview that sweet lady.\u00a0 She lived in this town all her life and she was Nott Wheeler\u2019s aunt.\u00a0 And she passed away at 99 years old.\u00a0 And she still worked in her garden.\u00a0 I learned more about gardening from that lady than anybody.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To get off the subject, can I ask you a little bit about her?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh okay.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She owned the house that I live in.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure whether she lived there or what.\u00a0 On Victoria?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Victoria.\u00a0 She did own a house on Victoria. Yes.\u00a0 But she sold that house.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And she rented it to Dr. Rango for some time, but did she ever live in that house?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know I\u2019m not sure whether she ever lived in that house.\u00a0 She may have for a short period of time.\u00a0 But she grew up in the house that Nott Wheeler lives in now.\u00a0 In the big two story house on Pearman.\u00a0 And then she lived in the house, the second house, she just lived down the street from that two story house. It\u2019s the second house on the right before you get to College Street.\u00a0 And that little lady had lots of roses in her garden.\u00a0 Lots of flowers.\u00a0 She was a flower lover.\u00a0 And she just, even in her 90\u2019s she worked in the yard, generally with a stick to support her.\u00a0 Just to give her some good support while she was in the garden.\u00a0 But she had lots of stories to tell and she knew an awful lot about flowers.\u00a0 As I said, she taught me an awful lot about gardening.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you have pictures of the roses through the years in the green space?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know I\u2019m not sure that I have.\u00a0 I have some newspaper clippings that had \u2013that showed us when we- and I don\u2019t have dates on those, I wish we did.\u00a0 But I tried to think when we did the bed at the corner of Sharpe and Court St.\u00a0 I had a store where the Pawn Shop is now.\u00a0 I had a store there, and I know that we did that bed there.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What store?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was Dunlap\u2019s Housewares and Gifts.\u00a0 And I closed that store in \u201994.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A year before I got here.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So we had done that bed before we closed the store.\u00a0 And we also planted the parking lot.\u00a0 All that parking lot was landscaped by me and Gerald Finley.\u00a0 He kind of told me the plants to select.\u00a0 And I did that and he and I laid those plants out and we planted all the plants on that\u00a0 parking lot that\u2019s right there at that corner, on the north corner of Sharpe and Court.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh I see.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It used to be just a gravel parking lot.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Looks much better now.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With those iron pipes, just a little fence of iron pipes and iron posts used to be there.\u00a0 That was a real improvement there on that parking lot.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I agree.\u00a0 It\u2019s beautiful downtown.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And as we went along the city realized that we meant what we said that we wanted to do something about the green strip.\u00a0 And of course my idea always was \u2013 the city had given me so much that it was my idea to give back. And I think that is what we ought to do anyway is to give back to where we live.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only way we can keep things going to me.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you think makes Cleveland such a special place to live?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh my goodness, it\u2019s the people and really how well we get along with each other I think.\u00a0 It\u2019s the, well you just have so many benefits and you don\u2019t have to go out of town to do much of anything except now you have to go out of town to go to the movies.\u00a0 Which is just terrible that you have to go out of town to go to the movies in a college town.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And we used to have what three\u2026<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We used to have three.\u00a0 There used to be two on Sharpe St.\u00a0 Now when I was in college those were the movies that I went to.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What were the names of those theatres?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One was the Regent, and one was the Ellis I believe.\u00a0 And then the Ellis moved to now what is the Arts Building.\u00a0 So back to \u2013 now then I got off the track about the hedge that really separated the two streets in town.\u00a0 If you were on one street, you could not see what was going on, on the other street.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Was that done purposely, or did that (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know, it just happened that way you know.\u00a0 That row of hedges was there when I came.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Had to do something about that.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Though it might be old as dirt.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well you know, I mean if it may have been on one side of the track it may have been for sound.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It could have been.\u00a0 It could easily have been.\u00a0 But anyway, after we did that.\u00a0 I thought well, if they could pull up those trees down in front of the Depot, I don\u2019t know why they would object if we pulled up that row of hedge (inaudible).\u00a0 So we sort of did that in piecemeals.\u00a0 We dug up a little portion of the row just to see what it looked like.\u00a0 And we did that from North Street to Sharpe to Court Street.\u00a0 We dug up that first and the city helped us do that.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t dig up that much hedge.\u00a0 And it was an old holly hedge.\u00a0 Just a terrible old holly hedge.\u00a0 And it just looked great.\u00a0 It just opened the two streets and you could see what was going on, on both sides.\u00a0 So it was no time until we had gotten rid of the entire row of hedge that separated the two streets.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You said the city had given you so much, what did you mean by that?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well of course the city and the college gave me my education.\u00a0 It gave me my husband.\u00a0 It gave me a livelihood. It gave me friends.\u00a0 It gave me customers.\u00a0 And you know, just on and on.\u00a0 Just gave me what I needed.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When did you open the store?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I did not open the store.\u00a0 My husband had the store.\u00a0 It started out as a hardware store and it was on North Street.\u00a0 And in 1946 it moved to Sharpe Street.\u00a0 And it remained a hardware store.\u00a0 Then we, well back then the biggest business that the hardware store had was the dairy business.\u00a0 There were if I am not mistaken, I remember Dunlap saying that there were fourteen dairies in the county.\u00a0 And he said that the dairy needed supplies every day.\u00a0 Every day.\u00a0 So he handled a lot of dairy products.\u00a0 Then the dairies began to vanish and I came along and as I got involved in the store we began to have a few gifts and a few housewares.\u00a0 And that progressed into more housewares and gifts.\u00a0 Up in housewares and gourmet type cooking, that sort of type thing, plus gifts.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wish you were still open.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wish you were still open.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Um hmm.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have people even today saying, \u201cOh, I just miss that store so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So you stayed here and raised your family?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pardon?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You stayed in Cleveland\u2026<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I stayed in Cleveland, yes.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and raised your family.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Uh huh.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I stayed in Cleveland.\u00a0 Mr. Dunlap had one daughter and she was a senior at Rhodes which was Southwestern, which is now Rhodes.\u00a0 And I, well I\u2019m really getting off on other things, but she was, they had a maid that did everything for them.\u00a0 She did not know how to do anything.\u00a0 So I feel like I raised her.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Absolutely.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her first teaching job was in Atlanta.\u00a0 And she was scared to death because she was rooming with three other girls who were classmates of hers at Southwestern.\u00a0 And she did not know how to boil water.\u00a0 So from Cleveland to Atlanta, I taught and she wrote.\u00a0 You know, how to cook an egg, how to cook bacon.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bless her heart!<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I know it!\u00a0 She\u2019ll hate me for telling this.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, not at all.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But anyway, she turned out to be a very good cook.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well there you go. You were a very good influence on her.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She turned out to be a very good cook.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now where did ya\u2019ll live when you were here in town?\u00a0\u00a0 When you first got married?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, right where I am.\u00a0 Where I am.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I know it, I do the same thing.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right where I am now.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay. And just for the recording where is that?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh 1410 Maple Street.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So you didn\u2019t get the benefit of the maid at home?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) for a period of time.\u00a0 A period of time.\u00a0 I taught school.\u00a0 I taught school in Shaw.\u00a0 I left when I graduated from Delta State.\u00a0 I taught in Shaw.\u00a0 And I was in Shaw when integration came along and there were a group of people in Indianola that came to me and asked me to help them organize a school.\u00a0 So I left Shaw and went to Indianola and we organized Indianola Academy.\u00a0 And I stayed there driving back and forth until 1972.\u00a0 So that period of time I had my maid.\u00a0 After that I sort of did things the way I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So if we were to go to your yard now would it look, with all the roses and things?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have a yard full of roses.\u00a0 I do have a yard full of roses.\u00a0 I do.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you think that space downtown as an extended yard?\u00a0 Your own personal or..?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s my own personal yard.\u00a0 I feel like it\u2019s my own personal yard.\u00a0 And still George Harrison and I still maintain all the roses \u2013 all the plantings downtown.\u00a0 We\u2019ve planted all around the gazebo and as I said, you know, I had a hand in the parking lot.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you plant that little spot by Region\u2019s Bank?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By Region\u2019s Bank, it\u2019s right at the end of Court?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, I did not.\u00a0 But I shamed them into doing that.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very good.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I did!<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You were a very good influence.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They didn\u2019t know they even owned that little plot of land there when I first went to them and asked them to please clean it up.\u00a0 They said, \u201cWell, that doesn\u2019t belong to us.\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cWell, yes it does.\u201d<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s yours, you take care of it.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 So I went to the courthouse to see who paid the taxes on that.\u00a0 And they pay the taxes so I said, \u201cYou must own it because you pay the taxes on it.\u201d\u00a0 Anyway, I was not responsible for that.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well you obviously branched out from roses around the gazebo.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I really and truly did.\u00a0 Well you know I plant other things.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And then as it, you know things just started snowballing.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I imagine.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And then here comes the railroad museum and Martin said, he sees me one day, and he says, \u201cAre you going to plant me some roses down around the museum?\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cWell if you want me to.\u201d\u00a0 So I go down there and I look to see sort of what I could do and where we could do it.\u00a0 And then I had another partner involved in that.\u00a0 Mark Ponder who is the Mosquito Control man.\u00a0 Who takes care of plantings you know in off seasons. He doesn\u2019t fight mosquitos year around.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Although he probably could.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s a city employee year around.\u00a0 He got involved in tree planting and that sort of thing.\u00a0 So then here come the planters on the sidewalk and the planters on the street, plus when Martin said he wanted some roses around the museum, I sort of went crazy and decided I\u2019d just use the whole space and that\u2019s how \u2013 I just said, \u201cWell, I\u2019m going to plant a rose garden down here.\u201d And that\u2019s when Mark Ponder got involved \u2013 really got involved in that.\u00a0 And he helped and then we \u2013 when the building was built there was nothing, nothing in the budget for any kind of planting around the museum. No planting at all by the museum.\u00a0 So it fell upon us to landscape the museum. Which we did.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And you did a wonderful job.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And it turned out \u2013 I was really pleased with that.\u00a0 But this was with the help of George Harrison and Mark Ponder.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well you\u2019ve created, by beautifying downtown, a really nice space for the family to gather and for the community to gather.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right. We have \u2013 one day I happened to be in the rose garden at the museum and this tour bus drives up to see the museum, to go inside and see the train exhibition.\u00a0 But Cheryl Line who was in charge of that tour bus said she couldn\u2019t keep them inside for coming outside.\u00a0 And Chery said, \u201cI\u2019m so glad you were there because they had so many questions.\u00a0 They wanted to know the name of this rose and this rose and that rose and what do you do, and so forth and so on.\u00a0 So, anyway.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you see yards that you wish you could stop and pull over and the people would let you in there just for a minute, just to clean them up?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you want to know what my project is now?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes I do.\u00a0 Would it happen to be my house?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No unfortunately.\u00a0 I went to the city board meeting during the month of June.\u00a0 Not this last month, the month before.\u00a0 And talked to them.\u00a0 It bothers me, and I\u2019m also on City Beautification and Tree Board.\u00a0 And it bothers us as committee about the way Cleveland as you drive through Cleveland, coming down 61.\u00a0 Even going on Number 8.\u00a0 So our little project right now is to try to get businesses that open onto the highway to landscape their entrance and maintain those entrances.\u00a0 That\u2019s our project right now.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s a big project.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s a big project.\u00a0 It\u2019s a really big project.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been trying to work with Walmart.\u00a0 I have been really disappointed in what they have done so far.\u00a0 Other businesses on the highway on the highway have just done well. The new businesses.\u00a0 Look at the banks.\u00a0 They\u2019ve just done wonderfully.\u00a0 And Kroger, when they redid and had a reopening, they came and did landscaping at their entrances and it looks very nice.\u00a0 But Walmart unfortunately the city code states, well at one time it was \u2013 all a business had to do was to have 10% green space on the property they were going to build on.\u00a0 And recently the city increased it to 20% green space.\u00a0 With no, with no guidelines as to what to do with that green space.\u00a0 So as far as I\u2019m concerned they could take part of that greenspace and put it around their garbage cans. See?\u00a0 Which is not what we wanted.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why I went to the city about that to try to get it pinpointed as to what we would like to see happen.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well you know how we love our shade trees, shade would be great!<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re exactly right. And unfortunately for the city, back in 1994, you know that\u2019s when the \u2013 when we had the ice storm. And it just destroyed so many of our beautiful trees.\u00a0 And really from that time on, we\u2019ve been trying to plant trees everywhere we can.\u00a0 And as many as we can.\u00a0 People may not realize that we are constantly planting trees, but we are.\u00a0 After the ice storm in 1994 we planted the first 54 crepe myrtles downtown.\u00a0 As you know, the majority of them are white.\u00a0\u00a0 They were planted by Jo Beth Janoush and me.\u00a0 In fact, we got a long trailer and went to Winona and picked those trees from a tree farm out from Winona.\u00a0 Thse tress were paid for by the downtown merchants with the promise that a tree would be planted in from of his or her business.\u00a0 Those first 54 trees were planted from Sharpe Street Station north.\u00a0 Billy Perry is responsible for all the crepe myrtles planted south of Sharpe Street.\u00a0 Our plan has always been to plant crepe myrtles from Court Street all the way down to Fifth Avenue.\u00a0 That is something that I still plan to do.\u00a0 And also the tree board and the city, give away trees every year.\u00a0 And we have pretty good success with that.\u00a0 Usually we give those trees away in February.\u00a0 Now I don\u2019t mean they are six foot trees you know, but they are nice three foot trees you know.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a pretty good supply.\u00a0 A pretty good variety of trees that we give away.\u00a0 Usually there are several varieties of oak trees and we sort of shy away from pine trees, because those were the trees that we just completely lost in the city during the ice storm.\u00a0 And we give away red buds, dogwood, cypress trees.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Those are big.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Uh hmm.\u00a0 And they are available to anybody that comes to pick them up.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, that\u2019s good to know.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is it advertised in the paper?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s advertised, uh hmm.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You talked about where Dorothy Bacon lived, do you remember any other people that lived on Pearman, Bolivar, Leflore, Victoria?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let me see.\u00a0 Cherry Wheeler\u2019s mother lived across the street from where Cherry and Nott Wheeler live now.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What was her name?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Walker.\u00a0 I believe it was Elizabeth Walker.\u00a0 And then on the corner where the, what was their name, where the Russell\u2019s, you know where the Russell\u2019s live on the corner?\u00a0 Across the street from the Wheeler House.\u00a0 Jack Sawyer lived in that house and he was a very good photographer.\u00a0 That\u2019s what he did for a living.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I knew he did for a living.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just to go fishing just a little bit\u2026<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Huh?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just to go fishing for a few stories here\u2026<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you remember attending parties or other events in any of these houses?<\/p>\n

Any special occasions, Christmas parties?\u00a0 Luncheons?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not \u2013 not long ago, they\u2019d just be very recent.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean to stop you.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With this project we are also trying to get an understanding of what life was life was like some of the homes in the area, the kinds of things that were going on, even decorations and what the homes looked like from the inside out, that sort of things.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s just hard, that would be hard for me to try to, try to come up with, you know, that sort of information.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since I\u2019ve been here, what we do now we did then.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah, definitely.\u00a0 You\u2019re doing very well.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Was the swimming pool downtown closed when you got here?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The swimming pool downtown?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Was where Denton\u2019s.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes it was closed.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember the swimming pool. I sure don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure when it closed.\u00a0 It may have been a long time before you got here.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah. Now I\u2019ve heard some people talking about the swimming pool.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What do you think will happen, or what are your plans for the future of the green space downtown and all the roses?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well I just hope that there will be somebody that will come along.\u00a0 We can\u2019t do this forever.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to say on the, on the news, my age.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, we\u2019re not going to announce it.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But the man that helps me is not really in good health and he says every year, \u201cI hope I can do it one more year.\u201d\u00a0 So it\u2019s just our desire to have somebody to come along to have as much interest as we have in maintaining things.\u00a0 Today it\u2019s awful hard to get younger people interested in something like this.\u00a0 And I can understand if young families, if they have children, it\u2019s run here, yonder, everywhere.\u00a0 Morning, afternoon and night.\u00a0 Saturday and Sunday.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, all of those things take away from the family unit.\u00a0 And they just don\u2019t have time to do little frivolous things like volunteer for something.\u00a0 So it\u2019s going to have to be as a general rule, it\u2019s going to have to be a retired person who will have an interest in helping to maintain all of this.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not really difficult to do.\u00a0 People ask us all the time. It\u2019s \u2013 you know, growing roses is all the time.\u00a0 You have to spray the, you have to water them, and you have to feed them, and you have to do all these things. Well you have to do that with a baby.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You have to do that with a baby and you\u2019re not going to throw the baby away just because it requires a little bit of care.\u00a0 But once you get things, if you start off doing it right, building the beds right, getting the weeds under control, it\u2019s very easy to maintain.\u00a0 If you have the right equipment.\u00a0 The city certainly provided us with the easiest way to take care of the roses.\u00a0 You know the cooperation of the city has been absolutely wonderful. But also they, I think they recognized that it brings, it brings people to Cleveland.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh definitely.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think we are one of the few small towns that still has a viable downtown.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s part of the reason.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t come up with another town this size that still has a viable downtown.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Who was the mayor when you all started this?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Martin King.\u00a0 He\u2019s been the mayor forever.\u00a0 Well when I first came to Cleveland, Wattie Bishop was the mayor.\u00a0 And the little rose garden that is over on the \u2013 you know we do have other rose gardens beside the green strip downtown. The one at the Library.\u00a0\u00a0 Wattie was a member of the Rose Society.\u00a0 And he, excuse me, grew roses.\u00a0 And when he died, his daughter asked us if we wanted \u2013 she didn\u2019t want to take care of the roses, or she didn\u2019t know how to take care of the roses.\u00a0 So she asked if we wanted them.\u00a0 So we took those roses and planted some of them down at the library and that\u2019s the Wattie Bishop Rose Garden there.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where did he live?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where did he live?\u00a0 He lived on Fifth Avenue.\u00a0 It\u2019s \u2013 and they lived on the west side \u2013 the west side of Fifth Avenue, I believe it\u2019s the corner of Fifth and Lamar.\u00a0 In that house.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is that where\u2026<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ann Rusco.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 lives right now.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Um hmm, lives right now.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Has a hedge all the way around it.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right. And you know, the first rose gardens were planted in the parking lot of the Baptist Church.\u00a0 The old parking lot of the Baptist Church.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where was the old parking lot?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s where the present fellowship hall is now.\u00a0 We had to move those.\u00a0 We moved those roses around at the north end of the church. We maintain that rose garden today.\u00a0 And George being a Methodist, wanted a rose garden at his church, so we planted a rose garden at his church.\u00a0 Then we decided we\u2019d plant a little rose garden out at the hospital. So we did that.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Would that be all of the rose garden spots then?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I believe that\u2019s it. The hospital, the two church\u2019s, downtown, and the library.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where did the Baptist minister live?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where did the Baptist minister live?\u00a0 On Leflore.\u00a0 But the Baptist Church sold that house.\u00a0 The Baptist\u2019s owned that house where the minister lived.\u00a0 And Mickey Hubbell was the minister when I \u2013 he\u2019s the minister I remember.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh okay.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the Baptist\u2019s sold that house two years ago to Lee Aylward and we bought Lee Aylward\u2019s house which was across the street from the church.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did First Baptist build that house that Lee lives in now?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I know we made a lot of additions on that house.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t know that we actually built that house.\u00a0 The Baptist\u2019s also owed another house that we provided for the minister of music and education.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where was this?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s on \u2013 and we sold that house too \u2013 I believe it\u2019s on Seventh.\u00a0 And Seventh on the corner \u2013 do you know where Mark Koonce lives?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Um hmm.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s across the street from Mark Koonce.\u00a0 It\u2019s the corner house.\u00a0 That\u2019s College isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I believe it is Sixth and College.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not that good, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 But anyway, the Baptist\u2019s did own that house at that time.\u00a0 We almost got out of the real estate business.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well that was pretty typical of the Baptist\u2019s to have homes.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 And the Presbyterian\u2019s did too.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, all the church\u2019s did.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Uh hmm. All church\u2019s owned \u2013 had a house for the minister.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 Had to take care of them.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that\u2019s the only way you could get a minister is to provide a place for them to live.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Have you seen changes in the neighborhood around the Baptist Church?\u00a0 There\u2019s a big vacant lot.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 There was a house on that.\u00a0 We tore that house down. The Perry House.\u00a0 T.E. and Clyde Perry.\u00a0 And they had a daughter named Mildred.\u00a0 Mr. Perry farmed in Merigold.\u00a0 It was empty for a good long while.\u00a0 And I will say this, there was a teacher out at Delta State, Jessie White, who was a Science and Biology teacher, and he had lived in Cleveland all his life.\u00a0 He lived at the corner of, and this might be a part of your historical part \u2013 he lived where the little, it\u2019s not a 7-11, service station.\u00a0 The property behind the Methodist Church where the playground is now was formerly the home of the Kamien\u2019s. \u00a0\u00a0I.A. or Leon.<\/p>\n

Side B<\/em><\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He lived on the corner of North Bayou and Highway 8.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is that the house that was torn down?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That house was torn down.\u00a0 That\u2019s where he lived.\u00a0 That\u2019s where he lived.\u00a0 And his family ran a little grocery store across the street.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My uncle used to work at that Pic-A-Bit when he went to Delta State.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay. Well it was not a service station as such.\u00a0 It was a little grocery store when Jessie was growing up.\u00a0 And the reason I\u2019m bring up Jessie White\u2019 s name is that he \u2013 I remember him saying that the tree in that big parking lot \u2013 I mean the big empty lot by the Baptist Church \u2013 he thought was the oldest tree in town.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty big tree.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s still there?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s still there.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I need to go look at that.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 But he said that was the oldest tree in town.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s interesting.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I know we did a little work on that tree this summer, just to maintain it.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They all need it.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Had some broken limbs in it.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There\u2019s a tree in city park in front of my house that needs some work.\u00a0 Is it the Tree Board people that I call?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well you know it has to be on city property.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is on city property.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is on city property.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if they\u2019d come and maintain that tree.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s on city property.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Uh hmm.\u00a0 But I would say that I\u2019m not real sure.\u00a0 I know that there was a tree on the Methodist playground last year, there was a tree.\u00a0 And I passed that tree one day and I noticed that tree leaning a little bit.\u00a0 And it was a big tree.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Leaning toward Ned Mitchell?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, it wasn\u2019t toward Ned Mitchell, it was toward the playground.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh no.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So I said something to the city about that.\u00a0 And they cut that tree down.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want them to cut it down \u2013 just the top part of it.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, I know it.\u00a0 Well this was a pretty diseased tree, you no.\u00a0 It had gone too far.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We need a tree doctor.\u00a0 A resident tree doctor.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Instead of that golf cart doctor.\u00a0 Need a tree doctor.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just somebody that walks around and makes sure our trees are good.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I noticed that some of the houses on that street by the Methodist Church and Baptist Church are newer.\u00a0 Do you remember when those were vacant lots or were houses torn down?\u00a0 How did we get new houses?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There were houses that were houses originally where the playground is at the Methodist Church.\u00a0 There were originally houses there and don\u2019t hold me to this, but you could investigate this, Jo Beth Janoush could tell you this about whose houses those were.\u00a0 I believe one of them belonged to the Kamien\u2019s.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have heard that.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Uh hmm.\u00a0 I think one of them belonged to the Kamien\u2019s.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And there is two older houses.\u00a0 One of them John Cox lives in now and John Thornell did live in. \u00a0And I\u2019m not sure who lives next door but you probably know.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, I don\u2019t know who lives in those.\u00a0 It\u2019s been you know, people have come and\u00a0 out of those two houses for several years now.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And Mary McKay lives next door and \u2013 but then this next \u2013 the house on the corner is newer and then there\u2019s a new brick house on the corner of \u2013 what is the name of that street \u2013 I live right by it.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But it\u2019s right across from Dr. Steen\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, a little brick house across from him.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And I\u2019ve always wondered how did it get there.\u00a0 What is that a vacant lot?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 But if we are thinking about the same house, Teddy Kittle lives in that house.\u00a0 You don\u2019t know Teddy Kittle?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Does he have a walker?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He does.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then that\u2019s who lives there.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was trying to think how to describe him.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because I used to live down there and every once in a while that front door would be wide open and then there would be no one there and then I would see him a little ways down the road \u2013 down the street.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He is on a walker.\u00a0 I taught him in the second grade.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Really?<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He was the \u2013 putting all of this on the table \u2013 you can take out whatever you want to take out \u2013 cause I\u2019m telling things.\u00a0 He was the first child that I taught that mirror read.\u00a0 He would see things this way, instead of this way.\u00a0 Sure did.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh.\u00a0 Well Cam, do you have any other (inaudible) questions?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, but you have been a treasure trove of information.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 We have enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

JD:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well good.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t been too bad.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 Well we will end our interview right here then.<\/p>\n

Tape Ends<\/p>\n

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