{"id":9608,"date":"2023-04-28T20:16:47","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9608"},"modified":"2023-04-28T20:16:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:16:47","slug":"lynn-and-barbara-varner-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/lynn-and-barbara-varner-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynn and Barbara Varner 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

Lynn and Barbara Varner 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=”1682712789042-5″ tab_id=”1682712789043-1″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=” https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1682712789050-0″ tab_id=”1682712789051-6″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1682712797356-8″ tab_id=”1682712797356-0″ link_url=” https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1682712798300-0″ tab_id=”1682712798301-1″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1682712799095-7″ tab_id=”1682712799096-7″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1682712799873-9″ tab_id=”1682712799874-9″ 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]Interviewee:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lynn Varner OH#383\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2007.64<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewer:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dr. Cam McMillan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8\/28\/07<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transcribed by:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 K. Clemons<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 This is Cam McMillan.\u00a0 I\u2019m here with Lynn Varner in her home on 200 S. Leflore, and we\u2019re going to talk about a historic neighborhood.\u00a0 Dr. Varner, do you willingly agree to participate?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 How long have you lived in Cleveland?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Twenty years.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Twenty years.\u00a0 You are not a native of Cleveland.<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 I am not.\u00a0 I grew up in Memphis.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 But your husband is?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Did he live in Cleveland growing up?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 He lived on Farmer St. and then moved to College St.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Do you know something about the history of this house?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 I know a little bit. \u00a0It was the Myers\u2019 home.\u00a0 He bought it from a Myers, so there was only one family before us.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 How old is it?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 There are a couple of different dates, actually.\u00a0 We believe 1912, but we also heard 1917.\u00a0 Her mother\u2019s family, but originally the Myers lived two doors down in Julia and Dana Moore\u2019s house.\u00a0 And they are in the house at 206 S. Leflore.\u00a0 All the molding, the paint was even the same color.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 But very similar homes (inaudible).\u00a0 Estelle Bedwell and her husband Cullen (words?), they moved here not too long after (words?) one street behind on Victoria.\u00a0 Two doors down, a little white cottage when they first married.\u00a0 But that was their (inaudible).\u00a0 I\u2019m really not sure if (words?) before (word?) passed away or after.\u00a0 But she did grow up in the house, and I believe she and Cullen did live here with her mother.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Do you know (words?)?\u00a0 Do you know if all four of them were built at the same time?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 I had heard that (inaudible)\u2026 His wife, I think I\u2019ve got this right.\u00a0 Mary Jane Myers Nichols\u2014husband Dr. Carl Nichols.\u00a0 The Varners and the Nichols have been friends for four generations.\u00a0 Their small children now are friends with Sarah and her grandchildren.\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 And when did she build her house?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Probably around 3 years after (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Were there no more Myers left?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Right. Right.\u00a0 Or they were not living in Cleveland.\u00a0 Estelle moved to Leland for a little while to Birmingham to live with her sister\u2026 And then she ended up coming back to Greenville.\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Have you all found anything in the house (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Not really, as far as wonderful things you find in the attic or something like that.\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 But we do have a basement, and there are some things that were in the basement when we moved in that are still there, like an old blackwash kettle and a wooden adirondack chair that is too old to get out now\u2026Old fashioned, very old refrigerator that has the round compressor on the top. (Inaudible).\u00a0 I think that (inaudible)\u2026 There have been some changes.\u00a0 Estelle and Cullen made some changes to the house (inaudible).\u00a0 But there is a front porch (inaudible).\u00a0 And now, because we\u2019ve both been here so long, it\u2019s probably forty or more years ago, she (inaudible).\u00a0 She had to make the decision whether or not (words?) repair the front porch or add the car port.\u00a0 She decided to add the car port.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 She said that her family (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 She was growing up, and she realized that (inaudible)\u2026 You know when you put all that together (words?)\u2026 If all four of those houses were built (words?).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Well, I know (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Why did they (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 The date (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Right. Right.<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 And I have not gone to the courthouse and looked myself (inaudible).<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Have you made changes to the house?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Not major.\u00a0 The only thing that we\u2019ve done that\u2019s really major is (inaudible), and looked at many different kitchen plans.\u00a0 We had a great person (inaudible)\u2026 seven or eight different plans for us.\u00a0 And we ended up going back to almost exactly the same (word?) that she had\u2026 just new cabinets and countertops (inaudible)\u2026 ya know, that kind of stuff.\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 I noticed (inaudible).<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 It was (words?).\u00a0 Estelle had done a lot.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know exactly (inaudible).\u00a0 I know there\u2019s either a window or a door, at one time a plumber had worked on\u2026\u00a0 There\u2019s something underneath the bathroom sink (inaudible).\u00a0 There\u2019s a porch (words?) that had been added.\u00a0 (Inaudible)\u2026 added a master bath.\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Did you (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Not all the time (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 I know you have to come upstairs to come in from that way.\u00a0 Is the house kind of above ground? (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Have you seen changes (inaudible)?
\nLV:\u00a0 Yea.\u00a0 As far as people (inaudible).\u00a0 Some of the older houses have been redone.\u00a0 (Inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 That wallpaper was here when we moved in.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if Estelle put it in at some point (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Did the house (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 Basically, in town, they might have had it.\u00a0 (Inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Most of the houses (inaudible).<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 And I don\u2019t know if (inaudible).\u00a0 And what\u2019s unusual to me is the layout of the house.\u00a0 There was a (words?) kitchen side of the dining room table.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 And there are (inaudible).\u00a0 They\u2019re pretty but they get in the way.\u00a0 And it\u2019s really nice to have all the clothes (inaudible).\u00a0 I know that Julia\u2019s house is so similar (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 She did tell us about that.\u00a0 (words?).\u00a0 But she told us that that (words?) was brought over by mules from the (word?) or over from the (words?).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Uh uh.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 What are the questions that you may ask people (inaudible)?\u00a0 Did you think that you would (words?)?\u00a0 Are you glad that you came\u2026 Did you think you would stay when you came to Cleveland?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you that (inaudible).\u00a0 My brothers\u2014one in New York, one in New Orleans, (inaudible) from Memphis.\u00a0 They were very spread out.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 It\u2019s a small town.\u00a0 It\u2019s great for family, and I love it.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Did you grow up in Memphis?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 I did.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 And yet you thought a small town would be great?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Oh yes.\u00a0 I thought it would be wonderful.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 So I knew we would (words?) and go and do.\u00a0 When we first moved here, we thought\u2026 I was a buyer at that time (inaudible) and we opened a Dover equipment store.\u00a0 And that was a (words?).\u00a0 I thought I could find somebody to manage it (words?).\u00a0 But it was more involved than that, and I think we were ahead of our time.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 I know that I have heard a lot of people say that Cleveland is difficult.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 Two new couples, new blood, they attacked us.\u00a0 Here, sign up for this.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 What do you think (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (Inaudible)\u00a0 Also being able to (inaudible).\u00a0 We could get this beautiful place to live and (inaudible) and do the things you want to do.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (words?)\u00a0 And actually, the house was not (inaudible)\u2026 Talk to you about buying it if you ever want to sell. (Inaudible)\u00a0 She likes the idea of not having to put it out on the market.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 So nobody else looked at it?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 And she had\u2026 We had known their families for a long long time; and you know, that matters.\u00a0 (words?) their family home.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 And when we moved in, I was pregnant (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 I know the first graduates (words?) Delta State.\u00a0 Were they (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Probably.\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Well, you know Julia (word?) her first doctorate.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 I don\u2019t know\u2026 (inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Yes, I believe\u2026 I think there were three girls.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure there were.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 The story we heard\u2026\u00a0 And I don\u2019t know (words?) built three houses, and it was around 1940.\u00a0 And they built the three houses for the three daughters that they married; and the fourth house was built (inaudible).<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 That\u2019s quite possible.\u00a0 That\u2019s quite possible.\u00a0 But I know\u2026 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Are there any special architectural (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 It\u2019s funny, because, see, I was looking at Bryan\u2019s old annual (inaudible) and when we first moved here (inaudible)\u2026 When we first moved here, Bill Powell said, \u2018Ya\u2019ll are still going to let me take pictures of your (yard?),\u2019 because he said they take pictures here all the time.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Do you have that annual (inaudible)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 We do. (words?), but we do.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Would you (words?)?<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 (words?) Oh, okay.\u00a0 I think she must have done that (inaudible).\u00a0 We love the house.\u00a0 (Inaudible).\u00a0 One thing I like\u2026 I like the water glass\u2014the windows (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 (inaudible).\u00a0 We had some settling at first.\u00a0 We had the people come and put the bells underneath the house (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s been lovely and thank you very much.<\/p>\n

LV:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 It was nice talking with you.\u00a0 (Inaudible)<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS MADE BY BARBARA VARNER<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m Barbara Varner.\u00a0 I\u2019m the mother of Bryan Varner, who lives at 200 S. Leflore.\u00a0 I have interviewed, this morning, Mary Jane Myers Nichols, who now lives in Leland, MS, and she was giving me a lot of information on the home at 200 S. Leflore.\u00a0 Mary Jane Nichols, one of four girls that were brought up in that home, she is the youngest.\u00a0 The house that house that Dr. Jackson, Judge Jackson lived in, where Julia and Dana Moore now reside, was the home on that corner there.\u00a0 They moved that house one house over, and now Julia and Dana Moore still reside in that residence.\u00a0 They moved the house and got the corner cleared for their two-story home.\u00a0 The home was made totally of cypress, since they had a cypress (word?) on the large plantation that they owned and still do in Washington County.\u00a0 The home is entirely made of cypress, and it had a front porch all the way across the front.\u00a0 It had a back porch all the way across the back, and it also had a sleeping porch upstairs on the west side, on the back side of the house.\u00a0 Mary Jane told me that between the house that they built and Delta State College, it was, there was nothing\u2014absolutely nothing but fields.\u00a0 They had horses and chickens and all the livestock that a farm usually has in the backyard.\u00a0 She rode horses a lot.\u00a0 The lot that Carroll Tatum and John Tatum built, the house they built next door to 200 S. Leflore, was part of their yard.\u00a0 And then, next door, Julia and Dana Moore\u2019s house is sitting on a lot that Mr. Myers gave to Judge Jackson if he would come to Cleveland to live.\u00a0 I think he was a friend of his from Liberty, MS.\u00a0 And so he gave him that house, and then Judge Jackson, I think remodeled it to more or less what it looks like now.\u00a0 Mary Jane told me that the house was built around 1920, judging from her age and that she was born in that house, she guesses it was built somewhere around then.\u00a0 Mary Jane says that her father, Mr. Myers, gave all four girls a property to build a house on.\u00a0 Mary Jane and Dr. Carl Nichols lived in the house directly behind 200 S. Leflore where the Arnold\u2019s live now.\u00a0 It was a shotgun house that was added onto.\u00a0 And then I believe it was added onto a second time, maybe a third time, by the Sanders who lived there for a good while.\u00a0 The little white cottage a couple doors on the other side of Ms. Fleming, was Estelle and Cullen\u2019s first little honeymoon cottage before they eventually moved into the big house with Mrs. Myers and lived there until Cullen died.\u00a0 And then, Estelle moved away from her family home.\u00a0 Bryan and Lynn Varner became the owners of the home at 200 S. Leflore.\u00a0 Friend, Estelle Bedwell decided to move to Leland with her sister; and her husband was a doctor down there.\u00a0 They had been the owners of that house for about 20 years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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