{"id":9612,"date":"2023-04-28T20:27:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9612"},"modified":"2023-04-28T20:27:10","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T20:27:10","slug":"cherry-and-nott-wheeler-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/cherry-and-nott-wheeler-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Cherry and Nott Wheeler 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

Cherry and Nott Wheeler 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=”1682713104578-0″ tab_id=”1682713104579-6″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1682713104586-2″ tab_id=”1682713104586-8″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1682713112642-4″ tab_id=”1682713112644-0″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1682713113332-9″ tab_id=”1682713113333-4″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1682713114147-9″ tab_id=”1682713114148-7″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1682713118228-4″ tab_id=”1682713118229-0″ 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 Cherry and Nott Wheeler – July 24, 2007 OH# 375<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewed by Emily Weaver and Dr. Cameron McMillen<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is Emily Weaver and I am with Dr. Cameron McMillen in the Wheeler Home with Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler and we are doing an oral history project with them on the Historic Neighborhood here in Cleveland.\u00a0 Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, do you willingly participate in this oral history project?<\/p>\n

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

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

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Alright Dr. McMillen.<\/p>\n

CM: I understand that this home has been in your family since it was built.<\/p>\n

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

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can you tell us a little about the history?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When was it built 1906?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They moved into it in 1904.\u00a0 I think it was started in \u201903.\u00a0 Aunt Dorothy was born, and anyway, they moved into it in October after she was born in April.\u00a0 You may have her birth date down there, but I\u2019m thinking it was 1904.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And who lived in this house at that time?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her father, E.J. Nott, Nott\u2019s Grandfather.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 E.J. Nott.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He was\u00a0 (inaudible), it was Nott Ward.\u00a0 Harry Ward?\u00a0 They had a lumber, building and lumber place here on the south end of Main Street.\u00a0 Down there close to where the post office is.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where the cable company is now.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And they were in the construction business.\u00a0 They built most of these houses up and down this street.\u00a0 This was built by my grandfather, E.J. Nott.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And how many children did they have?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Four girls or five?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Five, one died.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As a teenager.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She was in \u2013 I had already told them, she was in school at II and C, they called it in those days, and got sick.\u00a0 Had malaria, and the people in Columbus, this was always Nana\u2019s story, they didn\u2019t know how to treat malaria.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have malaria over in that part of the state.\u00a0 And they sent her home on the train and she died on the train.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And her name was\u2026.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now wait a minute now, I call\u2026<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Etta.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Etta.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the other girls were \u2026.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Marsha, Lida L-i-d-a, and Etta was the next one in line, and then Maurine M-a-u-r-I \u2013 we all called her Amy\u2026<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And Dorothy.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And Dorothy.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did any of the four surviving girls live in Cleveland then?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes. They \u2013 they\u2019re all dead now.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All dead, yes, but they lived in Cleveland and married locally, and then the other one that left \u2013 the first, Lida\u2019s husband died.\u00a0 She remarried and moved to Memphis, but they all lived here until adulthood.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where would they have lived in town?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, going down this street, Daddy Nott built one, let\u2019s see, two houses down there.\u00a0 I think there\u2019s two houses between this one and the one he built.\u00a0 One for one daughter and one for the other.\u00a0 The two.\u00a0 And then Dorothy\u2019s was the one across the street.\u00a0 He built all three of the girls.\u00a0 And this house was understood would go to Nott\u2019s mother.\u00a0 And she lived in the country.\u00a0 Well, we lived in the country.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And we had an aunt that lived down here.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, Aunt, that lived in the house that..I believe (inaudible).\u00a0 I\u2019ll think of it in a minute.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aunt Inez.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aunt Inez.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s all I know, Aunt Inez.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, but she, she lived in one of those houses.\u00a0 I guess closest to us.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see, there is one house between us and where she lived.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did Dorothy live in the house that..<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, Dorothy lived in the house that is second from the corner, next door to where Mickey and Anita Griffith live.\u00a0 And my son, when Aunt Dorothy died, my son bought the house.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want it to go out of the family and so, they kind of did some work on it and it is rented at the moment.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Which sister lived across the street.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s my mother.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your mother.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But my sister of course lived with her when we first moved here.\u00a0 But she is not connected with this side of the family, except by me \u2013 and Nott.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And did you grow up in this house?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, I lived in the country.\u00a0 We moved in here after we were married, when my grandmother died.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201962.\u00a0 Actually we moved in here in 1963, but she died in \u201962.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But we lived out on the Bogue west of town.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you visit this house a lot growing up when your grandmother lived here?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 Every time we came to town \u2013 we headquartered here.\u00a0 This room here used to be the den over there where the dining room is and the door coming in from the porch out there, what you call that thing?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conservatory, they always called it.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The front door was here but we\u2019d drive up in the carport and came in the door there.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We closed up so there wouldn\u2019t be there.\u00a0 But in those days they built a house with two parlors.\u00a0 The front parlor and the back parlor.\u00a0 The back parlor was the one the family used.\u00a0 The front parlor was like this one \u2013 this living room \u2013 nobody ever goes in there much.\u00a0 They did, but it was there.\u00a0 So when I started deciding how to redo this house, I decided, and see this was the old dining room, I decided to reverse it.\u00a0 Put the dining room over here so we wouldn\u2019t have to go through all these and make a better traffic flow.\u00a0 So that\u2019s kind of \u2013 we didn\u2019t make too many changes.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t make any structural changes.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well that bathroom there was a big bathroom.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You had to walk through that room to get to the kitchen, through the bathroom.\u00a0 From that room to the kitchen.\u00a0 And I didn\u2019t think that was a very good arrangement.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That could cause some flow problems.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re right.\u00a0 All kinds.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a full bath?<\/p>\n

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

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After my grandmother died we\u2026<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, the tub that was in here was one of those footed tubs.\u00a0 We moved it from over here to over to our house at the lake.\u00a0 And it\u2019s still there.\u00a0 But I\u2019m telling you, I got to where I couldn\u2019t get up and down out of it.\u00a0 It was too deep you know.\u00a0 Anyway, it did end up over there.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How wonderful.\u00a0 What are some of the memories you have of growing up in this house?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, you do.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If I do I don\u2019t remember them.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Special occasions?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But we would come to town you know, we had headquarters here.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Coming in and out.\u00a0 Free rein.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 We had kin folks on the street back in those days and we\u2019d play.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No restrictions on where you could go.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes, we had a lot of restrictions.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whether they paid attention to them or not.\u00a0 But he grew up in the country. \u00a0I just recently returned from a get-together with some of the group, you know, that grew up with.\u00a0 I just got into it.\u00a0 I got adopted into it when I married him.\u00a0 But they talk about as teenagers what they used to do you know.\u00a0 And this house was where all the dances were held.<\/p>\n

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

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But the reason they came to this house, our aunt moved up here with her four children with my grandmother.\u00a0 And they were friends of her children and they were in and out of here.\u00a0 And we got it after all that was over you know.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After it had calmed back down a little bit.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aunt Dorothy that lived down there that had the children moved up here with my Nana.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t afford to run this house, so it was left to my mother.\u00a0 And the other girls got other houses up and down the street here.\u00a0 But that is kind of how it was.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A good bit of his fun activities growing up was in this house.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What happened to Aunt Dorothy moved in with her four children?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Husband committed suicide and she was left with four children and nothing.\u00a0 So she moved in with Nana.\u00a0 And lived here until she remarried.\u00a0 Of course her children were grown and graduated from high school and college before she, you know, remarried.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t feel like she could do that.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t go off and leave Nana.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She didn\u2019t have much choice.\u00a0 It was about the only place she had to come.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 She had four children to raise and Nana of course helped her.\u00a0 Of course I think all the family member helped with the children.\u00a0 We are real close to them.<\/p>\n

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

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bert is dead. That is the only male member of the family.\u00a0 And I have two pictures in there that he did.\u00a0 He was an artist.\u00a0 One is of an old store building out on the farm which is kind of\u2026<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had out on the Bogue Phalia.<\/p>\n

CW: And then the others all you know, of course, are getting in the vicinity of the same age as we are.\u00a0 So they are retired and living in various and sundry places.\u00a0 The oldest one in that family met us in Jackson for this reunion that we had last week, so we maintain our ties.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very good.\u00a0 Ya\u2019ll seem to have a very strong relationship with your homes.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t let them go out.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 His famous remark is \u201cI was born in this house and I\u2019m going to die in this house.\u201d<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Might be any day now.<\/p>\n

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

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Might be a pretty strong \u2013 that\u2019s a pretty strong relationship, you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Might I ask which room you were born in?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The north bedroom.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There you go.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Upstairs.\u00a0 The one on the other side.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember much of that.<\/p>\n

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

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The whole front of our house now upstairs is an office.\u00a0 His is in a little small room, and I\u2019ve kind of taken over that north bedroom with the computer and stuff like that, so I\u2019d be glad to show them to you.\u00a0 You know, the beds are made, but anyway\u2026.We still have three bedrooms and two more baths upstairs. We put in all new stuff.\u00a0 It\u2019s not new anymore but it was then.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And there\u2019s a bed in there where your \u2026.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, uh hmm, we can convert.\u00a0 I pick up the stuff that all my papers are lined up on the bed that I want to remember where they are.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh sure.\u00a0 Very organized.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Were the baths original to the house?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 There was one big bath here and one big bath above it.\u00a0 And now we have three baths upstairs and this little half bath.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When we redid this house, I think I told you, you could stand at the front door and see the back yard.\u00a0 Now the uprights were still there.\u00a0 We did not change \u2013 move any walls.\u00a0 But we took out everything.\u00a0 The old plaster and all the old plumbing, and wiring and put in all new insulation and you know, that type of thing.\u00a0 But we had two children and they \u2013 one was in the second grade when we moved here, no \u2013 yes, the second grade, and I guess Beth was in about the fifth or sixth when we moved in this house.\u00a0 And we had to have \u2013 his mother \u2013 excuse me, go ahead.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had that back bath, bed, – bathroom back there.\u00a0 And the kids shared another bathroom up there, it was in the hall.\u00a0 And then we had our private bath in our room.\u00a0 That\u2019s the reason we had to put so many baths in here.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, everybody had to have a place.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The kids were the only ones that had to share.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It worked out.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They didn\u2019t live here long enough to matter.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When you all moved here \u2013 well, you all moved here in the \u201860\u2019s, was the neighborhood pretty well \u2013 most of the houses here then.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everything was here.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you remember when some of them were built when you were a child?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Everything was built when we moved here.\u00a0 A lot of them, especially from here north had been renovated, restored.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of them had been renovated.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of them, you know.\u00a0 But they didn\u2019t, most of them, they didn\u2019t change a lot as far as the house is concerned.\u00a0 Of course we did take that porch off. And they have done some redoing on the outside, you know things.\u00a0 But all of those houses were here, in fact all of them that were here we had (inaudible).<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But our family owned a lot of them.\u00a0 There\u2019s two back behind here that belongs to us.\u00a0 This house belonged to us.\u00a0 Across the street was her parents.\u00a0 Three of those houses down this road were owned by the family, two duplexes and a house down there, and another house down there on that side of the road that Aunt Dorothy lived in.\u00a0 So most of the houses along the street belonged to the family at one time or the other.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When you said the house across the street, are you talking about the one Judson lives in or the one\u2026<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 That was my parents.\u00a0 We moved here in \u201949.\u00a0 And we moved in that house over there.\u00a0 My father died on the golf course of a heart attack in \u201962 and that really was another draw card for us to keep the house because my mother was a widow right across the street and she was able to live in that house almost to her \u2013 well, she was in the nursing home maybe two years.\u00a0 But if we hadn\u2019t been here she couldn\u2019t have done that as long as she did.\u00a0 That was good.<\/p>\n

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

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m curious.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lived in the house I live in, that your Aunt Dorothy owned.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, it was Dr. Ringold\u2019s, you know where he lived?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 And do you know why she owned that house?\u00a0 Or did she ever live in that house?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not that I know of.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They owned a good bit of property \u2013 rental houses all over town but I don\u2019t know, she might have realized that was for sale.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because they lived, she and her husband lived down here in this house and he died.\u00a0 And unless they \u2013 I don\u2019t know how that came about to be hers. But it was and I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And it was for a long time.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A long time.\u00a0 Um hmm.\u00a0 It was \u2013 in fact, Aunt Dorothy was a wonderful person.\u00a0 I wish you could have known her because she really could have told you some things.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And I\u2019ve heard that from several people that said how wonderful she was.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes she was something.\u00a0 But when she sold that house, she was 70 odd years old, I don\u2019t remember exactly how old she was at the time, maybe even 80.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember.\u00a0 But she told me, \u201cCan you believe that I am holding a note, a twenty year note on this house from these people that are buying it?\u00a0 Ain\u2019t no way that I can live that long.\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cWell, don\u2019t worry about it Dorothy, it\u2019s yours till it happens you know.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t even remember how or what, you know, what they did.\u00a0 It was sold and I guess they continued paying the note to the family till it was done, but she said, \u201cCan you imagine a woman my age giving somebody a 20 year lease on a house or whatever it is?\u201d\u00a0 But she was wonderful.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And she did live to be 90 something didn\u2019t she?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 99.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 99.\u00a0 So she came close to 20 years.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Close.\u00a0 Her daughter took her down to the reunion the last few years.\u00a0 A couple of years ago and that\u2019s where she was.\u00a0 She died down there.\u00a0 But she almost made it to 100.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you remember any stories about this neighborhood?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have already told you, I could hide my own Easter eggs.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember nothing.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 But I can\u2019t help it. I was 18 years old when I came into the picture.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You were talking before about a wedding that was held on the front.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nott\u2019s mother married somewhere in the yard here. I\u2019m not sure exactly.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When was that?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh gosh.\u00a0 She was 18 and she was born in 1894 so 1912 \u2013 1914, somewhere in there.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And you\u2019ve got photographs of that wedding?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have a picture of her in her wedding dress and I have the write-up that was in the paper after the wedding.\u00a0 It\u2019s in there.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did those things come with the house or have you just collected them?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 They came with the house, in the attic.\u00a0 And I, we have had a lot of stuff to go through.\u00a0 Nana kept \u2013 Nana never threw anything away.\u00a0 But we tried to retain everything that we felt like was significant, but I told my husband one day, I said, \u201cWe need to get up in that attic and clean that thing out.\u201d\u00a0 Our daughter had been gone from here twenty years and the stuff that she put up there when she moved, business, you know, she thought she needed to keep awhile.\u00a0 They\u2019re still there.\u00a0 And he said, \u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 He said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to deprive our children of the pleasure we had cleaning out that attic when Nana died.\u201d\u00a0 I thought, \u201cUh huh.\u201d<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re getting even now.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We\u2019re getting \u2013 right, we are going to get even.\u00a0 But anyway, we have passed the age of doing it probably.<\/p>\n

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

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are you all involved in any church?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our \u2013 Nott\u2019s grandfather built this Methodist Church up here.\u00a0 I mean the company he worked for.\u00a0 He was on the board \u2013 the original board of that.\u00a0 And his name is on the cornerstone.\u00a0 So he built it, and I have a picture in there of one of the stained glass windows and it is in memory of Aunt Etta.\u00a0 He was a pillar of the church.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We went to church in Pace when we lived on the bogue.\u00a0 But when we moved here we went to this church.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Methodist Church.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They had a Methodist Church out at Pace \u2013 it\u2019s still there and \u2013 but when we moved to town we just moved to this church.\u00a0 It\u2019s handy I can walk.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you walk to church?<\/p>\n

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

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He walks four miles a day.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Good for you.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I walk every morning.\u00a0 I walk every day.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s nice and safe in this neighborhood to do that.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well you don\u2019t feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Has it always been like that?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As far as I know.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For us it has. Actually to me I think we are lucky.\u00a0 I mean our city is the\u2026<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s the last, it\u2019s the last one in the delta really.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Its\u2019 the last good one in the Delta.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t think any other town has a downtown anymore.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not much.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of them are out at the mall or somewhere you know out on the highway.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But everybody, regardless of their roots, thank goodness most of them, I\u2019ll put it that way, are interested in keeping it like it is.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s to everybody\u2019s advantage, business people, to the people whose children go to school here.\u00a0 And we, you know, have had just good relationships, so we count our blessings for that.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We heard some stories that the roads that crossed Jones Bayou, all of these roads weren\u2019t here, the only way you could cross Jones Bayou was at Court Street or all the way down.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you remember about the bridges over the bayou?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Were there bridges?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A foot bridge right back here.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Down there where the road crosses back down there.\u00a0 That road hasn\u2019t always been there.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 College.\u00a0 That bridge was built just, I think, right before we moved here.\u00a0 And we moved here in \u201949 and they had just finished I think the construction of that.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Really!\u00a0 And what would a footbridge be?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know \u2013 yay wide, just a walk across it.\u00a0 But there was a couple there.\u00a0 Could have been one north where the picture show was, but I don\u2019t remember whether there was or not.\u00a0 But there was numerous ways to get across.\u00a0 You know it wasn\u2019t many streets across.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What picture shows were here then?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ma\u2019am?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What picture shows were here?\u00a0 What movie theatres.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ellis.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s where they put \u2013 they\u2019re renovating it now.\u00a0 And then what was that other one?\u00a0 There was one across the street over there at the furniture store in that building now I think. The Ellis and the, shoot, I\u2019ll think of it in a minute.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was down on the south end of town.\u00a0 It was close to, right coming up by the cable company.\u00a0 Okay, next to that cable company was where Nott Ward Lumber Company was. And then there is a furniture store in there, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s still there or not.\u00a0 But there is a clothing store.\u00a0 Somewhere, one of those two had been a movie theatre.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Would you go to the movie theatres when you came into town?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They had a movie on Saturday afternoon.\u00a0 No Sunday afternoons.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Downtown was kind of quiet on Sunday afternoons?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very much so.\u00a0 Everybody was supposed to be in church you know.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s where the activity was.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 The Ellis and the\u2026<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Regent.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Regent.\u00a0 I was going to say it starts with an R but I can\u2019t \u2013 the Regent Theatre.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So how would you get around?\u00a0 Did you walk or ride your bike?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I drove a car. I was 18.\u00a0 They managed.\u00a0 They got where they needed to go.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 But this would have been pretty close to the downtown.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes.\u00a0 We walk downtown now.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 But we weren\u2019t living here then.<\/p>\n

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

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was living in the country and she lived in Columbus.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what they did over there but we got around.\u00a0 I went to school at Pace, so we, you know\u2026<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You graduated from Pace?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was the last.\u00a0 They closed the school up.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He was in the last graduating class.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We were the last graduating class.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t worth it to have anybody else.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They put out all the important people.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There you go.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had a big class.\u00a0 It had ten in it.\u00a0 \u201935 I think had ten and we had ten in \u201946 and then they didn\u2019t have high school anymore.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pace is kind of closing down.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Umm hmm.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You said you had just been to a reunion?\u00a0 Was that people that you knew around here?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Well, Betty Joe McCain she was.\u00a0 She married Carl Bullock.\u00a0 Alice James, Alice Wilson James.\u00a0 That was Aunt Dorothy\u2019s oldest daughter.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And she grew up in this house.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s wonderful that ya\u2019ll have kept up all these years.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carol Cable McDuffy.\u00a0 Her father was with Cleveland State Bank and was killed in an automobile accident.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And her husband\u2019s name was Duppie.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Duppie.\u00a0 She and Nott were fraternity brothers at Mississippi State.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Betty Jane Tatum.\u00a0 Her husband was Chester Robb.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chester is dead.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We just buried him.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, we just buried him. And he, they grew up, okay.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see, Billie is gone.\u00a0 She was deceased but Billie Brannon.\u00a0 She never married, but she was in the group.\u00a0 Ruthie McDearman.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her husband \u2013 Bernard – he was in that group (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bernard, I mean her husband, and Nott were in this group with these girls.\u00a0 The girls were here and so was Nott but we just got taken into the group by marrying.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A good move.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes right.\u00a0 So let me see if I have them all.\u00a0 Oh, Nell Patterson Dedwylder.\u00a0 D-e-d-w-y-l-d-e-r.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Related to the Dedwylder Building here in town?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes. Her father-in-law.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, um hmm.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And you are the only one that still lives here?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nell still lives here.\u00a0 And Brookie Kethley Dossett.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her father was president of Delta State.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Her father was president of Delta State when I was out there.\u00a0 She lived on campus.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She lives over at Beulah.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How many is that?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and you make 9.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I make nine.\u00a0 There were eight of us down there, so Billie being the one that passed away would be the ninth..\u00a0 That\u2019s it.\u00a0 But, I, you know, it\u2019s kind of ironic, I get together with this group, and then I have another group that I graduated from high school with in Columbus that I get together with every October.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s back in \u201946.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 1947.\u00a0 And actually there were twelve of us in this group.\u00a0 We had a high school sorority in those days.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What was your high school sorority?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Delta Beta Sigma.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m a DBS.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh are you?\u00a0 Well what about that!\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 Okay!\u00a0 Sisterhood!<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I thought ya\u2019ll were fixing to get up and do a dance.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We might have hugged if we had been a little bit more familiar.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was waiting (inaudible) than this.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, no, no.\u00a0 These twelve went into the high school sorority in the 9th Grade together.\u00a0 And we have lost four out of this group, so there are only eight of us left.\u00a0 But we consider that kind of unusual.\u00a0 And we get together every October, somewhere.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been here, we\u2019ve been you know, to where the people live.\u00a0 They are scattered kind of all over the state.\u00a0 So anyway, but, we still do that.\u00a0 And of course, Columbus is my home where I grew up.\u00a0 That was it.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 National Sorority.\u00a0 I was a DBS in Forest City, Arkansas.<\/p>\n

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

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Small world.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it though.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You find your connections.\u00a0 That\u2019s what they do.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you have stories about things that happened in the south.\u00a0 Do you remember the wedding?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So much happened I couldn\u2019t remember anything.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know exactly.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What would you do for holidays?\u00a0\u00a0 For Christmas, did you have Christmas in this house?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We would come to town every winter.\u00a0 We\u2019d have early Christmas at our house out in the country and then come to town and have Christmas, family Christmas up here.\u00a0 And eat dinner here.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How would the house be decorated?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ma\u2019am?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How would the house be decorated?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Everything.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aunt Dorothy now would put the big pot in the little pot when it came to Christmas.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Big Christmas trees?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How many ornaments?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We \u2013 Nott, on his 40th birthday, Aunt Dorothy and Nana and I got together and we had a birthday party.\u00a0 Surprise birthday party for him.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have any more after that one.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, that was the last one.\u00a0 But, I mean, you wouldn\u2019t believe what they did.\u00a0 I mean, they put it together.\u00a0 And they were \u2013 and we just had the best time.\u00a0 But, then on our \u2013 we did the same thing for our son and his wife in this house on their 40th birthday, along with his wife.\u00a0 They were both born in March, Marcie Walt, and David Walt.\u00a0 Well, actually, Marcie was not born there, but David Walt was.\u00a0 He and Nott Jr. have been best friends since four year old kindergarten. So we had, with Martha\u2019s help, Martha Wheeler, my daughter-in-law\u2019s help, we put together a surprise birthday party for those three.\u00a0 And it was hilarious.\u00a0 And they did not have a clue.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What all did you do?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, we just had \u2013 invited you know everybody that was connected to us.\u00a0 But anyway, we must have had fifty to sixty people over here.\u00a0 And we had a big collage pictures of all three of them in different places around here with you know, their progress over the years.\u00a0 And it, you know, that was about it. We just got together.\u00a0 But they were stunned.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have a clue.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had something my birthday or something.\u00a0 We came in here that I thought Nana had died, there was so many cars around here.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was your 40th birthday party.\u00a0 We had pulled into the driveway.\u00a0 We were going to come by here.\u00a0 The excuse was to get him here on that particular occasion. But Nana wanted him to come by so she could wish him a happy birthday.\u00a0 And she always gave him a little gift.\u00a0 And so that didn\u2019t ring a bell with him or anything.\u00a0 So when we pulled in the driveway the cars were up and down both sides of this driveway and he said, \u201cDo you reckon anything has happened to Nana?\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d And about that time he saw Bobby Barbour and Mary Laurie Barbour walking up the walk.\u00a0 And he said, \u201cDamn.\u201d\u00a0 It all caved in on him at one time.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I reckon I said something that started with S.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 But anyway, it was quite an affair. We had a good time.\u00a0 We, through the years this house has just lent itself.\u00a0 And see, we have a granddaughter that got married two years ago.\u00a0 It will be two years this October.\u00a0 And when she knew she was going to get married she was living in Memphis.\u00a0 She knew she was coming back to get married in this church.\u00a0 And she came by here and she said, \u201cGran, I have a real big favor to ask of you.\u201d\u00a0 And I said, \u201cWhat is that darling?\u201d\u00a0 And she said, \u201cI want to have my wedding reception in this house.\u201d\u00a0 At this house.\u00a0 I said, \u201cSure.\u201d\u00a0 You know, what do you, nothing else \u2013 but it was wonderful.\u00a0 We had a huge tent put up here, lights in all these trees around here, the white lights.\u00a0 We must have had close to three hundred people.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know, when she got ready to leave she gave me the \u2013 she put her arms around me and said, \u201cGran, this was everything I ever dreamed it would be.\u201d\u00a0 So, you know, you just do what you \u2013 you know, down through the years special events kind of gravitated to this house.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a real kind of party house all the time. All those girls growing up here they were steady having parties.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They were all laughing last week when I was in Jackson, about how they used to have all these dances.\u00a0 And everybody came over here.\u00a0 \u201cNana, we\u2019ll just move everything back and you know make room for all of them.\u201d\u00a0 And they\u2019d dance and everything you know.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t have a place I don\u2019t guess to do those things.\u00a0 So this is kind of where \u2013 this was the only house that had any young people in it.\u00a0 Most all of them had grown up.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you ever swim in the swimming pool down at Denton\u2019s?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not me.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes.<\/p>\n

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

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just in the back of the building.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the back of the building?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, you\u2019d go through the building.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Was it Denton\u2019s then or was it, what was it then.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was still Denton\u2019s.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, it was Denton\u2019s.\u00a0 They had a soda fountain and a place to get ice cream.\u00a0 Ice cream and that sort of stuff.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is the pool still there or did they fill it in?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think it\u2019s a parking lot.\u00a0 I think that parking lot that faces the alley.\u00a0 No, that would be on this side of the bayou.\u00a0 It was on the other side.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was on the other \u2013 it backed up to the bayou, the pool did.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We don\u2019t have a picture of that.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But that was, you know I lived in the country then, I did come to town on Saturday.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Would you stay the night?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not too much.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go back.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How long did it take to get from Pace to here then?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well we lived back \u2013 when I was a youngster we lived down on the Bogue down close to the school house.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go down to Boyle and take a right and then you just go all the way to the Bogue.\u00a0 Gets to part of the place and then you just follow the Bogue.\u00a0 Our land is kind of all up and down the Bogue.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you go to the end of Fifth Avenue and go west on that road going out towards Laughlin\u2019s Spur, we lived at the end of that road down there by the Bogue.\u00a0 There was a bridge down there.\u00a0 Cross the Bogue and go up the other side to Pace.\u00a0 I mean there was a road on both sides of the Bogue.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think the bridge is gone.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The bridge (inaudible).\u00a0 One at Pace and down the Skene Road.\u00a0 But we, you know, we came down here weekends to get groceries and stuff.\u00a0 We had a country store for years too.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have a picture of it.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s the one that Aunt Dorothy\u2019s son, Bart, drew by memory.<\/p>\n

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

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He worked out there one summer.\u00a0 We had a lot of fun with him out there.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know a damn thing about farming.\u00a0 And all our people out there working were always pulling tricks on him and stuff.\u00a0 Stuff he didn\u2019t know what was going on.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is that where you farm today?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, we still farm it.<\/p>\n

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

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Was the grocery store – did you ever go \u2013 the grocery store over on Leflore?\u00a0 Do you remember it?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On Leflore?<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Over by the bayou.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There was no grocery store on Leflore to our knowledge.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just a little store that (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is the sketch that he did of the old store building.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh!\u00a0 That\u2019s cool.\u00a0 He did that rather well.\u00a0 It must have left an impression on him.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Oh, it left an impression.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What was it \u2013 that was your family store?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Um hmm.\u00a0 It was right next to the house, I mean, there was a little area between it that was a driveway where the house was.\u00a0 It\u2019s not there any more.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a commissary with groceries, clothing, etc, and people would come get their food from there.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But they, a lot of you know, employees on the farms didn\u2019t have transportation to town, so they had these little stores all over the area to give them a place to buy food.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Would the Peavine have come through?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It didn\u2019t come that far out.\u00a0 It came from Boyle to Skene up by where Jim\u2019s Store is, used to be, on Highway 8 and then Pace and Rosedale.\u00a0 It came to Skene and helped the Pace\u2026<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you ever ride it?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not to my memory.\u00a0 By the time I grew up we did have cars and we\u2019d come to town by car.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can you think of something else you\u2019d like to add?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, we know that this was the gathering spot, were there any places that you just knew you didn\u2019t want to go to those people\u2019s houses; they were old and crochety, they were mean; anybody you just stayed away from?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know anything about that.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t here then.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 What about any fences?\u00a0 Any fenced in yards?\u00a0 Any places like that you remember?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think they were mostly all fenced in.\u00a0 Everybody\u2019s got fences, even now.\u00a0 Our property goes all the way back to the next street.\u00a0 And of course we\u2019ve got those duplex apartments back here, so I\u2019m sure, and we\u2019ve got an old fence, looks like an original.\u00a0 I told my husband the other day, \u201cThat fence is going to fall over.\u00a0 You need to get somebody in here and get it propped back up.\u201d\u00a0 He said, \u201cWell, it\u2019s just one post.\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t care, it\u2019s still going down.\u201d\u00a0 But it\u2019s still like that right now.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s no need in reminding me.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019ll keep reminding you.\u00a0 Yeah. But no, everybody just got to have a fenced in yard.\u00a0 Everybody had a dog.\u00a0 Everybody had children.\u00a0 You know, and uh\u2026<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kind of looked out for each other.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But our grandchildren loved the back yard, I mean, this house.\u00a0 It was big.\u00a0 They could play on the stairway.\u00a0 They could go out in the backyard and play and we could feel comfortable that they wouldn\u2019t get in the streets.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All of my group enjoyed sliding down the stairway.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah right.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the railing.<\/p>\n

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

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did he get in trouble for doing it?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, cause he expected us to.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What about roads?\u00a0 Do you remember when the road in front of your home was paved or was it already paved?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This road?\u00a0 It\u2019s always been paved as far back as I can remember.\u00a0 From my time on it.\u00a0 This was the real part of town at that time.\u00a0 All this other extended area was not there.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This area back in here was cotton.\u00a0 And until just a few years ago, a big rain would just flood all that part of town.\u00a0 This street right here goes straight west and one block after \u2013 two blocks west there \u2013 Harry Church had a house there, and they were good friends of our family and then all that land going back southwest from there was cotton fields.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the park.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fireman\u2019s Park?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fireman\u2019s Park was a cotton field when we moved in \u201949.\u00a0 All that was cotton.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Between you and me there was (inaudible) those houses down in there.\u00a0 And there was a low land.\u00a0 We finally got pumps enough to keep it fairly pumped out now.\u00a0 It still floods back in there. The streets will.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I live back in there.\u00a0 It\u2019ll flood.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, okay.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It really would flood back in the \u201840\u2019s, 30\u2019s and \u201840\u2019s.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One flood we had, the first \u2013 a friend of mine, Mary Laurie Barbour she is, Mary Laurie Turner, she and her sister had the bookstore up there, but she and I were real good friends in college.\u00a0 And we brought, Nott brought a boat, a fishing boat into town to get to Mary Laurie\u2019s house.\u00a0 The water was that deep you know. That is the only time I remember it being that bad.\u00a0 But it didn\u2019t get into the house.\u00a0 It was just lapping at their steps. But it was deep enough to put a rowboat in there.<\/p>\n

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

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure is.\u00a0 But we don\u2019t have that here.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So y’all have seen Cleveland grow.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yes.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Expansion.\u00a0 Do y’all like how you\u2019ve seen it grow?<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, I do.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know whether he does or not.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It never really worried me one way or the other.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t affect us.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Many businesses have come in and gone out, but I have enjoyed having some new places to have some shopping.\u00a0 I never thought about not wanting to have it.\u00a0 It was a real nice little town.\u00a0 It\u2019s still a nice town.\u00a0 But I think the nicest in the Delta.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We are very blessed.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And what do you think made Cleveland end up being the nicest in the Delta.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now this isn\u2019t supposed to be in this story, but you asked me.\u00a0 The railroad.\u00a0 Blacks lived on that side of the railroad, whites lived on this side of the railroad.\u00a0 And it kept things separate and when the integration started\u00a0 it still was separated by the railroad.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s changed, but not at a rate that I think will hurt anything particularly, but they didn\u2019t integrate as much as other towns did or as quickly.\u00a0 I think that makes a difference.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have some really good black leaders.\u00a0 Jimmy Williams, has the Country Platter Restaurant.\u00a0 He is just an example.\u00a0\u00a0 But, you know, we just feel like it\u2019s the cooperation between the two has made it what it is.\u00a0 Because there was never any real brick throwing animosity at all.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because ya\u2019ll lived kind of close (inaudible).<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We live close.\u00a0 I know my husband was out of town when Martin Luther King was killed.\u00a0 And he called back here and our son was, I don\u2019t know, still in high school I guess, (inaudible), anyway, he told us to lock all the doors, try to keep a watch out.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t know what was happening because there were some fires and stuff going on, you know.\u00a0 He told Nott Jr. to get a shotgun.\u00a0 They\u2019re both hunters.\u00a0 Nott Jr. was a national champion trap shooter.\u00a0 But anyway, to get a gun, and take it upstairs and put it in his bedroom.\u00a0 The north bedroom.\u00a0 So after I got through talking to Nott, I hung up and told Nott Jr. and he looked at me and he said, \u201cI already have.\u201d \u00a0So he already had the gun.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t need it you know.\u00a0 You know it was a situation that I felt like the town understood and could feel an affinity for them.\u00a0 So anyway, that\u2019s what I feel like has made us what we are.\u00a0 The closeness \u2013 I have some good black friends.\u00a0 Gwendolyn Thomas, she\u2019s a wonderful person. \u00a0I met her when she first moved here. She and her husband were, how would you call it then \u2013 they were attorney\u2019s for the state.\u00a0 Employed by the state to take care of those who could not afford attorneys.\u00a0 They were legal aides.\u00a0 And I was working in Judge Bizzell\u2019s office up at the courthouse and that\u2019s where I got to know Gwen.\u00a0 And was just real super person.\u00a0 I\u2019ve known her through the years and so glad that she\u2019s done so well.\u00a0 She\u2019s just an outstanding person, and so is he.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I served the Library Board for many years and when we had a vacancy I asked Evelyn Johnson to serve.\u00a0 She said, \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know.\u201d It never had a black on there before.\u00a0 And I said, \u201cEvelyn, you could do such a wonderful job.\u201d \u201cPlease,\u201d I begged her.\u00a0 And she did.\u00a0 She stayed on it for a number of years.\u00a0 And she was wonderful.\u00a0 But we \u2013 I don\u2019t have an email but we correspond back and forth every Christmas.\u00a0 I still get a Christmas card from her and I still give her a Christmas card.\u00a0 I have always intended when I would be going back to Columbus, stopping in Starksville and calling her and say, \u201cLet\u2019s do lunch.\u201d\u00a0 You know. But so far I haven\u2019t done it.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Golden Triangle Sewing Center, I believe is the name of it.\u00a0 And it\u2019s (inaudible).\u00a0 And she\u2019s got a web site.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ll have to call her.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think if you just put Fabric Store \u2013 Starkville, it comes up.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay. That type of thing is why we have been as successful as we have.\u00a0 Keeping Cleveland viable.\u00a0 We have good people on both sides.\u00a0 We have bad people on both sides.\u00a0 It happens.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do ya\u2019ll have anything you need to ask me?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We need to go ahead and ask.<\/p>\n

CW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He needs to go back to the farm.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are there things you need to do today?\u00a0 Honestly, I think that we have about wrapped it up.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unless, can you think of any stories about the house or the family?<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I can hardly remember my name.<\/p>\n

CM:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We really do appreciate your time.<\/p>\n

NW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I got some stuff I need to pick up and take back to the farm.\u00a0 I enjoyed visiting with you.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I know.\u00a0 Thank you very much.<\/p>\n

Tape Ends.<\/p>\n

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