Vadola Martin Interview
Interview with Vadola Martin by Lindsey Martin
I had the privilege of interviewing my paternal grandmother, Vadola Martin, on April 5th,
2014. Vadola has always been someone that I have looked up to for spiritual advice and comfort,
so I decided to use this opportunity to learn more about her. She is 92 years old, but if you look
closely you will notice that she has no wrinkles on her face. I have asked her during my previous
visits how she has managed to stay wrinkle free for so long and her answer has always been “I
don’t know! I guess it’s all the lye soap I used as a kid.”
During my interview with Vadola she asked if her son Roger and daughter-in-law Robin
Martin (my parents) could sit in and listen as well. She told me that she gets nervous in front of
cameras or recording devices, and that her husband was always the one being filmed, not her. I
told her that our family will be very thankful that she allowed me to do this interview on film,
and after that she seemed to get less nervous about the whole thing.
During the interview Vadola told me about growing up in Southeast Missouri in a small
town called McGee. The environment there was “a lot less active” back in the 20’s and 30’s
when she was growing up than it is today. People used to ride on horses and buggies, and she
recalls that only one person in her whole town had a car, which she remembers being a Model T
Ford convertible. One of her favorite memories as a child was her dad carrying her from the
horse and buggy and setting her down on the front pew of the Missionary Baptist church they
attended. He would then get the song books and pass them out to everyone in the church and lead
everyone in worship. She said that this is also the only memories of her father that she has left
because he died when she was around 8 years old. Her first reaction to his death was, “Now I
won’t have anyone to carry me into church anymore.”
Missouri State University
Spring 2014
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women
2
Vadola grew up going to the Missionary Baptist church in Mcgee, Missouri. Both of her
parents were Christian, but after her mother remarried Vadola’s step-father did not hold the same
beliefs. His conversion to Christianity was a major event in her life, and she remembers him
coming and telling her one night after a revival that he was, “Ready to meet her in heaven
someday.” This event helped shape her beliefs as a young Christian, and helped her develop a
belief that having faith in God is the most important thing a person can do.
During our interview Vadola also told me about how she always believed that it was
important to raise her children to be Christians, and a big part of that was taking them to church
every Sunday. She was so dedicated to getting her children to church that she would get all six of
her kids ready and walk to town to the closest one to them, which was an Assemblies of God
church. She said that people in the community used to always tell her that they loved seeing her
and her six kids walking to church each Sunday. Even though Vadola’s husband wasn’t a
Christian until many years after they married she always kept her faith. She shared with me that
her faith is what got her through the death of her child to cancer a few years ago, and the death of
her husband in the 1980s.
One of the most interesting things to me was how she never had to rely on men to help
her keep her faith. Most of the men in her life did not share her faith until years after she knew
them, but she still stayed strong in her beliefs. What was most intriguing to me was how many
times she mentioned music during our interview. Almost all of her memories growing up in the
church involve music, and she even wrote a worship song that she wanted me to share in my
presentation about her. The most inspiring part of all of this was her advice at the end of the
interview, which was to just have faith that everything will be okay. She has lived with that faith
for 92 years, and the fact that she has never given up is inspiring.
Missouri State University
Fall 2014
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women