Amelia Mann: This is Amelia Mann. I am interviewing Nola Creason. We are conducting this
interview at her home in Springfield, Missouri. The date is April 26th, 2010. This interview is for
the Religious Lives of Ozarks Women, Intergenerational Storytelling from the Older to the
Younger, conducted through Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. Biological data
sheet, which we did, was with place of interview is at 230 N. Ken Ave, Springfield, MO. Date of
interview is April 26th, 2010. Name of interviewer is Amelia Mann, as we said before. Name is
Nola ElviraNola Creason: Elvira. Remember the song? “Elvira, my heart’s on fire. Elvira, you-” I don’t
listen to them all that much but I think it’s the Oakridge-had the black-headed guy. Years ago, I
don’t know what kind of [inaudible] he is now, but he had that voice that sang, “Elvira.”
A: And then, Creason. And her maiden name is Rorie. Place of birth is Baxter Country,
Arkansas. 1929. Current place of residence is 230 N. Ken Ave, Springfield, MO. Place of
residence in the past was Baxter County, Arkansas where she was born and lived until 1950.
Current age is 80. Date of birth is July 30, 1929. Education was 6 months of Business College.
Correct? And one year post-high school to learnN: I graduated in 1947, and the next year I went back ’47/’48, so I could take typing short-hand,
and also I took English and math to have four. And I needed them all. I told them if it had been
math, huh uh. But I did, I did a lot of math of course we had-it wasn’t a calculator like today but
it was a little machine that you could hold the buttons down and multiply, and it was just,
answering the telephone, waiting on the customers and pushing the old time buttons on cash
registers.
A: Cha-ching!
N: It wasn’t the calculators that they do today.
A: Mmmhmm. For sure.
17:21- 23:25: See Recording Log
A: Okay, that’s good. Current religion is Christian. Spouse’s name was Howard. And he passed
away in June 2006.
N: Right.
A: Spouse’s occupation was a supervisor at MacBee systems? McBee. Okay that’s what I had.
N: I guess there’s a McBee type writer. McBee typewriter plant—Lora McBee, used to be Lora
McBee. He worked a long time, he left typewriter plant and then they built this one and he
worked for 30 years. I-Bruce was 14 I went back to ½ days, they actually wanted me to work full
time. After another man came in with Mr. Davis and I said “Let me try it.” Because see, I still
had groceries to get-pick up to cook for a family. My kid’s were old enough to take care of
themselves when they got home from school. But I should let you try. It lasted about 2 weeks. I
said, “I don’t think I can do this. I don’t have any time for my family or myself.” Yes, I cried
when I got in the shower because I didn’t want to give up my job, I liked it, and yet, I had
actually bumped my shoulder on the china cabinet out there-the one that’s real thin. And so help
me if I didn’t bump into it and I had tendonitis. So, it was just a whirl.
A: And then children’s names are Brent, Allen.
N: Brent B-R-E-N-T.
A : Brent Allen Creason.
N: Creason. C-R-E-A-S-O-N. There’s a C-R-E-S-O-N [inaudible].
A: And he was born Jan 15, 1961 and Bruce Mark Creason was born August 3rd, 1963. Okay.
Part 2, question 1. How long have you been a member of Parkview Christian Church?
N: Since 1957. Say in the fall of 1957.
A: And how did you get involved there?
N: My boss and his wife, my boss was the manager in the furniture company, and him and his
wife used to pick me up for work because I live close to work cause I didn’t like to have to ride
the bus to work but I did live a little ways. As time went by I looked for a place that was closer
so I didn’t have to take the bus. I didn’t buy a car 1950. I borrowed money from my mother and
the bank lent me the rest because [inaudible] advised me, 1949 Ford. Um hmm. The rest the bank
and I owned. A long time until I paid it off.
A: 2 Have you been involved with other churches or religious organizations?
N: The church of Christ, in [inaudible], Arkansas. That’s where I accepted Christ and was
baptized in the creek. Down in the creek, the nearby creek.
A: Was it cold?
N: No it was summer time and it was fine.
A: Refreshing.
N: Yeah it was fine. They took, they draws quilts and held it up after you was baptized. That’s so
you could change your clothes.
A: #3aWhat was the role of religion in your home when you were growing up?
N: Well mostly my mother’s because she was a Christian and that was where I learned from my
mother.
A: Okay And B: what’s your strongest childhood memory related to God or religion?
N: My mother’s unwavering faith in the Lord.
A: Okay. How did she like show that, like in her day to day life?
N: Well by the way she acted and the way she talked and there was some Bible reading, not daily
but that’s where I learned about the Bible and about Christianity. She started taking me to
Sunday school, when she could. My mother took me to Sunday School because my dad didn’t go
cause we had to walk.
A: How far did you walk?
N: About perhaps 3/4of a mile because it was 1/2 mile from us to my school and then, when my
mother couldn’t take me, my brother’s wife took her two children. They later had more so we
walked them down to the Church of Christ. I can Google that up-I can find it on Google Earth,
and find the Church of Christ which has been built on the back of it.
A: Alright, cool. 4a: Do you recall as a child that things were different for you in your religious
world because you were a girl and not a boy?
N: No.
A: What differences have you experienced in your religious life because you’re a woman?
N: Well, learning more about what the Bible says and how to try to follow it. I wish I had the
scriptures here so I could see. I’m trying to get the Old Testament. One time [inaudible]I want us
to write a memory of our mothers for Mother’s Day, of course I had my children’s that I said.
Bruce had saved them and he said, Here’s a classic and he had Brent’s and Brent had a motherin-law. She’s very dear and very nice and a few years older. And Bruce what he wrote was
“she’s strict and she makes us mind” I’m here my dear mother with your unwavering faith in the
Lord. She’s lived uncomplaining in love and service reflecting her Christianity and patience (and
boy did she have patience) and understanding. Family and our friends our Lord will not put upon
you more than we are-more than we can bear. See, I later learned that was 1st Corinthians 10: 1213, that he who thinks he stands, take head least he fall.
32:21- 37:31: See Recording Log
N: I also learned that “man” means mankind, it don’t mean woman. I don’t know where the
scripture is about a man, and due benevolence. And I know it’s there. And I figure that a man
should not be-I shouldn’t keep you.
A: What version do you read from?
N: King James. I don’t want to have to relearn it. I don’t want to have to relearn it, as an older
lady than me said in a class. There were 14 of us ladies, maybe some of us who went to take our
kids early and maybe some of us were just in there. And I think the preacher was preaching it,
talking about all the different versions. And she said, “I learned the King James version, and I
don’t want to relearn it at my age.” I said, “I don’t either.”
A: I think there’s-in the New Testament that talks about how a woman should submit to her
husband and how a husband should love his wife like Christ loved the Church.
N: Yep. Like Christ loved the Church, see. Well, I wish I knew where it was, but that kind of
don’t matter I guess.
39:04-44:41: See Recording Log
N: Here it is, finally.
A: Your body’s a temple. Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you in which ye have God and ye are not your own. But ye are bought with a price, therefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
N: This isn’t the one I was looking for.
A: Let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the
husband render onto the wife due benevolence, and also likewise from the wife onto the
husband.
N: See, if you don’t treat her right, how does he get treated? See? Likewise, also. Don’t run over
me. I heard my sister-in-law talking about her dad-she was about 10 or 12 years old and she said,
“Dad tries to keep mother down.” I thought, that’s not going to happen to me.
A: Well, my concept of marriage is, you marry someone you’re walking beside towards the same
goal.
N: Yep.
A: It’s not like you’re being drug along.
N: Nope. Yeah, we’ve had a lot of classes on this in Sunday school, discussions about it. I
always quoted that when it came down to it.
A: It’s a good passage.
N: That’s not all there is too it.
A: Oh, there’s more.
N: I mean, that’s not all there is to the Bible or the Scriptures. You got to keep the law, heed theuntil the end, the [inaudible] shall be saved. That’s another one of my favorite scriptures. Well, I
don’t know if you want to take a picture off of that, of me, or both, or whatever. [inaudible] if it’s
in a frame. Do you have one of those?
A: No, I do not.
N: You’re welcome to it. I think [inaudible] picked up some.
A: Next question: what challenges or struggles have you faced in your religious life?
N: Well, the temptation to do wrong can only be come by-well that’s not-what have I faced?
A: Mmhmm.
N: Too numerous to mention.
A: Too numerous to mention.
N: Almost.
A: Which one-what is a certain area that has-comes up more frequently. Like, let me phrase that
right—struggles or challenges, like, hmmm. What’s a struggle that always reoccurs that you have
to get through? I mean like, kind of like the [inaudible] or I don’t know where I’m trying to go
with this.
N: If you’re talking about raising children-when we were raising out children, we always talked
around the table. Do you have a test? I remember the children would say at church, they weren’t
allowed to discuss at the table things, you know, they didn’t have-their opinions weren’t allowed
to be voiced. We let them be voiced. But in talking to my two sons, I always said, “If you see or
hear anything that your dad or mother says that isn’t right according to the Bible, see that you
don’t do it.” Because we’re not perfect. And it should be the way the Bible teaches us and the
Lord wants us to do it, and not like we might do it. We’ll make mistakes.
A: Mmhmm. We are the flesh.
N: We are. There’s-myself, right before Brent was born, I was just myself. [inaudible] he was a
minister. This is Arly McVay (sp?) he was a member of our Sunday school class [inaudible] if
you know her, that’s her husband.
A: Okay.
49:30-52:31: See Recording Log
N: I don’t know how I’m going to keep the rest of these answers brief.
A: It doesn’t need to be brief.
N: Well, I want it to be. Well, the challenges that came up, you know: all kinds. When you’re a
teenager you just-that doesn’t mean I’ve always done everything right, either. And you learn
later that you shouldn’t.
A: Very true.
N: I need to wiggle my feet before my circulation cuts off. Go ahead.
A: What person has most influenced your religious life, and how? And you said that was your
mother?
N: That was my mother.
A: Just by the lifestyle she lived?
N: The lifestyle that she lived, and her witnessing.
A: Mmhmm. Ok. How is your mother involved in the church? Did she teach Sunday School?
N: No, she just attended. Many Sunday school teachers in the little Church of Christ.
A: Mmmhmm, ok.
N: She was-she attended church, took me to church. She actually took me to church half the
time, and we walked. And then as she got older and my dad and brother-my brother had moved
back home and would take them to church. Dad actually-I guess he got where he had to go to the
bathroom so often so he had to quit. They finally built a bathroom, I don’t know how many years
later, but he still felt like he couldn’t go after he’d accepted Christ and been baptized. So it was
mostly my mother.
A: Okay. How do you think religious life is different for kids today than it was for you? Guess
this could be a long one.
N: Well, there is more activities for the youth at church to learn through. The religious life.
Okay. And they also mix so much with the secular world. They do need a good-not that I was the
perfect example, at all but they sure do need a good religious background of home to get out into
the secular world.
A: Yeah.
54:54-1:06:41: See Recording Log.
A: Do you think back then, well compared from then to now, do you think that kids my age have
more quick passion for Christ and that your generation had more fidelity for Christ?
N: Say that again.
A: Well, do you think you need fidelity and passion? For serving Christ and everything or do you
think they’re both needed or do you think-?
N: Well, I think they’re both needed, I don’t know that that all comes at the same time.
A: Ok.
N: You can believe but the other has to grow, I think.
A: So did you haveN: ((phone rings)) Oh, excuse me.
A: Oh, you’re fine.
1:07:13- 1:08:10: See Recording Log.
N: You was asking aboutA: When in your walk did you have moments of passion and moments of fidelity, or has fidelity
grown throughout the years?
N: I think it’s grown throughout the years, definitely.
A: And do you still think you have the same passion for Christ as you did when you were
younger, or has it grown?
N: Well, it’s grown, but it’s acquired acceptance, because I don’t-I don’t get as emotional about
it. It’s still there. But slowed down, but I still believe in the Lord and I know he watches over us.
A: Right. In all your time involved with the church, did you ever go on mission trips anywhere?
N: No. Because I was working when I was going to Parkview. No, I never was on any mission
trips. They didn’t have such things in the little church that did that.
A: Oh, okay. Next question. How would you like this church to remember you?
N: Well, as a faithful member.
1: 09:29-2:24:19: See Recording Log