Jessica Clements: I’m going to have a little statement that I get to started with. This is Jessica
Clements I am interviewing Ruby Strickland. We are conducting this interview at Parkview
Christian church in SGF, MO. The date is 4/23/2010. 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. We’re going start out just kind of with some
basic questions. What is your full name including your maiden name if you have one?
Ruby Strickland: Ruby Viola Snider, S-N-I-D-E-R, Strickland.
J: Ok. Where were you born?
R: Clinton, Oklahoma.
J: And you currently live in Springfield?
R: Yes.
J: Ok. Where else have you lived in your life, you know years, or?
R: I lived in Missouri, but in different towns.
J: Yeah, sure, if you can remember them and about whenR: Buffalo.
J: Ok.
R: Mountain Grove. Stockton.
J: Ryan’s from Lamar so we go to Stockton Lake occasionally.
R: I used to visit the Lamar church when Roy Weaver (sp?) was the minister there.
J: Ok, Cool.
R: And Monett and Springfield.
J: You have lived all over.
R: (laughter) My husband was a salesman.
J: Ok, what is your current age?
R: 85.
J: I’m not supposed to ask that.
R: That’s fine, I’m proud of it.
J: Good, when were you born?
R: 1/21/1925
J: My grandma was 2/24/ of ’25. So we just celebrated her 85. So. Um, your education, high
school?
R: High school.
J: High school, ok. Where did you graduate?
R: Buffalo.
J: What year, do you know?
R: ‘43
J: Ok. Did you do any college? Or anything after that?
R: No.
J: No, ok. What were your occupations?
R: Homemaker.
J: Ok.
R: And then I worked 20 years in the shoe factory.
J: Did you work on an assembly line or?
R: No, I was what they call a bad-shoe person. I went through cases and shoes was damaged,
well there was a fitting room where they were putting it together. What was damaged, I would
order it and replace it with a piece that wasn’t damaged.
J: Yeah, cool. What would you say your current religion is?
R: Christian.
J: Christian. What was your husband’s name?
R: Robert Glendon, G-L-E-N-D-O-N, Strickland.
J: What was his occupation again?
R: Salesman.
J: Salesman. Did you have any children.
R: We had three boys and we lost twins boys at birth.
J: Oh, ok. What were your boys’ names?
R: Gary.
J: Gary, ok.
R: You just want their first names?
J: Um, sure. That’ll work.
R: Robert.
J: Ok.
R: And Richard.
J: Ok, well. Were Robert and Richard the twins? Oh, you had the two additional to that?
R: Yeah, we had twins between Gary and Robert.
J: Oh ok. I’m sorry for that, that’s hard.
R: Yeah, [that was one of those trying things.] When I lost them, that was hard.
J: Yeah, I can’t imagine, but I assume that was not an easy time. Ok, then kind of have some
questions, just kind of about your background and religion and experiences and stuff. So, how
long have you been a member of this church?
R: This time, since ’91.
J: Ok. So that’s about 20 years?
R: Just about 20 years.
J: Had you been here before?
R: Yes. We lived in Springfield, moved up here in the 50’s, and I believe it was ’57, and then we
moved to Monett in ’61. Then we moved back to Springfield in ’91, so came back here.
J: Okay. So you were here the first time around the time that everything got started here
probably.
R: Yeah, I don’t remember, we came here in ’57, I don’t remember when the church was first
started.
J: I think it was sometime in that area.
R: Yeah, it was in the fifties.
J: How did you get involved here?
R: You mean, the work that we did here?
J: Yeah or, how did you find the church when you first came in the fifties?
R: I just knew, we went to church in Stockton, and I just knew Parkview was a New Testament
Christian church, so we came here.
J: Oh ok. And how did-yeah if you want to talk a little bit about what you did here, like your
involvement, or.
R: Well we was youth leaders, my husband and I, and he was a deacon and we just did whatever
needed to be done.
J: Yeah, definitely. Have you been involved with other churches or religious organizations?
R: Not other than Christian.
J: Not other than Christian. Ok, so just wherever you moved you found a church that you liked?
R: Uh huh.
J: Ok, what was the role of religion in your home, when you were growing up?
R: Well, I didn’t go to church except, when I was with my grandpa and grandpa, I went to church
with them. Then when I got in high school, I started going to church in Buffalo. And when I was
18, I was baptized and from then on, it’s just been going to church.
J: Cool. What is your strongest childhood memory related to God or religion? I know that’s
going back a ways.
R: The thing that I remember my grandpa was the Sunday school superintendent, I thought he
was the boss of the church. But that’s about the only thing I remember.
J: That’s cool. Cool. Do you recall any times as a child that things were different for you and
your religious world because you were a girl and not a boy?
R: No.
J: No? Ok. Have you, what differences, or have you experienced any differences in your
religious life because you’re a woman?
R: Not that I’ve faced-paid any attention to, or known about.
J: Ok, what challenges or struggles have you faced in your religious life?
R: I don’t know. I guess the struggle was just trying to keep the world out of your life and
concentrating on what is right and wrong.
J: Was it hard, you know you said you only went to church with your grandparents, was that kind
of a challenge or a struggle, like with your parents?
R: No
J: No?
R: No. My, the reason that mother and daddy always said that we didn’t go to church: we didn’t
have clothes good enough to wear, so that was, that was a reason that they gave me.
J: Yeah, awe. That’s said
R: I don’t think things were quite that way, nowadays.
J: Yeah.
R: But back when I was a child, seems like people paid more attention to stuff like that.
J: Yeah, I know you definitely dressed up to come to church.
R: Yeah, you had your Sunday clothes. And I didn’t have any Sunday clothes.
J: But your grandparents still took you.
R: Yeah, they still took me.
J: What person has most influenced your religious life?
R: I guess my grandpa and grandma.
J: How so?
R: Just, their examples that their lives set, and what they taught me, and what was right and
wrong. My parents taught me right and wrong too, not that they didn’t. Grandpa and grandma I
think had more influenced about the church.
J: Definitely. How do you think religious life is different for kids today than it was for you?
R: I really hadn’t thought about it, but, I think kids have more temptations nowadays than they
did when I was growing up. There’s more things out there to get into and do, even when I was
raising my family, there’s so much more temptations for young people now that, it just blows my
mind that I’m just thankful, I got mine grown before that all happened.
J: Yeah, did you, I know you said back in the beginning that you and your husband were youth
leaders. Did you see differences even with that age when you worked with them? You know,
years ago, did you notice the difference with those kids, kind of with your growing up a little bit?
R: There’s been differences in every generation. Every generation, seems like it’s getting a little
worse.
J: A little worse, yeah. Maybe I should have been born back, born back in the fifties. How would
you like this church to remember you?
R: As a true follower of Christ.
J: Ok, that’s a good thing. And a good cookie recipes. Because you gave my for my wedding
present some good cookies recipes. I was pretty excited. Is there anything else, came to your
mind that you would like to share about, just your faith and your journey?
R: I just noticed a lot of different, in the church today, that it was fifty years ago, or even longer.
I know that, I was in my twenties, churches had revivals.
J: Yeah.
R: And, each church would visit each other’s revival and support it. And then it got to where we
would go two weeks at a time and then it got down to a week, and then it got down to three days,
and now it’s nothing. I’ve noticed that.
J: Mmhmm.
R: And another difference is in the music. It has changed in the last 20 years. Maybe 15. From
the old hymns to praise songs.
J: Yeah.
R: So, that’s a difference that I’ve noticed in the church.
J: Ok, cool. Yeah I think even 15 or 20 years, definitely with the music. Because I’ve noticed the
change, remembering when I was little, you know, in elementary school, the differences from
now.
R: I know when we moved up here in ’91, it was still hymns, then it just gradually went down to
praise songs instead of hymns. .
J: What did you husband sell, did he sell anything in particular?
R: Yeah, he was, he sold [clothing] thread, when I was first married, and then he went to, well it
was called Taysmark (sp.), then it was Foremost Milk, and he was the district supervisor for
Foremost.
J: Oh, ok. Cool. When you guys moved back here in ’91, was it retiring back in this area or?
R: He was retired, and the reason we moved back to Springfield, he had Alzheimer’s and needed
to get closer to the doctors andJ: Mhm. Yeah.
R: Hospital and everything, we moved back up here.
J: That’s a hard thing to deal with too.
R: Yeah, it was. That was a real, awful disease. He didn’t know who I was, it’s not a pleasant
thing.
J: Yeah, bless your heart. Real faith builder there, too, little bit, Just having to rely on.
R: The Lord, I just couldn’t of made it through, there have been a lot of things that if it wasn’t
for the Lord, I just don’t know what I would’ve done.
J: Yeah, yep, I think sometimes, the benefit of looking back, you know realizing He was
provided, and you know carried us through.
R: When I was in Monett the Four State Fellowship from Joplin, put an ad in the paper and
wanted to know if there was interested in a New Testament Christian church in Monett. So my
husband answered it and they started the church , it’s called Countryside now
J: Ok.
R: In Monnett, in started in our living room. We had Sunday school classes in the bedrooms.
J: You had to clean for that one.
R: We had , we have it clean for the weekend, and that’s how that church got started.
J: Well, that’s really cool. We should add that to your occupations, church caretaker, you were
taking care of the church. That’s awesome, that’s really cool. I bet it was fun to see it move into
a building
R: Yeah, they even named the drive up to the church Strickland Drive.
J: Good, you are still a part of it even when you moved out. That’s cool. Any other things that
you can think of?
R: I don’t know anything.
J: Ok. Well, I’m from the Joplin area, that’s where I grew up, so.
R: What church was there?
J: Actually, I grew up at St. Paul’s United Methodist, was where I grew up in the church and my
grandma had been there since the 50s as well, so my dad had grown up in the church, so that’s
kind of where we stayed, but in high school, I don’t know if you’ve heard of College Heights
Church, but they have a school and that’s where I went to high school, and so in high school, I
kind of started to doing a lot of youth stuff, with the church youth group and things like that. So,
I kind of switched or kind moved over a little bit.
R: [inaudible] College Heights.
J: Ok.
R:And my husband went over there once a month for their board meeting.
J: They’ve really grown.
R: Yeah.
J: Big new buildings and things out there.
R: Oh yeah.
J: Yeah, they built an entire new worship center, I think at one time they were doing four Sunday
services, like, and they would from the gym as a sanctuary.
R: Oh my.
J: Yeah, they’ve just really, really, really grown out there so. Growing even since I left high
school they were just kind of in progress on their projects.
R: You said you were brought up in the Methodist church, that’s where my grandma and
grandma went—to Methodist church.
J: Ok, cool. Yep. My grandma helps with a lot the building and committees and stuff through her
years too, in the church. Pretty fun, I enjoyed hearing your stories and your experiences. Thank
you so much.
R: You’re welcome.
J: For sharing. That’s all I have, you’re free. I think we’re at nine forty.
R: I’ll just sit here.
J: Yeah, sit here until the bell rings. So you said your grandpa was the Sunday school
superintendent, so was he just kind of over, making curriculum and stuff like that?
R: I don’t know what all it was. Except when I’d go to church with him, he got up in front. I
thought he was the boss.
J: Yep. Yep, yeah. That’s probably one thing too that’s changed like the differences in Sunday
school a little bit, it’s still kind of part of the church, but you know, I know it’s part of the real
big deal and you went to Sunday school and all that.
R: It was to me.
J: Do you have any plans for this week? Any more yard projects?
R: Oh yeah. Going to plant some tomatoes and green peppers. Plant some cucumbers. I need to
do some painting.
J: You’re going to have a salad in your backyard.
R: If I can keep the squirrels out of it, I fight the squirrels every summer for my tomatoes.
J: Have you seen those, commercials on T.V. for those Topsy Turvey Planters?
R: Yeah.
J: That, we know a couple of people that used them and have had success, butR: I can see a squirrel just climbing right up them.
J: And eating them. That’s what-you know we don’t have a yard, but I thought about trying to
grow some herbs, you know like parsley, like that type of thing.
R: Yeah, you can grow that in pots out on the balcony.
J: After I’ve kind of heard, I thought that might be a good way to slowly, I have a-I don’t have a
green thumb, I don’t do well. I kind of forget to water things. So, maybe we’ll go with the herbs,
you know. Start small.
R: I even got a patio tomato one time, it did all right, but.
J: Yeah,
R: I didn’t do what I needed. There was enough tomatoes.
J: You do any canning?
R: I used to.
J: Used to?
R: Yeah, there’s a summer I’d can, we had a big garden, and I worked eight to nine hours and
come home and can until midnight.
J: Oh wow
R: So
J: Wow
R: Did a lot of canning and freezing
J: Yeah, so when you worked in the shoe factory was that when your kids were older or?
R: No, that’s when I would-I didn’t start working till I was, oh, forty-two.
J: Ok.
R: Kids, all grown and everything
J: Oh ok
R: No the youngest one wasn’t. He was still at home. So I didn’t start working until all my kids
were all working. I get kind of bored sitting at home, so I decided to go to work. My husband
said when I did that, he said that I would work for two weeks.
J: Well, you showed him 20 years. You know I think that would be a tough transition, once
everyone’s out, especially with boys. You know, they make big messes, there’s’ nothing to clean
anymore.
R: My oldest son is a minister, he just, he’s been preaching at Collins and he finally retired he’shis health’s real bad. Easter Sunday was his last Sunday up there, but he’s preaching at sunrise at
Marshfield this morning. My grandson preaches there, he’s on vacation, so Gary’s filling in for
him today.
J: Cool
R: Then my youngest son is real heavily involved in the church at Farmington.
J: Ok.
R: Arkansas.
J: Ok, cool. So you definitely started a legacy there.
R: And then Gary’s other son is the music minister in Washington, Missouri.
J: Wow.
R: So I’ve got three preachers in my family.
J: Wow, that’s cool, very cool. I bet you’re proud of them.
R: I’m proud of all my family. My middle son, he’s not as involved in church work, he lives here
in Springfield, so, but he goes to church.
J: Fun to look and see, you know, that they’re carrying out those values those things that you
hope to model as a mother.
R: Yeah.
J: Watch, them do the same for their kids. So, pretty cool.
R: I guess that it’s dismissed. I don’t think they had a bell.
J: I don’t they did either. Well, thank you again.