Granny
I’m writing a paper. (what’s it about) it’s all about you ( Isn’t it always….)
Where did you grow up?
Around 1943, in the hills of Tennessee, nearest town was Dover Tennessee.
At 3- moved because of TVA (Tennessee Valley authority) built dam that made ken lake.
Flooded out the area making them move up hill even more into the backwoods
No electricity or telephones due to lack of lines. Delco- battery power plant that powered washer and refrigerator. Put in electrical lines at age of 9 and they got electricity.
Youngest of 8 children 3 brothers (and 4 sisters (oldest sister- 22 years older than her)
Pauline (Polly)-Estelle- Ruth- Margaret- E.D. (no name, literally just E.D) called junior- Rex-
Frankie- Doris (Doris-Jean)
Father was a moonshiner (how he made their living) made and sold moonshine
Changed names in stories
Only house with a basement around, others though house would collapse in on itself. Now they only thing left is the basement and none of the other houses are left.
No neighbors, nobody lived near. Closest neighbor was half a mile way. Neighbor was an odd one.
Favorite memory as a child?
Sunday morning breakfast- every member came
Would have pork chops, fried potatoes, biscuits and gravy, eggs and sometimes fried chicken
---- Momma would order baby chickens from Montgomery Ward (Catalog service like sears) by mail. Order 3 or 4 dozen because some would die on the way. Mailed in boxes with holes for breathing. They put them in their own little houses with feeders and water and then when they got bigger could run around outside. Had eggs and fried chicken a lot.
There were chicken snakes and they would eat the eggs of the hens. They had big old white enamel doorknobs and momma would put one of them in the nest and the snakes would swallow it and it would kill them because they wouldn’t digest it.
Everyone learned to shoot very early and they had great shots. Brothers would shoot flower stems. Frankie had the best shot. Throw nickels in the air and put a hole in it.

Father
Sounded rough but had a big heart. He took in a young girl named Kay whose mother had died.
She was a family friend and friend of Doris. Kay swallowed an ice cube and couldn’t breathe,
Daddy” god d*** it Kay, swallow that” She swallowed it.
There was a hole in screen door in the kitchen. When drinking, her father shot at a guy’s cigarette in the guy’s mouth off of a bet. Hit the cigarette and shot a hole through the screen door and didn’t kill the guy. Another time with the same guy, they were drunk and walking back to the house. They saw a cat and her dad said,” I’ll lick that cats a** if you will” after much discussion the friend did, her father never did.
Rex hunted, game warden (catch people hunting out of season)(seasons meant nothing to their family) Ed(looks like rex) shot up in the air to warn rex the game warden was around. Game warden saw rex but rex outran him home. ED sitting on porch and game warden thought it was rex… dropped gun…. In stories
Great practical joker- did some mean things
Dads Mother: Martha Jane Pricilla Ann Vinson Barnes (got divorced) Dick. Mean old lady.
Didn’t speak for 7 years to her daughter (Aunt Jewel) and they milked cows in the same barn.
Mom-
Didn’t waste anything. Made a garden, grapevines fruit trees, took care of chickens. Saved everything, made jellies and sewed all ripped clothes. Hand me downs. Always busy. Great big
Enamel pan used to make cobblers, best cook. Made clothes: Montgomery Ward treadle sewing machine (pushed up and down with foot) making all other clothes and quilts. Never used patterns. Unless there’s company, she never sat idle. Rough hands. Had kid in school 35 years in a row.
Doris Great grandfather fought in the civil war on the union side. Big scandal because they lived in the deep south and were major conservatives. Mother hid his picture in union uniform for many years.
School?
Only one in a famliy of 8 who finished high school. No school bus. Went to 1 room school through8th grade nd nevr thought of being poor because they had more than others around her.
Went to different one room schools(about 4) because they were always closing. Went to dover for high school. Got on bus at 6;20 to be at school at 8 and home at about 4;30. Found put she was poor in high school when seeing the other kids. New how to read when she started school from the older sisters. Loved school because she lived away from all of the kids, none to play

with. Favorite subject was reading(still is constantly reading)- subjects were very different then, it was good to just learn to read and had some arithmetic.
Could stay for after school activity’s.
Betty Crocker Award: Homemaker of Tomorrow
(could cook for nothing)- took a random test at school to win the betty crocker award. Time was running out and she started randomly bubbling answers in. She won****.
*** I won the Homec award in 8 th
Grade. I can’t cook or iron or anything so I guess its tradition to randomly win it.
What was your life like after you left home?
At 16 met Bob(21) when he came down to buy moonshine. He was married and then went overseas. He remembered everything about my granny.
Years later he was in a boat fishing and he pulled up to talk to her at about 18
Airline training school- before out of high school signed up to go to airline training school in
Kansas city. Got job at a bank in Nashville to pay way there before training in the fall. First time in the city (streets had an order). Went to Kansas City and met a guy who wanted to marry her from Philadelphia. Graduated and airlines went on strike. Couldn’t be a stuartess because you had to be over 21. Didn’t get a job. Offered a job in Chicago (wouldn’t move to Chicago).
Moved back to Nashville and got a job at an insurance company.
Then Bob (while getting a divorce) came by her (Doris at 19) old house and asked about her. He got her phone number and called her and asked to come by and see her. Asked to take her out and brought two bottles of champagne. She only went out if her friend Sara could come. Doris didn’t remember him. Went to Printers Alley (nightclub area), asked if he they wanted to go to strip club to see her reaction. She surprised him by agreeing to it and that was their first date along with her friend Sara. The place was illegal but the governor owned the strip club. The next day they went fishing and dated for a while. Met in august and got engaged on Christmas and married in January.
Moved to Iowa and then in 1994 when grandpa retired from John Deere moved to Kentucky.
Then when grandpa got sick moved back to Tennessee which is where she still resides.