What was your favorite scripture as a child? Why?

I really can't remember.  You know that has been quite a while ago.  I know we learned verses in Bible School and Sunday School.  But I can't remember if I had a favorite.  Probably 23rd Psalms.

What was your favorite television program as a child, youth and an adult.

We were lucky to have a radio, or a Victrola which played 78's.  You had to wind, or crank it up to keep it going.  As for television I was married and had children before we had one.  I don't remember the programs.

Describe your favorite outfit as a child, youth, adult.

I can't ever remember having a favorite outfit as a child.  Flour came in 25 pound print bags.  Moner used them to make some of our clothes.  We also had hand-me-downs.  We were blessed to have clothes to wear.  If our shoes got holes in them before summer, we wore cardboard in them.  When I was in the 7th grade.  We had graduationfrom Grammer School (thats what it was called then).  Eighth through Eleventh was High School.  Moner made me a white dress for graduation.  I really liked it.  As an adult, I don't know.  I made alot of my clothes and could choose patterns I liked.  The dress I wore to yours and Megan's wedding.  I really like it.

Tell how religion was practiced in the home as a child.

There's all kinds of religion.  We were and are pentecostal.  We weren't taught then as now.  Women didn't cut their hair, smoke, wear pants, make-up, jewelry, and no one worked on Sundays.  Stores didn't open on Sundays.  Ministers preached if you did any of those things you were bound for hell.  We weren't taught God's love.  If we were I don't remember.  All I could remember was that God would not love me if I did those things so I was brought up to fear God not love Him.  Through the years I've learned God does love us.  I'm sure Grandmama, and Moner learned it too.  We are going to be judged for our wrongs we do.  We must live without sin if we expect to make it to heaven.  God is all love.

What did you do as a child that got you in the most trouble?

I remember two times especially (I'm sure there were probably more).  A fair came to town near our house.  I wanted to ride the swings really bad.  Uncle Claude (Moner's brother)  paid for me to ride.  It was at night, and I wasn't suppose to be there.  When I got home Moner was there waiting for me.  I was so sick from the ride she may not have gotten me that night, but you can believe she got me.  I wouldn't have done it again anyways because of it making me sick.  The second time, Carolyn, John, and I had come in from school, and were in the kitchen.  Carolyn did something (I don't remember what)  I slapped her.  Moner got me again, she should have I deserved it.  Daddy wasn't around enough to care what we did.
With my teacher it may have been the first day of school, when I was in the First grade.  When the bell rang for us to go home all I could think of was getting out of the building befored they closed and locked the doors.  I was running and got spanked.

What was the advantages/disadvantages of being the oldest

I really don't know how to answer this one, times were so different than they are now.  I married so young.  I helped with the younger ones before then.  We just lived and did the best we could to survive, maybe that isn't the right word but the only one I could come up with.

Tell about any skills you learned from your elders:

I suppose keeping a clean house.  We didn't have much but Moner kept it clean.  Me being the oldest of seven children taught me how to care for them and the house.  Especially when she was working.  We didn't have carpet or linoleum.  You took a broom with soap and water and scrubbed, then rinsed.  I helped Moner and Grandmama stitch a quilt (by hand of course).  I can't say how my stitches looked, they didn't do them over so they must have been okay.  I tried cooking once when Moner was sick.  We all survived so it must have been filling.  As for sewing, after Daddy and I was married I learned by trial and error.  Patterns and sewing guides helped.  Cookbooks helped with cooking.

How were children expected to behave?

The saying then was "Children should be seen and not heard."  I don't think that way and neither did Moner.  Children need to be listened to.  They have ideas, problems, and important things to say.  But when adults are talking children should reverence that and wait their turns.  That's the way we were taught.  You didn't scream or make a scene, if you didn't get your way, if you did you got your bottom spanked.  We had respect, and love for our elders and wanted theirs.  We were brought up that way.  If we were told to do something, we didn't wait two or three hours and then say we forgot.  If we did, we didn't forget or put it off next time.  We were loved so were taught to behave and take care of and respect what belonged to others.  Do it right the first time even if it takes longer.

Were you responsible for any household chores growing up? Favorite and least favorite.

Washing dishes, and putting away folded clothes.  But that was later in the two-story house after the war we had a few more, hand-me-downs from cousins.  Taking care of Carolyn, and Barbara.  After Moner came home from the hospital from having Edward.  I had a real sore finger, the nail came off.  She said I was depending on you to wash diapers.  I was probably glad my finger was sore.  I don't know why I remember that but I do.  I don't know if I had a favorite or not, probably sweeping the floor.  Least favorite having to warch others.  It kept me from doing things I wanted to do.  Going to the grocery store was another chore.  I would always run there and back.  Moner would say you don't have to run.  I didn't mind that though.

Do you remember any addresses or phone numbers?

As a child I suppose it would have been just Collins, Ga.  Later we had a mailbox, it had a combination lock that you had to know the numbers to open it.  It was P.O. Box 313 Collins
After me and your Dad was married at Frances Bartow the number was 251 no zip code.  At Deptford Homes the number was 311.  The first phone we had was at Frances Bartow it was 36448.  Can't remember if it was the same or not at Deptford Homes.  When we moved to Port Wentworth the address was Rt. 1 Box 294-B Savannah Georgia.  We had a party line with the Duckworth's, but soon got a private line.  I don't remember when the numbers changed to seven numbers.  The last phone number was 964-5033. and the address had changed to 101 Pleasant Drive  Port Wentworth GA

Tell about the houses you lived in.

The first house I remember living in was when Aunt Carolyn was born.  Only three rooms as I recall.  John and I shared one, Moner and your Granddaddy in the front room, and the kitchen.  The second one was on the main highway going through town towards Reidsville.  The only thing I remember about it was this was the house we were in when I had the baby chicks.  Third one was the big two story house where Aunt Jane and Uncle T and four children lived with us.  So there was them, Grandma, Granddaddy, Moner and her four children, until Edward was born.  Another family lived upstairs, a grandmother, mother, and daughter.  They weren't related to us just friends.  They stayed until the house caught fire upstairs and they had to find someplace else to live.  Then the house behind Charlie's  until Moner remarried.  Then we moved to Metter, and lived in different houses there.

Tell about your bicycle experience

I remember I wanted one so badly, but I knew I couldn't have one.  I don't remember ever asking.  I knew it was hard for Moner to even put food on the table for us.  She ironed for a lady.  I don't know how much she made but couldn't have been much for a family of 5.  Anyway the little girl down the road had one and I learned to ride it.  Sometimes we would take turns, until I learned well enough to peddle while she rode.  Then we were both riding but I was doing the work, but enjoying it.  The only time I rememeber riding one as a child.

Describe the sights, sounds, and smells of your childhood

Seldom did we see planes or cars.  Growing up we lived closer to the train tracks than we did on Pleasant Drive.  So we were familiar with trains.  You would know they were coming long before they got to the Depot, which was maybe a block away from us.  They ran on coal, which was in cars the train was pulling.  They would put some out near the school which it was used in the heaters.  Some of the homes also used it in their heaters.  It lasted longer than wood and probably cost more.  Some of the trains were troop trains.  They carried soldiers from place to place, also passenger trains.  Grandma, Moner, and I went to Vidalia on one.  I had to have a tooth pulled.  We left early one morning had to wait all day until the train went to Americus Georgia and back.  It ran from Savannah to Americus.  East to west in the morning, and west to east in the afternoon.  If it hadn't have been for having a tooth pulled the trip would have been more enjoyable. 
The air was cleaner then.  I remember the honeysuckles, morning glories, and different wildflowers.  Occasionally when the wind came from the east, you could smell Union Camp (was called Union Bag back then, and now International Paper) and didn't smell so good.  When the daffodills started blooming we knew it would soon be barefoot time.  Something we looked forward to, and blackberry picking.  We enjoyed that, we would eat, and pick.  They made jelly, pudding, cobbler, and other things from the berries if we had enoughsugar.  After the war things were better.

What is your favorite season of the year?

Spring, grass and trees starts turning green.  Everything seems to be coming alive again.  Not too hot or too cold.

What pet did you always want?

I never wanted any that I remember.  Llike I said earlier there were cats around.  If dogs came up to the house, I went inside or chased them away.

What pets have you had?

None as a child, I don't like animals.  I had two baby chicks.  In the house where we lived it had a gate in the back.  I was out there feeding them or just looking at them or whatever.  When I went out the gate one followed.  I closed the gate on it, it died, and I cried. 
They're okay to see them on tv, most of them.  I don't like zoos, they're too smelly.  There were cats but thet stayed outside, probably to keep the rats away.  After marrying your Dad, when we lived on Pleasant Drive we had a parakeet named Perky.

Do you remember any fears you had as a child?

If I had any I can't remember them.  I have always been terrified of dogs and I try to stay away from them.

Note:  I also remember her always saying the only kind of good snake is a dead snake.  She hates them too.

What was your favorite treat?

I suppose ice cream especially homemade, and candy with nuts.

What is your favorite place to hide as an adult?

 My bedroom, or take a walk and pray and read.  Do a crossword puzzle, or put together jigsaw puzzles.

What was your favorite store?

Roy Harris's grocery store here in Collins, or Miss Iris's across the street both were both grocery stores.  The drug store sold ice cream cones.  I liked to go there when I could get one.  Which wasn't often.

What was your hiding place?

Behind the house we lived in, or the chicken house, or a tree.  Our house was several feet off the ground and not closed in like they are today.  We would hide under it.  We always wanted to be outside in the summertime.

What color was your house, your living room, your bedroom, as a child?

There was no color, just natural wood inside and out.  We shared the bedrooms.  As for living rooms, there weren't any.  We didn't know what a couch was unless we saw one in Sears & Roebuck Catalog. 
Until your Dad and I was married I didn't have a living room.  Our houses were small until we moved into the 2-story house after Moner and my Dad separated.  I don't know what we kept our clothes in, the few we had were probably in a box or on a nail behind a door.  I'm not exagerating times were tough.

What is your earliest memories of home?

 This may be the earliest, I'm not sure if it was before or after your Aunt Carolyn was born.  I do remember the night she was born.  Anyways, Moner, John, and I, (and Carolyn if she was born at the time) went to Uncle T and Aunt Jane's.  About two blocks from where we lived, on their porch was a swing.  I don't know why a piece of wire was on the chain.  The wire caught John's arm and made a bad gash, someone went for the Doctor.  He lived in town and they made house calls then.  Moner was so upset she couldn't hold John for the Doctor to sew it up.  Your Aunt Clara (your daddy's sister) was there so she held him.  I don't know if he had anyway of deadening it or not.  John probably still has the scar.  When I see him I want to ask him about it.  Haven't thought of that in a while. 
PS:  He still has it.

Who was the President when you were born?

I had to look in the encyclopedia for the answer to this one.
 Franklin Delano Roosevelt  1933-1945  Democrat

What was happening in the world when you were born?

We were almost at war.  I was born in 1935.  World War II began in 1939-1945.  Soldiers camped near us near the depot.  They had a large search light, very exciting to a child, not realizing the seriousness of the times.  My Mom and Granddaddy had a Cafe, that served many soldiers and civilians as.  Dot(a cousin) and I would walk to church with Grandmama Oliver.  We all lived in a two-story house.  There were no streetlights.  On dark nights when the moon wasn't shining you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  If you passed anyone you wouldn't know it until you heard footsteps on the road.  In which was unpaved, no sidewalks, no flashlights.  Things like sugar, gas, and many other things were rationed.  We would get stamps (not like food stamps).  It didn't matter how much money we may have had you had have a stamp to buy these things.  (Money was short too).  When stamps ran out you did without until the next month.  We had running water, but no sink in the kitchen.  We used dish pans for washing dishes.  Washed clothes outside on a washboard and in tubs, they were hung on a line to dry.  Clothes were made out of cotton and had to be ironed.  Irons were heated on the stove.  We had no electricity.  We had a toilet outside with two holes.  Had a chamber pot to use at night .  Guess who had to empty it every morning.  A part of being the oldest.  In the winter you had to have enough covers to keep warm.  You could barely turn over.  Houses weren't insulated, or the ones we lived in weren't.

Why was your name chosen for you?

 My Mom had a friend with a child named Willodean, and she liked it.  This is what I was told.  I never liked it but didn't have a choice in the choosing.


NOTE:  Since this is where Megan my daughter got the middle name for her daughter Emily.  In which they named her Emily Willow.