1 January 1987

My children and grand-children have asked me to tape some of the things I have told them. I began to wonder where shall I start? Then I thought, why not start at the beginning of some of my most vivid memories.

I was born 20 April 1916 in Le Flore County, Leflore, Oklahoma, daughter of Rheuben Henry and Anna Eoff Wishon, the 9^th child in a family of 10. There were three boys and seven girls, two of the girls older than me died when when they were babies, one eleven days and the other three months. Living in Oklahoma when there was plenty of land for stock to run free my Dad had no idea how many cattle and hogs he had. With three strong sons to work and help him farm he was considered to be a wealthy man. When the sons married, also my oldest sister he gave each a wagon, team of mules, their choice milk cow, 12 hens and a rooster. That set them up for making their own living. I have heard them talk so much of the good times they had at home. Being next to last child, those four were married and gone when I was born so I never had the privilege of knowing my brothers. Losing them in a draught one year and an overflow the next just about broke my Dad. He had no desire for farming any more. I never remember living in Oklahoma. This has all been told to me by my parents and family.

We moved to Elgin, Illinois before I was school age but I well remember when I enrolled in Lincoln School. I stayed there through the 6th grade and never wanted to miss a day. Dad went to work right away at the Elgin Watch Factory and mother, being a marvelous cook, went to Y.M.C.A. as a meat and vegetable cook during the winter and the Elgin Country Club in the summer. The employees lived there so when school was out Pat and I lived with her. We had the place to ourselves except when there was a big banquet the we didn't dare show up in the dinning room. It was a great way to spend the summers. All play and no work. One saturday after we had gone back home I decided to bake a cake (My First). I found a recipe, went to the store and bought what I needed. We had a gas range and I didn't know how to adjust the oven, needless to say, the cake burned. I threw that mess into the garbage and went back to the store for more ingredients. By experimenting, thought I had the thing about the oven whipped. This cake looked better but I didn't want Mom to see it so I hid it in a closet then told Pat that she, Dad and I would have cake for lunch on Monday. Nothing was said when Mom came home from work on Saturday. Sunday morning Pat went and got in bed with Mom and Dad and told them about the cake. They made me bring it out. I cried all morning. In the afternoon an Uncle and Aunt came, they had a piece of cake and I cried again. My brother and sister-in-law came and he gave me fifty cents and said not because the cake was good but for my effort. It was a long time before I tried to bake another cake.

The summer of 1926, Dad began to want to see his brother in Arkansas. He bough a new Model T Ford and loaded it to the hilt with our clothes and gear for camping. You have to remember there were no motels, the roads were all gravel, no such thing as paved roads back then. We might have made 20 or 25 miles per hour. We had to start looking for a camp site long before dark in order to cook and make beds. It took a week to make the trip. How surprised the people at Low Gap, Arkansas were. They told us it was the first car to be driven out there to the mountain. Only a wagon road from Jasper through Low Gap and on to Ponca. The mail was brought out from Jasper by horseback.

While we were visiting, my uncle started talking to Dad about moving back. Although my Dad was a big man, the winters up north had begun to take their toll. He had pneumonia three winters straight. At that time Mother would not consider it, she could see living conditions hadn't changed since they had lived there before moving to Oklahoma. After our visit, life settled down in Illinois in the usual routine but, same as the three previous winters, Dad had pneumonia again. Doctors warned them he would never survive another winter up there. It was March before he was able to travel. They sold everthing including the Model T Ford. Dad hired a man to bring us back to Arkansas. That was March 1927.

I was 13 in April 1927 and well remember the drastic change in our way of life. After being accustomed to family picnics at Lord and Wing Parks, riding street cars for transportation, stopping at the bakery for rolls and goodies, it was quite a surprise to go to the one small store at Low Gap where you could only buy the barest necessities such as flour, sugar, coffee, soda, baking powder, thread, crackers from barrels. You could not even get bread as people baked their own. People only ate what they raised on the small hillside farms.

We moved to a two room house with sleeping space under the roof for Pat and me. The neighbors, knowing that we had just moved in, came from far and near to share their dried peaches, apples, beans, peas, pumpkin, corn meal, potatoes, turnips, and even meat and lard from the smoke house. Dad bought two milk cows. Along with the two room cabin came small patches of land that had been cleared of trees but sprouts had grown up and around the stumps. Guess what? Pat and I inherited a 'grubbing hoe' and shown how to cut the sprouts. All was fine if you hit the sprouts the right way if not they hit you. We had red marks on our shoulders, arms and face as if we'd had a good whipping. By twelve O'Clock noon we were anticipating a good lunch, but what a disappointment when we sat down to a table of dried pumpkin, turnips and peas each with a piece of hog jowl cooked in them. Pat and I knew better than to say anything even though we had never seen food like that. We sat there and ate cornbread and molasses. Dad cursed a blue streak and said yankee kids didn't know what real food was. With cutting sprouts and hauling rocks it wasn't many days until we were eating that foreign food. For years I thought people who ate peas were on starvation.

We lived one mile on top of the mountain above Low Gap. There was no radios, T.V., or even a road that a car could be driven to where we lived. One of the things we used for entertainment was box and pie suppers which were given for the benefit of some family who had the misfortune of losing their house by fire or a doctor bill to pay. These suppers were looked forward to for weeks. I'll explain what the suppers were. Each girl and lady took a pie in a beautifully decorated box. They were all auctioned off then you ate with the one who bought it. The husbands always knew his wifes box but what fun when the boys began bidding on the one their girl friend had brought. They usually had to pay two or three times the regular price for it. This occasion about which I'm telling you was a box supper. My Mother had worked for days on my box, it was a heart shaped and beautiful. The usual food was fried chicken, potatoe salad, biscuits and pie. Yoy always took enough for two. Opha Keeton, Nova Keeton and I wanted our boxes to be extra special so we decided to walk to Ponca for a loaf of store bought bread because as I said before you couldn't buy bread at our little store at Low Gap. I went down and spent the night with Opha and Nova in order to get an early start. As usual I didn't eat breakfast, so what, it was only four miles to Ponca. We had a ball going down, bought our 8 cent loaf of bread. We started back up that steep rocky Ponca mountain the sun was shining down hotter than it ever had before. My stomach began to growl, dark spots before my eyes, knees trembling until I could hardly walk. Bread wasn't sliced at that time but I broke off a big piece. By the time I ate it I was feeling better but still so hungry I thought I would die. The next piece was even better, there was still almost half a loaf and I thought when we got back to Low Gap my friends only lived a short distance away but I had another mile to go up the mountain. Would you believe the same symptoms began again? I ate what was left of the loaf of bread. When I got home I went in, fell across the bed crying my heart out. My mother was very concerned trying to find out the reason for all the tears. Between sobs I said, 'I ate that whole loaf of bread.' Mother said not to worry that she would make some dainty biscuits for me. Come Saturday night I ate with my favorite boy friend and we didn't notice it wasn't store bought bread.

The next pie supper was a tragic affair. August 6, 1929, my Mother (Anna Eoff Wishon) my sister Pat (Agnes Lee) and I (Inez), were on our way to church. We were in sight of the building when Mother stumbled on a rock and fell, breaking her leg. All the people came to where we were. Seeing it was such a bad break, some of the men went to Henry Kilgore's store, Henry's family also lived there, and got a cot and carried her home which was a mile away and up a steep mountain. There was only two telephones in the whole community but they did manage to get through to Jasper and Dr. John O. McFerrin. We had to wait for him to ride 12 miles on horseback to set Mom's leg. This is the event leading up to the tragic death of our neighbor.

In those depression years there was very little money. My Dad's health was bad and he was unable to work so there was nothing to pay a Dr. bill. Ulyses Kilgore suggested a pie supper for the purpose of paying Dr. McFerrin. Ulyses' wife, Janie, baked a pie for Pat and me and we went with the Kilgore's and their family, Hubern, Austin, Herman and Freda. Everyone had a great time at the pie supper. We started home, Janie and Freda were on horseback, the rest of us were walking. We had not gone far until we came upon Ray and Bob Kilgore fussing about a girlfriend. Bob threw a rock at Ray, missed and hit the horse Janie was riding. Ulyses was trying to control the horse and talking to Bob, his nephew. Bob turned and shot shot his uncle. When Ulyses fell, Hubern threw a rock at Bob, Bob shot Hubern through the thigh. I never was so scared. The rock hit the horse, bounced off and hit me on the foot. Ulyses died before they carried him and Hubern to Henry's store. We were too scared to go home so Dad and Arthur Wishon came after us. Bob ran away but the next day he went home and gave himself up. He only served a short time in prison. This happened August 19, 1929. Ulyses was only 45 years old, born November 27, 1884. Janie, his wife, was born May 12, 1912 and died January 16, 1982.

The place above Low Gap where we were living belonged to Mom's brother who lived in Jasper. He decided to move back to the mountain so we moved to Center Point on Big Buffalo River. It was beautiful but more isolated than ever. Pat and I began to hear about music parties and square dances. Practically all the young people played a musical instrument. Some boy gave Pat a guitar and in a matter of days she was playing and singing with the best of them at our house. Mom wouldn't let us go anywhere and we were so curious about a square dance after having heard from our older sisters what fun they were in Oklahoma where they had a platform in the yard and neighbors took turns having a dance every saturday night. They made ice cream by the 5 gallon, no drinking was allowed. Mom said it was different then than now, she said, 'You have no brothers to go with you, so don't ask any more.' As time went on others wanted us to see a dance. One saturday evening our nearest girlfriend and her brother, Wilburn an Carrol (Fisher) Villines, came by. After telling us about their plan, and with our consent, told mother they were having a small music party at their Dad's house and if she would let us go Carrol would come get us and bring us home. That was fine but we had to be in by 10 P.M.. When we were not home by that time mother lit the lantern and started out alone to get us. It was only half a mile but she had to wade the river and go under and around big rocks, scary during the daylight so you just imagine what it was like at night. When she came to the house where we were supposed to be and saw no lights I'm sure she almost had a heart attack. She knocked on the door and when Jackie Villines came to answer she asked about us. He said, 'Oh, they all went to Jewell's (another daughter) they are having a dance.' That was another half mile to go. She could hear the music before she got there. Someone came in from the outside and said they saw a light coming and guessed it was 'Aunt Annie.' Pat was dancing but the music stopped I had only been standing watching which made me no less guilty. Carrol ran away. Mother only came to the gate and never said a word even on the walk home then we had to wade the river again and it was winter time. Mother and Dad didn't whip us but I had much rather they did. Mother was sick all the next day. I loved my mother more than anything and always did all I could to make it easier for her. Anyway that is how we learned about a square dance and I can say it wasn't worth it.

Now it's March before my 15^th birthday in April. I don't know how Joe happened to come down to Center Point. We were talking and he said if it's alright with the congregation that he would like to preach here the next Sunday. It was such a unique way of asking for a date I said yes. A couple of boys my own age had walked me home from church but I couldn't imagine someone seven years older asking for a date. The next Sunday was Easter, a cousin farther down thew river was having an egg hunt, whole families far and near went to these. They had hundreds of eggs to hide along with singing and horseshoe games. All in all it was a very festive occasion. Mother did all the sewing and made my dress which had a full circle skirt. I was ready and waiting when Joe came. All the boys owned and rode horses but I had never ridden with a boy. We walked until we came to cross the river. I told him I would take the path under the the bluff and meet him on the other side. He insisted we ride so here goes. Just as I was standing in the stirrup to put my leg across the saddle, here comes a puff of wind, lifts that circle skirt and drops it over Joe's head. There he stands both arms flailing, trying to get out from under all those yards of material. I couldn't laugh or make a joke because I was much to embarrassed to speak. When we arrived at the egg hunt the noon meal was already prepared and everyone was expected to eat and such a bountiful meal it was. Mom, Dad and Pat had gone on ahead of us to help set up the meal. I will always remember the duck and dressing because when they passed it to Joe he helped himself to half of it. I could see the smile of amusement on the faces of several and one of the ladies told my Mother that this will be your future son-in-law. I thought then and for a long time that nothing could be farther from the truth. We were still dating when my oldest sister (Myrtle) and family visited us in June. She persuaded my parents to let me go back with them to Seminole, Oklahoma to go to school. I thought this will be the end of my friendship with Joe but I was interested in school at that time. I had only been in Oklahoma for two weeks when my brother-in-law was layed off his job. He decided to go to Texas and work in the oil fields and that was to far away for me so they brought mw home. It wasn't long after that until Joe contacted Typhoid Fever. For weeks he wasn't expected to live. Three months later I looked out one Sunday morning and he was tieing his horse to the hitching post.

We moved back to Low Gap in the Spring. I haven't mentioned that mother was a mid-wife and a very good nurse. She would be gone from home as much as two and three weeks at a time. Dad was fine foe a while then he would vent his frustrations on Pat and me. Fall of the year was always a very busy time. The crops had to be gathered and we were stripping cane to make molasses. On this particular day it was 2 P.M. before I was allowed to go to the house to cook. After eating Dad told me to wash containers for molasses. I reminded him the milk was ready to churn (that makes butter). By the time I was finished all these chores it was time to milk the cows and this was my date night. Joe came when I was going to the barn to milk. I asked him to carry the supply of water for the night which was from a spring some distance from the house. He had made two trips and we were just getting to the house when Dad came from the field. He had fire in his eyes and bagan to rant and rave because I hadn't gone back to the field to strip cane. I couldn't explain that it had taken all afternoon to do what I had done. He let me put supper on the table and then told me to go upstairs to bed. As I went up the stairs I told Joe to go to the road and wait for me because I knew that soon after eating that Dad would be in bed and snoring. We lived in a log house with one small upstairs window. I climbed out and until this day I don't know what kept me from falling but at the time I just did not care. I went to where Joe was waiting and we sat on a rock and waited until Pat and her boyfriend came back from Uncle Milas' house where they had been visiting. I went into the house with Pat and Dad was never aware that I had been out of the house. We told him after we were married but he never apoligized. Dad was never happy living back in Arkansas and kept talking of moving back to Oklahoma. Joe told me that I was not going back there. On December 26, 1935 Dad, Mother and Pat left for Seminole, Oklahoma and on February 14, 1936 he died and was buried there. I have often wished that our chlidren could have known him.

To begin our married life Joe had $20.00. He went to Harrison and bought a bedstead, springs, mattress, two chairs, a set of dishes, and flatware. He built three tables. A neighbor gave us a stove and an extra bed. We made our first home in an old store building where we were living when Joan was born. One day I had taken Joan and gone visiting. When we returned the first thing I noticed was that one of our beds was missing. Joe said that Mr. Joe Greeley Villines had lost his house and all contents in a fire and that we had two beds and he didn't have any. Before we got another bed my cousin, Tassie Eoff, came to visit for the weekend. I did not have anything to make an extra bed with so the four of us slept together with Joe getting up in the morning first. His mother had the only radio in Ponca at that time, I would have supper ready when he got in from work and we would run up to Lue's house to hear Lum and Abner then walk the half mile back home to eat.

It came time to dig potatoes and since Joe was working ten to twelve hours a day I thought I would help him. Iwent out to dig some and he came out and told me he would get it done. I waited until he went in the house with Joan, after telling me that he would spank me if I did not not stop digging. He was soon asleep and I started to dig again. He looked out and saw me after a while and came out. I started to run but he caught me in the middle of the garden and gave me the spanking of my life.

Decoration Day at Low Gap was something everyone looked forward to. At the time there was no bridge over Buffalo River. It had been raining and the river was much to deep to wade so Ross Villines who lived near by took his wagon and team down to 'set people across' the river. Then we walked the three miles to Low Gap. All went well until we started home and it began to rain. Several people were in the group we were walking with. I was wearing a blue crepe dress and of course no umbrella. As my dress got wet it began to shrink. I kept pulling at the hem but to no avail. By the time we got to the river to be set back across my dress was up under my arm. People were having good laughs at my expense and after 50 years Ross Villines still laughs when he sees me. We had to go through Ponca but I stopped at the first house and borrowed a dress to go on home.

The years seemed to pass quickly. In less than ten years we were blessed with six children, which kept us very busy. This was still those years when there wasn't much money but Joe always had a job. Then came World War II. Joe was drafted and the next nineteen months I would like to erase from my mind. I was left with six small children, the baby Norma was only two months old. We lived twenty eight miles from Harrison and no car. Tires and gas was rationed and it was almost impossible to get someone to bring you into town even to a Doctor. In the time Joe was gone I saved enough money to buy a house and car when he returned.

My family lived in California and wanted us to move out there. We decided to go for a visit and check out things. The trip was a nightmare. First day out we only drove to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma before we stopped. Mildred Lee was so sick. Second day we got to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Third day to Holbrook, Arizona and by this time we were all sick. Fourth day we got to Needles, California with the car and most of our clothes in a mess. Finally we got to my sister's house and in checking the car over discovered that we had a hole in the muffler which let the exhaust fumes come up into the car. If it had been winter time and the windows had been closed we would more than likely have died from the gas fumes. I'm sure that is one time when itr was a blessing that we did not have air conditioning in the cars. After staying two weeks and getting the muffler fixed we decided that the Ozarks was the place for us so we returned.

One last incident. When Claud graduated from High School he enlisted in the Navy. After a few years he was stationed at Key West, Florida. We went down for a visit. On the return trip we changed buses in Miami, Florida. It was a Senic Cruiser from Miami to New York. We were the last ones to board and the two front seats were the only ones left. I told Joe that I would take the second seat and sleep. He had put my sweater in the overhead rack and soon I needed it and to reach it I had to tiptoe and stretch as far as possible to reach it. My slacks were bonded knit material and very slick on one side over nylon panties which made it even worse. When I came down off my tiptoes my heel caught in the cuff of the slacks and they slid down below my knees. There I stood in the aisle in front of all those people. The bus driver had been watching me in his big mirror. He turned loose of the wheel and clapped his hands laughing along with everyone else. That was the most embarrassing moment in my life.

This is 1987, I'm 71 and Joe is 78. God has wonderfully blessed us. We have six healthy children, eleven grand-children and nine great-grand-children. We are still able to care for ourselves and each other, attend church regularly and for recreation fishing is our delight.

See Index for marriage license and 50th wedding anniversary of Joe and Inez Wishon VanCuren.