Quilt Pieces Aaron Dixon has been a friend in my life for about as long as I can remember. Aunt Katie, his grandmother was probably right there when I was born. She often came to our house and spent a few nights with us, helping mom quilt in the winter and work in the garden in the summer. I can still see her plodding up the house, slightly bent with a large purse. She was a diabetic and carried her medicine with her in order to give herself shots. Aunt Katie took Aaron to raise when he was quite young for his mother died shortly after his birth and his father was killed in the coal mines. How Aunt Katie loved Aaron and his wife and children! Aaron’s mother had been her only child. Aaron was and still is a handsome man and his wife Aileen has always been a beautiful woman. I often spent the night at Aunt Katie’s house and I remember how she always had jars of jelly setting on the old oil cloth covered table. She had lovely old furniture which would make a wonderful addition to any home where antiques are loved, in today’s world…(namely mine…love antiques…) I remember there were several pictures of Aaron’s mother hanging in her home. Aaron sent me some info that I would like to share with you concerning the CCC. Thank you, Aaron, and I hope you will send me more info about other aspects of Harlan County, Ky. ‘Grandma Katie Smith married Green Johnson, a logger, in circa 1931. She moved me to Coldiron Holler. I went to Coldiron School. We had an old gray mule and planted corn on the side of the hill with a bull-tongue plow. I quit school in the 7th grade and started logging, working for Green Johnson. I was 17 years old when I told my grandma Katie that I wanted to join the C.C.C.ʼs. They had a camp across Pine Mountain, near Linefork. I wanted to travel. I had hardly been out of Coldiron Holler. She agreed to it. I signed up and they sent me to Corbin. I thought I was far away from home. I was traveling! They then put us on a troop train and sent us to Yellow Springs, Ohio. After a while, they sent us to Dayton, Washington! They paid me $7.00. I had them send the other $15 to my grandma, Katie. I was a truck driver. They planted winter wheat as a crop. The fields were beautiful and golden yellow. Our job was to build retaining walls past the gullies so that the soil wouldnʼt wash. Me and one of my buddies saw a big beautiful mountain off in the distance. We decided to walk to it. We walked all day toward the mountain. It seemed as far away as when we started. I got so homesick. If anyone in the C.C.C.ʼs would get a promise of work, theyʼd discharge us. I wrote to Marvin Cornett and asked him to send me a work-call to come home to work for him. He did. They gave me an honorable discharged and a train ticket to Corbin, KY and $5.00. I knew I had to save $2.00 out of the $5.00 to get from Corbin to Harlan. When I left the C.C.C. camp, the transportation was in a caboose pulled by an engine. ʻBout every cow crossing weʼd stop. Finally got to Oregon and I changed trains and boarded The Portland Rose. It took five days to get to Corbin. I was so hungry during the journey because I knew I had to save for the ticket from Corbin to Harlan. I would take a little whisk broom and brush off gentlemenʼs coats hoping to get a tip so I could buy a hamburger for 35 cents. No one offered a tip. We pulled into Saint Louis and boarded the Walbash Canoonball. It made a lot of noise...clickety-clickety-clickety! Got to Corbin and I had saved enough money to get to Harlan. They had a passenger train from Harlan to Cumberland but I didnʼt take the train. I appreciate your piece in the newspaper. My wife and I always look forward to it. Keep On…’ Mary Katharine Jacobs called me the other evening and I so enjoyed talking with her. She told me a beautiful love story…a story really about survival. She and David Leon Lewis from Sandhill have been married for many years. They were high school sweet hearts, but things might not have turned out so well for them, had David been less a person. The boy’s mother died when he was young and his father eventually left him and headed to some city with his girl friend. He was virtually homeless and tried to take care of himself, living in the old home place with no electricity and no money. His sister took care of him for a while and he went to school in North Charleston, South Carolina but he longed for home and the mountains. He came back for a while and finally he went into the army. Mary Katharine was heartbroken when he left again but her mother, a wise woman told her, “He is a young man of good morals and of high character. By going into the army he will have food, clothes, and a roof over his head and he can get an education.” He did well and eventually he and Mary K. married. I am reminded of another young man that I wrote a story about who did not have such good luck…but I am also reminded of the saying that ‘behind every good man, is a good woman’ and I believe that the love those two shared made a world of difference to them both…blessings to you, my friends. Enjoy your trip to Moncks Corner, SC! Connie Helton sang at my store in Cumberland on Friday. She writes her own songs and has a beautiful voice. I truly love listening to her. She is currently working on a book about abuse. I think that she knows a thing or two about that having grown up in a house hold where it was an unspoken element that shaped her life. The title of her book is Mountain Rose. I had some interesting visitors this past weekend. I especially enjoyed talking with Tommy Sides and his sister, Rosemary. They live in Paducah, Ky. And were visiting for the reunion. Wretha Day Schoch from Newport News Va. also dropped in. Ralph and Margo Hill from Bowling Green, Mo and Josie Krause from Ill came by with her son, Chris. I would also like to point out that Chris is an incredible artist. He does unusual art, but it is magnificent! He should be working for Disney…an incredible imagination! Sandra Scott Murray also came in. Her parents owned the Scotts Store that we all remember so well. Brenda Simpson, Lorena Damnon (I may have spelled that wrong!) from Tenn. also came by and Phyllis Stagnoli Gilliam from Monticello, Ky also visited. A couple of weeks ago, a man by the name of Phill Bettis came by and after talking for a while, he said he was a writer. He gave me one of his books and I have to say it is marvelous! Phill has practiced law in his home town of Cumming Georgia for more than thirty years. His book is titled ‘The Little Book of Annoying Questions’. It is a religious book of sorts and really makes one think. One description on the back says, ‘Timely and compelling, The Little Book of Annoying Questions opens the door to conversations necessary to save the heart and soul of the United States.’ I like to read books that makes one think. The weather has been lovely these past few days and I so enjoy sitting out on my front porch, even though it is small. A squirrel visits me every day and comes right up to a few feet of me and stares at me. I leave plenty of bread for him and the birds but I feel he really wants something different…maybe some nuts or strawberries…when I see his big fluffy tail I am reminded of when I was young and my brother had squirrel tails on the radio antenna of his car. It was the thing to do back then. Just like going to the drive in movies and having those dice hanging from the mirror…or going barefoot and wading in the branch…eating June apples until you got sick…foundering on too much watermelon and ice cream on the fourth of July…or sitting in the middle of the bed and playing cut-outs with your best friend. Almost forgot to tell you…the other day one of my best friend’s in high school, Juanita Daugherty’s brother, Bob Daugherty stopped by with his sweet wife. I had not seen him since I was in high school. Juanita is dead now but I remember those days when we were friends and Bobby aggravated us half to death! He is still a cutie. Well, blessings to you…remember to smile at someone today and I hope I have awakened some long ago memories. Hope you knew some of the people who came by and hope you come see me or write or call….blessings…
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:07:02 +0000
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