Appalachian Woman interview-Dootsie

all right Duty yes Duty uh where did you grow up where are you from originally Jackson County I grow up in a little place called Fox town this is in Eastern Kentucky yeah in 1948 you were born yeah how old are you now 75 I'll be 76 in July Boy tell me about your childhood growing up you you had Mom and Dad yeah yeah we uh we were just one big family you know we just kind of took care of one another do what could you know with each other and your mom stayed at home took care of the kids yeah and your dad what did he do he worked at a sawmill and and uh then later on he worked at a in the porn concrete you know and things and he got concrete p and had to quit and then my mama worked then at a little old grocery store down here in mck for a for a while you know how far did you go in School eighth grade I didn't complete it but I went why did you quit school early well uh there stay home tip 10 to the others you know there younger ones longer yeah were you the old oldest I'm the second I'm next to the oldest I had one sister older than me and she got married see and then I stayed home oh okay you know and tell me about growing up here you had uh electricity yeah when we was when we was you know up in yours we did but we didn't for a long time we had little Co o lamps and stuff like that and uh we didn't have you know we had uh these you know these old time battery radios you know we had one of them I mean and you they didn't use it but it's like on Friday night I think it's on Friday night and when Hank Williams they was listening to it that night that Hank Williams my mom was and you you talk about crying and the carrying on it was it was awful you know but uh that's only time they'd use it you know was just when on Friday night the grand old opery I think is what it was you know that they listened to but was music a big part of your life yeah my dad played quite a bit you know I mean he just sit around the strum all the time and then then some people maybe come in you know and play you know and you play as well yeah I I learned to play the guitar yeah I play in church oh you do yeah church is a big part of your life oh yes yeah I love church what is your what religion do you practice holess which is like the Pentecostal yeah yeah yeah uh the Holiness Just a Little Bit Stronger I mean you know than the than the Pentecost is right yeah and how often do you go to church I go every Thursday night that I can oh and uh I go sometimes on Wednesday night and then on Sunday evening when I can you know I mean there are things comes up that you can't go every time mhm but I do I love my church and you've always gone yeah no no I didn't start going till about 30 years well my dad passed away it's when I started going yeah tell me about your father's life he worked in the Sawmill yeah he worked in the Sawmill and uh he run the chainsaw and things and U he he worked hard he worked hard and then he worked in the like in the coal mines where they just just went in and dug you know out you know like uh wheelbarrows at the time you know I mean they didn't no big thing you know but that's he worked there but you're you had a you had a good mom and dad yeah yeah had a good mom and dad yeah yeah life has changed so much since you were oh Lord yeah oh yes oh yes when when did you guys get like things like television I we didn't have a a television back over her until uh well until I moved to mcke and that was like in ' 67 it was probably black and white TV then yeah yeah when I moved him key then then uh we got TV but over there you couldn't get I mean hit just down in a holler you couldn't get you couldn't get nothing much you know you couldn't even get reception there no you couldn't couldn't pick up no signal but my my grandpa John Moore he had a television he he was was the first one in that in that county I mean over in that part to get a television and then uh running water well not till not till I moved to mck when I met I met uh this this man uh and married him and and that's when you know had that's when you R run water what did you guys do for water before then uh we packed it from a spring you know and they had little you know them little old U uh things that was in the water I came to them dogs water dogs tadpoles no there's water dogs they about that long and there red looking NES and they would scare you they just call water dogs and they would scare me I'd muddy the spring every time you know if one of them come out and it's an amphibian it's like an amphibian little animal yeah yeah it's just like a some like a lizard on you know here red looking yeah I think I know what you're talking about yeah a water dog that's the thing I know okay and then for uh Waring and stuff washing clothes and stuff like that we had to get it out the creek there you know and we we go U hun if we seen a big turtle we'd get hit too you know and then our dad would fix it you know fry it and fix it oh you you eat the turtle yeah man turtles good yeah turtle is real good and uh but that's you know but we would most have to muddy the water you know getting them Turtles and then we'd have to wait till to settle before we get dip the water up yeah you can't it won't be clean anymore can't wash in in dirty water and then were you farming were you making you cook like growing your own vegetables and things like that yeah we had a garden yeah my mom and dad had a garden a big garden and we would can you know we would help her you know can and they'd have the floor like you know just full of canned stuff you know you're not you're not that old but did you have uh when did automobiles come around for you guys oh I I don't know I I I really can't remember I guess I was maybe 13 14 or something long in there like that you know before you know they and I can't even remember now who got the first over in that country cuz you know but when they when you would hear them coming you know oh everybody would run to the windows you know to see you know what what it was and then if there was one or two you know more than that they'd make it so dusty you know and that you couldn't see you know oh cuz the roads were not paid yeah Lord yeah it was bad it was gravel and just plain dirt you know life has changed so much oh yeah since you were a young girl yes Lord yes like now now kids have cell phones and oh yeah TV and a million other things we didn't we didn't have nothing like that we didn't just like I said we had a a a telephone but it was on a a party line and this little old woman she she didn't want to give it up at all and she just wouldn't how does the Party Line work well there's everybody must have been on the same thing you know because if you picked it up you could hear her talking you know and you would say can I use the phone and she wouldn't pay a bit more attention you know and so you just you and she was bad shape you know so nobody didn't you don't really didn't complain well they thought well when she goes to sleep or whatever they can call in so line was like one phone line that the entire town used yeah yeah you all took turns making a phone call yeah you had to yeah if if if there was anybody on it and they didn't want to give it up all they'd have to do is hold it and leave it off and you couldn't get nobody and could you hear the other phone call yeah if you listen to somebody else's phone convers oh Lord yeah you sit there listen all you know but they more of old people you know on it yeah I understand yeah do do you think life has gotten better or easier since you were a young girl oh Lord yeah it's it's it's a lot better and easier but I wish you know that that a lot had to go back and and and and live and stuff the way we did you know it was something else yeah if they did they'd appreciate stuff more yeah do you have any regrets in your life not really not not really yeah I do too one regret and it's foolish but I'm I'm if you want me to tell you I'll what's that when I was a young girl oh I guess I was maybe 14 or 15 or maybe maybe not even that old but when can can slips come out you know the Can cans that the girls wore to make their dress stand out me and my grandma I went to town with her we walked you know and uh we got down there and I wanted a can can and she just couldn't afford it you know she just couldn't afford it so I made her and she got a bad back but I made her walk all the way I would not people would stop to pick us up and I wouldn't ride and I I regret that now that's really the only thing in my life that I ever done that I really regret is making her walk you know did you have you ever left Kentucky no you've never left the state of Kentucky I no I've never lived no more but but Jackson County oh is that right yeah I've never lived in No Place El have you ever traveled anywhere else um um my granddaughter and son we went to Tennessee last last month I think it was and stayed all night you know couple nights in a cabin up there you know did you ever wish you had traveled more or seen more of the world not really cuz they want me to go with them places and I just I just ain't got no desire to to go nowhere really really no what what do you think has changed in our society since you were young like people today like religion is not so important in their lives as it as it once was no you can't get them to go to church you can ask them go to church and they'll say a I will I've got plenty of time but but now they don't were people Kinder back then oh yeah Lord yeah they'd go see each other and and they would stop you know and and and see how you was doing and if see if you need anything store or anything like that you know I can remember when they took a took a wagon from over at Foxtown and uh bunch of them the men cuz that snow it was awful on this Earth that year but I can't remember the year but they had to take them horses and and come for everybody you know and they had a load of of uh stuff of food and stuff yeah yeah back then they you know they brought 25 lb of of flour meal and and lar you know and then big old big lard buckets what is your favorite memory from your life well I don't know I I don't know I there you know you've had a good life though yeah I had a good life yeah you've been happy throughout yeah what is the roughest period of your life the most the most difficult period of your life well I guess when my husband got sick and in 2013 he come down with cancer in 2021 he passed away that was the bad time but my dad too he had a stroke and uh he laid for years he you know he then had to have one of his legs took off you know and uh that was that was a bad time and my mom had a car wreck she had her arm took off I mean cut off you know wasn't cut off but she never could use it you know I mean they tried to do everything but they she just never could feed herself do nothing with but it sounds but there a lot of bad things that you don't but it sounds like there was a lot of love in your family oh Lord yeah there was love love how how long were you and your husband together uh about 50 something years about 57 year that's great 57 year that's great your husband what did he do for work what did your husband do for work he uh run a dozer H run a doer he strip Cole strip money okay yeah so Co Cole is was a big thing yeah up how me he worked in Harlem Hazard and you know things like that he worked have you ever traveled no have you been have you been out of Kentucky yeah yeah where have you been I've been to Tennessee and uh H I don't know I've been to Indiana you've been to Indiana and Tennessee and that's that's about the size of it did you ever want to see the world not really I did not no really not really I mean I didn't have no desire to you're happy here yeah yeah I I've been all over the world world and I think Eastern Kentucky is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been yeah yeah I love I love aure yeah I love aure yeah the people especially the ones that can stay away from the drugs yeah yeah really are some of the most beautiful people ever yeah yeah that's why I keep coming back here um your family it seems like you guys the the the members of your family that I've met so far seem to be very you know their lives are together yeah there's no drugs in in your family no well yeah there my I've got in my family yeah but not in my immediate family not my children the grandchildren no they they're they're okay it seems to touch everyone's family oh yeah oh yes oh yes is it's a problem all over the country yeah it is it is it is it is did were there ever like did did you have any vices or problems in your life that you ever battled with or your life has been pretty smooth and yeah it's been pretty pretty good no headaches no problems just just the health of your yeah parents or your husband yeah so you can go through life without any any of these self-destructive behaviors yeah you you've never been self-destructive no no it's beautiful so Dy you uh we talked earlier about the about your music yeah would you like to play a song for us yeah I don't care I'd love to hear something okay just I'll let her get the guitar Dy where did you learn to play the guitar just like from watching watching my dad and them things like that mhm and [Music] that's King Jesus I know you hear me when I pray King Jesus I know you hear me when I pray when I'm down here in trouble you sent an Angel by my way they put on PING prison along the about midnight Arrow he begin to call on Jesus all he heard his prayer King Jesus I know you hear me when I pray when I'm down here in trouble you s An Angel by my way well if you're sick and Afflicted and you don't know what to do just call on King Jesus I'll he see through King Jesus I know you hear me when I pray when I'm down here in trouble you send an Angel by my way oh when I get to Trav I'm going to say and Shout there be nobody up there trying to put me out King Jesus I know you hear me when I [Music] pray when I'm down here in trouble you send the mangel by my way well trouble trouble trouble trouble everywhere when I get to heaven let we don't trouble there King Jesus I know you hear me when I pray when I'm down here in trouble you send the Mel by my way I come through the B I reach that mountain top I'm headed for that City in lord I can't stop King Jesus I know you hear me when I pray when I'm down here in trouble you s an Mel by my way praise God that's beautiful Duty thank you so much thank you thank you for everything so is it Appalachia or Appalachia Appalachia Appalachia yeah that's what I'd say Appalachia thank you

Channel: Soft White Underbelly

Views: 170,805

Keywords: soft white underbelly, swu, Appalachian woman interview, 75 year old woman interview, Kentucky woman interview

Id: d_SCH3_efe8

Length: 19min 14sec (1154 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024