This is an interview I had with my Dad, Robert Watson, in 1991 when I first began researching my family history at the age of 14. It's pretty comical to read some of the questions I asked him at that age. I think it provides a very vivid image of growing up in rural Alabama in the 1940s and 50s.
Where and when were you born?
I was born in Gadsden, Alabama at home on February 1, 1940. The doctor came to the house. That's the way things were done then.
Were you named after anyone?
I was named after my great grandfather who had been a Confederate soldier. He'd been captured by the Yankees and he and his brothers dug a tunnel and escaped. His name was Robert Purcell. His grandmother had died on the Trail of Tears. When she died, the rest of the family turned around and headed back to Alabama. They never reached Oklahoma.
What are your earliest memories?
Some of them are of the two room house my dad built with his own hands. It now has 8 rooms that were added later. We used to get our water from the only well close by at Jess and Bary Jones' house. When I was older, we had city water at our house. I have a distinct picture of that etched in my brain seeing water for the first time running out of a faucet on our back porch. It took several months to get the water pipes on Lookout Mt. because it is so rocky. They blasted with dynamite everyday and I remember watching that keenly.
If you didn't have running water, how did you use the bathroom?
We had an outhouse and a Sears Roebuck catalogue.
How did you take a bath?
Oh about once or twice a week we'd fill up a wash tub and clean up.
Once a week? Wasn't that gross?
Probably. We never thought about it.
Where did you attend school?
I went to Bellevue School.
What memories do you have of school?
My first day was very traumatic. I remember having my head down on the desk and I was scared to death. I was horribly shy then. I had a good first grade teacher named Mrs. Milam. I had trouble getting accepted to school because I was allergic to the Small Pox vaccine and I had to get the Health Dept. to give me an excuse. The principal, Mrs. Mildred Marona, did not want to let me in school, but she finally did. I remember my second grade teacher let me work cleaning up the school and emptying the trash cans. In third grade, I contracted Rheumatic Fever and had to miss an entire year of school recovering. My teacher would come to the house to help me with the work I missed everyday. She was a very sweet lady.
Did you ever get in trouble and if so, tell me about it.
One incident that was scary was the day several of us boys were throwing rocks down this road to see who could throw one the fartherest. Well, I don't know who won, but Herbert Wesley Campbell stepped out in the road and my rock hit him in the head. It scared me so bad I ran all the way home and hid. I thought I had killed him, but he survived.
What did you do for fun?
I have fond memories of skinny dipping in Black Creek. Our favorite places had names. There was Sandy Bottom, Johnny Deep and under Noccalula Falls. We never wore shirts or shoes in the summer. We also played cowboys a lot. I'd go hunting and fishing sometimes for our supper. We'd play a lot of baseball when we could scrounge up the gear. When we couldn't, we would improvise.
Why don't you enjoy that now?
Because when you have to do that for food growing up, it's not really very fun.
What were your chores?
I had to feed the cow, slop the hogs, feed the chickens, collect eggs, build fires, carry in coal and wood. I also had several rabbits in a pen I had to feed. The rabbit business increased rapidly.
Did you watch TV growing up?
Not much. We didnt have one. There was one at the store down the street and sometimes we'd all gather there and watch.
What do you remember about your parents?
My dad worked for the newspaper and was a Methodist preacher. My mom was a sweet lady who loved everyone and would do anything for anybody. She was the best cook in the world. My parents were good to me. We always had food to eat and a roof over our heads. Even though we were poor, I never knew it.
What do you remember about your grandparents?
My mom's parents lived next door so I saw them daily. My dad's parents lived in Bessemer, AL and would visit frequently. I remember when they did I would get a quarter if I was the first one to get them a can to use as a spittoon. Both my grandfathers chewed tobacco. One chewed Brown Mule and the other Bloodhound. My grandmother lived to be 99 years old. She was a sweet and funny woman who loved to tell stories. My dad's dad worked for the railroad. His parents were part Cherokee and had piercings in his ear, but he was tough as nails. He was an amazing cook. I loved going to visit him because I got to sleep in a boxcar.
What kind of clothes did you wear?
I always wore jeans and shirts that my mother sewed from flour sacks. I remember going to the general store and getting to choose which flour sack I wanted for my shirts. In the winter, we wore socks and shoes. In the summer we wore jeans and nothing else. My mother was an excellent seamstress and many people paid her to sew for them. We always had one second-hand suit that we wore to church. I always hated wearing it, though.
Why didn't you wear shorts in the summer? Didn't you get hot?
We were used to it. Shorts were for sissies.
When and where did you graduate from high school?
I graduated from Emma Sansom High School in 1958.
When and where did you go to college?
I graduated from Jacksonville State University in 1963 with a degree in Business. I worked my way through school as a carpenter's helper. My mom was very proud of me for going to college and sometimes she would give me twenty dollars out of her sewing money. Later, I went to the University of Alabama and got a master's degree in Counseling.
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| My Dad age 7 |
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| My Dad age 17 |
