A Conversation With Granny

00:01 Hello, my name is Mark Rainey I'm 16. Today's date is November 25, 2023. And speak with my granny, my great grandmother. And we're in Deer Park, Alabama. Anyway. All right, Granny, I guess start off by telling us all what year you were born.

00:27 1932.

00:28 All right, so born in 1932. She's been around for a little bit, seen a good few things, but. So I guess being born in 1932, what was it like? I guess post Depression. So it was like coming out of the Depression, been living in all that.

00:51 Well, it was. Nobody had much because there was no money. Everybody just kind of lived off the land for a few years there. We could go to the store and. And get a few things. But then later we had ration books because sugar was rationed, gas was rationed, and other food items were rationed. So we had a ration book and each person had one or each family had one, and we had to use those to get whatever we needed to eat other than what we grew in the garden.

01:59 Right. So did the ration books come out, like, pre or post war? Were ration books like a thing before World War II started?

02:08 No, this. This was after the war.

02:16 Gotcha.

02:17 When the war started.

02:19 Okay, so are you going to tell us about that? Like getting the news from wherever, however you got it, hearing that Pearl harbor had been attacking, that y'all were going to war.

02:34 I don't recall who came to our house and told my mother and my grandmother, but somebody came to our house and told us about it, because they're not. I don't really recall if many people had radios. I don't even know if anybody had radio. I don't really know how the news spread then because we had no television or anything like that. I guess maybe people could call on the phone, but I don't really recall how we. How the news was spread from one little town to another little town.

03:25 I got you. So did y'all have a landline house or were y'all.

03:30 No, we did not have a phone. I don't remember what year we had phones, but we had. When we got a phone, it was. Everybody was on the same line. So when you called somebody, everybody knew you were calling somebody.

04:00 Right.

04:00 And if they wanted to listen, they could listen.

04:03 Okay, I got you. So you said you were about 13 when the war and all that started. You said your brother went off to join at 17.

04:24 17. Uh huh.

04:26 So did he. Was he just graduated or was he in his senior year or.

04:29 He had just Graduated, Chris graduated.

04:33 Okay. How'd your parents feel about that when.

04:36 You went to the Navy? Well, all the. All the guys were going, so. I mean, there was a draft, but he just went on his own. But there was a draft and a lot of boys got drafted.

04:59 I got you. I just realized I'm not 16. I'm actually 17. I just don't know my age anyway, so off of that, I got you. So, yeah, he would have to fake his age to get in, wouldn't he?

05:22 Well, they could join at 17, I think, with parents signature.

05:27 Okay, I got you. I didn't know that. Interesting. So he went in the Navy, but he made it out just fine. Yeah. All right. So following that, I guess you would have finished up school while the war was going on and then gotten out once the war ended. You would have finished school and once the war ended. Right. Or graduated.

05:55 I did not graduate from high school.

05:58 You did.

05:59 I quit school at the end of my 10th grade year, and Granddad graduated from high school that same year, and we got married.

06:15 I didn't know that. That's wild. That's crazy. I didn't know you didn't finish out high school. Okay, so you kind of.

06:25 Then I took my GED to go to college.

06:30 Then I got you. Okay, so you dropped out in your sophomore year and got married and then had Granddaddy. Correct. Not long after that.

06:48 The next July. We got married in August. August 28th. On your birthday. On my birthday.

06:57 Hey, let's go.

06:58 And granddad was born the next July 22nd.

07:08 I got you. Cool. And so he was working at.

07:18 The plant, Brooklyn Field.

07:22 Brooklyn.

07:23 Well, he worked at a little grocery store here while he was going to high school. And so then he went to work at Berkeley Field when we got married. And it was just a real big, you know, outfit really. And he. He worked there for several years. And then his boss told him that it was going to shut down. Well, nobody really believed that.

08:10 Right.

08:11 Because it was. It was just such, you know, they built airplanes there.

08:18 Right.

08:18 And they just. They couldn't believe that was going to shut down. But his boss told him it was, and sure enough, it did. But he. He told him he either needed to go to one of the. He needed to go to Huntsville or to Warner Robbins, Georgia, or to Houston, I think it was Houston, Texas. And he didn't want to go away from here. So his boss told him. He said, well, you need. If you don't want to go to one of those places, then you need to go to school. Go to college and get yourself prepared to do something. So that's what we did.

09:11 Gotcha. And so y'all went to college after y'all had all your children, right? Or with the exception of Terry, we had.

09:21 Except for Tyler.

09:24 Tyler.

09:25 Tyler was born while we were there.

09:27 Gotcha. Yeah. So how was that dealing with four children and trying to balance college and.

09:35 Well, it was. It was a trick.

09:41 Yeah, I can imagine that. Yeah.

09:45 As I said, I was up at 4 o'clock in the morning studying because it was quiet.

09:53 I can't imagine that. That's actually insane. So how did, like, how did all the finances of that work, having to handle four children in college and.

10:07 Well, like I said, we had some money and then granddad Marvin helped us out to finish it out.

10:16 Got you. See, I didn't do it on y'all zone. Y'all had a little bit of help.

10:22 But we had a little bit of help. Yeah, we did.

10:25 That's all you need sometimes. I got you. So y'all graduated, in what year did y'all graduate?

10:41 66. 1960.

10:43 1960. I got you so. Or I've been going on with JFK and the Cold War and all that with Russia. How was that time period?

11:04 I don't remember too much about anything special going on, you know, during that time. I'm sure there were things going on, but I don't recall.

11:19 Gotcha. So how was the. How was the JFK assassination? How'd you hear about that?

11:28 Well, I was. I was teaching. It was during the school day, so one of my fellow teachers came to my room and told me that he had been shot.

11:47 Gotcha. And so wait, where were you teaching?

11:54 Davidson High School in Mobile.

11:57 You're teaching Davidson in Mobile, Teaching English?

12:00 Correct. Right.

12:02 Big lit teacher. I got you. She told you. So how'd that affect, like, I guess the rest of that school day or like the kids, like, did you tell the kids when it happened?

12:16 No, they were trying to sort of just let it be quiet so the kids wouldn't get all upset about it. But of course, parents began to hear about it and so they. I'm sure some of the parents came and got their children. You know how it is when something like that happens. They. They'll come and get the kids out of school because they don't know really what's going on and.

12:51 Right.

12:52 So the kids did learn about it and they were very, very quiet and subdued when they heard about it.

13:02 Gotcha. So it wasn't like it through, like a big fuss. It was more just Kind of like.

13:06 Yeah, just kind of quiet.

13:08 I got you. So it was like, when you heard about it, what was like, your initial thought or, like, worry, I guess.

13:15 Well, I just. I was just shocked when I heard it, you know.

13:21 Yeah.

13:21 Didn't know what to think. Cause we didn't know who did it, you know, or why or anything. Just that he was shot.

13:31 Just that it happened. I got you. So what about, I guess, Vietnam, you know, that happened. Did you hear much about Vietnam and mobile teaching there?

13:45 Well, we. It just. I don't know. We didn't. It didn't have too much bearing on the school day. Right. But I know it affected grownups, you know, but not so much the children at school.

14:20 I got you. So how did it affect the day? I'm assuming you didn't have rations during Vietnam or anything like that. Like, that was nothing that got reinstated. I got you. So pretty much life pretty much continued on as normal with the exception of it just.

14:37 Right.

14:38 Was a thing. I got you. So did y'all have many protests going down a mobile, or was it mostly just peaceful?

14:44 Mostly just peaceful.

14:47 I got you.

14:47 Wasn't too many protests back then. Not here. Not here. Anyway.

14:55 I got you. So I've been in the 70s, so I guess what was your experience with becoming like a. Like a grandma, I guess. My mom was born in 19, early 70s, right?

15:16 73.

15:17 73. I was close.

15:19 Well, we were really excited about having a grandchild. And of course, Linda and Larry were excited about having a baby. And because she was the first, that's always an exciting time. And we just. We just about took her in.

15:47 I got you. Yeah, everybody adopted that one.

15:52 She does. We just about adopted her.

15:55 They had four boys and a little girl.

15:58 Yeah, I got you.

16:01 So was there like a. Like a moment you sit there and you were like, I'm gonna be a grandma. You're like, I feel older. You're like, I'm excited.

16:09 Don't have to, like, just excited. Not old.

16:12 I got you. I feel like I'm a feel.

16:16 I still don't. I still don't think about being old, but I am old.

16:27 Well, you look great, so that always helps. But, God, I feel like I might have a kid and feel, like, ancient. I don't know. But I got you. So all that happened to you. You didn't. I don't really have much going on with the communists and all that fun stuff. Fun stuff in quotations. But I guess moving forward a little bit, we kind of got quiet there for a little bit as Far as, like, the nation, as much as I can think, I can't remember anything going on. History is pretty peaceful for the most part. I reckon anything going on down here was just kind of life is normal.

17:20 Just life is normal.

17:22 Gotcha. So is it, like. What was it like when y'all first got, like, a TV or. I guess just, like, introduction of electronics in general.

17:33 Well, we, the boys were little when we got our first tv, and. But before that, when there were boxing matches on tv, we were invited to go to somebody's house to watch it. Somebody who did have a tv. And then a guy in our neighborhood began to sell televisions, so we bought one from him and we had our own TV then.

18:20 That's it. I can't, like, a little, like, box and watch party. Wait, so you're around with, like I say, you around us, but you went through, like, Muhammad Ali and all that, right?

18:30 Granddaddy junior Loved to watch boxing. Yeah, he did. He liked watch boxing.

18:38 Did he have, like, a favorite boxer or one that he was like?

18:41 No, he just. He watched. Well, he watched the ones that were on tv, and, of course, those were the good ones.

18:50 Right. He just didn't have to watch it.

18:52 He just loved to watch it.

18:54 I got you. That's so cool. Just having, like, a little watch party over at somebody's house on tv. I got you. Oh. How was civil rights here in mobile with the 60s and MLK and all that?

19:18 I don't really remember even about that, that. A whole lot went on about that, except that anything that happened, they would make a big deal out of it. You know, if something happened to certain people, they would really make a big deal out of it.

19:50 I got you. Okay. Yeah, I got you.

19:57 I remember you saying something about during.

19:59 Integration, when the teachers all integrated, that y'all all. It seemed. It seemed like it went smooth. It went well.

20:11 Yeah. When we at Davidson, when integration started, we just had some really good teachers brought in.

20:23 Yeah.

20:24 And we. We just loved him just like we loved everybody else there.

20:29 I got you. Those who didn't hear, we didn't have.

20:33 Any trouble with, you know, with bringing them in to teach.

20:37 I got you. That's cool. Those who didn't know, my mother's sitting in the room, she asked, how did integration go over? She said she remembers something about it being smoothly. And that was my granny's response. I got you. So it was a pretty. Pretty smooth transition. Well, that's good. And then moving on, I guess. My brother being born on Christmas Day, that was. That was an interesting experience. How was that?

21:07 That was pretty exciting. Christmas Day.

21:13 Yeah. Pick the time to be born on that one.

21:17 Born on Christmas Day. And we. I had started making preparation for Christmas dinner, and we had to leave in the middle of the night, so I had to call one of my sons to come and finish the meal, and he did, and. Because he's quite a cook. And we were in Hattiesburg all day with no food because there was. There were no. There was nothing open. Nothing.

22:03 That's so tough. That's so rough. Trying to deal with the baby. Ain't got nothing to eat, Mom's in labor. Yeah, I bet that was a whole experience.

22:13 Yeah.

22:14 Yeah, we pick. We pick times to be born around here. Christmas Day. Your birthday.

22:21 Yeah.

22:21 Oh, yeah. If everybody doesn't know, me and my granny share the same birthday, so that's always fun. How was that when I was born?

22:34 Well, we were really excited about you being born.

22:39 Yeah.

22:39 I don't.

22:40 I wasn't exactly supposed to be born, but. So that was. Yeah, I bet that was a fun experience. So was that daylight? Was it just like. Were they all having a birthday party and they were like, well, here comes another one.

22:57 I don't think we were having a party. No, not on that day.

23:03 I got you.

23:04 We were just. We were just looking for you. We were excited about that.

23:11 Okay.

23:12 Now, talking about you and I having the same birthday, Uncle Tyler has the same birthday his grandmother had, and his niece, the inn. All three of them have the same birthday. May 23rd.

23:38 More.

23:38 You know, that was unusual.

23:41 Yeah. Huh. That's interesting. Yeah. So that was around 2006, so. Oh. With. I guess, 911 would have been about a year before that. How was that experience going with 9 11?

24:01 Oh, that was. That was horrifying. Really. Everybody just. Everybody was scared. They were just. Nobody knew what to think because nothing like that, you know, had ever happened before. And we didn't know if maybe there were going to be other plans to attack, like on the west coast or maybe even in Mobile, because that, you know, Mobile is. Is on the water.

24:51 Right.

24:51 And there's, you know, the planes flew out of Mobile and into Mobile, and there were big ships being built in Mobile and everything. And so, you know, we thought, well, you know, it could happen to Mobile.

25:23 Right.

25:24 So everybody was just really upset about that.

25:30 Gotcha. And so was that something you saw on TV or.

25:34 Yeah, we saw it on tv. Your granddaddy called me and told me to turn the television on because I did not have the television turned on at that Time. And he said, turn your television on. So I did. And that's what I saw.

25:53 I got you. I got you. It's kind of. I like the big history of it. I can think of. You would have been through anything just going on around here that was interesting, or was it mostly just kind of lied down in life as usual until.

26:23 Just about life as usual around here.

26:27 I got you, I think.

26:29 What about the big storm?

26:32 Frederick, Camille.

26:35 We. We did have some storms. Frederick and Camille.

26:43 Yeah. Big hurricanes that come through.

26:45 Yeah, those big hurricanes that came blew trees down and roofs off houses and blew timber down in the woods, and it was. That was pretty bad.

27:06 And out of power for a long time.

27:08 Yeah. Out of power for, like, weeks.

27:13 I got you.

27:15 Yeah.

27:15 Cause I guess being as rural as you are, there aren't many. Like, you're not gonna get electrical services immediately if there's a big storm come through.

27:24 Yeah. There's just so much until it just takes a long time and. And usually power companies from other places come in and help.

27:38 I got you.

27:40 Like, our power company goes down in Florida when they have storms and help them to restore their power.

27:48 And being on pump water, how you.

27:50 They had to care.

27:51 Buckets to the pond to flush the toilets and stuff.

27:54 Yeah. Of course, we didn't have water when we didn't have power because we didn't have city water. So we'd have to go to the pond to bring water to flush the toilets and stuff like that. But it was just. It was hard. But it wasn't impossible to get through it. But it was hard.

28:28 I got you. Yeah, I can imagine.

28:32 With no water and no electricity because it was hot and you had nothing but a fan, and it just, you know, blew the hot air, really. So it was. Tyler and Marita got power in Citronelle because they live near the nursing home. So I went down and stayed with them until we got power up here. And this was one pass.

29:07 Frederick and commit.

29:09 That was a more recent one. Yeah.

29:15 So I can hear it. My mother just said that that was a more recent one. Having to go to the nurse and Almond stay with all them while they had all that going on. Yeah. I'm trying to think of stuff that's in more recent history. So we've covered Covid. Oh, yeah. I forget that that's history. Yeah. My mom said Covid.

29:42 Yes. Because the school's closed, the church is closed. Just practically shut down everything.

29:51 Yeah. How was that down here specifically?

29:55 So we, you know, tried. Everybody tried to stay home, or some people didn't even have to go to work for a while.

30:06 Right.

30:07 But it was. That was a pretty scary time too, because people were dying from it and they didn't really have any. They really didn't know what to do with it at first, you know?

30:24 Yeah.

30:25 No medicines or anything.

30:27 So what was that like for you? Did you just stay here and then like granddaddy or somebody would come drop off?

30:35 Yeah, I just. I just practically stayed in. So I wouldn't get it right, me and you came down and stayed with.

30:45 Me.

30:49 But I never got Covid, which is good. Which is amazing. Really.

30:57 Oh, yeah. That's good. Well, anything else you'd like to tell anybody? A little tidbit, little life information?

31:13 Can you think of anything, Amy?

31:16 Some you'd want somebody to hear, just general life advice or anything that you.

31:25 Never learned to drive. Did you say that?

31:29 Did you tell about that?

31:32 I didn't tell that. I never. I never learned to drive. My husband always. We both taught school in Mobile, so we rode together and there was no really need to have but one car. So that's what we did.

31:58 Well, the more, you know. Interesting. Well. And you were the senior class sponsor.

32:06 In charge of graduation? Yeah, I was senior class sponsor for several years and I was in charge of graduation. And we had a big senior class. We had several hundred in the class.

32:26 Definitely not a small school. Graduation was at the civic Center.

32:31 Right. Graduation was at the Civic center because we didn't have an auditorium or anything. Not a gym or anything at our school.

32:45 I got you. Interesting. Did you ask about any of the singer.

32:51 Any of the singers or when she.

32:53 Was growing up, what singers? Like I remember Aunt Betty saying how Elvis came to her school and the.

33:00 Principal made him leave. Yeah, well, we didn't have anything like that.

33:05 I didn't know if you did. That's fun, but. Well, I reckon that's about it. If you could give advice to somebody seeing all you seeing, what would it be?

33:34 Oh, if I had to give advice to somebody, I would say. I would say to read your Bible and live your life accordingly, because that's why it was written. To give us a path to go down. And if we stick to the right path, we'll have a good life. And that's what I've done.

34:14 Been a pretty good life. That's good. Anyway, thanks, Granny. Love you.

34:22 Love you too.