"I felt so welcome there..made me feel welcome…like I was somebody."

00:00 Hello. My name is Kim Davis, and I'm here to talk with my mom. Do you want to introduce yourself?

00:06 Carol Davis

00:07 And you're from Bluefield?

00:10 Go ahead, start off. You're from your hometown, Bluefield, West Virginia.

00:16 And what high school did you attend?

00:17 And I attended Gary District High School.

00:20 What year?

00:21 In 1960? 219? 61. 62.

00:24 So you were only there a year?

00:26 I was only there for one year.

00:28 Where were you prior to going to Gary?

00:31 I was in. I was raised in Bluefield, West Virginia, and I attended Park Central High School in Bluefield. For how long? For two years. High school was grades, what, ten through twelve.

00:48 Oh, okay. And you left Park Central. Why?

00:53 I left Park Central because I had a negative experience with my principal, and.

01:00 I just didn't want to go back. What made that experience negative?

01:05 Well, growing up. Growing up, we were. Well, I just said we were extremely poor. We were impoverished. I had a great distance to walk to school. We lived further away from the school than anyone else at the school, so I was late quite often. So the principal had started to call me into the office to reprimand me, and I took it for a while. But after a while, you know, I got fed up. It wasn't my fault where I lived. It wasn't my fault, the distance I had to walk to school. So he just said the wrong thing to me at the wrong time, so I had to defend myself. So it was at that point, I decided I didn't want to go to school anymore. So I went home, and I told my mother what happened, and I told her, I'm not going back. I was 15 years old, but I knew I'm not going back. So at that moment, if my mother hadn't agreed, I would have probably been a 15 year old dropout. But luckily, I had an aunt in McDowell county that agreed to let me live with her. That's why I ended up at Gary for just one year. For my senior year of high school, I went to live with my aunt.

02:30 Now, when you were in Bluefield, how far did you live from the school?

02:34 About. You know, I really don't know the exact distance, but I was well over a mile.

02:41 And you had to walk?

02:42 I had to walk.

02:42 They didn't have school buses.

02:44 They didn't have school buses. They had the city transit, and the fair was only a nickel. But at that time, my mother didn't have it. A nickel was a lot of money. My dad died in his early thirties, left my mother to rear eight kids. So we struggle. I mean, the struggle was real? Yeah. So we walked. Well, my brothers would hop on the train and ride the train to school. They'd hop on and hop off. And I tried to hop on once and missed the train. Well, anyway, it didn't turn out pretty. Yes.

03:26 Okay, lesson learned. So you said you graduated from Gary.

03:30 In what year, 1962.

03:33 When you first arrived at Gary, what was your initial reaction after being somewhere for the first two years?

03:40 My initial meeting at Gary was with principal Mister Hite I think his name was. Joel Hite. I felt so welcome there. So, I mean, he just embraced me and made me feel welcome and made me feel human, like I was somebody unlike the principal that I had in Bluefield. So it was the place that I wanted to be. Yeah, I just felt that good about going to Gary, even though I didn't know anybody at Gary. No one. But that was my initial.

04:18 Were there any other teachers at Gary?

04:20 That. There was a couple other teachers that I liked. Mister Nickerson, that was my homeroom teacher. And I was trying to remember his name the other day and I couldn't. But he was good. I enjoyed his classrooms. Mister Wilkerson, Mister Cooper, those were the teachers that most impacted my life. And I enjoyed being in their classrooms.

04:44 What was the one thing about Mister Nickerson that you enjoyed?

04:48 I can't pinpoint one thing. I just enjoyed being in his classroom.

04:52 You said that was the one who taught you homeroom.

04:55 Mister Nickerson was my homeroom teacher.

04:56 Yeah, I remember when I was younger and we would talk about your schooling and you said that you had one homeroom teacher who broke away from the norms and would let the kids be a little freer.

05:10 Well, he wasn't my homeroom teacher. He was the. What's the free room called?

05:18 Study hall.

05:19 The study hall. He was my study hall teacher, Maurice Heath. And he was a little different. As a matter of fact, he would allow us. He would allow us to go upstairs and smoke cigarettes. Then he would open the window and turn on the fan.

05:38 So nobody would know that you were up?

05:40 Nobody would know that we were up there. He was smoking too.

05:44 Okay, so describe to me something that you found memorable at Gary that was perhaps funny.

05:54 Something funny? Oh, I can't think of anything right off the bat.

06:00 Okay. How did you get to Gary?

06:03 We rode school bus.

06:05 So about how far did you live from the school at that point?

06:09 Actually, I lived in a little city. In a little town, I would say in McDowell County. Jenkins, Jones. And I'm thinking 2020 something miles. I think it was like 20 miles. We rode the school bus. Getting back to your initial question, one of the things that I thought was most funny then, it's not funny now. It's actually ridiculous. Think about it now. But riding the school bus during the cold days, one of the students would yell, freeze out. So we would open all the windows on the bus. And it was so cold, our teeth would be chattering. But we thought it was funny then, it's not funny now. But anyway, that was one of the. And I'll never forget, our bus driver was named John. Shortly after that, John passed away. And I often wondered, did we have something to do with John?

07:00 Gave John pneumonia with his demise. But anyway, other than a freeze out, was there anything, any other things that you found funny that you can remember from school?

07:15 Well, not really funny, but entertaining. There was a place that we all gathered for our. For our dances. I think it was number five, but we'd pile in a car.

07:29 No, what was number five? Is that a club?

07:31 It was a country club, but they. It was just a hall where they had. They just had dances. This is where we go to dance. That's all.

07:40 Was it multiracial or was it blacks only? Cause when you say country club, I think of a posh setting.

07:47 No, there were no whites. It was only black. Black only as far as I know. That's all I saw. You know, like I said, I wasn't really familiar with the areas and the places to go. Cause I was only there for a short time. And my outings were, you know, scarce. I mean, not, you know, I didn't go to a lot of places.

08:09 You didn't party much?

08:10 No.

08:11 Was that because of the distance you were from the school?

08:13 Yes.

08:14 And you didn't have transportation into town?

08:16 None of us did. And when we wanted to go someplace, it would be like, ten or 15 people in one car.

08:23 Well, cars were bigger back then, so.

08:25 They were larger, but they weren't. Well, we still pack in there. Yeah.

08:30 What was something memorable that maybe scared you or you didn't find appealing when.

08:36 You were one of the most traumatic experiences? I realized that Gary was one of our teachers. Passed away. And they brought the body back to the school and had him on display in the auditorium.

08:51 The corpse.

08:52 The corpse.

08:53 In a coffin.

08:54 In a coffin in the school. In school. So we had to line up and fall down the aisle to view the body halfway down the aisle. When I was in my time to turn to view him, something hit me or came over me. You know, I can't even explain it. But anyway, it terrified me. So I turned and ran. Ran out of the auditorium. And I didn't want to go back in there for a long time.

09:21 Into the auditorium or into the audience?

09:23 Into the auditorium.

09:24 Did you know the teacher that had passed?

09:26 Oh, yeah, mister. I want to say his name was Whitten Whitten time. I can't remember his name. But anyway, I remember I was fond of him before. And he lived alone, a little city, a little town called Anwalt. And they said he had made a steak dinner for himself and choked on his own food. Wow.

09:50 Was there anything else, anything that you did with classmates that may have been frightening or scary or adventurous?

09:58 No, nothing adventurous. When I first went to Gary, I wasn't very well accepted. The females looked at me in side eye and they were kind of standoffish. And I met this one male, and his name was. We call him Diggs. I can't remember his full name now. But anyway, he embraced me and we just sat down and we started talking and we talked and we talked for a long time. And at the end of the conversation, he turned to me and he said, you know, seems like I've known you all my life. So that was the memorable for. And then I had two females that I, you know, got a little close to later. And one of them said to me, and I'll never forget it, Carol, when you first came to Gary, I thought you were a bitch. That was her first impression of me. She didn't know me. When I walked in, that was the impression that I gave. And I guess others felt the same way. So I wasn't very. I won't say invited or welcomed. I wasn't that close to a lot of people, you know, to my. But I just went and stayed with my little group. And at the end of the day, I went home.

11:18 I believe, Diggs, from what you've said in the past, his name was Robert.

11:22 Robert Holcomb Diggs. Yes.

11:24 And how long did you and Robert remain friends?

11:26 Remained friends forever. As a matter of fact, when I moved to Cleveland, he was already there and we connected again and we remained friends until he died. And as it turned out, he was his first cousin. Married my first cousin in a different state. So that was ironic how that. You know how that played out. Yeah.

11:50 You said you did have a couple of girlfriends while you were there.

11:55 I had a couple of girlfriends, and I'll never forget Paulette Mitchell and Eleanor Wilson. Those were the two girls at the school that I remained closer to my entire time there. And I haven't seen them since either of them.

12:13 Oh, since graduation.

12:14 Since graduation. Oh, wow. That was one of the sad. My graduation was bittersweet. The bitter part was knowing that I was not, you know, I wouldn't see. I would never see them again, all in a group. But I had some very sweet, fond memories. And one of the most memorable things that I remember was when you graduate, they had what they call a robin ceremony, and the junior students, the 11th graders, would actually put the robe on the senior on the stage. And I thought that was. I thought that was special. Yeah, I enjoyed that. Yeah. And one of the things that I didn't like about Gary was the fact that you had to test. You had to test to graduate at Park Central. We didn't have to do that. So that was a terrifying moment for me when I realized, I said, well, what if I don't pass the test? But praise God, I passed that test, and I got a diploma. But a lot of the students failed the test, didn't get their diploma, and some of the students were the honor students. And the sad part, everybody that received a diploma, names were listed on the diploma. The ones that got the certificate, their names were listed as well on the diploma. So I didn't like that.

13:50 So if you pulled up your diploma right now, it would list everyone in your class.

13:55 Exactly.

13:55 Who got a diploma.

13:56 Yes.

13:57 Everyone in your class got a certificate.

14:02 Wow. Yes.

14:04 Where were HIPAA laws back then? You said that you had the two friends there. When did you start attending Gary reunions?

14:17 I didn't go to the reunions right away because my family had gone to another school called Excelsior. And being with the family, I went where they went, and we traveled every year to a different city. But it was mainly with Excelsior. But within the last. I'm gonna say, excuse me, ten years.

14:36 More than ten.

14:36 It's been more than ten with Gary. Mm hmm. 1012.

14:41 I remember working on Gary reunions as part of the Cleveland chapter when my kids were little. And my middle child is 30, maybe.

14:51 15 years, more like 2025. I don't think so. Yes, Gary, yes. Well, anyway, I started. I came up aboard with Gary later, and I didn't really remember anybody because, like I said, I was only there for one year. And, you know when you don't see people and you forget? So I didn't remember, you know, a.

15:11 Lot of people, but you do have memories or still keep in touch with people who went to Gary.

15:18 Yes. And my people that were closest to me have soon passed away. So even though I don't have a personal connection. I just enjoy the camaraderie. I enjoy being with them, and we have fun. It's something about West Virginia people that, I'm just saying they're special. It's like love. Yes, in a good way. It's just like you love them just because they're West Virginia. You know, you have that knit and you can relate, and you enjoy each other's company, and you can meet someone from West Virginia within a few minutes. You feel like you've known them for a long time.

15:57 Yeah. I just met a lady getting off the elevator, and she said hi. I said, hey, and we started talking. We talked for about 45 minutes, standing over by the elevator. She didn't know me. I didn't know her, but we had a connection because she was from Gary, but my mom was from Gary. So we just sat there and talked like we were family. West Virginians have a sense of not just community, but a sense of family. Coming from West Virginia, you are family, and it shows when you meet people.

16:26 Right.

16:28 You said for fun, you went to dances. Was there anything else that you did for fun? Were you part of any sports?

16:35 No. I lived a distance, quite a distance from the high school. So my entertainment or interaction was with my classmates doing class only because once I left and went home, I wasn't close to them. I wasn't, you know, I didn't interact with them in the evenings or the weekends, so it was only during class. And that's one of the reasons I didn't have a real, you know, close connection with my classmates.

17:05 So do you think there are people here or that people who've attended these reunions who would remember you?

17:12 The ones that I had. Well, I haven't had a chance to speak to that many this time, but the ones that I spoke to in the past, the ones that really remember me, have gone on.

17:22 When you say gone on, passed away. Okay. What about teachers? Are there any teachers who made an impact as to how you may have turned out from Gary?

17:35 Yeah, I did. I had a few teachers that were a little friendly, maybe a little too friendly. But to add it all up, in a nutshell, I think my going to Gary, the way I left Park Central and went to Gary, it formed me to be the person that I am today. I had to grow up real early, had to learn a lot. I had to mature. I left home at 17 years old, and I never went back. Never went back.

18:08 So you graduated at 17?

18:10 Yes, I graduated 17.

18:11 And when you graduated, where did you go?

18:13 I graduated at 17. I went to New York to live with a cousin. Yeah. So I lived with a cousin in New York, and my first job in New York was at a zipper factory. She and I worked together. Well, I met a lady at the zipper factory that had taken a test for the post office. So she said, well, why don't you try it? So I said, okay. So I took the test for the post office, passed the test, and got hired. Well, that didn't sit right with my cousin that worked at the zipper factory, because then I was making more money. So that went sour. So I had a lot of relatives in New York, and it was constant friction among the family all the time. So I just wanted to be someplace where I could be at peace. So I married this person that I met in West Virginia at Gary. We got married in New York, and he had relatives in Cleveland. That's how I ended up in Cleveland. And like I said, I had to grow up real fast, real early. But when I realized in Cleveland, I didn't have any relatives to get him a business, and I said, at that moment, this is home for me, and I've been there ever since.

19:23 All right, so you were married. You moved to Cleveland. Of course you had me. How many other children do you have?

19:32 Four.

19:33 Four other children.

19:35 I have you and three others.

19:36 Okay. I thought there was something I needed to know. Um, what did you do after you got to Cleveland, and did you work? Did you stay at home? Mom, what did you do?

19:49 Well, when I got to Cleveland. Well, that goes into a different story. We don't have a long. We don't have enough time to go into all of that. But I got married, and the marriage didn't last long, but with my children, I wanted a better life for them. I wanted them to have it better than I did. So I worked various jobs. When I was preparing for a better job, I knew what I wanted to do, but I accepted other jobs while I was because I wanted my kids to be educated, and I wanted them just to have a better life than I did because my life was a struggle, and I didn't want that for my children. So I got a job at the telephone company, and I was able to enroll my kids in private schools. And they left out of the house every day, kicking and screaming because they wanted to go to the school with their friends, but I wanted them to get an education. And I tried to tell them, you don't have to live with these people at the school, because there was a lot of prejudice, but they didn't buy into it, but they stuck it out and now they thank me.

21:02 So buy into it. I believe she's referring to. She sent three little black kids to an all white school. Having been the only black female in my class from grades k through twelve. That's why we kicked and screamed. But she's right. As children, we are extremely grateful for the education that she afforded us. And what do you do currently?

21:29 Well, I've been retired twice. I retired from the telephone company, then I was a comp shopper for BJ's wholesale club and I retired from that. And now I work with the lunch program at the school.

21:44 What school?

21:45 With elementary school, Onaway elementary school in Shaker. And I enjoy that. But it's interesting too. Work with kids and compare the kids now to the kids back then. The kids are. It's a different environment. It's different. I just say it's different and leave it at that.

22:06 So would it be fair to say that you have come full circle, that your experiences as a young person, having to make your own way, stand up for yourself, forge your own path, afford those same educational benefits to your children, instill in them, as in myself, who also works for the Sacred Heart City school district, a strong sense of the value of an education?

22:33 Absolutely. Absolutely. Because when I was a student at Park Central, I had some skills. I wasn't the brightest, but I had a skill set. And they encouraged me to go to college because I was relatively bright. But with my circumstances at home, I didn't want to stay in Bluefield. I had to leave because of the situation. Growing up there, I didn't want to be there. That's why I had, in my words, I had to grow up fast and I had to learn. I had to become an adult early. But I also knew what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be, what I wanted to become. And then after I had the kids, I didn't want them to suffer the way I did. Yeah. So.

23:21 Well, that's my mom. That's our story.

23:26 Bye.