Doris Smith and Karan Wood

00:01 My name is Karen Wood, and I'm interviewing my mother today.

00:05 On August 9th, 2009 for sitting around the kitchen table in Franklin, North Carolina at their mountain cabin and Mom. Will you tell your name and your age and little bit about today's date and where we are?

00:24 This is Doris Smith, and I'm here in North Carolina with my children, visiting meet, Karen Wood, and Buzz wood and her children.

00:38 Katie, and Charlie.

00:41 And we're all sitting around the table. My husband's here.

00:46 Bev Smith and want to tell your other son aren't my. Other son is Ted Smith and he's a nurse in Boise, Idaho, and he has two children Tori and Megan.

01:01 The mom tell us a little bit about your childhood.

01:06 I had a wonderful childhood when I think back about it because my folks were able to afford to give me a pony and that's all I wanted at the time.

01:16 With that Johnny know that was Sparky.

01:20 And then when I when my legs were dragging on the ground and and Market was evidently too small for me, they got

01:30 Another horse for me at which was a wealth phony.

01:34 But she died before, she had her cold.

01:39 So then they then they got Johnny for me and we ended up with some.

01:45 I think 18 horses. It was a lot of fun and my dad formed mustang club and and he had a rented 18 stalls and had friends of his that kept horses out there. And I think we had 25 acres of pasture. There was a lot of fun. We had breakfast rides and I tried to

02:12 Holiday fruit family. Taking part in it. We did parades.

02:20 Sounds like fun and you tell me about your sister. My sister Road Western and she had a horse named Peanut.

02:32 But she really didn't, she really didn't get into riding much. She didn't really care for it at the time. I guess she was another number.

02:43 Boys.

02:45 It was enough older than me that she just wanted to interested in the horses.

02:52 Well, tell us about your parents.

02:55 Oh, my dad was born in Somerset, Ohio, and he was from a Catholic Family.

03:05 And my mother was a born in Lakeland, Florida.

03:10 My granddaddy homesteading rixford Odom.

03:15 And well shoes bluntness made my dad and

03:23 I guess she was born on the homestead that he he finished the heat. He bought homesteaders cabin, and then he finished it into a house and my grandmother.

03:40 Married him when she was 15, he was 32.

03:45 And now back up a little bit and tell us more about what how, what did he buy the Homestead Property with

03:54 Well, he had homesteaded himself there when he was 14.

03:59 And I he made $0.35 a day, clearing land for land. Know he created a saddle for, he traded land for a saddle and he owned. What was, what became the mall at Lakeland, but it was swamp land. Nobody wanted it. So he traded it for a saddle.

04:26 That was a long time ago.

04:29 Way back in the early 1900s.

04:32 And how did your grandfather meet your grandmother?

04:35 He had dinner with her Folks at in Plant City and she was playing out in the yard with the other kids, and he asked her, he asked her parents, whether or not he could merrier. How old was he at the time? It was 32?

04:52 She was 15.

04:54 And he married her and took her home to a bunch of dirty clothes in to build a fire in the pot and wash them outside with a stick in the like you were talking about Irene.

05:07 Washing the clothes.

05:10 And they put a bar soap, I think in the water and let it

05:15 Mount some honeymoon.

05:20 I didn't hear that until my cousins told me about it. So my grandmother didn't tell me. She didn't. What did your grandmother tell you about?

05:28 Her life's nothing, but then I noticed that she always called him. Mr. Oldham. So what the weather, she always saw him as an older man.

05:39 Or whether that was just the way she had. I never heard her calling Bill or William. It was always mr. Oldham, or maybe she expected us to call him that. I don't know. What did you call him? I think granddaddy.

05:56 So, what about on your mom's side? I mean, on your dad side. My dad's sisters. Were he came from a big family?

06:06 I think they were nine of them all together and he was born in Somerset, Ohio, and he

06:17 The children were scattered throughout Milwaukee, and I think he had Margaret and Janet in Florida.

06:25 And,

06:27 Sore, 3 in Ohio and one was a Catholic nun.

06:33 I don't remember now where they all lived, but a blind st. Augustine Augustine. We went to the church and saw the records of their marriage and everything, but we didn't know exactly why they were in Palatka, but they lived in a remodel Chicken Coop. A remodel Chicken Coop. They made it into her.

07:05 A department that it was originally.

07:14 And my mom and my grandmother didn't ever have.

07:18 Or she had a pump at the, at the, on the porch, said to go outside to get to it.

07:26 And now she had a well before well, but she didn't have electricity or anyting got to know them better on my mother's side because we lived in Florida.

07:44 And my my father's family were mostly older.

07:50 And your mom is kind of a Trailblazer, maybe because of the brothers, but I think the Palatka thing was that she was actually working with for the railroad. Yeah, the Atlantic coastline.

08:06 Things that she was quiet over there when she was dumb. I think when she was in her 20s, she went to Yellowstone.

08:18 On the train deceased as a baby.

08:34 Try to private weather in Palatka.

08:37 Part of the coast railroad. He might have been there because of the railroad. I don't know why my dad was there. That's not very far part 2.

08:52 So they got married in Palatka.

09:00 I don't know. She was his secretary. She went to business Salt Lake.

09:11 Some secretarial or financial, or some counting or something.

09:26 Correct.

09:29 So your mom and dad got married in Palatka, do they stay in Palatka?

09:35 Oh, I don't know. They got married in 2008.

09:41 1928. Probably my sister was born, and I see if they got married 26, I think and my sister was born in Brooklyn. New York and 29. So they have Bentley moved up there and he, he opened grocery stores in five and dime stores.

10:04 So he would only be in a place a year or two at a time, getting the store, opened and stalked. And then he would move on to open the door and another city. Was there a brand name of the store?

10:22 I don't know whether I don't know, back. Then. We had a boil worse in the grants and the classes for the Food Lion in store.

10:41 The doctor kept it up.

10:46 Dayton, Ohio.

10:50 I don't remember a thing about Dayton, Ohio.

10:57 Where the horse and buggy came around to deliver the milk? No, that was in Wilmington, Delaware. So, and I was only three at the time. So we were in Delaware and he had he had a grocery store there.

11:14 And numb is on the corner of 9th Street and something else. And I don't remember much about.

11:24 Wilmington Delaware. Accept the Milkman did used to come by and see and let me ride around the block.

11:33 Yeah, I was horsing.

11:36 That's crazy.

11:38 Net worth.

11:41 Universally, everybody had a thing. They put in your front window. You needed milk or I-275 I brought in with tongs and it brought in and I guess milk the same way you put in whatever you do.

12:06 I told him the night before, maybe by your bottles that you had sitting out there.

12:11 I don't know exactly how that works. The only things that were delivered back then in the 30.

12:22 I think or I think Brad.

12:26 Was delivered. I don't remember. I don't remember whether and everybody made their own ice cream.

12:40 I don't remember whether they had cheeses or anything like that.

12:46 So, do you remember when you moved from Delaware to Egypt or Lakeland, Lakeland, Florida?

12:54 Yeah, we moved down to Lakeland, Florida and 38. I think.

13:00 And we stayed with my grandmother and grandfather out on the farm.

13:07 Now, I remember that I was only five years old.

13:10 Remember the trip down and my

13:14 I guess one of my relatives came up and drove.

13:18 I think we had three vans. I think my dad drove a truck and my mother drove car. And and my cousin drove a

13:28 Panel truck.

13:30 To move all your stuff to Florida.

13:34 Then we stayed out there until Daddy found a house.

13:38 Bought it and fixed it up and removed in it. Where was the house on?

13:44 South Boulevard in Lakeland from Lake Morton.

13:51 So, what did you do with the kid other than ride horses?

13:55 Well, I got a bicycle that year. So I remember that my grandfather was, we were out there for Christmas, evidently spent the night and my sister, and I were staying in my mother's bedroom.

14:09 And I heard him to the horn.

14:12 On the bicycle in my sister said that's granddaddy to in the horn on the bicycle. And I said, no, it couldn't be.

14:20 Cuz I thought that it was Santa Claus.

14:25 And now she said, no, it's granddaddy.

14:30 I didn't know at the time who it was how old were you? Then? I got a little tiny bicycle.

14:43 Remember when I got my phony, I think I was about 10.

14:49 I remember when he was, he was Santa Claus, brought him in the front yard and tied him up to the bushes there. And when I opened up my Christmas gift, I had got boots and I got a shirt and a western shirt and all that kind of stuff, but I still didn't get a pony.

15:10 And finally, they said, what did you look all over out in the yard? And I went out in the yard. There was a pony.

15:22 The growing up in Florida. You did some waterskiing, didn't you? Oh, yeah. I love to water-ski.

15:30 My son and I used to water ski every afternoon when he got out of school.

15:37 Much later when you're living in Winter Haven.

15:41 Please water skis as a kid to didn't, you know, you didn't know, I don't think so. So you didn't think so. Either, I learned how to ski on my cousins both.

15:58 And we were already married and everything. I don't guess we had any children.

16:05 Let me know about.

16:11 So I think about you skiing out in those lakes with alligators. Oh, yeah.

16:19 Well, I I was really at a question that quite a lot when, when I became older, when I think back about living on the lake living on Lake Bonny.

16:32 And my mother and daddy didn't seem to have any rules about when you went swimming, except that if you saw an alligator don't get in the water.

16:43 If you didn't see an alligator was safe to swim.

16:48 And we swam across the lake to the radio station.

16:53 We swam after school.

16:57 The alligator Ballard at night.

17:01 What was your dad like?

17:04 My dad was a good daddy. He was he was always willing to get out of the store. He had an art store and paint store in Florida and Lakeland store in the picture. I didn't know that.

17:20 My mother was in charge of that part.

17:23 And now my daddy was always hard it. Yeah, she took art lessons and she she made several things.

17:36 And tell me that your dad with the store while he was always willing to come out to the house and get me in the door. Let me have no me drive the Jeep in the woods or

17:47 Come out and go riding with me or

17:51 He was pretty good daddy.

17:54 When he and your mom got married, they were of different religious faith.

18:01 Well.

18:04 He was excommunicated from the Catholic church because we weren't brought up is Catholic and your mom.

18:13 My mom was Methodist, and she was willing to take us to both churches, but she wouldn't take us exclusively to the Catholic Church.

18:24 And my dad was okay with that cuz he thought him before we went to we were exposed. We can choose what we wanted.

18:35 Have he was pretty good about that.

18:38 And he had to give up his church and but he was buried with a fool.

18:43 Catholic funeral. So my sisters are sister, was quiet. Instrumental in this. How you would take out the paper on Saturday nights and look up the sermon and sort through the paper and see what topic looked interesting. Instead of what church and that was that was in Atlanta, won it. Because up until then, we belong to a specific Church.

19:29 And in Huntsville, Alabama, we belong to

19:34 Trinity Methodist in Hamby was the pastor and now we really liked his teachings and we tired than that.

19:46 Time. Because he was.

19:49 So free with the tithe and he said, put it in a jar and then let your kids decide where you put your 10% part of it to the church part of it to who needs it.

20:03 And that was fun. And then when we move to

20:09 Atlanta from there. I guess we move from

20:14 Huntsville to Atlanta to st. James Methodist, but we didn't really like it. It was very very formal and he sat upon the throne and preachers had on the throne real well two Foreman.

20:42 In a rattlesnake's. So that's when we had good discussion groups.

20:50 Yeah.

20:58 Can you can do that?

21:02 Tell me a little before I interrupted a little bit about your dad. Tell me a little bit about your mom.

21:06 Oh, she was a wonderful person. She

21:09 My mom was a natural-born mother. She was.

21:15 Always concerned about us and

21:19 I can't speak too. Highly of her. She I never heard her say a curse word or anything like that. She was always calm and

21:31 She's handled everything.

21:36 See, what's good?

21:38 Do you remember anything she read you, or any songs? She sang to you.

21:45 I do remember the three bears and Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

21:53 I remember the sex education books. She read it to us.

22:01 Well, the district's planetary.

22:04 And no.

22:07 I guess I got to listen because of Billy being 4 years older than me.

22:13 It was really reading them to Billy.

22:16 But it impressed me.

22:20 And,

22:22 She used to read to us a lot at night, but I don't remember specific.

22:26 I think we read, Heidi.

22:29 And some of the more popular books of the time.

22:36 Nothing, unusual.

22:40 So, do you have any other childhood stories? You want to share with us?

22:45 Can't think of any.

22:49 But you did in school and meeting Dad.

22:54 We went to separate kindergartens and the elementary schools.

23:00 Where'd you go to elementary school? I went to Lake Morton and he went to Dixie Land. We didn't meet till 7th grade.

23:06 When did you do? You know, you didn't go to high school in 7th grade?

23:13 I did tell him, you're okay. And

23:35 Playing in the band. When I was still in Lake Morton school or because we lived at my grandmother's downtown house. While my dad was rearranging it for her to be able to rent out apartments in apartment house.

24:01 William.

24:03 We went to the

24:06 I don't know what to say. And, yeah, and then I'm going over and over and played in the, in the van. My dad said play a saxophone until I then. And now

24:21 I remember I was taking piano lessons from Patsy.

24:26 What's your name?

24:28 But anyway, she finally told my mom that were wasting money, but I was never going to be a piano player.

24:37 But I'd love to extra phone, so.

24:41 I got to concentrate on that and then my dad bought me a new one and it was a terrible sex. I didn't realize how bad it was. Until I end tell you, we're in school at Grissom and David Ward. Let me play his summer 6 and I thought, oh my gosh. I didn't know there was a reason to pray.

25:05 That was a wonderful horn and the one I had was terrible.

25:10 It's funny because all all these years, you played facts about how many years have you been playing saxophone?

25:18 Will send some seventh grade, I guess. 6th grade.

25:24 I don't remember what.

25:28 Yeah, yeah, really?

25:36 It's really a lot of fun to play and everything where I imagine myself as playing the piano, but I never really got good at it. And I remember going to a

25:50 A recital. And the teacher said, don't play your piece on the day of the recital. Come nice and fresh, and rested. And I said, mommy want to give me play movies. And I played it perfectly all the way through and before we went, and when we got there, I couldn't even think of the name of it.

26:12 And I sat there, and I

26:14 And the teacher told me the name of it. I think it was something there's a song in there.

26:20 And now,

26:22 I got. Oh, yeah, that's it. How did it go?

26:26 And I couldn't remember a thing about it. I had to get up and go sit down.

26:35 Blues, saxophone careers, lasted a lot longer.

26:40 So, you and Dad. Can I met in the band?

26:45 We did we had 2nd and 6th. Together.

26:50 Because everybody in the man had 2nd and 6th.

26:54 Who played in Band twice a day. Well, band and Orchestra?

27:05 Yeah, I didn't have a study hall at back. Then. Everybody had to study hall. They don't have that in schools. Now. Music require one PE.

27:26 Cuz you did marching bands back to me.

27:30 So what else do you remember about high school?

27:33 It was a lot of fun.

27:35 Clubs and everything.

27:45 Tupac still in Spanish club. It was fun that you would want to come.

28:02 So, what did you tell me about After High School?

28:08 Well, I worked at Prudential mortgage.

28:12 They were the best plan. Employer in Lakeland, and I was just out of high school. So

28:21 How are you qualified a whole lot for doing it, but I could down.

28:27 I can do the math and and they needed a head teller. So.

28:32 I got to be that head to the mortgage company in accept million-dollar payments and cuz we had all kinds of mortgages commercial land in home, mortgages, and

28:50 Everything. So it's kind of fun and I work there until we got married and then we moved to Atlanta.

28:58 And tell me about your wedding in your honeymoon.

29:03 Well, a lot of my honeymoon is off the Record.

29:17 We got married in in the College Heights, Methodist Church and Reverend Brooks was the minister.

29:29 And then afterwards, we went to St. Pete. And you made me take off my orchid corsage because somebody might see us checking in. And let's see you checking in on ya. He was embarrassed because we were first married where we went to this restaurant and when we got back in the car, they were the guy with sweeping out the rice and he saw it and saw it needs to up it all back in.

30:03 Because he's

30:07 So we never went to Weeki Wachee and we went to dancing Mickey watching, and then we went to Silver Springs, and he got upset because the motel was not fool enough to make another portal by married.

30:44 1952.

30:49 Now, the longest night of the year.

30:54 It just happened in the last of Adonis was in Ybor City. Yeah. Yeah, and she had a friend, who was one.

31:10 Yeah, at Weeki Wachee Dunnellon.

31:15 Who is Meredith, who is, who is your mermaid friend? Mother of the mermaid industry. Will she swim with Buster Crabbe? So she was Buster. Crabbe was the first Tarzan, wasn't he? I don't know. Yeah, I guess you and Meredith swim and his show. He had a show in California, and she had to finish high school out there.

31:50 But she was a good friend and Daddy bought her a pony too. So.

31:55 She would have, she would to have a pony of her own to ride with me cuz she didn't have a father. If you went and watched her be a mermaid at

32:20 Susan, California.

32:25 That was so that's worth it. And then we went back by the house.

32:29 And we stayed for Christmas Day. Christmas day with the folks.

32:37 And then we started on our trip to Atlanta. Everything we had was packed in the

32:45 39 Chevrolet, so you roasted and on the front.

33:08 And when you ran the heater, I was roasted across video.

33:22 99 Chevrolet. No, that was a that was a 13 year old car. At the time we bought it. It was 13 years old and it will pay $200 for it. We put 200 in it.

33:40 Getting it rebuilt. It was but it had new seat covers.

33:55 $5,000 is a lot of money, $200 was a lot of money.

34:04 Will not tell. I didn't. I was accepted it.

34:09 Tallahassee.

34:11 At Florida State, but I didn't go because they have didn't go.

34:17 And numb. He was in the Army at the time. So that's why I worked at Prudential and my daddy was a little bit disappointed, I think. But I said, I don't want to get ahead of me. You know, I want to

34:32 I don't want to go to college unless he goes.

34:35 So he went to college in 56. I think it was that when you started.

34:42 Ain't that I'm just going to take one semester.

34:49 That was before his Ph.D.

34:54 Back in Florida and you were taking care of your mom. When you were in college at the Buckskin Circle. Seem like, I don't know, but as a child, I feel like we packed up and moved overnight. We did almost because he resigned from his job and resign from school. And, and

35:32 I guess the people were willing to take their house back.

35:38 And so we moved back to stay with my mom and dad, and you entered

35:46 Like Lime Street Elementary, I think and

35:51 Ted wasn't.

35:54 Yeah.

35:56 And you were studying art in fashion design.

36:01 And that was a ridiculous thing to take because some it didn't it wasn't anything. I couldn't follow through on because if it wasn't going to live in New York City or some fashion under other.

36:15 More more, the day was fine. And we moved back to where we moved from, from their house to Punta Gorda and you went to school. There. We went off on weekends and I took the kids. I took Molly and packaged during the week now.

36:41 And then to take him home on the weekend and she be off and we'd stay with Mom.

36:47 And then we had Susie.

36:51 Oh, Susie, the standard size to Susie, the standard poodle.

37:00 They were funny. Looking pops. We're out of bread, but apparently.

37:05 Something went wrong or the the father didn't have a good bloodline or something because of

37:13 They were funny looking, they're heroin real curly.

37:21 They were it was kind of wiry.

37:24 We always make that hundred mile trip or whatever. It was from Punta Gorda back to

37:29 Lakeland, do we didn't want anything to do with the puppies on the trip? So she sent in the front seat and I sat in the back of the property. The strange thing.

37:44 I remember a lady saying when time will, what I've seen you coming in? From, I know you go ahead back to Lakeland area and I saw your wife. One time up front and her had moved back in her mouth is open. She was just so tired. I felt so sorry for her. And the next time she was sitting in the where we had a an Old Wagon in the back and we'll put some pups in the dog was up front.

38:19 Busy, white not good at mom. I guess. I can't remember how much you didn't want to be in the back seat. Anyway.

38:29 Yeah, right.

38:35 So you are saying that the fashion design wasn't real practical, but you've done are all your life. You continue to pay all your life. Yeah, but I I switch to psychology and I attended a lot of glasses. I didn't get credit for.

38:50 Because I didn't pay tuition.

39:02 Listen through the

39:14 But probably came was just amused by the time you helped in typing papers, I guess.

39:25 Mediator. Oh, no, I had to go to classes there and poke him in the college because I had to take the 26 and Algebra 1.

39:40 I forgot. What else? That was more for when you're doing program assessment.

39:45 Oh, well. Yeah and like how many what the trend were with the schools?

39:51 That's before you were doing a lot of mediation. That's when you researched the state attorney's office. And that was some that was a lot of fun.

40:09 That was an unusual position that was funded through.

40:13 Cedar temporary and now.

40:22 Yeah, and then they said, if I would take a certain classes that I would be promoted to a mediator.

40:30 And I took the classes and

40:33 Got promoted as a mediator. What did you do? I had my own caseload then they would.

40:40 Set up a the cases in the courthouse with a been, a regular courtroom.

40:48 But it didn't have a bailiff or anyting and what kind of cases mostly misdemeanors and some felonies, but

41:00 Really trash cases that is tarnish didn't want to deal with Barking, Dog, cases, and part of it was hard to prove cases for some attempted murder charges, that were not real good charges on.

41:23 They wanted to see if I could come to a settlement with a, with a responding in the

41:31 What was the other one calling for their guns in, in a paper bag, taken apart, and they do it.

41:55 See you like judge? Doris only for the TV shows.

42:07 I don't think she talked so they didn't have to resolve them and I wrote down their agreement. They was open with each other and then if it if they require dumb alcoholism treatment or anyting else, we put that on restitution, we put that in the agreement and then we'd have to follow up and see if they finished it up and then it would say off the record so they hadn't intended to agree to it, too.

42:43 Keep from getting the rest. If you have that you want to tell us about from life in general.

43:02 Well, I can't think of any now.

43:06 You think of any about Ted?

43:15 He was a tall kid. He had long, curly hair.

43:21 And when we tried our best to ignore it not say anything about it. There and he kept it clean. So I really didn't have any case to get on him about his hair.

43:41 But I would have liked to him to have had him cut it and

43:47 Finally, he joined the wrestling team and the coach said with that hair. You better get it cut. If you're going to be on the wrestling team and he cut it.

43:55 I'll be going to take me to turn in unmarked cars from Bartow to Lakeland or something. And I think she saw that it was a fire and you got it on the radio radio, but it was a siren radio. So I turned it in the sirens started. Wailing driving.

44:33 Right at it. So I thought I better go fast.

44:38 Justify having the timer not on.

44:44 And I couldn't figure out how to turn it off.

44:47 Maybe you don't want that in your no, maybe it. Maybe you want to take that out.

44:54 Well, tell him that tell him quickly about all the bad cuz I thought I was busy, but I really you're the busiest person in the

45:03 Oh heck where would I buy engine? Coco and end with a little bit of a Filipino ladies name groups, we had 120 girls and I think we had 40 some troops.

45:34 And we ran the day camp in the summertime and the Girl Scout. Yeah, that was fun. But it did take a lot of time. Kept that quiet for you. Long time. You didn't kept well. Neighborhood was all American.

46:10 That was fun though. And Bell was good as a, as a leader and a co-worker and she was good.

46:21 Yes, I remembered a scout. The Girl Scout summer camp you did and Mali and Mali and Packy used to come to it.

46:31 And Ted.

46:35 Girl Scouts.

46:37 Right.

46:40 So any any other thoughts or memories or ideas about your future?

46:48 Our future is. We've achieved what we wanted. We got our mountain house and we have our house on the lake in like in Florida. I guess it's still there at the lake house in the mountains.

47:11 Royal household, family, rental house and took some time to get rid of the lot in the house in Lakeland.

47:23 Ted says that you that you guys are going to bulldoze the content to the house in Winter Haven.

47:36 Which is like 5th generation moving them.

47:40 Shop that you all ran for years. Oh, yeah. Well, he ran that while he was getting his doctorate.

47:49 You know, it, we're almost out of time. Just a few seconds, everything else, mom. Nope. Can't think of anything.

47:58 You have your own teeth.

48:01 Doris Smith interview.