Shelby Walker Jr Essay Research Paper What

Shelby Walker Jr. Essay, Research Paper

What is American History? To many kids today it is boring information about subjects dealing

with war, government, and the suffering of our country, but as I attend my daily life I never stop

to think of the kind of role my family played in our countries history. As I interviewed my

grandfather, a part of our families history that was once hidden is now revealed. This interview

left me in amazement, helping me realize what an affect he had on our counties history and made

me appreciate it much more.

My mothers father, Shelby Walker Jr., was born at home in Depoy, Kentucky on

November 27, 1926. He was born the youngest son of Shelby and Pate Walker. He has three

brothers (Robert, Cloyd, and Clifford) and a sister (Ruthell). Pa grew up in a house with no

electricity, no water, and no phone. He had to share a room with three brothers as his sister

received a room to herself.

Unlike today, the kids did what they had to do to help their parents. By tending the

livestock, picking and plowing the gardens they did all the could to help out each other and put

food on the table. Back then, they received their water from a spring that was on the farm. This

spring had many uses. The milk they got from the cow was placed in a bucket and hung from a

board over the spring just low enough to put the bucket in the water to keep it cold so that it

wouldn t spoil. They also hung their homemade butter from the board in cheesecloth so the cool

air down in the spring would keep the butter fresh. In the summer they raised everything they

needed except, the only thing Pa said that they didn t have was sugar and coffee, which was cause

of the Great Depression. The wheat they raised would be taken to the local mill in Greenville to

be made into flour. The mill owner would weigh the wheat and estimate how much flour they

should get. Pa said the owner would take out a scoop of flour from each grinding for his pay.

Pa s father had the only grist mill around at the time, so many people would bring the corn over to

him to be grounded into cornmeal. They lived off the land with wild game and fishing,

occasionally they even killed hogs for pork meat. The food was cooked on a wood burning stove

and their light source was a kerosene lamps.

Each year, the children received only one pair of shoes. So in the fall his mother would

take him, his brothers, and sister to Gus Abrams Shoe Store, the only shoe store in Greenville,

where they bought their shoes. He also recalls Sundays as being special days. The young boys in

the community would get together to play horseshoes, washers, and especially marbles. They

even sometimes went exploring through the woods. He even today enjoys playing washers, going

fishing and camping.

Pa s education was very short. He attended Vernal Grove School, a one room school that

went from first to eight grade. Once Pa finished his eight grade year, which was around fourteen

years old, kids could then quit and go to work. As Pa reached the age of eighteen, he got his

drivers license. He said Him and his friend walked to Greenville one day and Pa told his friend,

lets go get our license. So they did. Back then, all you had to have was a license plate number,

so all the did was got a number off a car parked on the side of the street, took the written test,

passed, and received their license. They then walked back home because neither of them had a

car…mostly everybody back them drove road wagons pulled by teams of horsed on dirt roads.

He laughs about it today!

At age eighteen Pa went and served as Occupational troops in World War II. The war

was just over when he went to (European Threatre) Belgium, Germany, and France. He says that

he didn t see an fighting in the war, which was fine with him. He spent most of his time in

Belgium, where he got to see a lot of really neat places, especially from the ship he traveled on.

On December 22, 1946, Pa and Ma ( Lee Walker) got married in Greenville at Preacher

fox s home, he recalls this to be the happiest day of his life. Then within the following years,

farming then went bad, so Pa had to get a new job. he got a job with a road construction crew.

During twelve years at this job, they had five children. Then on January 2, 1958, Pa got a job

with Peabody coal Company, where he worked at River Queen on Highway 181. That s when he

bought the house with twenty-two acres at Cherry Hill, where he lives today.

Another happy memory that he recalls is his favorite vacation. It was when him and his

wife took a trip to Florida with his five children ages four through eleven. Since Ma was born in

Florida, that was the first time she had been back since she was eleven. He remembers the trip

back the most, they decide to go back through the Smoky Mountains. With there windows down

they decide to stop and see if they can see any bears. Just as Ma was passing out boxes of

Cracker Ja

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