LIFE IN OLD KENTUCKY

By

FRANK J. BLANKENSHIP, Ph.D.

To Tom and James, my sons

      Human nature is a strange characteristic. As time passes and the memory dims, it is amazing how the good things that have transpired in one's life continue to be recalled most vividly, whereas the difficulties and painful occurrences are forgotten.  As a young boy, I thought I was living through very trying times. Yet, as time goes on I continue to have very vivid memories of those events of my youth. I realized that this period was completely different from those experienced by my own children. Were these really good times or the memories of an old man who has let human nature erase the bad?

     Regardless of the accuracy of this old man's memory, one thing is certain, those times were quite different than those of my children. Life after my birth in 1921 was a lot simpler and the outside pressure of society were far less. It was much easier to grow up with a reasonable chance of reaching maturity sound of mind and whole of body. We had no fear of crime or drug addictions. We just lived from day to day and assumed everyone lived as we did.

     I have very little idea of what the life style was for my father and mother during their formative years. I wish I did. About all I know is a few stories that I have heard about their youth and what I have learned from talking with their life-long friends, who were still living in the area in which I was raised. I wish that my dad and mother had kept a journal or had written down their impressions of various periods of their life. What a wonderful legacy it would be for me and my children.

     With the advent of the computer and word processing, I have resolved that some of my history and remembrances will survive for the use of my decedents.  In this essay I have tried, as best I can, to discuss those thing and events that will interest readers in future times. I hope to eventually include a fairly accurate ancestral chart to show them their roots, some pictures of important personages that have helped mold my own life, and some maps and diagrams to show the little community in which I spent my early formative years.

     This small work is not a story book, recounting the time and events in my life, but a compilation of images that have been recalled.  Images of the 1920s, 30s, 40s and even a bit of the 50s. It is a compilation of events, and people of small communities in Western Kentucky and how they shaped my life.  Most importantly, I hope that I can communicate with people in the future to show how important human relationships were during a period of financial stress, brought on by the great depression of the 1930s.

     This depression era was a time when the most important things were human relationships, the family, the family's reputation in the community, the love of God and country and great respect for hard work and honesty.

     Children lived in a kind of fear of their elders who instructed them to be polite to their elders, to respect everyone based on his own personal worth and to choose a life for them selves which included a good education, service to the community and faith in the All Mighty.  Those who failed to heed the admonitions of their parents were not spared the rod or razor strap, for it was firmly believed that "to spare the rod was to spoil the child."  Punishment was usually administered by the man of the house, which no doubt caused many to love their mothers more than their father.

     When I first met the founders of  the Grayword web page, I suddently remembered an old book, on my computer, which I called "In Old Kentucky". This piece is a brief condensation of that writing of some 15-20 years ago. In it I have included a lot of personal relationship data about grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins etc. Stories about these people is included because these people represent Western Kentucky people in general. They were mostly of modest means, honest and hard working. They asked little for themselves, but without exception, wanted a better life for their children. Many had modest or little formal education but insisted that their children must get a good education to include college. My father, a coal miner, with an eighth grade education always said, "When you go to college."  He never mentioned how that could be accomplished dollar wise.  But the result of his insistance left me with the assumption that there wasn't any alternative.  I just would have to find a way.

 THE DEPRESSION YEARS

FOOD DURING THE DEPRESSION

     I was very fortunate in that I was never hungry, while many in my community had only the barest existence. We were lucky to be living in a rural community where everyone could have a garden. You ate well in the Summer and if you canned, stored and preserved for the Winter, you survived quite well.

     Meat was usually from chickens and hogs that you raised and fed from the products of your own land or purchased from those who had some to sell.  Beef was not produced in any great quantities due to the problem of available cold storage and the inability to share the kill with enough participating neighbors to make the effort worth while. Wild game such as rabbits, squirrels and quail were available for the hunter. Cat fish and perch were available in the local rivers and lakes, if you could find enough gas money to get there.

     Pork tender loin was canned along with sausage and chicken.  Hams, pork shoulders, bacon (side-meat),ham and pork shoulders were salt cured and then smoked for Winter use. Some sausage was sacked in home-made cotton cloth sacks, the sacks then dipped in paraffin to help preserve the meat for a longer period, usually 1-2 months depending upon the temperature. The pork trimmings were rendered in a large iron kettle to provide lard for cooking and the residue of crisp skins and pork bits, known as "cracklings" where used to enhance the flavor of corn bread and vegetables. The local black folks usually assisted in the hog killing and received the feet, heart, liver, sweetbreads, intestines and heads as their reward. From the head and feet they made "souse" (head cheese) and "scrapple" (souse with corn meal added). They were expected to bring a small portion of the souse back to the "white folks" to show their appreciation. The intestines were made into chitterlings (Chitlins we called them) for their own use.

     The home garden provided sweet and Irish potatoes, green peas, green beans, radishes, onions, beets, turnips, cabbage, sweet corn, kale, leaf lettuce, peanuts (goober peas), lima beans (usually referred to as butter beans), black eyed peas and asparagus. Green vegetables such as broccoli and brussle sprouts were seldom raised, although they grew well in that area.

     Most homes had a selection of fruit trees which provided pears, peaches, cherries, apples, apricots, and plums. The area around the edge of the garden produced several varieties of grapes, goose berries and of course several bunches of rhubarb (pie plant).

     Black walnuts and hickory nuts were available in the nearby woodlands just for the gathering. Black berries were abundant in the low lands and along the fence rows of the fertile farms.

     A family who raise a good garden, put up fruits and vegetables, stored potatoes and cabbage in root cellars or earthen hills and killed a hog or two could eat quite well without going to the store. Store purchases were limited to the bare necessities of flour, sugar, coffee, tea and an occasional block of hoop-cheese (cheddar). If a quarter could be spared, a can of pink salmon could be purchased for a Saturday or Sunday treat. Farmers, who raised wheat took a portion of their crop to the mill for credit for future flour needs. Sack of fresh ground flour could be be picked up as needed during the year. Corn could also be traded for cornmeal or you could grind your own.

     The family flock of chickens provided eggs for the table and a few for sale to get some ready cash. As the old hens became non productive they entered the stew pot or were canned for winter soups and stews. Some farmers kept a few ducks, or guineas hens and turkeys to add a variety to their limited diets.

     If the house lot or farm size permitted, a cow could be kept for milking. If you lived in a small town and didn't have your own pasture you could take your cow to a neighbor's field for a cost of $2-3 per month. During my first year of high school at Dixon High School we purchased hand skimmed milk from a neighbor for 10¢ a gallon. Butter was about 15¢ a generous sized hand molded pound.

     All of my family loved ice cream and we had one of 2 electric refrigerators in the little town of Lisman. I told my dad that I would do the milking, if he would get a cow. We would have all the milk and cream we needed. I was soon to rue that day and my promise to do the work. I loved the milk and cream but hated the early rising to get the job done. 

     Each milking produced about 2 gallon per milking. It was brought into the house, placed in the refrigerator to cool or in the cool water of the cistern, if a refrigerator was not available.  In the evening or morning as the next milking was available, the old one was hand skimmed into a 3 gallon crock.  When the crock was about 2/3rds full, the milk was allowed to sour, clabber and then hand churned. This churning, was produced with an up and down motion of a dasher within a tall 3-4 gallorn crock churn. This resulted mostly butter milk with butter floating on the top. The butter was collected and worked with a 3 inch wide cedar paddle to remove the milk. Salt was added and the butter molded in a round mold that typically produced a beautiful shock of wheat in picturesque relief adorning the top.

     In the Summer time we kids often made a hand-cranked freezers of ice cream, on the days that the ice man came around.  For 10¢ we could buy a 25 pound block of ice to make a gallon of ice cream which would provide each of us two or three generous helpings. All the ingredients, sugar, eggs and fruits or flavoring was contributed by the members of the group.

     Of course the real treat was to go down to the country store and have enough cash to buy a cheese or bologna sandwich to be washed down with a big RC cola or other soft drink. The drink was a nickel and the sandwich (1/2 inch thick) cost a dime. Of course such luxuries were only possible after having worked a day or so for one of the local farmers, where we made $1.00 to $1.25 a day for a 9 hour day of back breaking labor.

     In the Summer, when work was available most every day, we usually had $5 or $6 to spend on Saturday night in town. I can remember standing on the corner in town discussing what to do -- be grown up and hit the beer joints or go the drug store and have a big banana split. A big banana split with three scoops of ice cream, whipped cream and nuts was a quarter. Beer was 10¢ a bottle for Sterling beer brewed in Evansville, Ind. or 15¢ for some of the premium brands imported from far off places like Louisville or St. Louis, Mo.

THE MONEY SITUATION

     It will be impossible for the younger generation to understand the period of the 1930s and 40s without a good understanding of the money situation during that period. I suppose that money was as important, as it always has been and always will be, but money in a severe economic depression took on a larger than life role.

     The necessities of one period are the luxuries of another. Most people, especially teenagers, always feel that there just isn't enough money for their bare essentials. This is true regardless of the kid's own financial position or that of their parents.

     I was no different than my own children were in the desire to have lots of things that cost money. My Dad worked in the nearby coal mines as a machinist cutting a slot under the coal seam so that it could be blasted down and broken into manageable sizes. This was very dirty back-breaking work which produced a good income, when the mines "ran"( were open for business). During the depths of the depression from 1935 to 1939 this usually was only 2 or 3 days a week. Although wages were pretty good, there just were not enough work days.

     Based on these short weeks, Dad's wages, totaled about $100 per month which was barely enough to pay the mortgage payments, buy necessities, keep the car running (a 1931 Chevrolet 2-door) and buy a few clothes for the four of us. As I grew older it soon became evident that if I wanted any money to spend foolishly, I would have to earn it. Summer time offered the best opportunity to really earn the most; however, I was able to pick up a little during the Winter by picking up and delivering, by my school bus, dry cleaning for people in our little village of Lisman.

    Dirty clothes were collected and taken on the school bus to town and then returned in a couple of days by the same means. A suit or dress cost 80¢ for cleaning and pressing, of which I was paid 20% for bringing it in and delivering it. Two garments produced 32¢ profit or enough for a big RC cola every day during the school week or maybe a ticket to a basket ball game. This small amount was earned by a walk of 1-2 miles down the old rock roads to pick up the clothes and another walk back to deliver it.

     Compared with today's wages and prices, the discussions above seem almost ridiculous. A better understanding of money value can be obtained by reference to the following listing of labor rates and product prices

LABOR RATES:

Highway Engineer (B.S. Degree) ---------------------- $125/month

Rodman ----------------------------------------------   90/month

Levelman --------------------------------------------  110/month

Railroad Conductor ----------------------------------  250/month

Railway Mail Clerk ----------------------------------  200/month

Coal Miner (Full time employment) -------------------  150/month

Filling Station Attendant ---------------------------   60/month

Local Police Officer --------------------------------   50/month

GENERAL FARMWORK---------------------------------   $.75-1.00/hr.

   Setting Tobacco, Pitching Hay or wheat, Hay

   bailing including carrying back and stacking 80LB

   bales 8-10 ft high----------------------------------   $1.25/hr.

Store Clerk ---------------------------------------------  $.10/hr.

Newspaper delivery (7 days per week)------------------------------------$.20/customer/month

FOOD PRICES

Bread

  Larger 1.5 lb loaf ---------------------------------------$.10

  Small loaf -------------------------------------------------.05

Canned beans or peas ---------------------------------- $.10/can

Dried Beans, Pinto, Navy or Great Northern ------------ $.03/lb.

Sugar------------------------------------------------------ $.03/lb

Coffee

  Major Brands in vacuum can --------------------------- $.25/lb.

  Store brand, local ground in paper sack ---------------$.18/lb.

Hamburger ------------------------------------------------------$.12/lb.

Round Steak ---------------------------------------------- $.25/lb.

Restaurant Food

Plate Lunch with meat, 2 veg., bread and drink -----$.35/person

Coffee w/refill----------------------------------------$.05/cup

Ice Cream cone, double or triple dip -------------------$.05

CLOTHING:

Man's shirt, major brand ------------------------------$1.50/ea

Men's Shoes, best brand (Florsheim Nunn-Bush etc.)----$10.00/pr.

Man's Custom made suit, all wool ------------------------$50.00

Man's tie, all silk --------------------------------------$1.00

Men's socks ------------------------------------------  $.25/pr.

OTHER ITEMS AND SERVICES

Clean and Press, Suit or Plain Dress -----------------  $.80/ea.

Laundry, Men's Shirts ----------------------------------  $.10/ea

Haircut ---------------------------------------------- ------ $.25

Shoe Shine ------------------------------------------------  $.10

Daily & Sunday Newspaper, home delivery ---------$1.20/mo.

Cigarettes, Major Brand ------------------------------   $.15/pk.

Gasoline, regular ----------------------------------- --- $.20/gal

Kerosine (We called it coal oil)------------------------  $.10/gal

Bicycle, Plain no lights, tank or other items ---------- $22.00

House Rent, 5 rooms & "Path" on 1 acre of land --------$5.00/mo.

House Purchase (as above) ------------------------------$500.00

Electric Refrigerator, GE, 6 cu.ft. -------------------        $250.00

Automobile, Coupe', Chevrolet, Ford or Plymouth------$650.00

Mail a Letter ---------------------------------------------  $.03/ea.

POSTAL SERVICE

     Lisman was located on the Illinois Central railroad which ran from Princeton to Blackford, Wheatcroft, Clay, Lisman, Jolly Crossroads and Dixon. The train went up to Dixon around 8:30AM in the morning and return on its way back to Clay about an hour later. Our mail was dropped off in a sack at the old abandoned rail station and hand carried to the local 1-man post office, located first in Mr. King's general store and later on in Mr.Whit Rice's new store.

     This hand carry process had been in existence for many years before we moved to Lisman the first time, around 1932-33.  Great Grandfather Price, Grandmother Blankenship's father, carried the mail for many years up until his death. Uncle Elijah "Lige", Price, Grandmother's old bachelor brother then picked up the task until the train track was abandoned, some time just before World War II.

     The arrival of the morning, and only mail, was a time for the entire town to gather at the local store. Mr. King dumped the mail from the sack and began to call out the names, ala Santa Clause. If anyone failed to answer, the letter or package was deposited at random on some empty shelves back of the counter. Later, when you came to pick up your mail, he would remember that you got something but had to look at the many piles on the shelves to find it. Due to poor eye sight and memory he often needed some assistance from the customer to identify the missing article.

     Since the mail was carried by rail and sorted by railway mail clerks in route, an order mailed to Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Ward, in Chicago, would arrive the following day, be filled and put on the train that evening.  An order mailed on Monday morning would bring the merchandise in to Lisman on the Wednesday morning.  This is far superior service than is available today.

     Sears Roebuck catalogues, which were about 2 1/2 or 3 inches thick, was the country man's shopping center, his price comparison source and the ladies fashion advisor. Sears' service was superb, their merchandise of the highest quality and wrong sizes or colors easily exchanged.

     Sears offered clothing, tools of all sorts, auto parts and accessories, farm equipment, sporting goods and every other thing most any one would desire.  At one time they even offered a pre-cut home for the do-it-yourself builder.  Up until I entered college at the University of Kentucky almost all of my clothing came from Sears.  My first bicycle came from there and my first musical instrument, a trumpet, came from Sears competitor, Speigel-May-Sterns, later known as just "SPEIGEL".

      Catalogues from Sears, Montgomery Ward and Speigel were issued in major editions for Spring & Summer and Fall & Winter. Several abbreviated sales catalogues arrived at various other times. The arrival of the new catalogues was always enjoyed and everyone inspected it from front to rear. The old catalogue found its way to a large nail in the "Privy" and served as toilet paper until the new one arrived. The pages were a little hard, especially the colored ones. A little crinkling up and straightening usually made the job more comfortable.

     If you happened to be in the barn or out of doors, when nature called, the catalogue paper was replaced with corn cobs or large leaves. Corn cobs came in two colors, white and red.  The red cobs usually came from yellow corn. I can remember my Aunt Lillian having a glass enclosed box in her bath room (Princeton had indoor plumbing), which contained a selection of white and red cobs with instructions which stated, "Use one or two red cobs first then a white one to see if another red one is required."

COUNTRY PLUMBING

     The larger towns such as Providence, Princeton, Sturgis and Madisonville had city water systems, although some of these depended upon septic tanks for sewage disposal. Lisman and Dixon, where I spent most of my youth did not have city water until after World War II. Some homes were equipped with pump/pressure tank systems to provide for indoor bath rooms.  Uncle Melvin Wilkey had such a system in his Dixon home and Grandmother Wilkey finally installed one about 1940.

     These systems consisted of an electric pump, which pumped water into an empty water tank until the air in the tank was compressed to a point it was able to push the water through the home pipe system. The pressure built as the water replaced the air in the tank. The water tanks were equipped with a pressure switch, which turned off the electric pump when the pressure reached a specified level. Once, Uncle Melvin's system failed and the pump kept right on working until it exploded. The tank top was blown off through two 2x12 floor supports and the kitchen floor. It even ruined the kitchen table. They were very fortunate that no one was eating at the time.

     Water for these systems came from bored wells of considerable depth or from cisterns, which held rain water. These cisterns were usually about 10 feet in diameter and up to 20 feet deep. In the Fall and Winter the water from the home roof was allowed to run off until clear, then diverted through an underground or above ground pipe to the nearby cistern. This water was very soft and excellent for washing cloths or bathing. Bored well water was very hard but more tasty due to the addition of ground mineral.

     For those, who did not have a pressure tank system and indoor plumbing, the both types of wells were usually found in each home. The bored well furnished drinking water with better taste than the flat rain water from the cistern. Cisterns were usually equipped with hand operated "pitcher Pump", which was capable of lifting water about 20 feet. Bored wells often required deep-well pumps with long handles to raise the long lengths of rods which went to a mechanism deep in the well. If the cistern was close to the house, the pitcher pump could be installed in the kitchen and over a sink. This provided water without having to go outdoors.

     If a coal stove or wood stove was used for cooking, it usually had a water tank installed next to the fire box. After the fire was lit in the morning, hot water was available for dish washing in about an hour or so. The tank was filled and emptied by hand.

     Laundry was usually done outdoors in an outdoor building or on the back porch. My mother washed clothes by hand and a washboard until we bought a ringer washer from Sears Roebuck about 1935-36. On wash days, usually Monday, it was my job to fill the old iron kettle in the chicken yard and start a good wood fire to begin heating it. Before I left for school, the hot water was hand carried to the washing machine and the kettle refilled for rinse water later on. Oh how I dreaded those wash days!

     Homes without indoor plumbing usually had a washstand in the kitchen with a wash pan, a bucket of water and a dipper. Hot water was obtained from a teakettle on the stove or the stove water tank. Waste water was just thrown out of the back door on to the grass. Pan baths or "whore baths" as some called them were taken when needed, but the main bath came on Saturday night when a wash tub was brought in and placed in front of the fire place for Winter comfort. Since the fireplace were allowed to go out or else banked for the night, it became very cold in the house in the Winter time. I have broken the ice on the kitchen bucket many mornings in order to wash my face or get a drink of water.

     "Nature's call" was taken care of before bedtime by a trip to the privy, which usually was located some distance from the house to avoid the unpleasant order associated therewith. The privy was a wooden building about 4 feet square with a front door and a bench in the rear with 2 or 3 holes, depending on family size and the individual's aversion to company during the periods of use. The waste collection mechanism was a deep pit below the out house, which gradually filled up. When filled, the privy was just moved over a few feet to a new hole and the old hole covered up with dirt from the new one. People of means might keep a small bucket of lime for sprinkling in the hole. This helped reduce the smell, which could get very strong in the hot Summer time.

     If sickness or a sudden call of nature occurred at night, you either got up and put on some clothes for the outdoor trip or used the pot, kept under the bed.  This "thunder mug" or "slop jar" as it was called had to be emptied in the morning if used at night --- another disagreeable job for someone. The outdoor plumbing situation often required sleeping with tightly crossed legs, especially early in the morning after a beer party in town.

EDUCATION

      My early education was rather unusual in that I attended a different school almost every year.  Here is a list of the schools that I attended for the various grades:

       Grade         School               Remarks                         1st        Clay, Ky.      A two story building with grades 1 through 8 down and the High School upstairs.

     2nd        Evansville, Ind.    The Wheeler Grade School

     3rd        Dixon, Ky.          Very similar to Clay school

     4th        Dixon, Ky.

     5th        Lisman, Ky.         Grades 5 through 8 in one

                                       room with one teacher.

     6th        Dawson Springs, Ky. 8 grades in one building

     7th        Dixon, Ky.

     8th        Sturgis, Ky.        8 grades in one building

                                     next to the High School

    9th        Sturgis, Ky         Freshman Year

    10-12      Dixon, Ky        I graduated from HS in 1939

     I suppose that many kids would have been very upset over a move almost every year, but I didn't know any difference and thought that going to a different school every year was the standard. It is surprising that I usually made very good grades, usually "A's" and "B's" except in high school where I made a "C" or two.

     The thing that sticks out in my mind about my grade schools was that year in Lisman in the fifth grade. Edna McGaw, out of college one or two years, had the job of teaching grades 5-8. This consisted of two rows of desks per grade with about 10-12 students per grade, all located in one room. She would teach one grade for about 30 minutes, assign some study tasks and move on to the next grade.

     The Lisman school was a one story frame building that had three rooms, one for grades 1-4, one for 5-8 and a big room for the first three years of the High School. All students were required to go to Clay, Dixon or Providence High Schools for the last year. Since there was no bus service, these seniors had to seek room and board in town. Grades 1-4 was taught by my neighbor, Virginia Sisk and the High School by her husband, Rodney.

     My brother, Bobby, began his first year of school in Lisman. Mother walked him down to school that first morning and was surprised to see him back at home by about 9:30AM. She ask him what happened and he said, "Miss Virginia told his class to go outside." ---- He didn't know about recess.

     By the time, we moved back to Lisman in 1936 the Lisman school had been closed, except for grades 1-6. All other students were bussed to Dixon. This was before the time of the manufactured school bus. The one we rode in was owned by Holly Harmon, who had constructed a wooden bus on a truck chassis.  The seats were made of iron pipe and upholstered in some sort of artificial leather. The bus started out one miles South of Dixon. It began to pick up kids about 1 mile further down the road on the old Clay highway, which turned off of US41. It then came on to Lisman on the Lisman-Clay road, right past our house and then on to US 41 at the old Hancock farm, thence North to Dixon. The last few pickups was at Jolly and on into Dixon which succeeded in completely filling the old bus to capacity. Some of the last kids on had to stand for a mile or two.

     The first kids to be picked up had to leave home around 6:30AM and got home around 4:30PM. We Lisman kids were lucky. The bus made the return trip in the opposite direction. We left home about 7:30AM and got home around 4:00PM. Since I lived right on the main road, I was picked up and delivered to my door. 

     On those nights that I wanted to stay in town for a play, basketball game etc. I stayed at my grandmother Wilkey's (Mamaw's). She kept my bed always made up and ready and I just came in and went to bed, if she was already asleep. No notice was required in advance as she was always glad to see me and seemed to enjoy my visits. We didn't have a phone so I couldn't call home in advance, even though Mamaw did have a phone.

     If my decision to stay in town was made during the day, I just asked one of the Lisman kids to stop at my house and tell Mother. She new where to reach me if she needed me. Mamaw always arose early so I didn't have to worry about over sleeping. As soon as it was light she got up dressed, fed the chickens and milked the cow, that Uncle Melvin kept at her house. She took one milking for her trouble and Uncle Melvin came by and picked up the remainder for his family.

     Daddy had only gone through the eight grade. He started High School at Providence but soon dropped out to return to the farm. He realized that this was a mistake and always told me that I was going to finish High School and would go to College. He never figured out where the money would come from but was certain that I would go one way or the other. Mother had graduated from High School in Dixon, just before she got married. Girls seldom went to college in those days, so I guess she really didn't think she had missed anything.

     After graduating from Dixon High it was my full intention to go to Western Kentucky State Teachers College in Bowling Green, Ky. to major in Agriculture. The plans were soon cancelled when a smooth talking salesman came by the Summer of 1939 and talked me into taking a correspondence course in "Television". It was offered by the DeForrest Institute in Chicago. This was long before television became a reality. The course covered a mechanical scan approach to wireless pictures, which had been designed by Dr.Lee DeForrest, the father of the vacuum tube. The system was soon discarded by industry in favor of the electronic approach invented by a country boy in Salt Lake City, Utah by the name of Philo Farnsworth.

    During the remainder of the Summer and the following Winter, I slaved away in my upstairs bedroom to learn advanced mathematics and the other fundamentals. It soon became clear that I could not learn these difficult subjects without an instructor. Neither Daddy or Mother had ever heard of Logarithms and other concepts that I was trying to learn, and consequently were of little help. The course work did one thing for me, it increased my interest in radio and electronics and helped me decide that I should give up correspondence work and go to the University of Kentucky to study Engineering.

     Virginia Sisk, my neighbor, was remarried to Jim Prichett, after the death of her first husband, Rodney Sisk. We had a telegraph line between our houses and talked in Morse Code from time to time. I had always had an interest in radio, having built my first crystal receiver in Sturgis around 1934. That early decision was given further emphasis by the death of Daddy in the early Summer of 1940.

     I arrived in Lexington in early September, 1940 with a fairly new suit I had gotten for High School graduation, 2 pairs of other trousers, two of Dad's old suits that Mother had cut down for me and about $75 in cash. The money was enough to register for the first semester, pay for one month's room and board and have a few dollars left.  This gave me a month to find a job or jobs, as Mother had only about $250 left after settling Dad's estate and selling the house that we owned. She and Bob would need all of that to get by, even by living at Mamaw's house in Dixon. In fact I fully expected to have to help out from time to time.

     Before the month was out I got a job at a boarding house, run by Mrs. Ada O'Nan. She gave me my meals for assisting in cooking the three meals served to the other boarders and also my room for cleaning that 3 story house from top to bottom on Saturdays. I also got a job with the National Youth Administration (NYA), which paid me $20 a month for working at the University of Kentucky radio studios. I help to build a pipe organ from parts salvaged from an old theater in downtown Lexington.

     This grinding schedule got me through the first semester of school and I still don't know how I managed to pass all of my classes.  This was further complicated by my accidentally cutting the retractor leader to my right thumb on an old broken porcelain faucet handle at the boarding house. I had to relearn how to write. I have never been able to retract that last joint of the thumb since that time.

     At the end of the first semester, I was able to borrow $125 from the Dixon Bank to buy a paper route in Lexington -- the "Lexington Herald", a morning paper.  Morning routes sold for $1 per customer and the afternoon paper for $5 per customer.  My 115 customer route cleared $40-50 per month, if all money owed for the paper was collected. The route was an eight mile one on the Northwest side of town, which I covered on a bicycle. All papers were due to be on the subscriber's porch by 6:00AM. This required me to get up at 3:30AM each morning. I did all of my studying after returning home to our little two room apartment, shared with Ralph Hucaby and "Doc" Breeding. I was too tired to study in the evenings.

      Ralph Hucaby, after graduation in engineering, became the designer of WLAC TV in Nashville, Tenn. and Doc Breeding graduated from Washington Uiversity in St Louis and ended up back in his home town in Southern Kentucky. Doc got his name from the fact that he planned to go to Medical School. He accomplished that goal by completing his school during WW II and then returning to his and Ralph's home town of Monticello, Ky. after the war.

     When we moved in, Doc won the coin toss and got the single bed and Ralph and I shared the double bed. This fact was duly noted when Ralph introduced me as principal speaker at a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in Nashville in 1962. He stated that we were classmates at UK and such good friends that we even slept together for a year.

     Neither Ralph nor Doc worked. They just went to school and studied. Ralph's Dad was a petroleum engineer, who operated a small refinery in Montecello. Doc's dad was quite wealthy, having invented and patented the flexible tread used on modern tractors, such as the Cat.

     At the end of my first year of school, I returned home and then went to Detroit, Michigan where I got a Summer job at US Rubber. I worked the night shift from 8:00PM to 4:00AM, unloading rail cars filled with tires of all types from 600X16 automobile tires to the big 20X1200 truck tires. It was back breaking work but paid $96 a week, a fabulous sum for those times. My uncle by marriage, Andy Morris Pemberton, and I lived in a one-bed, one-bedroom on West Vernor Highway. Andy Morris, who went by the name of "Pemp", long before that term became derogatory, worked days and slept nights. I worked nights and slept days. My Aunt Edith had returned home to Kentucky for the Summer, which permitted that unusual arrangement.

     By the end of Summer, I had bought a new suit, new shoes, shirts and other clothing and saved enough cash for the next year to pad out my NYA earnings. In the mean time, Mother had decided to go to college herself and study Home Economics. She had been active in the home makers club in Webster County and through introductions by the county home demonstration agent was able to get a part time job working at the food labs at the UK "Home Economics" building.  She was 40 years old when she entered UK, and such an oddity for those times, that she and I made the front page of the Lexington paper which told of how this rather unusual woman and I got each other's grades.

     With her part time job, my paper route and the NYA job at the radio studio, we were able to make it financially. We had a 4-room apartment on Lexington Avenue, across from the Chi Omega sorority house. The apartment was the left half of an old frame home owned by Mrs. Peyton, a widow some 60 years of age.  She was a wonderful person and looked after brother Bobby when he return home from grade school, until Mother got home in the late afternoon. Mrs. Peyton had a very Southern accent and always referred to me as Mr.Frank in spite of our age differences.  When I was called to active duty in WWII, if anyone asked where I was,she said, "Mr. Frank has gone to waah."

     The NYA job at the radio studios proved to be a real opportunity.  My organ work soon included work as a studio engineer for NBC radio programs, originating at UK and later the position of Studio Chief Engineer. During that later period, I recorded a doctor's presentation, on 16 inch acetate disks (the standard recording method at that time). This was, a program of several 1/2 hour sessions entitled "Venereal Disease Your Hidden Enemy". The program material was quite a daring subject for those times and almost didn't reach the airwaves. Finally, a small station in Oregon broadcast the series in 1943 and it won the George Foster Peabody award as the best educational program for the year. The last time I visited UK that coveted award was still hanging on the wall of what had become the UK TV station.

     By 1942 radio engineers were getting very scarce due to the war and the draft.  Mr. Sanford Helt, Chief Engineer at WLAP in Lexington, which was an NBC affiliate, offered me a job as a control room engineer and substitute transmitter engineer, if I would get my FCC license. I studied the book "Radio Questions and Answers", took the train to Columbus, Ohio and got my license. The paper route was sold. The new job was the 6 to midnight shift at the studio and paid $56 a week plus extra for a Sunday church broadcast, which I covered on-site. My money problems were over. By the time I left for Army active duty, I had several hundred dollars in the bank.

     I had completed a little over three years of the 4 year course by the time I was called to active duty.  The call was the result of having enlisted in the Reserves in 1942 in order to be eligible for the Advanced ROTC course.  The first two years of ROTC were required of all males as UK was a land-grant college. I was selected for the new Signal Corps advanced course due to my work at UK and WLAP.

     Later, I gained additional credits in engineering for my brief return to UK in 1943 as an Army Specialized Training while waiting for Signal OCS, at Ft. Monmouth, to reopen.Additional credits were given towards graduation for my courses at the Signal Corps School.

    I returned to UK after WWII for one semester. That was a semester in which Thomas Neil, my first child, was born and that plus financial tensions, were just too much to handle. In leaving UK at that time, I assumed that I would never be able to finish my degree. Mother, who had graduated in 1945 was awfully disappointed in my decision.