March 2007 Interview with David Eldred McCorkle By Isabelle Chewning [Items enclosed in brackets [ ] are editorial notes inserted for clarification] Chewning: My name is Isabelle Chewning. Today is March 21, and I’m here with Mr. David McCorkle. Mr. McCorkle, could you tell me your full name? McCorkle: David Eldred McCorkle. Man, I hadn’t seen that for years. [Looks at Brownsburg High School ring] Chewning: Oh, your ring? McCorkle: Anne brought it in here. She wore it most of the time. I don’t know whether I ever wore it much. [Laugh] Chewning: [Laugh] Well, can you tell me a little bit about when you came to Brownsburg? Were you born in Brownsburg? McCorkle: I was born in Lowe, West Virginia [on October 18, 1923]. Dad was General Superintendent of Weynoke Coal and Coke Company. With the unions, it was a pretty rough time for mine management and owners in West Virginia. And, unions – Dad ran what they called a “good mine” operation, in that miners had electricity and water in their homes. They weren’t prone to joining the union. So I, we went from Weynoke to the West Virginian Hotel about 1930. And then we were there a couple of years. And then in 1932 we came to Brownsburg, for the good of both of us, a place to live. And we looked after a great-aunt and uncle, Eva Lee Strain and John Madison Strain. They were single. Aunt Eva had a leg off. She had lost it from an infection. So we stayed there until they both died. Uncle John died first. And then Aunt Eva – I was the “baby sitter.” Let’s see. She read Latin. She loved Robert Lewis Stevenson – she read that. And Shakespeare. Chewning: How old were you at that time? McCorkle: When we came there, I was about nine. I had, in West Virginia was the change. Because I had Italian nurses. I spoke Italian before I spoke English. Well, they were guards because the union wanted the children of the owners and operators so they could make them unionize. So I’d come back to Lexington to visit Granddad’s home, Uncle Morton’s, and I’d always be looking around for Jim or Antonio, cause they weren’t there. Because when I came to Virginia, we didn’t have to worry. So we moved to Brownsburg, and it was quite different. In Bluefield, I had two cousins that were my main association. Other than that, I was pretty well by myself. But when we came to Brownsburg, why, there were kids my age everywhere. Then, we – oh, let’s see. Chewning: Well, were – McCorkle: We were there nine years. Chewning: Were Jim and Antonio – McCorkle: They were Italians. Chewning: Was there a threat of kidnapping? McCorkle: No, I didn’t get kidnapped because they were all there. Chewning: But that’s why they were there? McCorkle: Twenty-four hours a day, I was with one of them. They were guards. So, you know, my exposure with them. But I’ve lost all that. When we got to Brownsburg, didn’t anyone speak Italian. [Laugh] Chewning: No one spoke Italian! [Laugh] McCorkle: So, I went back to English. But it was a great thing when we came to Brownsburg. We were there, I came from the West Virginia schools in 3A. So they said, “Well, 3A – put him in the fourth grade.” Which was a jump ahead. Well, I had – I was dyslexic – they didn’t know what that was in those days. I just wrote everything backwards! [Laugh] And so I took the fourth grade. I think it was Miss Coe. And I conditioned. Well, Mother says, when I started to school next year, she said, “You take the fourth grade again.” So I was in line, and Miss Trimmer said, “What are you doing in that line?” [Laugh] And I says, meekly, “Miss Trimmer, Mother said I was to take the fourth grade again. I conditioned.” She said, “Alright.” [Laugh] So then, of course, the first time I was with a different group. They were actually older than I was. And then I ended up in the grade with Anne [his wife, Anne Buchanan McCorkle] and Mary [Sterrett Lipscomb], a different group. But the thing about it was, the teachers, of course, as I said, there wasn’t any knowledge of dyslexia. But they kept me in at recess. They kept me in. They hammered, “No, that’s not a ‘d’, that’s a ‘b’!” [Laugh] So that was a help all the way through. I thought they were mean, but I’m fortunate I ended up there because – well, as you know, in that period, Brownsburg was a closed society. I mean, you either belonged to New Providence Church, or you didn’t belong! [Laugh] And there was a – well, it operated around the church or the school. And fortunately, this Miss Trimmer was a two-year graduate of Blackstone. She was the principal. But she could do anything. She taught Latin. She taught English. She put on plays. She made money. [Laugh] She was one of the most remarkable people that I ever met. And she worked for summers, finally got her degree. But, you didn’t really want to ride with her, cause she wasn’t the best driver in the world. [Laugh] Chewning: [Laugh] That’s one thing she didn’t do well? McCorkle: We had, we had baseball, and we had basketball, and you didn’t dare lose a game. [Laugh] Let’s see. Chewning: Where did your family live? McCorkle: We lived, let’s see, in what we called then the Strain place [3191 Brownsburg Turnpike]. I don’t know who – the Strains came there, must have been just before the war – the War Between the States. Ed [Patterson] knew who owned it before. But I can’t remember the name. Of course, the McNutts were on a hill about the same height [3334 Brownsburg Turnpike]. I remember we could talk from one porch to the other across the valley. But if you went down in the valley, you couldn’t hear. But it was, you know, one of those unique things. Chewning: Was the house – did the Clemmer Browns own that house after your family did? McCorkle: The Browns bought it when we left. They bought it, and then, I guess McClungs have it now. Ed had – well Aunt Eva talked about it. The house burned. There were two fires going on at the same time. That fire, and then there was a Mitchell that was the Reese place. And I believe their barn was burning at the same time. But I don’t remember exactly when it was, but it was before we ever went there. But Aunt Eva talked about it a lot cause it was right traumatic. And then they rebuilt with the same walls. What I couldn’t figure, in Mr. Jones’ book [Henry Jones Diary], he talked about everybody. He talked about dealing with McCorkles that were up out of Lexington. And everybody else, but David Eldred Strain was his neighbor. He [Strain] was a doctor in the community. And he [Jones] never mentioned once the fellow I was named for. They must have had one of those rural feuds that happened in that community. And of course, he didn’t mention the war, except he mentioned one time in that book that his son came home with his leg off. But Aunt Eva used to say that a Southerner could not write anything about the period before the war and during the war. But I want to tell you that – well, they talked about the French and Indian War, and some about the Revolutionary War. But they – if you mentioned Reconstruction, you had to back off cause fireworks are going to start. Cause they – the Reconstruction really set a – all the older people they went wild. I know, well it was another thing. When you went into Mr. Jim Bosworth’s store, you didn’t mention Lincoln, or you were going out the door whether you were white or black or any other color! You were going out that door in a hurry! Cause I don’t know, he had such a violent attitude towards Lincoln. Chewning: When was your Aunt Eva born? McCorkle: 1861. Chewning: So did she have any memories at all of the – McCorkle: Yeah, they had memories of it. And my grandmother did, she was older. I know they talked about peeling potatoes and keeping the skins and eating the potato to have food. But you see, we have very little record. I didn’t know until that fellow that has Teddy Bob Supinger’s store wrote a book [McCorkle is referring to a book written by Robert Driver]. And I didn’t even know that David Eldred Strain was in the Southern Army till then. Chewning: And he was your grandfather? McCorkle: Great-grandfather. Chewning: Great-grandfather. McCorkle: My grandfather was Samuel White McCorkle from Lexington and farmed out at Brushy Hill, not too far from Kendal now. And we used to go up there every weekend. We had a Peerless automobile which was a big thing. Every Saturday we went up to Uncle Morton’s. And along the way, the there’d be people standing between there and Lexington, and they would flag us down and say, “Will you get so-and-so for us in Lexington?” And occasionally somebody wanted a ride. I remember Dad had an Irish Setter dog, and he would follow us or ride all the way up. And sometimes we’d leave, couldn’t find him, and we’d get back to Brownsburg and he was already there. Chewning: [Laugh] McCorkle: But ah – Chewning: So you had this car in Brownsburg? McCorkle: Well, that was Dad’s car. Chewning: Uh huh. So you had brought it from West Virginia? McCorkle: Oh, we’d brought it from West Virginia. He had – well, that was the top of the line of cars then, and Dad had about eleven over the years. Well, up until about 1928, everything was prosperous. I mean, I vaguely – well, I remember we’d go on a drive on Sundays, and as far as you could see, there were cars on the road. And of course, after 1929, we were up to the ‘60’s before the United States manufactured as many cars as it did back then. Chewning: Really. McCorkle: Of course, the same old roads are in West Virginia that we rode on then. They’ve got interstate roads. But ah – oh, as Anne mentioned a while ago, I guess that Jeff whatever-his-name-is says “You may be a redneck if your – if your family tree looks like a pole!” [Laugh] So I guess he was talking about us! Chewning: Well, I think, you know, here in the Valley of Virginia there are just a lot of Scots-Irish people – there weren’t that many, and people married their cousins. McCorkle: Well, and they were closed. The closed society. I remember when we came there people would say – my mother was from Washington, Pennsylvania, had lived up there and they lived all over West Virginia. But they’d say, “Well, Ginny seems to be alright for a Yankee.” Because her dad was English and her mother was Welsh. So, she seemed to fit in alright. Chewning: So your family came to Brownsburg because of the Depression? McCorkle: Yeah, well, yes. West Virginia – when we left West Virginia in ’32, it was the richest state in the Union. And guess what it is today – the poorest. They’ve lost over two million people, so a lot of people, lot of mine management people came to the Valley. We’ve known a number of them around here our family knew in West Virginia. So that built up the – I guess, the population of the Valley. It’s hard to remember. Chewning: That must have been a big change for you then, moving from Bluefield to a small country village and living on a farm. McCorkle: Well, not really because you know, when you’re in that situation, you’re by yourself. We used to go to White Sulfur, and I’d be the only kid there. I remember the swimming pool – I was always in trouble. Because they had this big swimming pool, and it was absolutely clear. And I couldn’t remember which end was the shallow end. And I can remember that all the walls had war battles on it. They seem to be gone today; I don’t know why they got rid of them cause they were – they were interesting. But coming to Brownsburg, then there were, you know, around a lot of people my age. When I lived in Bluefield we lived in the West Virginia Hotel which wasn’t in a residential area. So every few months, the principal of the school would discover, “Well, he’s not in the area. We’re getting a lot of people moving. Send him down to South Bluefield.” And I’d be in South Bluefield for a while, then they’d send me to another school. I was always on the move because the population was a whole lot larger then in that area. Bluefield was larger then than it is today. By a good bit. And this West Virginia Hotel had just been built. So when we left Weynoke, why we lived on the tenth floor of this hotel until we came to Virginia. Chewning: Was your father able to find a job when he moved to Brownsburg? McCorkle: Well, he wasn’t well. I guess he had one of the – well, to begin with, he was deaf as a post. I was his interpreter for years. Cause other people wouldn’t yell as loud as I would. [Laugh] But he took care of the garden and other things around there. And by 1937, I guess it was, he had this ulcer, and Dr. Leech operated on him and patched him up some. So he wasn’t well from there on. He did things. Chewning: Was your uncle a farmer? The one that you were living with? McCorkle: Yeah. The farm started at the Patterson’s then next to Brownsburg. It was 400 acres. Until we had to divide and sell the place cause there were a lot of heirs. Some way, this David Eldred Strain had bought this farm. He just wanted it so he could drain some land and he didn’t pay any attention to it. About 120 acres that was there, and they had to pay a lot of back-taxes on 120 acres that no one knew they owned. [Laugh] And it was land that – oh, I don’t know, up next to the camp and all the way into Brownsburg. Chewning: The camp? McCorkle: Well, the ah – Chewning: Briar HillsError! Bookmark not defined. McCorkle: Briar Hills. And they swam on the place. It was a swimming hole there that the kids all came over. Chenwing: So you owned – your family owned land on both sides then of Brownsburg Turnpike? McCorkle: Oh yeah. From the [New Providence Presbyterian] church, from right next to the cemetery to Brownsburg, basically. I used to ride a horse to church and leave it in the woods back of the cemetery and go to church. Sometimes I came up the road there. And there was a surry there. I used to go places in the surry. I was just a kid. But on two occasions – the rule was that if you owned a pet, you had to be able to kill it. Chewning: Oh. McCorkle: And on two occasions, I brought these horses in after running them to get back before dark. Cause I just roamed all over the community from morning till evening. And ah, I’d put them away, they’d get distemper, and then Dad would call and say, “Come on down here – Chewning: Uh oh. McCorkle: and kill this horse.” So I don’t know, before I was 12, I’d killed two horses from – because I’d – they had distemper. Chewning: Oh. McCorkle: I’d shoot the horse, and they’d drag it out. But that was the rule – dogs, cats, or otherwise. Cause dogs and cats were animals. Chewning: Right. McCorkle: They weren’t worshipped then. They had a job, they did it, and if they didn’t, well they were goners. [Laugh] Chewning: Uh hmm. McCorkle: There wasn’t that – we didn’t – well, really, there was very few people that worked animals with dogs along at that period. I finally, working with Angus cows and sheep, found that dogs were a nuisance. Cause when I was working with them, I’d be a thousand feet away from the house. I’d tie the dog at the house, but those animals knew it was there. And then after we got rid of the dogs, Anne and I could bring the animals from anywhere and work with them, no trouble. But that was – I think after we came here [to Rockingham County]. So – but the fortunate thing was that I ended up in Brownsburg. With the dyslexia, I still got the scholarship to W&L, and one to Bridgewater, which wasn’t easy to get in those times. But I never used either one of them because of family; Mother and Dad were poorly. So, we came here [to Rockingham County] when I was about, just turned 17. Chewning: When you say you came here, you mean – McCorkle: To the farm – there. [Points to a photo of the house] Chewning: In Rockingham County? McCorkle: Yeah, we bought the farm there, and I operated it, and I bought Rockingham Memorial Hospital, I think! [Laugh] Chewning: [Laugh] McCorkle: Cause Dad – either Dad or Mother was in there [the hospital], but thank goodness it didn’t cost as much as it does now. But of course, money was worth more then, too. Chewning: So you basically lived in Brownsburg then from the time you were nine until you were about 17 years old? McCorkle: Right. Uh hmm. Chewning: So you graduated from high school in Brownsburg? McCorkle: And the thing of it was, that was my education. But as a Soil Conservationist, I was the fellow they came to to find out about something. Cause I did have the farm, and I was hired – this didn’t have to do with Brownsburg, but it was a Brownsburg education. I put in soil conservation on the farm. The farm was – had huge gullies, and I put contour strips in. There were 26 strips. Well, Dr. Bennett and Dr. Loudermilk came down there. Dr. Loudermilk had one of the best insights on the effects of erosion on the world over the centuries. And there’s still a pamphlet there, a reprint on him. But about three weeks later, here they came again. They wanted to see the farm again, and they did. So he went to town and told the District Conservationist, which had that area of the valley, to go out there and hire me. So, through all the years of working 40 years with the Soil Conservation Service, I was “Dr. Bennett’s boy.” So I said what I wanted to say, I did what I wanted to do. Earthshaking. I was at a meeting of the National Forest and Parks. And they were trying to figure out what to do with the Park, and what not. It was in one of those states where the budget had been cut, I guess. And he came around to me, and they didn’t like my speech. I suggested they cut it up in 160-acre plots and sell it [laugh] and that didn’t go over. Chewning: You were a developer from Virginia! McCorkle: That doesn’t go over well with the bureaucrats. They wanted more land, more land. Chewning: Right. Right. McCorkle: After that, they did put limitations on what they could buy. Chewning: And so you graduated from Brownsburg High School? McCorkle: Brownsburg High School. Chewning: Do you remember some of your teachers from – McCorkle: Oh yeah. Sure I would. Of course, Ocie Ellen Trimmer was the Number One. I don’t know – I sold Coca Colas through I don’t know how many years there. They had a Coca Cola box. Occasionally we’d have ice to put in it! [Laugh] But the drink man, every time he came, he gave me six bottles; well that helped some. I didn’t know we were making anything. But anyway, it bought the football uniforms when they came. Miss Trimmer was a “Class A” manager, too. She’d put on plays. She had movies. She would get local string bands or whatever it was – the Whitesells and what not – to play and charge you ten cents. I’ve always wondered, she bought these backgrounds for plays she put on. They came from New York, and they were big. But they were all hand-painted, and I’ve always wondered what happened to those, cause they had the different scenes and everything, and they were very good. Chewning: Were you in any of the plays? McCorkle: Oh yeah. Well everybody had to be in the plays. There wasn’t that many of us! Chewning: Do you remember – what were some of the plays? McCorkle: You could count on one hand. Chewning: What were some of the plays? Do you remember any of them? McCorkle: I don’t remember plays. I knew she was very conscientious. When she put on a play, you know, you ordered the books. When the play was over – if she was going to have it again, she’d order the books again. Cause that was, you know, the law. And I couldn’t figure how in the world, way back there in the boonies, she’d bother about – Chewning: Copyright laws? McCorkle: Copyright laws [laugh] so religiously, but she did. And then, one thing I remember, I worked there for – I don’t know, for a year maybe more, or two. For the NYA. Chewning: What does that stand for? McCorkle: Well that’s the National Youth Administration. Well, it seems the government says to Eugene Buchanan (he was the School Board Chairman and lived there) and Miss Trimmer, “You either take the NYA – get so many kids on NYA, you’re in a depressed area.” We didn’t know it. [Laugh] “And you’ve got to get these kids on the NYA or we’re going to cut funds somewhere else, or do something terrible.” And so, she says, “You. You. You.” [Laugh] “You’re going to make that six dollars a month.” And I remember one of my duties was sitting on the front steps, and kids would bring weeds up to me, and they’d count them, and I’d – Chewning: You mean like dandelions? McCorkle: Dandelions and things. [Laugh] And I don’t know what else. But they had to have so many people on NYA there. It was the start of the social system there, because they ah – Chewning: And so you made money, being – McCorkle: Six dollars a month! Chewning: You had to make six dollars a month? McCorkle: No, I made six dollars because of NYA. Chewning: Because you were counting weeds? McCorkle: Well, there were other things that, you know, things you’d do anyway, even if it wasn’t there. Chewning: Was – McCorkle: But the government said they had to have so many people on NYA. Chewning: Was selling the Coca Colas – McCorkle: No, no, that was a money-making thing – that was a school project, and I liked it. That would be a terrible thing now, wouldn’t it? I mean, you know recess was going, and something else. That’s when I was in high school. I was living at the McNutts for a year there. With the – golly, I can’t think of who the one teacher was. My mind – my Alzheimers is bothering me! [Laugh] Ah, Ellen Montgomery and Al Lunsford. Took their football and chemistry. I guess that’s the main thing that he taught. And – but Anne and I went to see him eight or ten years ago down in Foley, Alabama. Chewning: Mr. Lunsford? McCorkle: Um hmm. He was from Foley. While he and I were living there [with the McNutts], his Dad raised potatoes. And he got this machine, and it was a great machine, digging potatoes and everything. The only trouble was, a year after he worked the machine the first year, he died of Silicosis, from the, you know, the dust coming up to him and got him. But anyway, we went down, and we thought we’d go to see him. We had a daughter in Pensacola, and we went down there and stayed a while. So we drove over there, and we went into a grocery store restaurant and whatnot there, and happened to ask a fellow there if he knew Al Lunsford. “Why sure,” he said. “That was our – that’s our Superintendent.” And I asked him where – “Well,” he says, “This is just the problem. He died three weeks ago.” [Laugh] And they wanted us to go to the – over to the widow’s, but she wouldn’t have known who we were, or anything. Chewning: How was it you happened to be living at the McNutts when he was there? McCorkle: I was – the family had moved. Chewning: Oh, your family had moved to Rockingham County? McCorkle: Well, in the process they moved there, and they wanted me to finish there. Chewning: Oh, I see. McCorkle: So I boarded, I boarded at McNutts. Chewning: What had happened to your aunt and uncle? McCorkle: Oh, they’d died. Uncle John died in about ’35, I guess. And Aunt Eva died in – must have been ’38 or ’39. And ah, then there was quite a few – well, the way the will was, there were quite a few heirs involved and everybody thought Dad was going to buy the farm, but he had already decided. So, consequently, a lot of people that wanted the farm wouldn’t bid. [Laugh] And the Browns got it. Of course, they weren’t from around there at the time. But Dad never put a bid in. But, I got a big part of my education, I’ve always considered, on the store porch at Supinger’s. Chewning: Which store was that? McCorkle: Supinger’s. Right across from Mollie Sue’s [Whipple at 2728 Brownsburg Turnpike]. Chewning: Okay. It’s now the antique shop? McCorkle: The antique shop. That’s the fellow that wrote the book – he must be a Yankee. [Laugh] Chewning: [Laugh] And it was called – it was Supinger’s store. McCorkle: Yeah. Teddy Bob’s. Chewning: What is it? Teddy Bob’s? McCorkle: Teddy Bob was what – Chewning: Teddy Bob Supinger? McCorkle: And of course, his wife was the telephone operator. And her sister. And that was a great service, too, because they knew everything that was going on, and where everybody was. Chewning: [Laugh] I’ve heard that. McCorkle: Who was out of town. It was great. Chewning: Where did the Supingers live? McCorkle: Over the bank [2711 Brownsburg Turnpike]. Chewning: So the bank was there? McCorkle: And they lived up over the bank. Apartments up there. And all – they – the Bosworths. Seven o’clock weekday evenings, the colored of the community would gather for “Amos and Andy”. He had a radio. Now we had a radio, but it operated on a car battery and it would go down. So being from out in West Virginia and having relatives on the Ohio and Pittsburgh and what not, we mainly saved the battery for news of floods on the Ohio. Chewning: Oh, I see. McCorkle: [Laugh] So occasionally I’d get to hear Armstrong or some of those series that were on. But, let’s see. There was, coming into town, there was, of course, the doctor’s office [2744 Brownsburg Turnpike], and then Supinger. And I’m having trouble remembering the fellow that operated the – the store next to it was a store and then it was a hardware store, and a [unintelligible] store – I think it belonged to the Whipples. And ah, there was a cobbler – I wish I could remember the name. I don’t know whether his name was Potter or what it was. Somebody would know. Of course there was the Carwell Garage that was busy. And then the bank. And then the Bosworth’s Post Office, store. Of course, across the street was the Huffman Filling Station and store. I used to work there just for – after school. There wasn’t any pay involved. Occasionally I’d get some cheese and a Coca Cola. I remember we would – as I remember, I think, I think an egg, which you shook to make sure it was good. About 22 shorts in each change. Chewning: What does that mean? McCorkle: Pistol – ah, .22 shells. And these fellows would take those and go out and get their meat, you know. Squirrels, there were plenty of squirrels, rabbits, groundhogs. And I think it took three eggs to get a shotgun shell. But that was an exchange. Chewning: Did a lot of the stores have that barter system? McCorkle: No, I think mainly Huffman. Golly, my memory’s shot. Chewning: I think you’re doing great! McCorkle: But the only thing I didn’t like about it was taking sprouts off of potatoes in the spring. I mean, there’d be a lot of potatoes down under that building, and I’d be down there knocking those blooming sprouts off. Chewning: That was one of your jobs? McCorkle: The only job I didn’t particularly like. And of course, I had an advantage. I’ve always been a fellow that talked too much. And I’d end up having to copy the Latin book or History book. No pictures counted. The page had to be all – and I’d get on the counter there, and pull the brown paper out, and do this copying. You know, 25 pages, or so many pages for penalty. Chewning: Because you talked in school? McCorkle: I talked everywhere! Chewning: [Laugh] McCorkle: I talked in line, you know. We’d march from class to class, and you didn’t talk. By the drum. I think there was a – oh what was it? He was good on the drum, the fellow that lived right next to Mollie Sue [at 2716 Brownsburg Turnpike]. Dunaway. But we always marched by drum. And Miss Trimmer, some days, she’d have to whip probably 10 or 12. Chewning: Oh, my goodness. McCorkle: Well, we’d all be in the penitentiary today, with the present system. Chewning: I’m going to have to flip this tape over. [End Tape 1, Side A] Chewning: Okay, it’s running again. McCorkle: You see, Brownsburg was one of two schools in the state of Virginia that were accredited. Chewning: Really! McCorkle: And, in other words, when you went to college, why, you went to college. You didn’t have to go through the entrance and everything. Chewning: Really? McCorkle: And no one ever failed in college when they graduated from Brownsburg. But it was “by the book.” [Laugh] We – I guess people have told you they – the basketball court was in this red clay. And when someone was coming to play, Miss Trimmer would have all of us out there just walking our feet up and down to mash that water out of the clay. Chewning: [Laugh] McCorkle: So we could play basketball. As I say, she was a genius. Now other people raised Cain, but she was tough on me! But that was alright. She just hated it when she’d be chewing me out and I’d be laughing. [Laugh] She didn’t like my laughing when she was – and – but, the Latin. Of course, all the people I worked with were probably Tech graduates – VPI. But I had an advantage on them that they couldn’t touch. Because I had Latin. I had been hammered in Latin all those years. And here these people were working in agriculture, and they didn’t know the terminology of trees, or shrubs, or anything else, because it’s all Latin. Chewning: Oh, right. Um hmm. McCorkle: And so that puts you way ahead if you have that. I think it – well, it’s still true today. May be a dead language, but it’s – we’ve traveled, and stayed for – we had a daughter that was – her husband was head of AFIS. And we spent a period in Mexico, Chile, Argentina. And I could – I never could pick up any Spanish, but I could always read – read the menus and everything else, to take care of that. As long as it was printed. But – Chewning: How many years of Latin did you take? McCorkle: We had two years there. Of course, I had Aunt Eva. Chewning: That’s right. McCorkle: I don’t’ know. [Laugh] Chewning: Shakespeare and Latin with Aunt Eva. McCorkle: And Miss Trimmer. She used to say when she started teaching Latin, she was about two or three days ahead of the pupils. Of course, she went out to Aunt Eva, and they talked Latin, I guess. That was – Aunt Eva may have had her leg off, but she never stopped teaching. Chewning: She had been a teacher? McCorkle: Yeah, she’d taught – oh, what’s that seminary down – oh, the Moneymakers? Chewning: Oh, Bellevue? McCorkle: Bellevue, um hmm. Chewning: And that was a girls’ school? McCorkle: A girls’ school, um hmm. She’d taught there. The – David Eldred Strain was a doctor at Western State for about 15 years, and she used to talk about going to the dances. But she always would say that the people there were very smart, brilliant. Chewning: Where? McCorkle: At Western State. Chewning: Oh, um hmm. McCorkle: Very intelligent, but I guess they were crazy. [Laugh] Chewning: And she was – Aunt Eva was Dr. Strain’s daughter? McCorkle: Daughter. Um hmm. Chewning: And she was your great-aunt? McCorkle: And my grandmother was her sister. That brought the Dunlaps in, the Strains. Chewning: And had your grandparents lived there on the farm, too? McCorkle: No. The other side – my grandparents lived at Brushy Hill. They had a farm – Chewning: in Lexington? McCorkle: Lexington. Belongs to a cousin now. Bill McCorkle. That was the McCorkle side of the family. And, of course, there was the Strain. And there were Dunlaps. I don’t know, they were all mixed up. Chewning: Were the Dunlaps from Lexington? McCorkle: Um hmm. They lived out – their farm was on Whistle Creek. They came – but they moved from Slatey Fork. My sister-in-law was one of the Dunlaps, and they own – well, the base of the mountains. Her father had – he was the Postmaster, and had a store, and they – oh, what am I trying to think. They had – he had about 400 acres there. And went to school in Marlington. But then they moved to Whistle Creek. Tey always wanted to keep the place just like it was. And I said, “Forget it! Sell the thing!” So, finally after all of them died they sold the place, and it’s a sub-development now. [Laugh] Can’t keep it like you dream. Chewning: Your grandmother, who was Dr. Strain’s daughter, did she get married and leave the farm, then? McCorkle: Well yes She married McCorkle and he had the farm that Bill McCorkle has today. Chewning: Brushy Hill? On Brushy Hill? McCorkle: Um hmm. Chewning: Okay. Now I’m straight on who’s who! McCorkle: Bill is an unusual fellow. Most of the McCorkles don’t like music. Chewning: He is fabulous! McCorkle: I don’t know where – I wonder about him! Chewning: He played at my wedding. McCorkle: Is that right? Well Mollie Sue [Whipple] played at ours. Chewning: She directed my wedding. Mrs. Whipple directed and he played. McCorkle: Is that right? Chewning: She had stopped playing for weddings then, so we had Bill. McCorkle: Is that right? Well, he – my dad – Dad got so he wouldn’t go to church cause he’d come home with a headache from the music. Brother was the same way. And I’m the same. I wear earplugs. I can hear. I’m about the only fellow here that can hear real well. But I never leave home without these earplugs. Chewning: Is that right? McCorkle: If there’s going to be a lot of noise around, I put them in. I know deafness is a terrible thing. Dad was like I was; he loved to talk, but you know, when you’re totally deaf – when we moved here, I had a whole drawer of hearing aids. These fellows would come and sell them. And he’d be just as happy for about a half an hour, and then he’d pull that thing off and that was it. He had nerve damage. And finally one of the fellows came by, and he says, “Mr. McCorkle, we can’t help you. There’s no use you buying this.” One honest man! [Laugh] But around here, it would be great to have the concession on hearing aids. Chewning: Right. McCorkle: In this place [Sunnyside]. Chewning: Can you tell me a little bit about the aspects of the farm when you were growing up? What – was it a subsistence farm? Did you sell cattle? McCorkle: No, we raised corn, silos. We mainly bought three-year-old Shorthorns and raised them until four. Then they were shipped here in Rockingham County, and fed out and sold. They were big animals. And then, of course, we had sheep. Chewning: Were Shorthorns a common breed? McCorkle: Yes, it was then. But if someone had one of those Shorthorns today, they’d have a gold mine, because it went completely out of existence. There were two Shorthorns. One was a beef animal, and the other was a milk animal. Now the milk animal, there’s remnants. But the beef animal, with other breeds coming in, just disappeared. But the frame and everything of that animal would make a good basis for any – for any beef animal today. But they couldn’t find any when – over there at the McCormick Farm, they looked everywhere for it, and they never – couldn’t chase it down. But of course, we even raised buckwheat. The Pleasants were share-croppers. Uncle Letcher and his son we called Pitt. What was – I’m having trouble remembering his real name. But Uncle Letcher, he owned three houses there in Brownsburg. Chewning: And where were they? McCorkle: Well, you know where they had that Tea Room [2640 Brownsburg Turnpike]? Chewning: Um hmm. McCorkle: Well, that was one of his houses, a log house. And he lived in the house right next to it [2650 Brownsburg Turnpike] between the Whitesells. Chewning: Oh, on the alley, the one that’s – McCorkle: No, he lived right on Main Street. And then Pitt – oh, golly, I wish I could remember his name – lived down over the hill in a house that Uncle Letcher owned. And of course, Uncle Letcher built – I guess they went to the [New Providence] Presbyterian Church at one time. But he, basically, built the Methodist Church there [Asbury United Methodist Church in Brownsburg]. I haven’t been in it in a long, but I’m sure the windows are still there with his name in it. He was – for that period, he was right prosperous. Mainly that farm, and then the Wade farm [Castle Carberry at 34 Beard Lane]had a tenant farmer. I can’t, but Anne would remember his name [Zack Franklin]. Chewning: Is that the farm closest to the church? [New Providence] McCorkle: Um hmm. Chewning: Was he – was Mr. Pleasants paid a salary, or did he – McCorkle: No, he, he was the fellow with the money. I worked for him for a while. Chewning: I see. McCorkle: [Laugh] Chewning: So did he pay rent? McCorkle: No, he got a share. Chewning: Of the profits? McCorkle: Yeah. Chewning: From selling the beef? McCorkle: Well, of the grain. There was wheat. This valley raised an awful lot of wheat, and it just destroyed the soil. Where we’re sitting, there used to be from three to five feet more soil. This is a Frederick soil. It’s the same thing down in Brownsburg. There were four layers – horizons. The top horizon, you would -- it would, you know – if you dropped seed in it, you’d have to get out of the way, cause it’s coming back. And the second horizon was right fertile. But the fourth one – which we’re working on now – is clay, and has to be fertilized to raise good crops. There is more soil in Rockbridge County than there is here, although it’s the same soil. Because that was steep and they didn’t farm it as much. Steeper than this. But here in this county they just raise wheat, wheat, wheat. Which they didn’t do – they raised wheat, but they rotated, and didn’t lose as much soil. But it’s steep. Chewning: What is it about wheat that pulls the nutrients out of the soil? McCorkle: Wasn’t the wheat. It was the erosion. Chewning: Oh. McCorkle: When I first started working, I mean – well, that’s another thing from Brownsburg – I was in the sixth grade, and I was looking out the window, and these fellows were out there, they were laying contour lines between the school and the Methodist church. And I thought, “That’d be a good thing to do.” And then Mr. Hanna preached a sermon on soil erosion and soil conservation. He preached a couple of them. I mean, I thought they were going to have a hanging. I mean, “We don’t have any erosion!” Aunt Eva just – she’d be there, of course, she wasn’t at church, but she heard about it. She thought that was terrible. But in the process, I don’t know, somewhere I decided I’d like to do that. And I didn’t have anything to do with it, but the process of – some way, I ended up as a Soil Conservationist. And I’ve been in a whole lot of states. I was President of the Soil Conservation Society of America. Secretary, things like that. I don’t know why, when you’re dyslexic, you always get appointed, or processed to be Secretary. [Laugh] Chewning: Secretary! [Laugh] McCorkle: And so, there’s a lot of misspelled words in this! But, that’s the reason I think Brownsburg was the “Promised Land” as far as I’m concerned. All our family was sent there, to this perfect valley. I don’t know whether, when they had the 175th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church around in Virginia – I wish I could remember the fellow that spoke. But he said that they were looking for a “war-like Christian people” to settle areas west of the mountains to cope with the Indians. And they found these people, and they allowed them to come to the Valley to pay rent and fight Indians. But they enjoyed fighting Indians more than they enjoyed paying rent! [Laugh] Chewning: [Laugh] McCorkle: When they came in through Philadelphia, of course that whole area was involved. I don’t know whether you ever noticed it, but in Rockbridge County, it’s easily possible to walk from one Presbyterian church to another. And of course, you had a shortage of ministers, and of course, that involved the area. But, the same fellow that was President of Liberty College [Liberty Hall Academy] preached at New Monmouth and Timber Ridge. That’s a pretty good walk or ride! Chewning: Hmm. Um hmm. McCorkle: Of course, New Providence has always been big enough that they were one unit. Chewning: But then, didn’t they have Pisgah Chapel and – McCorkle: Yes, they had that and a couple of outposts there. And the preachers all covered that. But, that was just in the areas where you couldn’t walk to the big churches. Actually, you see the division that Old Providence and New Providence – actually they aren’t that far away if you put it. Dad had a farm that he got from Aunt Eva. Joined the McManaways – in fact, he sold to McManaway when they left there and came here. But it was the original Strain place. Aunt Eva used to talk about the soldiers – Confederate soldiers – would be coming up the road with injuries and sick, and what not. They would take care of them for weeks, and get them back in shape and off down the road they’d go. There’d be more coming. Apparently for a good while, they were, you know, when the war was over, they would have said, “Go home.” And a lot of them didn’t have homes to go to. But she used to talk about David Eldred taking care of them. Their – that was the road that went in by the Wade’s, you know [Beard Road]. Chewning: Oh, okay, okay. Out near the church [New Providence]? McCorkle: I assume at some time, it ended up at Bethel [Presbyterian Church in Augusta County at 563 Bethel Green Road], that’s where a lot of the family were buried. But there must have been a road through there because they also owned – there was a Strain place, several of them on down that road. They were buried at Bethel and New Providence. The name’s kind of faded from history as far as this area is concerned. But there were a lot of them. There were several of them killed in the War Between the States. Usebiah Strain was a brother. His name, he was one of the first graduates of the medical school at the University of Virginia. And when you go to The Rotunda, walk up the steps, you look up there, and there’s this “Usebiah Strain.” Where they got a name like that, I don’t know. Chewning: I never heard that one before! McCorkle: “Usebiah Strain” is up on the – around The Rotunda there. But that was a brother that was killed. And there was another brother that was a doctor that was killed. Chewning: So there were three brothers who were all doctors? McCorkle: Yeah, um hmm. Chewning: Your grandfather and two of his brothers? McCorkle: Now, David Eldred went to the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia. But the others went to University of Virginia. Apparently the program just started over there. Chewning: In Virginia? McCorkle: In Virginia. Because I’ve been over there several times [to the hospital], unfortunately. But, in looking at the pictures there, that was about the period that the medical school started. I don’t know who has it now – we called it the Slusser Place [4216 Brownsburg Turnpike]. That was one of the Strain places. Chewning: Cloverdale? McCorkle: Is that it? I guess so. Chewning: Just past, just past the church [New Providence] on Brownsburg Turnpike? McCorkle: Just past the church, um hmm. I used to – Aunt Eva always called it Aunt Annie’s place. Aunt Annie apparently was about that tall. [Holds hands about three feet off of the floor.] [Laugh] I never saw her, but Aunt Eva always referred to her like she was right there. Chewning: Well, your Aunt Eva certainly sounds interesting to me. McCorkle: Well, she was. She was. Of course, that was the task I had. [Laugh] It – you know, it wasn’t necessarily enjoyable then! [Laugh] Chewning: [Laugh] McCorkle: But, but you know, that was a pretty good system. The Moores had been there before we – that’s another aunt and uncle – had been there for a period before we came. And they went back just out of Lexington, had a dairy there. Which was the old Morrison place. Which is some more kinfolks! [Laugh] Chewning: Well, did you have time to play games and have fun when you were growing up, or was it mostly taking care of Aunt Eva and doing chores? McCorkle: Oh, no. I was – a lot of days, I was, as I say, I’d just leave. Just roam around visiting people. Chewning: Who were your friends? McCorkle: Well, there was – on one side there was Sid and Bud Martin. On the other side, there was Ed and Bill Patterson and Sam Patterson. Chewning: And they were your contemporaries in age? McCorkle: Well, Ed and Bill were a little older than I was, but Bill and I were pretty good buddies. I used to help him measure wheat for the AAA program. He worked for that. Chewning: What was AAA? McCorkle: Well, that was a wheat program. If you’d been raising, say, 30 acres, well they would measure it and figure out – it was a stupid program. But then they’d say, “Well, you can raise 11 acres.” Well, if you put fertilizer on there, you could raise more off of 11 acres than you could with 30. And so [laugh] it didn’t do a whole lot. Chewning: Because there were wheat surpluses? McCorkle: Oh, yeah. Terrible. There was a surplus in everything, for some reason. They were – I don’t know whether they actually did it, but they were taking pigs on the old World War I ships and sinking them. [Laugh] And there was just – I don’t know why all of a sudden there was such a surplus, but, you know 19 – as I say, 1928, everything was prosperous, and farms were prosperous. People borrowing money. There were farms around there that couldn’t pay the interest. But the banks didn’t want them, because they didn’t know what to do with them either. So they just wouldn’t toss people off the farm. I guess some of them did, but most of them kept riding through with no interest coming. It was pretty hard on banks. I remember Miss Trimmer saying, “You don’t say anything bad about the bank.” [Laugh] You had to be very careful. Cause people – you know, they had a terrible time with running on – runs on the banks. Not too many went out of business. West Virginia banks, there were a good many. But out through the mid-west, they just closed bank after bank. I worked with a fellow, he was county agent in Stafford County. His brother was something with accounts with the Federal Government. And his first work was closing banks in the west. He said they opened up all the bank boxes and everything, and pile them there and have an auction and be gone in two days to the next bank. That involved also the – going off the gold standard. But on the whole, now, Uncle John had this big box. And he would put the jowls and the shoulders and I don’t know what all in there. And some of them had been there apparently for years. But anyway, people would come by and say they were out of meat, and he’d go in the – it was all packed in ashes, and they were really dried and hard, but I guess they were edible. And he’d dig out a jowl or shoulder, and it went on regularly. That was the – that was basically the reason it wasn’t as hard around there as other places. Because people got food if they needed it. We used to – they would raise sorghum. Of course, half of it went to the Pleasants. I remember going with them to pick up the pans and everything every year. And the squeezer, or whatever it was. The horse would go round and around. The fellow that owned the pan, I mean he stayed with it around the clock until it was finished. Chewning: So somebody would bring the pan in? McCorkle: I don’t know who the fellow was. It was – we would go over towards – now my mind’s shutting down. It couldn’t have been too far from Goshen – I mean Rockbridge Baths, fellow lived there. And we’d take a wagon and go haul all the stuff and bring him over. And he’d stay there ‘til they’d squeezed the sap out and he’d boiled it down. And there’d be a lot of sorghum. And we’d -- maybe we’d use a half a gallon. But by the time winter was over, our share had gone, people had – the rest of the people there had – apparently they ate a lot of sorghum. I never was a big fan of the stuff. Chewning: [Laugh] McCorkle: And I guess the rest of the family wasn’t either. But we raised it every year, and I guess that was the sweetener. Chewning: How many acres of that did you raise? McCorkle: Oh, I think there was probably four or five acres. It was a lot. You had to strip the leaves and all that. I was basically a spectator to that other than I’d work the skimming some. Chewning: How did you cut it? McCorkle: Oh, it was a liquid, syrup. Chewning: No, I mean how did you cut the sorghum? McCorkle: Oh, with a knife, or pull it off. No, the sorghum wasn’t cut, the stems were just run through the squeeze thing – the machine that squeezed the sap out of it. Chewning: So it went down the rows? The machine went down the rows? McCorkle: And then it would get in the bucket, and they’d pour it in this pan that went – I guess they’re still doing it around, I don’t know. But the pan was probably oh, eight or ten – eight feet long or so. And it had dividers in it. And they’d run it all the way through and skim all the foam off of it. It was a fairly complicated process to make good molasses. I guess they’re still basically doing it today. Probably have a different thing squeezing it. But then, well, just about everything that we used there – there was a lot of hunting and a lot of – I don’t know why there was a lot of wildlife there, and that supplied a lot of food to people, I would assume. I never ate a squirrel in my life that I know of. But I killed a lot of them. I’d throw them in the back of this surrey and go into Brownsburg and I mean, it wouldn’t be long until they were all gone. Chewning: Did you give them away? McCorkle: Oh yeah, sure. It wasn’t a – it was just my sport, spoiled kid. [Laugh] Rabbits and squirrels. But we never at them. And then the – what was it? Tourlarema or something came around with the rabbits. You had to be very careful about – you know, there wasn’t rubber gloves then. Chewning: Oh, it was a disease? McCorkle: Yeah. From the rabbits. And that hurt, there were a number of people got that. Chewning: Were you still living in Brownsburg when electricity came through? McCorkle: We didn’t have electricity. They – VEPCO, I guess that’s what it was called. There were a lot of poles on the Strain place that came not far from the house. But Aunt Eva and Uncle John didn’t want that. Chewning: Oh, they didn’t want it? McCorkle: But just before Aunt Eva died, she had to have electricity. Well, it wasn’t in there when we left. We used oil lamps. And Aunt Eva assigned herself as a duty to get in her wheelchair, and trim the lamps. And of course, that house was pretty good sized, and we had a number of lamps. I know I had a little lamp about that big [demonstrates] and it’s a wonder I didn’t burn the place down because I read. I’ve always – I read three or four hours a night here. But I’d get under the covers with that thing and read. It’s a wonder it didn’t suffocate me. [Laugh] Chewning: [Laugh] That does sound dangerous! McCorkle: Of course, my room was a little separated on the back side of the house, so they never got onto that. Chewning: Did you have brothers and sisters? McCorkle: I had a brother 13 years older. The day I started to school at Weynoke which was – Lowe is another name. It was Weynoke Coal and Coke Company. He started to VPI, it was then. And so he was gone most of the time. With that, we were always very good friends. He was my big brother – he came up to my shoulder! [Laugh] And he was – he graduated in electrical engineering. He ended up as engineer on a Nike missile program. He was in radar during World War II. He went to – let’s see. He went to Harvard first, and then MIT with a crew of fellows that brought radar from England. And they perfected radar so that they could spot the submarines. Which stopped the submarine problem, which was great. I don’t know how many – he was in the Army for about five years. But he was Assistant Chief Engineer of the American Coal Company. And when he came back, he was going to be Chief Engineer of the American Coal Company. He told Dad, and Dad says “No more McCorkles in West Virginia. Find something else.” So he worked for the Highway Department as an inspector or something for a while. And then I took him down to Burlington in North Carolina to Western Electric. And his wife and I were sitting in the car. He went in for the interview. And we’d just, just gotten settled when in a little bit here, the door opened. And it was Bob. I said, “What happened?” He said, “I’m supposed to be here in two weeks.” [Laugh] Chewning: Must have been good. McCorkle: Well then the Highway Department said, “Oh, we wanted you to do – we wanted you in another thing.” But anyway, he went down there. He worked with Bell, Bell Labs and Western Electric. So he was there the rest of his – so he came home a whole lot and – [Mrs. McCorkle enters.] Mrs. McCorkle: Are you doing all right? Chewning: Yes, I just want to make sure that I don’t run out of tape. I’ve done that before. Mrs. McCorkle: So how you all doing, okay? Chewning: Great. Mrs. McCorkle: It’s almost twelve o’clock. [End of Tape 1, Side B] David Eldred McCorkle Index A AAA program · 31 Asbury United Methodist Church · 25 Automobile Peerless · 6 B Bailey, Bill · 47 Bailey, Dr. · 87 airplane · 60 Banking · 32 Barter system · 18, 56 Baseball · 59 Bellevue · 21 Berry, Miss Pett · 87 Blackwell, Homer football · 42 Bosworth, Jim · 5 Bosworth's Store · 5 Briar Hills · See Camp Briar Hills Brown, Clemmer · 4, 16 Brownsburg · 81 bank · 86 barber shop · 56 closed society · 3 cobbler · 17 doctor · 17, 86 hardware store · 17 pool hall · 56 stores · 54 telephone office · 17 weighted votes in rural areas · 80 wool pool · 86 Brownsburg School Academy · 37 accredited · 19 baseball · 4 basketball · 4, 20 drum · 19 football · 12 football team · 42 National Youth Administration · 13, 79 school plays · 12 tuition · 38 Brushy Hill · 6, 22, 23 Buchanan, Eugene · 13, 48, 57 Democratic Party Chairman · 79 Buchanan, Eugenia · 82 Buchanan, Margaret · 92 Buchanan, William · 48 C Camp Briar Hills · 9 Carwell's Garage · 18 Castle Carberry · 25 Civil War · 5, 28 Clemmers whiskey making · 71 Closed society · 7 Coe, Miss (teacher) · 3 D Democratic Party · 79 Depression · 7, 32, 79 Diphtheria · 72 Dunaway (drummer) · 19 Dunlap Family · 22 E Electricity Delco lights · 49 generators · 49 Rural Electrification Authority · 48, 51 F Farming dogs · 10 horses · 52 Japanese beetles · 58 McCormick tractor · 51 shoats · 78 soil erosion · 27 sorghum · 32 Fauber, Roberta · 74 Franklin, Zack · 26 H Hanna, C. Morton · 27 Hecht, Sue Whipple · 92 Heffelfinger, Grace Pierce · 89 Heffelfinger, Jen · 88 Horses distemper · 9 Huffman's Filling Station · 18 Hull, Mr. referee · 41 J Jones, Henry · 4 K Kennan, Lelan football · 42 L Leech, Dr. · 87 Lexington milk deliveries · 69 Liberty Hall · 28 Liquor production · 53 Lunsford, Al · 15, 85 football · 42 Lylburn Downing School · 38 M Martin, Bud · 31 Martin, Sid · 31 football · 42 McCorkle, Betsy · 75 McCorkle, David birth · 1 Bluefield childhood · 8 boarding at the McNutts · 14 bodyguards · 2 brother · 35 dyslexia · 3, 10 father · 1, 8 high school graduation · 11 hunting · 34 Latin · 20 mother · 7 move to Brownsburg · 1 move to Rockingham County · 10 selling shoats · 78 soil conservationist · 11, 27 work at Huffman's Filling Station · 18 McCorkle, Isabel · 74 McCorkle, Samuel White (grandfather) · 6 McCormick reaper · 69 McLaughlin, Dr. · 86 McManaway farm · 28 McNutt Family · 4 McNutt, Mr. · 78 McNutt, Mrs. · 71 Medicine · 72 Mills · 65 Montgomery, Ellen · 15, 85 Moore Family · 30 Morris, Mamie · 54 Mynes, Claude football · 42 N National Youth Administration · 13, 79 New Providence Presbyterian Church · 3, 75 Amen Corner · 73 balcony for blacks · 63 charging for pews · 73 Chrysanthemum Show · 53 communion · 71 outposts · 28 revival services · 82 wool pool · 86 O Orsen Wells · 61 P Patterson, Bill · 31 Patterson, Ed · 31 Patterson, Frank · 53 Patterson, Sam · 31, 53 Peters, Carrie · 37 Peters, Henrietta · 36 Pleasants, Letcher · 25, 32 Pleasants, Pitt · 25 Poole farm · 92 Post Office · 18 Presbyterian · 83 Presbyterian churches · 28 Price, Governor · 90 Price, Page · 91 R Radio · 17, 48 Railroad · 86 Reconstruction · 5, 37 Road system paving · 51 S School Board · 13 Share-cropping · 25 Silicosis · 15 Slusser farm · 30 Slusser, George football · 42 killed in World War II · 42 Soil conservation · 27 Soil Conservation Service · 77 Steeles Tavern · 69 Sterrett, Bill football · 42 Sterrett, Doug · 70 Strain farm · 8, 9, 24 fire · 4 grain · 26 sale · 16 Shorthorns · 24 Strain, David Eldred · 29, 71, 73, 86 Confederate Army · 5 doctor · 4 Jefferson Medical College · 30 medicine · 72 purchase of farm · 8 Western State doctor · 21 Strain, Eva Lee · 2, 5, 21, 27, 35 Bellevue teacher · 21 death · 16 Strain, John Madison · 2, 32 death · 16 Strain, Usebiah · 29 Supinger, "Teddy Bob" · 16 Supinger, Bob · 55 Supinger’s Store · 16 T Tolley, Fred · 76 Tolley, Joe · 76 Trimmer, Ocie Ellen · 3, 12, 19, 39, 59 against NYA · 79 college degree · 40 sportmanship · 41 Troxell, Clint · 89 W Wade, Bud · 56 Wade, Jim football · 42 Wade, Margaret · 89 Wade, Winston · 65 Wade’s Mill · 65 Wade's Mill white flour · 66 Walker trial · 39 Wart removal · 36 West Virginia · 7 Weynoke Coal and Coke Company · 1, 8, 35 Whipple, Goodrich · 54 Whipple, Mollie Sue · 23, 40 White Sulfur Springs, WV · 7 Whitesell, John Layton football · 42 Wilbourn saddle · 66 Williams, Dr. · 87 Wine making · 71 Woods, Albert football · 42