Interview with Eva McManama By Rachel Koeniger January 2008 [Information in brackets is not on transcript but is included for clarification.] Rachel Koeniger: Today is January 21st, 2008. My name is Rachel Koeniger, and I'm here today at the home of Eva McManama [2580 Sterrett Road] to talk to her about her memories of Brownsburg for the Brownsburg Oral History Project. Eva, can you tell me your full name and the date of your birth? Eva McManama: I'm Eva Fitzgerald McManama. My birthday is September the 5th, 1923. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. Let's stop and see if we picked that up. How long have you lived in the Brownsburg area? Eva McManama: Oh, let's see, I'd say close to 60 years. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. You weren't born in Brownsburg? Eva McManama: No, uh-uh. Rachel Koeniger: Where were you born? Eva McManama: Montebello [Virginia]. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. What brought you to Brownsburg? Eva McManama: My dad was ill, sick for a long time, and then when he passed away I was about ten. And my brother was looking for work. And that was back during the Depression time. And someone told him about there was a farmer over here was needing some help. So he came to see, and it was Mr. Clemmer. He lived where David Runkle’s family used to live [Finley Road]. And he came and he got a job, and he had a tenant house. So we moved here. And that's our first move. The first time experience in Brownsburg was when they had a doctor up here where Ag Patterson lives [2744 Brownsburg Turnpike], and my mom washing run a needle in her hand, and she had to come to the doctor. So we came in the buggy. So I had to stay in the buggy to keep the horse quiet while she went in and had it taken out. That was my first experience, but it looked so much different then than what it does today. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember what year that was? Eva McManama: No. I have no idea. I probably was eight years old. So that's a long time ago. Rachel Koeniger: That would have been what year? Eva McManama: Gosh I couldn't tell you right off. Rachel Koeniger: What year were you born again? Eva McManama: September the 5th, 1923. Rachel Koeniger: So about 1931-32. And you said you all lived in David Runkle's family's... Eva McManama: It was a tenant house. It's tore down now. It was just-- the big house was up on the hill along the creek, and the tenant house across on the other side. And I can't think how long we lived there, but that was our first experience to move to Brownsburg. Rachel Koeniger: Now the house that you say is up on the creek is that one over on... Eva McManama: You know where David Runkle lives [158 Raphine Road]? Rachel Koeniger: Uh-huh. Eva McManama: It's down over the hill to your right, right down in the meadow between him and the creek. And it's gone. They've tore it down. Rachel Koeniger: It's gone. It's not there any more. Okay. And who did your brother work for? Eva McManama: Mr. Clemmer. I can't remember his first name, but Clemmer was his last name. Rachel Koeniger: So was your family your mother, your brother and yourself? Eva McManama: It was my mom, and my brother Frank, my brother Bob, my brother Wilson and myself. When we moved here my mom had to get something to do, and she worked for Camp Briar Hills, it used to be right up above here, in the summertime [2508 Sterrett Road]. Rachel Koeniger: Oh she did? And what did she do? Eva McManama: She was a cook in the kitchen. They had someone to prepare the vegetables. She cooked, made rolls and had it ready to serve. That's what she did. Rachel Koeniger: And how many years did she do that? Eva McManama: A couple years, uh-huh. And then we moved from there up to the hollow above Jimmy Wade's [Gibb’s Run Road] up to that hollow into a house. And we were there-- we were living there when I got married. And she worked for Mrs. Wade. Jimmy Wade's mom helped her out. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. What year did you get married? Eva McManama: 1940. Rachel Koeniger: And can you tell me your husband's name? Eva McManama: Homer Hinkle McManama. Rachel Koeniger: Was he a native of Brownsburg? Eva McManama: Yes. His parents lived-- if you look from the Sunday School building at Sunday School [at New Providence Presbyterian Church] when you get out of your car and look you see that house on the hill, their house used to be right down at the bottom that hill, but that was torn down years ago. Rachel Koeniger: So it's not there anymore. Eva McManama: It's not there anymore. They sold it and bought this house and moved here. Rachel Koeniger: His parents did. Eva McManama: Yeah, uh-huh. They lived here about 18 years. Rachel Koeniger: So they lived in this house before you all moved into it. Eva McManama: Yeah, but we had rented it two years after we-- we lived on Goose Creek. And we bought a little farm there, and he wanted a bigger farm. And so he sold that, and he bought the farm here which Mc Sterrett owns it, and the house where Betsy Reid and them lives [Sleepy Hollow, 2645 Sterrett Road]. We owned that for two years. But when we went to look at the house, the inside, it's high ceilings and hard to heat. And our children used to have croup so bad. And we knew we could not live in that house. Rachel Koeniger: So you're talking about the house that the Reids live in now? Eva McManama: Yeah, and then the farm land that runs back up here which Mc Sterrett kept. He sold the house and kept the land. Rachel Koeniger: And you all sold it to Mc? Eva McManama: No. We sold it to a real estate fellow, and he sold it to someone else then. Rachel Koeniger: Mc ended up with it. Eva McManama: Then Homer bought a place, a small farm down there after you turn off, before you got to the mill. Right above where you all live [763 Hays Creek Road]. And on the left there was a little farm sold and he bought that. Well then when the other house up on the hill, which we named Hilltop [1397 McElwee Road], when that came up for sale he bought that and combined them. He had over 400 hundred acres. So he had a fellow that worked for him by the month all the time. Rachel Koeniger: And that's the house that... Eva McManama: Where Freddie Whipple used to live, uh-huh. Rachel Koeniger: And he had 400 acres there. Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: What kind of farming did he do there? Eva McManama: Well, he put out corn. He put out wheat, but it got to where you wasn't making anything on that. And we were just talking and I said, "Well, why don't you just stick with your cattle and your sheep and put up hay and that'd be less work for you. All the work you put in for the grain you're not getting anything back." So that's what he did. We had about 60 head of ewes, and gosh, I don't remember how many head of cattle. But that kept them busy. Rachel Koeniger: Sixty head of what did you say? Eva McManama: Ewes, sheep. Rachel Koeniger: Ewes, okay. Eva McManama: They call them ewes. Rachel Koeniger: Uh-huh. And you don't remember how many cattle. Eva McManama: No, but I expect he had around 80 head of stock cows, I expect. Rachel Koeniger: And do you remember what year you all moved out there? Eva McManama: Oh, let's see. We were there 18 years. Rachel Koeniger: But you don't remember. Eva McManama: No. I can't remember. I might count back. Linda [Eva’s daughter, Linda McManama Jones] was three years old the day we moved. She was so upset because she didn't have a birthday cake. I said, "Honey, I'll do it the week after we get in." And when I did it and had her dinner she said, "Well, it's not my birthday." Rachel Koeniger: She wasn't happy about any of that was she? Eva McManama: So she's 61. You can count back how many years. [The move to McElwee Road was about 1950.] Rachel Koeniger: She's... Eva McManama: Sixty-one, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. Eva McManama: But that house was in a bad shape. We had to do a lot of work on it. Rachel Koeniger: You did a lot on that house. Eva McManama: Yeah. The bathroom was there, but all the pipes were frozen. They had a big tub like thing up on a platform for the well to pump in. It had frozen and busted. And so you didn't have any water, or any bathrooms. So it took a while to get... Rachel Koeniger: Sort of a gravity fed system? Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yes, uh-huh. Rachel Koeniger: They had that in our house. Eva McManama: So we had to-- It wasn't underpinned around underneath so we just practically had to build it over. Rachel Koeniger: And who did you buy that farm from? Eva McManama: I can't think who. Let me see. I can't think who it was right now. I did know, but it just won't come to me right now. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. Did he have tractors, or equipment? Eva McManama: Yeah. When the tractors came in things was a whole lot easier for a farmer. Before he had a team of horses and he plowed with a plow that you walk behind all day. But he said he loved doing that because when he plowed in the spring the smell of fresh earth he really enjoyed it. So he was really a farmer at heart. Rachel Koeniger: He was. Eva McManama: So when the tractors came then you didn't have to have the horses only for little things. So he had several tractors. And they plowed and harrowed and disked it, and you didn't have to walk. Rachel Koeniger: And you said he had how many people helping him? Eva McManama: He had one man work for him by the month all the time. Rachel Koeniger: So it's just the two of them. Eva McManama: Uh-huh. Rachel Koeniger: With 400 acres. Eva McManama: Just the two of them doing that. And on top of that after he got a hand he rented a farm. It was the Hockman’s farm. He rented two hundred acres there. So if you had a dry year you had plenty of pasture. Rachel Koeniger: And where was that located? Eva McManama: Just this side of McElwee Chapel. Rachel Koeniger: Oh, okay. Eva McManama: So that kept them busy. Rachel Koeniger: Down past-- so it would have been down past your house. Eva McManama: Well, it's just beyond McElwee Chapel if you go through this way, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Oh, okay. Okay. Eva McManama: He rented that for about 20 years. Rachel Koeniger: When he got out of-- when you all moved to Brownsburg and he got out of farming... Eva McManama: No. He was not out of farming. Rachel Koeniger: He wasn't out of farming. You all just moved from the house. Eva McManama: He kept the farm he was renting which was 200 acres. But with taking care of what he had here, he had cattle here, cattle down there and put up hay, and that's all he needed. Rachel Koeniger: So how much land did you all have here? Eva McManama: We have a little over 12 acres here. Rachel Koeniger: Twelve acres. Did you sell the house to Fred? Eva McManama: No. The real estate man bought it, and then he sold it. A Smiley boy moved there, and I think run for the real estate man until he sold it to Fred. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. All right. We sort of skipped over the school part to get to the farming, but you were telling me that you only went to sixth grade at the Brownsburg School. Is there anything you remember about that year? Eva McManama: No. The only thing I can remember about that year in school the teacher had to leave the class. And she left one of the students in charge of the history class to read the lesson. And there was two boys. There was a big stove and there was three desks over here, and I was between two boys. And they got to throwing spit balls and mud balls. Well, that was landing on my papers and I told them to quit. "If you don't I'm going to tell on you," and they kept it. I said, "I told you if you keep it up I'm telling her when she comes back." And when she came back I raised my hand and I told her. And so she made the whole class stay in at recess and write. And I hadn't done anything. The rest of them didn't either, but we all got punished. Rachel Koeniger: I guess she didn't like tattletales. Eva McManama: Well, maybe not, but they were messing up my papers with mud balls. Rachel Koeniger: Yeah. Well, I don't blame you. Do you remember what your teacher's name was? Do you remember what her name was? Eva McManama: No. That's the one I've been trying to think of. It seems to me like maybe the first part of her name was Nellie, and I think-- the other one won't come to me. But I know what she looked like, but I can't think of her name. Rachel Koeniger: Was it Lowe? Eva McManama: No, uh-uh. Rachel Koeniger: Somebody had mentioned a Nellie Lowe. Eva McManama: I can't think what it was right now. Rachel Koeniger: What sort of activities did you have at school? Eva McManama: I didn't participate in any activities at school at that time. That was a lot different from what it got to be later because they had sewing and a lot of other things, you know, as they... Rachel Koeniger: Into high school. Eva McManama: But they didn't have anything like that. Rachel Koeniger: How did you get to school? Eva McManama: I was trying to think about that the other day. I know at Fairfield we rode the bus. Broadview School we walked. I think there was a bus at that time here. Rachel Koeniger: And that year you were still over... Eva McManama: Yeah, uh-huh, still over to where the Runkle place is. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. Now we're going to talk about church. They want to know if you've ever attended any of the area churches. Eva McManama: Yes, New Providence. I joined New Providence like when I was 13. I've been gong there ever since. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember who the minister was when you joined? Eva McManama: There was-- Dr. Walthal was there. Dr. White. I remembered it yesterday. I can't think of any other ones, but that was two that was there at the time I was there, and we've had others since. Rachel Koeniger: So you were 13 when you joined. Eva McManama: Uh-huh. Rachel Koeniger: And what sort of activities did you participate in at church? Eva McManama: They just had Sunday School and preaching at that time. No young people's meetings or anything like that. Rachel Koeniger: They didn't have that. Do you remember any of your Sunday School teachers? Eva McManama: No, I can't think when I first started, but I know when I got older Ms. Henry Jones was the teacher when I was older. She was a good Christian lady, a good teacher. Rachel Koeniger: Where did she live? Eva McManama: On Goose Creek. Rachel Koeniger: She was in the big house [Whitehall at 955 Goose Creek Road]? Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: What about the-- do you remember anything about the Chrysanthemum Festival? Eva McManama: Oh, yeah. That was after I was married. They had the Chrysanthemum Festival there. Everybody-- you baked things. They give you a list and you would take things that you were going to bring. And that was good because you had vegetables in the garden, and you used to make these homemade German chocolate cakes. Oh wow. And ice cream galore. And everybody worked together. Men waited on tables and helped. And it was a way of making money that you didn't have at that time to give, but giving your time and what you had at home you could make money for the church. But then the Presbytery didn't want us to do that any more. That's why it stopped. Rachel Koeniger: Oh, really? Eva McManama: Oh, we'd have people from everywhere that'd come for meals. Rachel Koeniger: From all over the county. Eva McManama: Yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Probably Augusta County too. Eva McManama: Yeah. And it wasn't anything new that New Providence fed people good, still do that. Rachel Koeniger: Yeah, and it was spread out all over the church. Eva McManama: Oh, yeah. All through the church for places for them to eat because the downstairs couldn't hold all of them. It was a time of fellowship for the people to work together and do that. It was remarkable, you know, that we could do that thing. Rachel Koeniger: It is amazing. Although, probably then they had more members in the church than they do now I imagine. Eva McManama: We had a good many in there, yeah, at that time, but then after we moved to the farm and the children were in young people's meeting and all they used to have ice cream suppers, and it was similar to that. Everybody worked together. And I would go and help the kids make ice cream. You'd make the ice cream so much until you was almost sick when you got home from tasting it. Rachel Koeniger: Making sure it was just right. Eva McManama: They had a big two gallon freezer that someone mixed it up and it wouldn't freeze. It just wouldn't freeze. So I said, "You have to take it back. It's too sweet." If it's too sweet it won't freeze. And they took it back and then added more milk and made more freezers, and it froze in no time. But some of our older ministers would come back for that. They enjoyed it. And that was Dr. White. He'd say, "Where's my kids? Where's your kids? Where's my kids?" Because when he would come to visit us at the farm my kids would come stand up by at his chair. And I'd say, "Kids sit down." He said, "Leave them alone. I'd rather they do that than they would run and hide." But he always looked up his kids, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Were you in a Circle [Womens Bible study group]? How long have you been in a Circle? Eva McManama: I was in the Circle, I guess, after I got married. Mrs. Henry Jones took me to my first Circle. She had a little car, one seater, and her sister came to live with her three years because he [Mr. Jones] was an automobile salesman, and he traveled and she was by herself. And when we went to housekeeping, we went to housekeeping in their tenant house. And so there was a phone from the tenant house to her house, and she'd call. "Eva, can I pick you up to take you to the Circle?" So she took me to my first Circle. Rachel Koeniger: Oh. And what Circle was that? Eva McManama: That was on the Goose Creek Area and the church Circle. Rachel Koeniger: So they had one. Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: They had a whole bunch at one time didn't they? Eva McManama: It went on up first where Dot [Martin] used to live around, so. I don't know whether... Rachel Koeniger: Was that the one Dot was in? Eva McManama: Huh? Rachel Koeniger: Was that the one Dot was in? Eva McManama: No, no. Dot, she wasn't in that one. Not at that time. That was probably earlier. Rachel Koeniger: She joined, she said, when she was 16, so. Eva McManama: She may have came, you know. I think she started in it earlier, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: It was her mother's Circle. Eva McManama: Yeah. Rachel Koeniger: How did you all get to church? When you first were members out there, how did you and your family get to church? Eva McManama: When I first started going out there I walked. I'd go and walk with a young girl. She was-- lived down the creek. We'd meet and walk up to church which wasn't very far to walk. Rachel Koeniger: What was her name? Do you remember who that was? Eva McManama: Mary Stuart Lotts. She lives over at Timber Ridge, next to Timber Ridge Church now. Rachel Koeniger: Oh, okay. Eva McManama: She and her brother were living with a family that took them in, Lotts family. They were kin some way or another. But she was about my age or close to it. Rachel Koeniger: So you had to walk. Eva McManama: Uh-huh. Rachel Koeniger: Did you ever go to Bible School or anything like that out there when you were young? Eva McManama: Not out here, but when I lived at Timber Ridge that's the only way we got any training in church. They had Bible School at a little chapel over next to the store, and they would have Bible School there. And they'd take you out, and you'd find a place to sit down in the grass, and the teacher would teach. And that was-- we walked to that. Everybody had to walk to that. People didn't have cars in those days. Rachel Koeniger: Well, that's what the next question is. I was going to ask you when you remembered when your family first got an automobile. Eva McManama: Yeah. My dad never drove, and he had a car. I can barely remember it, but he said it's not good to keep it when I can't drive it, and no more than we need to go we can get someone to take us cheaper than we can keep up an automobile. And I remember the tires were solid rubber with holes in them. Rachel Koeniger: Really? Eva McManama: Yeah, and they were open, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Well, did your brothers have cars after you all moved down here? Eva McManama: That was much later my brother had my brother-in-law to sit down at the table and draw a map for him to learn how to change gears because he wanted to go get a car. Rachel Koeniger: He learned on paper first. Eva McManama: He learned that and then he'd take him to town and helped him to get a car, and he was able to drive it home believe it or not. Rachel Koeniger: Well, that's amazing. Eva McManama: Yeah. Yeah, that was his first car. As a kid growing up I thought the meadow was big and when I go by it now and look at it, it looks very small, but that's where he would drive around to get used to changing gears. But I never learned to drive until way after I was married. Rachel Koeniger: After you were married. Eva McManama: And I probably wouldn't have then if Homer hadn't a kept after me. He said, "You've got to learn." Rachel Koeniger: Well, you're glad you know now aren't you? Eva McManama: Yeah. Well, I used to-- when we lived here two years, the children were small, there was a garage out there and we put the car. That's when we first got a car. And I would back it out, clean it out inside and wash it, put it back. He said, "If you can do that you can drive. You take it and go up and see your sister-in-law." She lived right at the edge of Goose Creek. I said, "As sure as I do they'll pick me up, no permit." He said, "If they do I'll pay the fine." He kept pushing me, so I tried it. And he said, "How did you do?" I said, "I did okay." And I didn't get one, a permit, until I went to the farm then. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember what kind of car that was that you were driving to your sister... Eva McManama: Oh, I don't know the make of it, but it was black. I know that. And it was a second-hand car at that time, yeah. So I don't remember if it was Chevrolet or what. I never-- I don't know to see them pass by what they are now. I never pay that much attention to them. Rachel Koeniger: It's hard to know. Eva McManama: Yeah. When we were first married he had a truck, and we went to church in the truck. Anywhere we had to go we went in the truck. Rachel Koeniger: Who were Homer's parents? What were their names? Eva McManama: Walter Scott McManama, and Mattie. Rachel Koeniger: And he was a member out at New Providence. Eva McManama: Yes, and he [Homer] had an older sister Ruth, and one Althea, and Pauline. He had a brother that died. I can't think of his name right now. He said his brother worked away from home, "So I didn't really get to know my brother because he worked away from home." It was an accident. His dad worked in timber and they went to-- and they was working and they had a camp they stayed in, and he was gone all week and just come home weekends. And he went in and it was in the woods and it was wet. And he was crossing this pine log and his foot slipped and he fell on the stub in his stomach. In those days, see, they couldn't have done anything for him, and he passed away. He was engaged to get married. That was sad. Rachel Koeniger: Where did you meet Homer? Eva McManama: Let me see. Oh, when we was living at the Clemmer place my sister-in-law's dad was ill, and [Eva’s brother] Frank [Fitzgerald] was going with her, Betty Belle Lotts, and he said, "Sis, can you go up and help Betty Belle out? She could use some help. Her dad's ill, and she could use some help." I said it depends if I can get my work done here. Because when mom worked I had to do everything at home. I had to milk, churning to do, and housework, and you washed on the board in those days. And I said, "If my work is done I'll try to go help her this evening." And he said, "Well, I hope you'll get to be able to do that." And I went up to help her. And he'd [Homer McManama] been in service. He was in Hawaii for two years in the Army. And he and his dad and mom came by to visit. They called him Mr. Joe. And that's where I first met him. Rachel Koeniger: And he was still in the service then, or he was out? Eva McManama: No. He was out at that time. Rachel Koeniger: He was out and was farming, I guess. Eva McManama: They were farming and working in timber. His dad [Walter McManama] was really talented. He could walk through a track of timber and tell him just about what it would cut out. The Lord had gifted him. And they did that until Homer just-- he didn't like that. He liked farming better. Rachel Koeniger: You said that-- you were talking about what all you had to do around your house to help your mom out, and you were talking about churning. Tell me a little bit about what you did. The kind of work you did to help out at home. Eva McManama: Well, I milked a cow twice a day. I had meals to cook, dishes to wash, clothes to wash and keep the house clean. What you would normally do in your home. Rachel Koeniger: And your mother, this was while she was working at the camp? Eva McManama: Briar Hills. Rachel Koeniger: Camp Briar Hills. Eva McManama: In the summer, yeah. Because you had to-- it took both of them, you know, to make a living for five of us. Of course, a nickel went further in those days than it does today, and it made a big difference. Rachel Koeniger: Did you all ever have a garden? Did you garden? Eva McManama: Yeah. We had a garden. That's what helped us out too. So Mr. Clemmer had a lamb that wasn't doing any good and the mother wouldn't take it. My brother Frank said, "Well, why don't you give my sister that lamb?" Okay. "Oh, I don't know." He says, "Well, it's going to die on you. Why don't you give it to her and she can raise it." "Well, all right Frank. You take it home to her." So we had to get nipples and bottles and feed him. I would go out-- and he wouldn't go to the creek and drink because it was a high bank, and I guess he was afraid to go down over the bank. So I'd have to take water during the day and his bottle. And I called him Sam. "Come on Sam." And he'd quit grazing and bah and here he'd come flying. And I raised him. He was a nice lamb. I hated to see him go when we had to take him to market. Rachel Koeniger: Oh, that's sad. Eva McManama: Yeah it is. But I kept him in a box in the house. And he got big enough I had to put him out on the back porch then. I remember we'd fix his bottle, take it and put it under the pillow to keep warm to feed him in the middle of the night. Rachel Koeniger: Oh. Well, that's sad. Your brother-- you had how many brothers, four brothers? Eva McManama: I had three brothers, Frank, and Bob, and Wilson. Rachel Koeniger: And were they older or younger? Eva McManama: Frank was the second. My sister Virginia was the oldest, then Frank, and then Bob, and then myself, and then Wilson. Rachel Koeniger: So you were next to the youngest. Eva McManama: Uh-huh. Rachel Koeniger: And your sister had already left home? Eva McManama: Oh yeah. She was married and had two children at that time. Her name was Virginia. Rachel Koeniger: Did she live around here? Eva McManama: She used to live down in the house right across the creek from where you live up there where you cross the bridge. She lived there for a while and she lived up here in this house they'd had up for sale just as you go up into the road. She lived there a while. And she had lived at Timber Ridge before that. Rachel Koeniger: What about the train? Did you ever ride the train? Eva McManama: No. I never rode the train. I've been over at Timber Ridge when it'd go through. I'd have to watch the horse because she'd get excited. And mom went to the store, and you had to cross the railroad tracks to go up to the store. And I thought she was going to tramp my feet because she kept, you know, going up and I had to hold her down to get her-- when it stopped and quit blowing she kind of settled down a little bit. But no, that's the only thing. I never rode a train. I said I'd never fly and I'd never get in a boat and I did both of those. Rachel Koeniger: What about the bus? Was the bus just with school? Eva McManama: Well, the school bus, yeah, Decatur to Fairfield and then here. No. I never was on the Greyhound bus. Uh-uh. Rachel Koeniger: But you did ride the school bus? Eva McManama: Uh-huh. People didn't go that much in those days. Mom never got to see her brothers that much. Rachel Koeniger: Were they in Montebello? Eva McManama: She had one sister in Montebello, and she had a brother in Lexington, but he never came to see us very much. They never had any children. And his wife is a little funny and his kids. And so she never got to see them. And she had a sister that lived in Ohio. She would come in for a week in the summer time. Rachel Koeniger: Did I ask you what your first memory of Brownsburg was, or did you tell me? Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: You told me that. I'm getting sort of out of order here. Can you tell me a little bit about the town of Brownsburg maybe from the first time you remember it, the stores and... Eva McManama: Well, the first time I was old enough to remember was when we lived here, and it was a store where the antique store is now. It was a farm store right across the street there where Dick Barnes lives [8 Hays Creek Road]. There was the bank, and there was a filling station. And there was a funeral home where John Layton Whitesell lives [2664 Brownsburg Turnpike], a blacksmith shop up to the corner [2610 Brownsburg Turnpike]. Rachel Koeniger: And where was the blacksmith shop? Eva McManama: The corner-- right up on the curve as you're going out of Brownsburg on your left there where that little house is [2610 Brownsburg Turnpike]. There used to be a blacksmith shop. It's tore down now. The cars are all parked in where it used to be. A fellow-- Potter used to have the blacksmith shop there. Rachel Koeniger: You were talking about your mother having to go to the doctor and have her hand... Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. That was back when I was very young, and it just-- I couldn't tell you about the stores at all because, you know, I was watching a horse and I was paying attention to him and not paying attention, but right across where the post office is there was another section of house there and a porch [2741 Brownsburg Turnpike]. And the porch was right along the street and I was parked right in front of that. I knew the store was next above that. And I couldn't think when I was reading that exactly where the post office was, but I know later it was at John Layton's store, Whitesell's store [2664 Brownsburg Turnpike]. Rachel Koeniger: Well, who are the doctors that you remember in Brownsburg? Eva McManama: I remember Dr. [Joseph] Williams and the other one. What is his name? I can't think. Dr. Williams delivered Linda and the other one delivered Wayne. I can't think of his name, but it's the last one we had here in Brownsburg [Dr. Taylor]. Rachel Koeniger: And were they born at home or were you in the hospital? Eva McManama: Huh? Rachel Koeniger: Were your children born at home? Eva McManama: Linda was born in the hospital, but Wayne was born at home. Rachel Koeniger: When you were out on the farm? Eva McManama: No, out on Goose Creek. Rachel Koeniger: Goose Creek. Eva McManama: Yeah. He was born on his dad's birthday, August the 23rd. Rachel Koeniger: That's a good birthday present. Eva McManama: Yeah. That's what the doctor-- he tried to go find him. It was Taylor, I believe. And he come back and he says, "I can't find him anywhere. Rachel Koeniger: Where was he? Eva McManama: I don't know where he was at that time. We went to find him. He said he called and called. He didn't answer him. And then Linda and I was talking not long ago, and I said, "I don't know where he disappeared to." But the lady that was staying to take care of Linda and help didn't know anything much about milk, how to take care of it, churn, and if I could be there to tell her things. And he said, "Yeah, we can do that." He said, "If you call, and I'm not at home keep calling." At that time the telephone office was over the bank here [2711 Brownsburg Turnpike], and you called her, Mrs. [Ocie] Supinger, and she said, "I'll find him," and she kept on. She called me back, "I got a holt of him. He's at the hospital. He's on his way." Yeah. She knew what was going on. That was the first telephone office. Rachel Koeniger: So did you all always have a telephone? Eva McManama: We didn't have one until we moved in here. I've still got the telephone on the wall there, the same when we moved here. Rachel Koeniger: The original phone. Eva McManama: Uh-huh, the original phone. I told Wayne I'll leave it to him and he can wire it up. Rachel Koeniger: Now what year was that? Eva McManama: Linda was-- she must have been about two years old at that time. We was at Goose Creek about five years, and she was two at the time we moved. So the phone was a lot of help. But when they'd have a bad storm and lightning we stayed away from it. It would spit fire out the speaker. Rachel Koeniger: Would it spark? Eva McManama: Yeah. You didn't get near it. Rachel Koeniger: What about electricity? Do you always remember having electricity? Eva McManama: When we bought the little farm on Goose Creek it was a log house, and they had Delco batteries out in the wash house which you charged up, and that gave you light. But you couldn't have a refrigerator hooked to that, but we had lights. But then when they put the electricity through you had to sign up for it. If you didn't sign up for it as it went it would cost you a lot more later. Rachel Koeniger: To be connected. Eva McManama: Yeah, and a neighbor didn't want to do that. And Homer went and talked to him. He said, "You better do it while they're going. It'll cost you less money now than it will later," so he did have it put in. So that was big-- then we could get a refrigerator. Rachel Koeniger: So you had, I guess, just an icebox or something you used? Eva McManama: We had the spring house. There was a wash house, and the water came in from the spring through that and down and run into a big trough raised up that high and that water was really cold. It would keep stuff. Anything left over you'd put in the crock and put a lid on it and a rock so it wouldn't upset, and it would keep. Rachel Koeniger: Even in the summer. Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. It was good and cold, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember anything about the cannery in Brownsburg? Eva McManama: I knew it used to be down on what-- it took over the colored school, and it was down in that little area from Janis Ayres' there, but I never went there to can anything. I had a canner and I did my own at home. Rachel Koeniger: Just did it at home. Do you have any memories of any individuals or people that stand out in your memory from Brownsburg, any characters or somebody that you remember? Eva McManama: Well, I know Homer's dad when a lot of things went on in Brownsburg he could tell you about them. If he was here he could give you a hint. The shooting that they had at the school house and all, he was there when that happened. And he could tell you... Rachel Koeniger: Oh, really? He was there? Eva McManama: Yeah, uh-huh, but I don't remember all the details now, but I know they used to have a lot of fights in Brownsburg. There was a place for young guys to meet and they'd get in fights. And it must have been kind of rowdy in those days. Rachel Koeniger: It sounds like it. I've heard stories. Do you ever remember going like on Saturday nights, or something you did? Eva McManama: No. Never went to the store. I always made a list and Homer would take it. He would go after dinner in the evenings and take the list and go to Supinger's store, and he'd give him the list and he'd fill it. Say, "Okay, Homer, are you ready?" Rachel Koeniger: So he shopped at Supinger's. Eva McManama: Yeah, uh-huh. That way I was home with the kids, and I never went grocery shopping. He took the list and if he had it I got it. Rachel Koeniger: Well, good. Eva McManama: Yeah. Rachel Koeniger: And what sort of merchandise did they sell there? Was it mainly groceries or did they have other things? Eva McManama: It was mainly groceries, and bananas, and potatoes, onions, all that. No fresh fruits of any kind, uh-uh. Rachel Koeniger: Did you all go to Lexington or Staunton to do shopping? Eva McManama: Yeah, when we had to shop or get clothes or anything we did. And then we'd go in some of the stores there and get things we couldn't get here. Yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Were you in-- you lived in Brownsburg during the Depression. Do you remember anything about those years, or did you live in Brownsburg during the Depression? Eva McManama: Well, I guess it's about the time that mom, you know, got the job. Rachel Koeniger: About the time you moved here. Eva McManama: Uh-huh, to help to make a living. It was just hard. Daddy had been sick for a long time. He was in the hospital for six weeks before he passed away and mom stayed with him. She came down two nights on the train. That's when we lived at Decatur for a couple years. And the rest of the time I was doing the work at home. I was getting up at 4:00 in the morning getting breakfast and getting my two brothers off to work and packing their lunches, our lunches to walk to Broadview School. And we had a long ways to walk to school. I wanted to finish out that year so I wouldn't fail. And I had a cow to milk in the mornings, and my brother would feed the chickens and carry water. I did the washing on a wash board and cooked, kept the house clean. Rachel Koeniger: And was that year, the year you were at that school, was that year the fifth grade? Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: And you were at Brownsburg in the sixth grade. Eva McManama: Uh-huh, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: How old was your dad when he passed away? Eva McManama: You know. I really don't remember. He was a little older than my mom. It was his second marriage. He lost his wife in childbirth. And I had two half sisters. That's my dad and two half sisters up there. Rachel Koeniger: Oh. He's got a big mustache doesn't he? Eva McManama: Yeah, but that's the way they were in those days, a little tie. I thought the belt was unusual. One of those is Annie and one's Beulah. Annie lived in Buena Vista and she was more like a full sister because she came to see her dad regular. And Beulah, the one on this side, lived in Roanoke. And we only saw her about once a year. Rachel Koeniger: Didn't see her very often. Eva McManama: Uh-uh. Rachel Koeniger: Can you tell me anything about Brownsburg during World War II? Eva McManama: World War II my brother Bob was in that war. He was in service before it broke out. He served under General Patton Third Armored Division. And he was in the tank. And they would give them so many days in the tank and then they'd take them out and give them something else, sort of, you know, a change. And he was delivering messages from front to back on a motorcycle when a shell came over and blew him and the motorcycle up and broke his leg. And he was sent back then down south where he was shipped from. And mom was really worried when she hadn't heard from him, but she did hear. Rachel Koeniger: That was hard. Eva McManama: But he come back he was not the same. He was a nervous wreck. When they had the fair at Staunton and they put off fireworks, she said he walked around the garden and wrung his hands and cried. That's just how that... Rachel Koeniger: That's sad. Eva McManama: See, those boys needed help then, and they didn't get it. Rachel Koeniger: I think it's taken them a while to realize that. Eva McManama: It took this war for them to realize that depression. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. Eva McManama: They didn't call him because he was farming and in timber and they needed both. Rachel Koeniger: This is Homer you're talking about so he didn't have to serve. Eva McManama: He didn't have to serve. He helped work with his dad in timber and plus he farmed. And one of the Shell boys, they used to live in a house right down over from where Pat Patterson lives [3334 Brownsburg Turnpike]. That house has been tore down. They had a big family of boys, and one of the boys came and lived with us and run the farm while he worked in timber. And so he wasn't called, but he had three nephews that was in service. Two was in Navy and one was in Seabees. He wanted in the Navy, but he couldn't tell the difference in colors. It's something about... Rachel Koeniger: Colorblind. Eva McManama: Yeah, and so they wouldn't take him into the Navy. But Cecil, when we went to housekeeping, Cecil, his oldest nephew, went with us. He lived with us, finished his school and worked in Waynesboro until the war came along, and he went into the Navy. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember anything about rationing or how that affected your lives? Eva McManama: Oh, yeah. That did us. You could only get gas at certain times, and I know we went to Hawaii [?] that year. We had to set it at a time we could get gas to go to Washington to the airport, and at a time we could come back and get gas to come home. So it affects you, your going. Rachel Koeniger: So you went to Hawaii [?] during the war? You went out there? Eva McManama: It was during the rationing time that we went, but that was after the war. That was still rationed after the war, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember anything about air raid drills, or sirens or signals or anything like that? Eva McManama: Yeah. They did have a time that you should cover your windows and things, you know, to get used to doing that. Yeah. Rachel Koeniger: So how did they tell you to do that? Would they just tell you that it's going to be such and such a day? Eva McManama: Yeah. At times that they needed to do it. Yeah. Rachel Koeniger: I see. What about the roads? Were they mostly gravel or dirt roads? Eva McManama: The back roads were mostly gravel, yeah. And that's improved over the years. A lot of the roads I never thought would ever be hard surfaced are now. Yeah. Rachel Koeniger: I guess this road, I guess... Eva McManama: This road, I guess, was hard surfaced, oh after that too. Rachel Koeniger: You talked about the post office and the telephone company. I don't guess you ever worked at any of the businesses. Eva McManama: No. I always worked at home. Rachel Koeniger: Had more than you could handle. Eva McManama: On the farm it was three big meals a day. There was breakfast, dinner and supper. That was the farm. Now-a-days it's changed from breakfast to lunch and dinner. Rachel Koeniger: So dinner's the big meal now. Eva McManama: Yeah, but on farming it's different. Farmers had to be fed good. Rachel Koeniger: Okay. Why don't you-- I think that's always been interesting. Why don't you just, if you can, just tell me a little bit a typical day on the farm. Eva McManama: Well, a typical day was getting up a six in the morning and I never got to bed until 11 at night. Rachel Koeniger: So you stayed up. Eva McManama: So yeah. You had-- I had a big house to take care of, seven rooms, and two children to look after. I had a cow to milk twice a day. I made yeast bread twice a week. We butchered our own hogs, and we would butcher beef. We had our garden so I had canning to do. I did the mowing the yard because he had so much work to do, he just didn’t have time to do it. I liked to get out and mow. Rachel Koeniger: So you’ve always mowed? Eva McManama: I’ve always mowed. But then in those days it was a push mower. Yeah, you followed it but I still liked to do that, so you didn’t have idle time. Rachel Koeniger: How early would Homer get up and get going? Eva McManama: He got up at six. He was doing his feeding; in the winter time at seven in the morning. He was up early. Rachel Koeniger: Did he eat breakfast? Eva McManama: He always had breakfast. I got up and got breakfast and he ate his breakfast and shaved and washed up and he was ready to go. When he was putting up hay and crops in the summer, you looked for him when you saw him coming for dinner in the evening because they worked until late and if it was calling for rain, they wanted to get the hay in. Rachel Koeniger: His supper, would that be what was left over from lunch? Eva McManama: Yeah, and you might have to add a little something to it. But you cooked enough that you had enough left, add a little something more for the dinner. Rachel Koeniger: Give me an example of a mid-day meal you prepared for him? Eva McManama: You always had your meat, whatever, your potatoes, your beans. Your vegetables could vary from limas to peas or corn and tomatoes. I always made cottage cheese, huge big bowl of cottage cheese with pure cream in it. Rachel Koeniger: You made that yourself? Eva McManama: I did. You’d set it on the back of your stove, your gallon crock, covered, and it would clot to the point it would get gather and then you’d pour it in a sieve and just let it drip. Then you poured it out of that into a bowl and put pure cream in it, add salt and pepper. The men, when they were working and putting up hay or something, they could eat a whole huge big bowl of cottage cheese. And rolls, I’d make a huge pan for four of them. Rachel Koeniger: What about desserts? Eva McManama: Made cakes or pies. Rachel Koeniger: You had dessert at every meal? Eva McManama: Most of the time for the evening meal. I remember David Michael one time came. He had a machine that would thrash wheat; he came and did that. The men that were sacking it as it came out and loading it on the trucks, they came in and I said “Where is David?” He said “He’s going to go another round to fill this thing. Then we’ll go back and undo that and then he’s coming in for dinner.” I had to fix a beef roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, sliced tomatoes, cottage cheese. I baked a cake and made a freezer of ice cream. When he came in I was warming things for him and he said “Did they leave me anything?” I said “Yes, I’ve just warmed it up.” That was the most food I ever saw on a table in my life. Rachel Koeniger: It’s more than I fix. Eva McManama: They always had pie or cake for dessert. Rachel Koeniger: Did your children help? Eva McManama: Yes, when they got older Wayne took over the job for milking. Linda, when she was old enough, she had a wagon. She would load up two five-gallon buckets of coal and pull it on the porch. We went from wood to coal and Homer could go to West Virginia and get a load of coal that lasted us all winter. Rachel Koeniger: Did you have coal stoves? Eva McManama: We had it in the dining room and it heated the kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom. That thing weighed about a ton. You couldn’t move it. Two people couldn’t move it, it was so heavy. We had a fan that came with it. You set it on the top and it blew the hot air out. We had ventilators in the two bedrooms above. The hot air would go up and knock the chill off your bedrooms. Rachel Koeniger: You really didn’t have duct-- Eva McManama: No, there was no basement under that house at all. Before, it was a wood stove. When we first went down there, we had a range and then we changed it to an electrical stove so we had to have something that would put out heat. Rachel Koeniger: When you preserved your garden vegetables, did you mainly can? Eva McManama: I would freeze some and can some. I canned the green beans. I canned tomatoes. But peas and corn, I always froze. I believe we grew the biggest sweet potatoes in that garden down there and it was , sweet potatoes so good . I always had to go lead the horse when it was working because the horse liked to the corn. So I had to lead him and keep his head up so he wouldn’t bite at all. We finally got a tiller. We didn’t have to use the horse for the garden. Rachel Koeniger: So he used the horse even after he had tractors to work the garden. Eva McManama: Rachel Koeniger: How many horses did you have? Eva McManama: He had two horses, big horses. And he always put them in the barn at night and fastened them up. When they were working, he fed them grain and hay and they were always fat and big. He had a riding horse he used to check on cattle with. Rachel Koeniger: Tell me about the ponies that he raised. Eva McManama: He went to the market to buy one horse, a pony for the grandkids. He came back and he had three. He had a pony and he had bought a young mare, it was a small horse and her colt. He said it was going for a little bit of nothing. He thought he could break her and use her for checking cattle. But she was a stubborn thing. He couldn’t do it. Rachel Koeniger: It didn’t work out. Eva McManama: No, it didn’t work out. He had to sell her and sell the colt. He raised a for the grandchildren. She was a black one and she had been taken to carnivals and things for riding the kids in a circle and when they got on to ride, she . It took a long time to break her. I said keep her out from under the trees or she’ll brush you off. Rachel Koeniger: She was in the habit of doing the circle. Eva McManama: Another year, my daughter and I built her a house. She and the girls came up here and Dale [Jones] stayed with his Dad so he could keep an eye on things. After they got it up, ready to paint the rooms, she’d go down and paint during the day, and I took care of the kids. Then he’d come up on Friday evenings, stay, and go back to work on Monday morning until they got their house built. They would ride it. I said “It’s getting hot out there. It’s the middle of the day. Rosie needs to be put in the barnyard until late evening. She needs a rest and you all need to come in, get a shower and rest.” But they had a big time riding her. I know Karen took the saddle off and she was riding bareback and I said “You’re not supposed to do that.” “But it’s fun!” I said “When you come in, turn around and look at your backside...” She had colt hair all over her legs and her clothes and I said “That’s why you don’t ride her bareback.” Rachel Koeniger: Tell me about your neighbors. Eva McManama: We had Theta and Ralph Armentrout over here. They were great neighbors, great people. They didn’t have any children but his garden was great. Rachel Koeniger: What house did they live in? Eva McManama: Right across the road here [2597 Sterrett Road]. He would share things he could grow that we couldn’t get to grow in ours. They were really good neighbors if you needed one. The neighbors here, [Roger and Sharyn Billings] I never got to know them until I guess about the time Homer got sick because they were out working and gone and you didn’t see them. Then after Homer died and I was moving, he would throw up his hand he was mowing and he told me “Any time I can help you in any way, don’t hesitate to call.” So she finally gave me her telephone number. My phone was out for three days. Susie called and she called in it but they didn’t come and check it. So I went out and stopped him, asked him if they would call in and I said “My phone is out.” It’s not my phone; it’s the line. He said “I’ll go and get my wife to call.” She came over then and talked to me and told me she called. That was the second call. She said “I called yesterday and they didn’t come. I noticed they didn’t come so I called again this morning and told them it was the outside line.” They did come right away. She gave me her name and telephone number, “If we can be of any help, don’t hesitate to call us.” They’d been nice. I’ve never had any problems with the colored people at all. Rachel Koeniger: You don’t know any of the others? Eva McManama: There used to be a colored fellow when we were at the farm. I think it’s Zack Franklin maybe was his name. Homer used to call on him if he had trouble with the cows and he finally told him “Mr. Homer, I’m going to have to teach you how to do this because I’m not going to be around forever.” He taught him how if the calf was coming backwards, what to do if he needed to take one, what to do. Rachel Koeniger: So he was sort of the-- Eva McManama: Like a veterinarian, yes. He helped the farmers out, he really did. So Homer was able to help others out. Rachel Koeniger: Where did he live? Eva McManama: He lived in this little house out here as you’re going to church, right below Ann Beard [3745 Brownsburg Turnpike]. That was years ago. Rachel Koeniger: It was good to have somebody to take care of-- Eva McManama: Other people depended on Homer to come help them when they had a problem. Rachel Koeniger: After he learned. Eva McManama: Yes. That’s like the Sunday school teachers said the Sunday before last. He was late coming. “I had trouble with the calf coming backwards.” If you’re not there, you’re going to lose both of them. Rachel Koeniger: Tell me about Christmas when you were small. Eva McManama: Christmas when we were small was not like Christmas today. It was I think more or less another day. We had a good dinner but I can’t remember any Christmas tree or anything. My half sister from Buena Vista always came and she brought oranges and bananas and fruit, candy. That’s the only time we ever got any candy. Rachel Koeniger: That was a special time. Eva McManama: Yeah, that was special. We always had everything we needed, clothes to wear and food. We didn’t go hungry or anything. But that was at Depression time and people didn’t make that much money in those days. Rachel Koeniger: What about after you married? What about Christmas then? Eva McManama: Yeah, we had Christmas. His parents, we lived there for a year with them until we went to housekeeping. It was better in those days. We got a little something for everybody. Rachel Koeniger: Did you have a tree? Eva McManama: Yeah, they had a little tree so it changed. To me, Christmas is a time for family. I still put up my decorations like I did when I was younger. _________________________________ didn’t even put up her little tree. She said it’s too much trouble and I’m concerned about her really. I put up my tree. My granddaughters put the lights on the outside. I didn’t do that. They did that Thanksgiving evening. I went out to see them, what they looked like. They were pretty. Rachel Koeniger: Do you have any Revolutionary War soldiers or Civil War soldiers in your family? Eva McManama: My parents went back on the Fitzgerald’s and McManama’s. And _________________________________ people were in that war but that was before my time. Rachel Koeniger: You don’t remember them and don’t know them? Eva McManama: No. There was a hint that Dad could be called but Dad was sick and he wouldn’t have been able to serve. Rachel Koeniger: Did you take care of a lot of the problems you had with home remedies and cures? Eva McManama: In the spring, we would dig up sassafras roots and made tea. It was supposed to be cleansing your body, everything that your body needed to be cleaned out. It was really tasty. It was sort of a reddish color but it tasted really great. I wouldn’t know what to go looking for but it was good. She always did it in the spring and everybody drank sassafras tea. That was the time to do it and it was cleansing to the body. Rachel Koeniger: You really didn’t see the doctor unless you had something serious. Eva McManama: No. The only time I ever saw the doctor was when I was young. I got into poison oak. My sister and my aunt were going fishing down the river. I wanted to go along as a kid and mom said “I think you’d best stay at home.” She said “Oh, Luly, let her go. I’ll look after her.” “Are you sure, Sophie?” “Yeah, I will.” So I went along. I didn’t know what poison oak looked like and I pulled it off the rocks and all. my face and my eyes swelled shut. So she said “Okay, we’ll have to take you to the doctor and get a shot.” They took me to Fairfield to a doctor. For about a week, my mom said “Okay, Sophie, you were watching her. You can feed her now.” She said “Okay, I’ll feed her.” They had to feed me because I couldn’t see anything. Sophie was Dad’s sister. She didn’t marry until late in years. She didn’t have any children. He had a brother that went away to get work before they left the mountain and they never heard from him. They don’t know what ever happened to him. That’s sad when you don’t know what happens to somebody. He thought something happened to him on the way. Somebody killed him or something happened, but they never heard. Rachel Koeniger: Is there anything else you remember that you’d like to share with us? Eva McManama: The only thing I can say right now with me, I enjoy having my family home. They still come home for Christmas. They come home for Thanksgiving. They always come home Easter Sunday. They come to my church on Easter Sunday and home. To me, family’s important. You need to be there for one another. Whoever’s hurting or having problems, the rest of us need to be there, so that’s just the way I brought up my children, to be there for one another. Rachel Koeniger: They grew up in Brownsburg? Eva McManama: Yes, they did. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember anything about the time they were growing up? Eva McManama: In grade school, Wayne was good in math. He’d come home with his report card and in math. I’d say “Wayne, what’s wrong?” “Mom, I do everything and my papers, I have good grades on my papers. I don’t know what’s going on.” So Linda said something to Joan Woody on the school bus about his card. He said “I know what’s going on.” She said “You do? What?” He said “The teacher is running out of time. I don’t have time to do the assignments for math at home and there’s five of us in her history class and she gives it to us then.” The rest of them were getting zeros because they didn’t have the assignment. So I said “Wayne, I’m not signing the report card. I’m taking it in to the principal tomorrow.” “You are?” I said yeah. Homer said “You’d better not do that.” I said “Well, I hear she’s going to the new school, ____________________________ Middle school now. It’s the time to stop it.” “That’s not the way to do it.” So I went in and she was in the office when I went in. She shot out of there like a gun. I waited for the principal. He went to pick up some children and he hadn’t come. I had to go home in time to cook lunch for them. I told her “I’ve got to go. I’ll just have to call and talk to him on the phone.” I met him going down the hall. I stopped him and I said “I’ve been waiting on you. I want to show you my son’s report card.” He looked at it and said “Oh, he’s dropped way down on his math.” Then I went on to tell him what was going on. I said “Don’t bring the other person into it, Joan Woody. Don’t mention her name because she’ll give her trouble.” “Well I’ll keep her out if I can.” When I left, Wayne said the secretary came through the door and said “The principal wants to see you,” and she excused herself. When she came back, boy was she mad. She said “I just got a notion to call your mother.” He said “Go right ahead. She’d be glad to talk to you.” Then she jumped on Joan and she gave them both a hard time for awhile. I said “If she keeps it up, let me know. I’ll go back again.” . About that time, my phone got to ringing about three o’clock in the evening, every evening. I’d answer it, nobody was there. It was every evening for awhile. I had to decide what I was going to do. I was getting mad about that time. I went and I answered it and nobody’s there. I said “Operator, did you hear that?” and that phone went out. Never rang any more. Operator wasn’t on the line at all but that stopped it. I had a feeling it was her. She could have called and made herself known. I’d have been glad to talk to her. I would have told her “I didn’t do any more than you would have done if it were your child.” She would have failed him on math if I didn’t hadn’t stopped her. He’s good in math. Rachel Koeniger: You take care of your kids, don’t you? Eva McManama: Oh, yeah. Rachel Koeniger: Do you remember anything about the mills or anything when you were little? Eva McManama: I never was in the mills much. There used to be one down below you. Harold Wade used to have a mill there but I was never in it. Homer would go for the flour. He would take . He was a good neighbor. Then when we moved up over here before I was married, Wade’s Mill was out here. Rachel Koeniger: But you don’t know anything-- Eva McManama: I know one time Mom went by the mill and told him we needed some flour. He delivered it. He brought flour and I made bread the next evening. I said “Mom, there’s something wrong with this flour.” It was really dark. I showed her and she said “I want a piece of that and I’ll take it by the mill in the morning.” So she took it by and talked to him. She said “I may work for your wife and I’m working for a living and my money is as good as the next fellow’s. I don’t want bread like this. You can pick that up and bring me some right flour.” He did. When Mom went in saw Mom go into the mill, she left and went to the mill. So I expect she gave her a husband down the road. But he came and picked that up and brought flour because it was really dark. Rachel Koeniger: I wonder what was wrong with it. Eva McManama: I don’t know whether it got wet after the wheat was gathered or what but it was just really dark. Flour’s supposed to be white but when it came out as bread, it was dark. Rachel Koeniger: How did your mom get to work? Eva McManama: She walked. My brother used to work for a fellow right down below the mill when we lived up there and that wasn’t very far to walk. Rachel Koeniger: How far did she have to walk? Eva McManama: Same distance he did. Those days, when we lived at Timber Ridge, that’s how you got anywhere, was walking. We used to walk, the neighbor girl, Margaret Walters and I, we walked over on the railroad track down to what used to be called __________________________________ and there was a family that lived there, Cassius, and we’d walk down there to play with their gals. We walked back and thought nothing of it. Rachel Koeniger: How far would that be? Eva McManama: We would go down the railroad track and come back and ________________________ would come by and flags and stuff, you’d come out there. We’d come out there and hit eleven and come up and go into Timber Ridge. So that’s a long way we’d walk to go play. That’s what you did. Rachel Koeniger: It was the only way to do it, wasn’t it? Eva McManama: Yeah. Everybody walked. That’s why we had no way to get to Sunday school and church because we’d have to come from over this side and it was clear over on the other side and over on eleven. Rachel Koeniger: You told me Homer was the youngest elder at New Providence, is that right? Eva McManama: Yes. When he was running a sawmill just down off of the road where you get to turn to your house, he had a sawmill down there. Dr. Hutcheson came to talk to him and he wanted him to accept to be an elder in the church. He said “I don’t know whether I’m good enough to be an elder in the church.” He said “Well, Homer, if we waited until we’re good enough, we wouldn’t have one. What you do, you accept and you become the best elder there is. That’s what it’s all about.” He said “I can do that.” So he would take him to meetings at Presbytery. He introduced him as his youngest elder in the church. Rachel Koeniger: How old was he? Eva McManama: That was when the kids were-- I don’t know. I can’t think right off right now. Rachel Koeniger: In his 20s? Eva McManama: No, he was older than in his 20s but probably early 30s or something like that. I’m just guessing. Rachel Koeniger: Where was his sawmill? Eva McManama: Just before you cross the bridge to go up to Fred’s. Right in there, there was a cleared spot and he had a sawmill there. He sawed for farmers. They would bring their logs in and they’d just dump them. He’d go and get upset. I said “Homer, put up a sign ‘No sawing in the summer’ when you’re busy. Do it in the fall and the winter. That way, if they put them there, they’re going to have to wait because you can’t saw and run the farm, too.” Rachel Koeniger: Was that on the left-- Eva McManama: That was on the left going down before you turn. He had a little storage building there and a sawmill there. When he sold his sawmill, “Homer, what in the world are the rest of us farmers going to do?” He said “I sold it to a fellow over on the creek. You just take them a little farther.” He did, he sold it to someone over on the creek. Rachel Koeniger: Did he do this by himself? Eva McManama: Bob Rich used to help him. Pam and John Strickland [ph] had worked for him, the three of them. Rachel Koeniger: Did he own that land? Eva McManama: No. I don’t know whether he rented it or what. I don’t know who so he didn’t own that little piece. I don’t know whether that was included Jen Heffelfinger’s property [Level Loop]. I don’t know. I know that’s where he had the sawmill for farmers. Rachel Koeniger: How long did he have that, do you remember? Eva McManama: He had it I’d say three or four years. He just got so busy he didn’t have time to saw in the summer. Rachel Koeniger: He did a lot of things, didn’t he? Eva McManama: Yeah. He first started out in timber. He used to have a fellow that did the sawing. He did the hauling and all. He wouldn’t turn up on Monday mornings. He had a hangover. He asked him to teach him how to saw and that’s when he started sawing himself. Rachel Koeniger: How did he haul it? Did he have a big truck or something? Eva McManama: When he sawed there, everybody came and hauled their own way, they’d come and get it as soon as it was sawed. But he had a truck, like a stock truck. He back bed came out and you could haul in it, take off the side beds to haul stuff on. He used to haul lumber to Christian. That’s back in Staunton, back in there, and haul it down there to the railroad. They had a big place there where you could take your lumber in and unload it. It was put on the train, I guess. Rachel Koeniger: Did you make your clothes? Eva McManama: We’d go to town and buy clothes, but I did some sewing for Linda when she was in school. Rachel Koeniger: So there was nothing like that in Brownsburg? Eva McManama: Nobody was sewing at that time in Brownsburg at all. My mom used to sew and make clothes for me. I don’t know how she had the time to do it, but she did. There was a lady, she had a and couldn’t sew a stitch. She’d always come to her and have her make a couple dresses for the girls. Rachel Koeniger: Did you ever visit at Camp Briar Hills? Eva McManama: Yeah. I sometimes walked down the creek and walked home with Mom. Rachel Koeniger: Is there anything about it you can remember? Eva McManama: Well, the East [George East] boy that got killed during the war that used to live down there, he was up at the camp one year as a counselor. With a pencil, he did a drawing of a building as you first came in. It was like a little waiting room like thing and he did it outside that. I’ve got that and I’ve got to hunt it down because I thought they’d be interested in that to frame it. With the mill, I found an article about the Bates Mill in the magazine and I took it out. I put it away. I’ll have to hunt them down together. I thought that could go along underneath the picture. They could frame that. But the picture I have is framed. It’s a good picture. Rachel Koeniger: Was it just boys? Eva McManama: Boys. Rachel Koeniger: How many did they have? Eva McManama: I can’t remember now. I know they had a log house that had two stories and that’s where the guys were. And then they had a new building they built in back of the kitchen and that was for boys. And the ladies that would come, they had a room up over the kitchen and dining room. That’s where they slept. It was just like a summer camp type thing. Rachel Koeniger: Was your mother the only one who helped cook? Eva McManama: She was the only one that did the cooking and made the rolls but the colored guys would wash the fruit, snap the beans, peel the potatoes. She cooked them, fixed them ready to serve and they served it. They fed a lot of people. Mrs. McLaughlin, the mother, Dr. [Henry] McLaughlin’s wife, she was a really nice lady. Mom one time said that she said “Well, I wish I had some home made butter for these rolls. They’re looking good.” And she said “Well, my daughter’s supposed to churn today.” She sent two guys up there for butter. I said “Well, I haven’t got it done yet.” “We don’t mind. We’ll wait in the car.” I said “That’s going to take a little while.” “That’s all right.” So I churned. You have to wash it and get the milk out of it and work it out. I said “It’s going to be soft.” “That doesn’t make any difference because we’re going to eat it on the hot rolls.” So I had to put it on the plate and then Mom brought the plates home because when I turned it out of the churner, it’s still soft and they said it doesn’t make any difference. He can hold them on his lap. I told Mom “Don’t ever tell her I’m going to churn until I’ve churned.” They wanted that home-made butter and it was just golden yellow. Rachel Koeniger: It tasted good. Eva McManama: Oh, yeah. I get butter down at Stuart’s Draft at the Cheese Shop and that tastes like real butter. It’s made out of big long thing and wrapped in white paper. You can just keep it in the refrigerator and it stays hard. It’s real butter. Rachel Koeniger: Tell me about using a wash board. Eva McManama: Laundry day, you sorted your clothes and you heated your water outside in a big iron pot. You carried it in and if you had a machine, you put it in a machine. Laundry day on the farm was better because I had a washing machine. But on the board, you put your water in your tub and your board in. You had to stand with the board against your stomach and you rubbed your clothes on the board and you turn them and you rub them. I don’t know how I ever got the big things washed when I was younger but I did. Then you had to wring them out, put them in your tub and rinse them, wring them out again and hang them on the line. I hung out clothes when they would _________________________ before you got the pins in. Rachel Koeniger: I guess it did take all day, didn’t it? Eva McManama: Yes, it would take all day to do it if you had a big family. Rachel Koeniger: Was your washing machine a regular washing machine? Eva McManama: Maytag. I could put it on the back porch when I didn’t need it and roll it into the kitchen over to the sink, which was close to your water. We had hot water and didn’t have to heat it outside. That made it a lot easier. Rachel Koeniger: Where would you have bought something like that? Did they sell stuff like that in Brownsburg? Eva McManama: No, you’d have to go to town to find that. And during the war, we were on a waiting list for a washing machine. That was a long list. We were saved on a list. I was pregnant at that time with Linda. After awhile, I couldn’t stand the pressure. My sister said “I’ll take them home and wash them for you.” She did. Rachel Koeniger: How long did it take for you to get it back? Eva McManama: After the war was over, it wasn’t too long before we were able to get one. Years rather than months because we were down on the line. Everything went toward . It went toward building supplies for the servicemen instead of making washing machines and refrigerators.