Interview with Lynda Dobbs

William H. Berge Oral History Center

Interview with Lynda Dobbs

January 27, 1981 (1981 OH 097)

Conducted by William H. Berge

Transcribed by Emma Roach-Barrette

WILLIAM BERGE: The following is an unrehearsed taped interview with Mrs. Lynda Dobbs of Sterns, Kentucky. The interview is conducted by William Berge for the Oral History Center at Eastern Kentucky University. The interview was conducted at the McCrery County Library in Whitely City, Kentucky on January 27, 1981 at 3:30pm.

WILLIAM BERGE: I want to thank you for letting me come down here today I know it's always a imposition to ask somebody for their time and I know you'd rather be working than doing this.

LYNDA DOBBS: I wouldn't mind I'm [unclear] can get.

WILLIAM BERGE: Let's start off by you telling me about yourself. Tell me your name and when you were born, and where you were born, and that type of thing.

LYNDA DOBBS: Okay, it's Lynda Dobbs.

WILLIAM BERGE: D-O-B-B-S?

LYNDA DOBBS: D-O-B-B-S. May the 4th 1950, Birmingham, Alabama.

WILLIAM BERGE: Birmingham, Alabama?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Sun of a gun. Tell me what was your father's name?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh Paul Fitzgerald.

WILLIAM BERGE: Paul Fitzgerald.

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm.

WILLIAM BERGE: And your mother?

LYNDA DOBBS: Gladys Coffey.

WILLIAM BERGE: Coffey? C-O-F-F-E-Y?

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: Now uh if your father's name was Fitzgerald how'd you get the name Dobbs?

LYNDA DOBBS: Coffey?

WILLIAM BERGE: No Dobbs.

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh, I got married.

WILLIAM BERGE: Oh you're married so you were a Fitzgerald.

LYNDA DOBBS: Well I lived with my grandparents.

WILLIAM BERGE: Oh.

LYNDA DOBBS: So I just kept their maid-, my mother's maiden name.

WILLIAM BERGE: What was that? Coffey?

LYNDA DOBBS: Coffey.

WILLIAM BERGE: Coffey. Alright uh where, where, where did you live with your grandparents?

LYNDA DOBBS: Kentucky.

WILLIAM BERGE: In, in this county? McCreary County?

LYNDA DOBBS: We first moved to Wayne County. I lived there for about a year and a half and then we moved to McCrery.

WILLIAM BERGE: What did your grandfather do in Wayne County?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh he was just retired.

WILLIAM BERGE: Oh he was, what was his name?

LYNDA DOBBS: Willie Coffey.

WILLIAM BERGE: W-I-L-L-I-E?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm.

WILLIAM BERGE: And your grandmother's name?

LYNDA DOBBS: Minnie.

WILLIAM BERGE: Minnie and Willie.

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: That's nice, sounds good. When they came to uh McCrery County, 2:00what part of the county did they come to?

LYNDA DOBBS: Um Rattle Snake Ridge.

WILLIAM BERGE: And that was in what year?

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh

WILLIAM BERGE: How old where you--

LYNDA DOBBS: 59 about 59.

WILLIAM BERGE: How old were you then?

LYNDA DOBBS: I was nine.

WILLIAM BERGE: So you remember coming to Rattle Snake Ridge?

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh yes.

WILLIAM BERGE: Does the name frighten you?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes the curves this hills the.

WILLIAM BERGE: How about the name Rattle Snake did that bother you?

LYNDA DOBBS: It scared me to death.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where did you live over there on the ridge?

LYNDA DOBBS: Cherokee. It's between Mountain View [unclear] Farm.

WILLIAM BERGE: How many people lived around you?

LYNDA DOBBS: Hmm maybe twenty-five families.

WILLIAM BERGE: It's starting to build up out there though.

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes it is.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where did you go to school?

LYNDA DOBBS: I began at Cherokee a one room school.

WILLIAM BERGE: Who was your teacher?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh Cecil Bell.

WILLIAM BERGE: Alright now when you came to Cherokee you went to a one room school, you hadn't been going to a one room school.

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

WILLIAM BERGE: What did you think of it when you got there?

LYNDA DOBBS: I hated it, I cried all the way to school the first day.

WILLIAM BERGE: How come?

LYNDA DOBBS: Because I didn't want to go down there.

WILLIAM BERGE: Does it just seem to backwards or something?

LYNDA DOBBS: Well I was used to a school that had a cafeteria; there I had to bag my lunch. You know that type of thing.

WILLIAM BERGE: How long did it take you to get to like it?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm it didn't take too long.

WILLIAM BERGE: What would you, how would you tell somebody about your experience in a one room school compared to your other school experiences?

LYNDA DOBBS: Once you got used to it was fun, the recess could linger if the teachers wanted to, you know? We could take the afternoon off, play games.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you learn much?

LYNDA DOBBS: Pardon?

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you learn much?

LYNDA DOBBS: I think so. Yes, cause like I think I was in the fourth grade when I started there. You could always if you were finished you could listen to her go through fifth and sixth grade. You know?

WILLIAM BERGE: How long did you stay in that school?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh through the sixth grade.

WILLIAM BERGE: Through the sixth, and then where did you go?

LYNDA DOBBS: Smithtown.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where's that?

LYNDA DOBBS: Smithtown, Kentucky.

WILLIAM BERGE: Yeah, but I mean where compared to say Cherokee.

LYNDA DOBBS: It's between Hilltop.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where that store is?

LYNDA DOBBS: Right, that's right. Let's see which store are you talking about now?

WILLIAM BERGE: the big store on top of the hill there.

LYNDA DOBBS: You talking about Newman Grocery, no its back uh It's close to where [unclear] Hilltop, Smithtown is.

WILLIAM BERGE: Okay, okay. Uh how did you go to school there, on a bus?

LYNDA DOBBS: Hmm. We came by bus.

WILLIAM BERGE: When you lived, uh when you first came to that part of the country over there was there mining any coal?

LYNDA DOBBS: They had a mine, but I don't really remember that much about the mines or anything like that. I know they had coal miner's that lived around us and everything, but.

WILLIAM BERGE: But you didn't know anybody that lived whose parents lived, do any of your friends uh?

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh yes my girlfriends dad was a miner.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where was the mine that he worked in? Do you know?

LYNDA DOBBS: He was at Co-Op down there; I don't remember the name of it though. 5:00Justice? No it wasn't justice.

WILLIAM BERGE: No.

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't remember the name of it. Sterns, it was a Sterns Company.

WILLIAM BERGE: how long was that mine that mine doesn't work anymore does it?

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't think so, I really don't know. No.

WILLIAM BERGE: Was there much of a town at Co-Op when you lived over there?

LYNDA DOBBS: There's more than there is now. Yes, there was there was people. You know the hoses that have been torn down now there was quite of few of them still down there. The company store was still there.

WILLIAM BERGE: Oh it was?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm..

WILLIAM BERGE: Do you remember that?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm..

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you ever go to one?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yeah.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you buy stuff there?

LYNDA DOBBS: Sure.

WILLIAM BERGE: With cash?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm..

WILLIAM BERGE: Were the people still using company script? Do you remember that?

LYNDA DOBBS: I never did use any but since yeah I've heard people talk about the script.

WILLIAM BERGE: But you don't remember anybody ever using any?

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

WILLIAM BERGE: But you, you did shop at the company store?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm..

WILLIAM BERGE: Was it a good store?

LYNDA DOBBS: It was yeah, it was just like any of the company stores I thought.

WILLIAM BERGE: How did it compare say the some of the privately owned stores 6:00around over in there?

LYNDA DOBBS: Um.

WILLIAM BERGE: Like tha-, like that Kid store at White Oak Junction was it a bigger store than that?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm it they had more space.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did they have more stuff in it?

LYNDA DOBBS: Why I just wanted to get candy I didn't care about anything else [laughing].

WILLIAM BERGE: What was your general impression of McCrery County compared to say where you lived before with your grandparents?

LYNDA DOBBS: Um it was smaller.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you, did you get to like it as well or do you, do you regret coming here?

LYNDA DOBBS: No I don't regret it. I like it.

WILLIAM BERGE: You do huh?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mhmm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Is your husband from here?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where's he from?

LYNDA DOBBS: Dobbstown.

WILLIAM BERGE: Oh, he's from Dobbstown huh? That's how you got that name.

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: And he's been around Co-Op about all his life?

LYNDA DOBBS: He has yes. He went to school there.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where do you live now?

LYNDA DOBBS: Cherokee.

WILLIAM BERGE: Right now? Oh you, are you from Cherokee.

LYNDA DOBBS: Your right. Moved right back where we were.

WILLIAM BERGE: Do you think you'll always stay there?

LYNDA DOBBS: No. I don't think I will.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why not?

LYNDA DOBBS: I'll probably move back closer to Whitely.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why?

LYNDA DOBBS: Because my children would rather be out here than be down there.

WILLIAM BERGE: Do you think it's better for the children to be closer to the town?

LYNDA DOBBS: It's got its advantages.

WILLIAM BERGE: Now you must think it has those advantages because you probably thought that you'd been better off living around town when you were young rather than.

LYNDA DOBBS:I liked it I mean you know I just grew up there it didn't bother me that much, but my kids have been like in Ohio so they were used to like shopping you know and that, going to the library in the afternoon if they want. It's kind of hard to drive out every afternoon just because they want to go to the library, you know it gets expensive.

WILLIAM BERGE: So you really uh think for, they'd be better off for a lot of 8:00reasons if you lived closer to town?

LYNDA DOBBS: I do.

WILLIAM BERGE: When you uh started to school at Smithtown, you were in like.

LYNDA DOBBS: Seventh.

WILLIAM BERGE: Seventh grade, and how many years did you go there?

LYNDA DOBBS: Two.

WILLIAM BERGE: And then you went to McCrery County high school?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you uh of your school experiences in in uh Wayne County and out of Cherokee, and Smithtown, and McCrery County high school where did you think you had the best experiences as far as education is concerned?

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh that's hard.

WILLIAM BERGE: Think about it a minute though. Where do you think you learned the most?

LYNDA DOBBS: I learned quite a bit at Cherokee, I thought.

WILLIAM BERGE: At the one room school?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: I've heard that before now from people down here.

LYNDA DOBBS: I really enjoyed school there.

WILLIAM BERGE: And you think you had as good a background as the other children when you went to Smithtown?

LYNDA DOBBS: Sure. I didn't think they ran better than I was.

WILLIAM BERGE: In other words you, you could read as well as they could, and all the business.

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: When you went to McCrery county high school you still lived back on the ridge, Rattle Snake Ridge?

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: And you rode to school every day on the bus, how long did that take you?

LYNDA DOBBS: We usually left around, well like right now my children leave about ten after seven and they go to Smithtown.

WILLIAM BERGE: And how long, what time they get there?

LYNDA DOBBS: Um I'd say around ten till eight.

WILLIAM BERGE: Was that about the same when you live there?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: And how long did it take to come into McCrery Count high school? 10:00Cause that was over here in Whitely City.

LYNDA DOBBS: It was just here in Whitely. It's not that much farther from town.

WILLIAM BERGE: Ten minutes?

LYNDA DOBBS: Ten minutes maybe.

WILLIAM BERGE: So you rode about an hour in the morning and an hour at night?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you get to do everything that other people did at McCrery County high school or because you rode the bus did you miss out on anything?

LYNDA DOBBS: We missed out on you know a lot.

WILLIAM BERGE: Like what?

LYNDA DOBBS: Well the ball games in the afternoon.

WILLIAM BERGE: Like in other words if there's a baseball game after school you went home on the bus?

LYNDA DOBBS: I went home.

WILLIAM BERGE: Basketball games at night did you ever come in for those?

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

WILLIAM BERGE: So you didn't go to those either?

LYNDA DOBBS: [unclear].

WILLIAM BERGE: What year did you finish in McCrery County high school?

LYNDA DOBBS: 68.

WILLIAM BERGE: You've, you've been out of school for twelve years.

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: And how old were you when you married.

LYNDA DOBBS: Um eighteen almost nineteen.

WILLIAM BERGE: And did you and your husband stay around here after you married?

LYNDA DOBBS: No we went to Indiana.

WILLIAM BERGE: So you stayed in Indiana and latter Ohio for how long?

LYNDA DOBBS: We moved back a year ago.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why?

LYNDA DOBBS: My mother was ill.

WILLIAM BERGE: Is that the only reason?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes I think it was?

WILLIAM BERGE: So you weren't one of those that all the time you're up there just waiting to get back or anything like that.

LYNDA DOBBS: No I can adjust I'm a person who can adjust, I can adapt pretty easy.

WILLIAM BERGE: I know that but if you had your brothers, I mean if your mother hadn't gotten ill would you have preferred to stay in Indiana or Ohio.

LYNDA DOBBS: I would've probably stayed in Ohio.

WILLIAM BERGE: You liked it better?

LYNDA DOBBS: No, No not that I like it any better it's just that we both had good jobs there. So I would have probably stayed with the concept of economy.

WILLIAM BERGE: Was your husband able to find a job back here when he came back?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh yes he went, he was in machining so he went to Tenseness as soon as we came back. Course he got laid of there a few months afterwards.

WILLIAM BERGE: Is he working now?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes, he's working on CW.

WILLIAM BERGE: So you were both better off in Ohio?

LYNDA DOBBS: Finically, yes.

WILLIAM BERGE: Do you think you're going to pick up and leave again?

LYNDA DOBBS: He really likes it here if he could find a job I, I would think not. If he found something that was really well you know.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why do you think men, or why do you think your husband likes it here better than you do? I think this fairly common [unclear].

LYNDA DOBBS: He likes to hunt, he like the outdoors. He likes the.

WILLIAM BERGE: That good old boy Kentucky stuff.

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: You can't get away with that in Ohio; you have to go to work and.

LYNDA DOBBS: You have to go to work.

WILLIAM BERGE: Go on strike and all that.

LYNDA DOBBS: The pace is faster up there and everything.

WILLIAM BERGE: Do you think the uh men quite often who go away tend to want to come back more than the women do? You have other friends here like.

LYNDA DOBBS: I think they do.

WILLIAM BERGE: Wonder why. I wonder why the women don't like to come back as 13:00much. Don't say it's because you don't hunt.

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh, I do.

WILLIAM BERGE: Then why if you're a hunter why don't you want to come back like he does? [laughing]

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't mind going hunting I just don't.

WILLIAM BERGE: I know.

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't like killing anything and cause I don't like eating that stuff.

WILLIAM BERGE: Uh-uh.

LYNDA DOBBS: But I go to get out.

WILLIAM BERGE: Well why, wonder what else there was about living in Ohio and Indiana that you liked better than this?

LYNDA DOBBS: The convinces.

WILLIAM BERGE: How many children do you have?

LYNDA DOBBS: Two.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where do you think they will have the best opportunity?

LYNDA DOBBS: My youngest one really likes it here, but I think my oldest one will go back to Ohio or somewhere like that.

WILLIAM BERGE: First time there's a job in, in Fisher Body or something like that he'll take off.

LYNDA DOBBS: It's a she.

UNKOWN INTERVIEWER: How old is you oldest?

LYNDA DOBBS: Eleven, well she will be in March.

WILLIAM BERGE: So she really longs, I mean she has a lot of friends and.

LYNDA DOBBS: She's been there ten years so to her its home.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where did you live in Ohio?

LYNDA DOBBS: Cincinnati.

WILLIAM BERGE: What did you think of city life?

LYNDA DOBBS: I liked it after I got use to it. It took a while to adjust, but I liked it okay.

WILLIAM BERGE: And everything in considered you would rather be there yourself I guess? Is that right or am I putting words in your mouth?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh I don't it, it's got its advantages and it's got is disadvantages the city life has.

WILLIAM BERGE: What are the advantages? I get, I keep hammering the same thing but[unclear].

LYNDA DOBBS: Well like I got, my youngest daughters got a hearing problem. The specialists were closer right now you've got to drive so far.

WILLIAM BERGE: In fact that corner of the county doesn't even have a hospital.

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: Okay.

LYNDA DOBBS: And the hospital like right there at your door. I like that, you know? When I lived here we didn't even have a library. The girls could walk half a black and they were at the library.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did your girls like the library?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: I wonder why.

LYNDA DOBBS: They like to read.

WILLIAM BERGE: Yes, but why do they some children don't. Did, did you influence them any or?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes, I think I did.

WILLIAM BERGE: I don't believe that hunter you married was the one that set them--

LYNDA DOBBS: [laughing] No.

WILLIAM BERGE: Well you did uh?

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you always like to read?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Who influenced you?

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't know, I guess I just it was something to do. You didn't have a lot to do at Cherokee so I liked to read.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did your grandmother read?

LYNDA DOBBS: No, I guess I was the only one who read a lot.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did they get a newspaper when you were young?

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

WILLIAM BERGE: So maybe you were really curious to read when you started school because they didn't have things to read at the house?

LYNDA DOBBS: It was something to do.

WILLIAM BERGE: Were you a good student?

LYNDA DOBBS: Fair.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did it ever, did you ever think about going to college?

LYNDA DOBBS: I considered it.

WILLIAM BERGE: And you decided to get married instead and go with hunter?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm, dumb [laughing].

WILLIAM BERGE: Have you ever regret not going? I don't mean, I don't mean.

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes.

WILLIAM BERGE: I don't mean for you to say you wished you hadn't gotten married 16:00or anything, but.

LYNDA DOBBS: I wished I had went on after I was married.

WILLIAM BERGE: Cause you could have, couldn't you?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Before you had your children.

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: You think if the situation had ever gotten so you could, you would still go?

LYNDA DOBBS: I probably would. I considered it.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why'd you get married so young?

LYNDA DOBBS: I really don't know.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you always think you'd get married young?

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

UNKOWN INTERVIWER: Did a lot of your friends?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes, they got married pretty young down in here.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why do you think they do? Cause they always did you know back in uh before your days for instance when those girls your age lived in Cooperative and Blue Heron, Yamacraw and those towns. Some of them married the first guys that came up the tracks.

UNKOWN INTERVIWER: Probably to get away from home.

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't know.

UNKOWN INTERVIWER: You left for Indiana right after you got married?

LYNDA DOBBS: My husband was working there he's older than I am.

WILLIAM BERGE: So he came back when you got married then you just went to Indiana. Tell me this uh did you notice when you were young, how many girls your within say two years of you lived near you out there on Rattle Snake Ridge?

LYNDA DOBBS: How many?

WILLIAM BERGE: Like how many girls approximately your age rode the school bus with you?

LYNDA DOBBS: Ten.

WILLIAM BERGE: So there were, there were a community of you anyway. Of those girls, those ten of you, how many got married young? By, I say before twenty?

LYNDA DOBBS: I'd say that most of them did.

WILLIAM BERGE: How many boys at your age lived out on that ridge? Road on the school bus with you?

LYNDA DOBBS: Eight to ten.

WILLIAM BERGE: Okay.

LYNDA DOBBS: That lived out of the community.

WILLIAM BERGE: What did they do? Did they get married young? Or did they go into the service? Or What did they do?

LYNDA DOBBS: A lot of them went away and got jobs.

WILLIAM BERGE: This was in the late 60s?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: That wasn't the time when people joined the service. Did any of them join the service?

LYNDA DOBBS: I can't remember if any of them did or not.

WILLIAM BERGE: But most of them did go away?

LYNDA DOBBS: I'd say 40, 50 percent of them at the least did.

WILLIAM BERGE: What do the ones that hang, stay around do?

LYNDA DOBBS: Nothing.

WILLIAM BERGE: Nothing?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: They're, they're just there? Is that right? Is that fairly common?

LYNDA DOBBS: I think it's worse now than it used to be.

WILLIAM BERGE: Lynda, uh tell me this when you were young and after you came to live out there in McCrery county around uh Rattle Snake Ridge did you come into town often?

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did your grandfather or grandmother come into town much?

LYNDA DOBBS: No, not very often.

WILLIAM BERGE: What are your first recollection of coming into town? Was it a big deal?

LYNDA DOBBS: I thought the Fourth of July was a big deal.

WILLIAM BERGE: What'd you do at the Fourth of July?

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh that's when the carnival came.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did, did you really look forward to that?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yeah.

WILLIAM BERGE: What'd you do at the carnival?

LYNDA DOBBS: Oh the usual things just ride the, you know [unclear] it was different you could see all these people you know. Cause everybody looked forward to it.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did your friends come in to, a lot of people? What did you do drive in?

LYNDA DOBBS: Right. We even come from Wayne County when we live when we lived up there. It's the first time I remember coming.

WILLIAM BERGE: To McCrery County?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: When uh you were young where did your grandmother do most of her shopping?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mostly at, at a little country store.

WILLIAM BERGE: Which one? At Co-Op?

LYNDA DOBBS: Well at the junction they call it Guy Kids.

WILLIAM BERGE: Oh yeah I know what that is.

LYNDA DOBBS: That one.

WILLIAM BERGE: That where she did most of her shopping?

LYNDA DOBBS: I'd say 85 percent of it.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did they have a pretty good selection of things like fresh 20:00vegetables and meat?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yeah, if you needed something they didn't have they could get it for you.

WILLIAM BERGE: They would, huh?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where'd you buy your clothes that you wore?

LYNDA DOBBS: Whitely mostly or make them.

WILLIAM BERGE: You came into town and bought them in Whitely City primarily. When you were young and living out there did you uh do much shopping for your grandmother or did she do it herself?

LYNDA DOBBS: I usually went with her.

WILLIAM BERGE: What did you do for fun? Like what did you do? Like when you come home from school what did you do?

LYNDA DOBBS: Well we usually had things to do first. We had our chores as they call it.

WILLIAM BERGE: What were your chores?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh we didn't have water in the house so we had to get the water in, the wood my grandmother cooked with a wood stove you know so that had to be brought in, uh feed the animals.

WILLIAM BERGE: What did they have? What kind of animals?

LYNDA DOBBS: They had chickens, pigs, horse, cow.

WILLIAM BERGE: Cow. Did your grandfather milk?

LYNDA DOBBS: No, my grandmother did.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where would your grandfather be? Watching your grandmother cooking milk? [laughing]

LYNDA DOBBS: Doubt that, he took care of the garden.

WILLIAM BERGE: Was he a hunter?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yeah if he got time, fish.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where did he fish?

LYNDA DOBBS: Different places I don't, well like Grancob, the Jumps, uh these little creeks back in here that I know.

WILLIAM BERGE: You say jumps you mean Double Jumps?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes, things like that. These little streams Rock Creek, Beaver Damn, places like that.

WILLIAM BERGE: If you would ever go back to say Ohio or Indiana or someplace like that would you think when you got to retirement age you might come back to here?

LYNDA DOBBS: Probably.

WILLIAM BERGE: I wonder why people do that.

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't know guess it's just the place to settle in, I don't know 22:00it's just.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why do you think they do though? You know people who have done this don't you?

LYNDA DOBBS: A lot, its well you can do all the things that you want here I guess.

WILLIAM BERGE: When you were little say when you were in little say in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade did you have television?

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't remember what year we got our TV, but I remember when we got it.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did that change your life much?

LYNDA DOBBS: I thought it was great.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you watch it a lot?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yeah after I got my homework just late in the evening.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did it come in good?

LYNDA DOBBS: Surprisingly it did.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you ever go to the movies?

LYNDA DOBBS: Once in a while.

WILLIAM BERGE: Where did you go to the movies?

LYNDA DOBBS: Sterns. I wasn't much for going out.

WILLIAM BERGE: But I mean when you were little did they ever take you to the movie or anything like that?

LYNDA DOBBS: Occasionally, I never asked to go.

WILLIAM BERGE: Years ago they use to have a movie down at the at Co-Op, but they 23:00didn't have it then?

LYNDA DOBBS: No they didn't have it then.

WILLIAM BERGE: I uh when I first came down to see you somebody had told me you had lived in Co-Op.

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

WILLIAM BERGE: And that's the main reason I, I had come, come to talk with you.

LYNDA DOBBS: Clinton has lived in Co-Op all his life though; I've heard him tell stories.

WILLIAM BERGE: What are some of the stories he's told you?

LYNDA DOBBS: Um.

WILLIAM BERGE: I'm guessing Clinton your husband?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm. He's talked about the school. He though it was the greatest, it better than Cherokee.

WILLIAM BERGE: Everybody liked that school at Co-Op didn't' they?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm. They thought it was just great. They'd like get out at and like at recess would swing on the vines and play in the water and all that stuff you know.

WILLIAM BERGE: When you went back, you'd go from where you live basically back to Bell Farm and you turn around at Bell Farm at the post office and come back towards town here instead of going to Co-Op you turn right went up there what was the town you came to there? What was the other town up in there?

LYNDA DOBBS: Say that again?

WILLIAM BERGE: There's another town, there was another big company town up in 24:00there besides Cooperative. On the way back from Bell Farm right there at the junction at Bell Farm you would turn right instead if it was turn left or kept going straight you going into Cooperative. But if you turned right there and went up along the river there what's the name of that town?

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't know, I know a guy that lived, are you thinking of up towards the tower?

WILLIAM BERGE: Yeah.

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't know what the name of that was, but my neighbor he's really old right now [unclear] he said it was a different community.

WILLIAM BERGE: It was.

LYNDA DOBBS: Than Bell Farm. He still owns property up there.

WILLIAM BERGE: Alright get back to when your husband was at Cooperative, how old was he now?

LYNDA DOBBS: Thirty-Seven.

WILLIAM BERGE: Okay he would remember this pretty good than. What are some of the things he's told you about? Some of the stories he's told you?

LYNDA DOBBS: Well they had to walk from Dobbstown to Co-Op and if they didn't get there on time.

WILLIAM BERGE: The school?

LYNDA DOBBS: Their mother got them. [unclear]. I guess they were really poor and 25:00they didn't have clothes you know. So they very, very careful not to get their clothes dirty or their mom would spank them when they got home. You know she's pretty strict.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did he ever mention the pump at Co-Op?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm. It's still there.

WILLIAM BERGE: I know I saw it there last year.

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm.

WILLIAM BERGE: What, what did he say about that?

LYNDA DOBBS: Uh they liked to go get the water of course.

WILLIAM BERGE: That's where everyone hung out to is at.

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: Pump didn't they?

LYNDA DOBBS: They talked a lot about it.

WILLIAM BERGE: You've seen the pump?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hmm. I went to church down there.

WILLIAM BERGE: At, where the pump is?

LYNDA DOBBS: At Co-Op, [unclear].

WILLIAM BERGE: Is that up by Oak Junction?

LYNDA DOBBS: No that's Co-Op.

WILLIAM BERGE: That White Church area?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Oh that's up on the bank I know where that is, yeah.

LYNDA DOBBS: Its right up above the school house.

WILLIAM BERGE: You don't remember Co-Op real good though when there were a lot of people there, do you?

LYNDA DOBBS: No, I really don't. The work had kind of faded out a lot you know. 26:00The people, it was just kind of diminishing. I remember when they tore the store down.

WILLIAM BERGE: You do?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Was that a bothersome thing to people or?

LYNDA DOBBS: I think they kind of expected it.

WILLIAM BERGE: I wonder why the company tore all those buildings down.

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't know, but they're still tearing the remainder of them down, I think they're letting it go back to the wildlife.

WILLIAM BERGE: Every time somebody moves they tear them down don't they?

LYNDA DOBBS: Mm hm.

WILLIAM BERGE: Are there still about three houses there at Co-Op?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yeah there's only two.

WILLIAM BERGE: Two or, two?

LYNDA DOBBS: Two.

WILLIAM BERGE: Right across, right up from the pump there. It's not too far from the pump really.

LYNDA DOBBS: Well where the company store, there's one across on each side of the street.

WILLIAM BERGE: Yeah I know where you mean.

LYNDA DOBBS: There between.

WILLIAM BERGE: What were some of the, you said there were some advantages and disadvantages of living say in Cincinnati and you talked about the advantages. What were some of the disadvantages?

LYNDA DOBBS: Well you couldn't let your kids out like you can down here. I mean 27:00you had to kind of watch them; you have the street you know.

WILLIAM BERGE: You were worried about

LYNDA DOBBS: There's more people. They could get into more things, I thought.

WILLIAM BERGE: Anything else you thought was a disadvantage?

LYNDA DOBBS: No I can't.

WILLIAM BERGE: I guess from the way you talk though most, what you're considering really of when you're thinking of where you'd rather live your thinking about for your children primarily.

LYNDA DOBBS: Right.

WILLIAM BERGE: And everything you consider you still think there's more an advantage from them in Cincinnati than there of course there is in McCrery County?

LYNDA DOBBS: Job wise yes, I do. Of course.

WILLIAM BERGE: What do you like about McCrery County?

LYNDA DOBBS: I like the freedom you know? The open space. You know, like you can just get out and go for miles and there's nothing there, I like the open space.

WILLIAM BERGE: Do you have chickens where you live?

LYNDA DOBBS: I don't.

WILLIAM BERGE: You don't have any animals?

LYNDA DOBBS: No.

WILLIAM BERGE: Why not, too much trouble?

LYNDA DOBBS: I'm lazy. I think I think I took care enough of them when I was younger.

WILLIAM BERGE: Do you have a garden?

LYNDA DOBBS: Yes we had a garden.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you like that?

LYNDA DOBBS: I liked the garden.

WILLIAM BERGE: Did you have a garden when you were in Cincinnati?

LYNDA DOBBS: No, well the last year we were there we had it wasn't really what it wasn't a garden but we had some vegetables.

WILLIAM BERGE: Trying to bring a little McCrery County to.

LYNDA DOBBS: To Cincinnati.

WILLIAM BERGE: To Cincinnati. Do you ever think you'll get your husband to move?

LYNDA DOBBS: Back? If he does it would probably be because of the job situation. I think.

WILLIAM BERGE: Yeah after a while you just tired of not having a job.

LYNDA DOBBS: Right, you got your kids to think about, college. You know got to 29:00have the money.

WILLIAM BERGE: Well Lynda, I want to thank you for letting us talk with you. I know that's its uh been helpful for me even though you haven't lived in the coal camp I can get a feeling about some of the things from you and of course your younger, considerably young than most of the women I've talked with who've lived down there. Thanks a lot.

LYNDA DOBBS: You're welcome.

[Recording end]