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William R. Tucker Time Line
Born: May 5, 1909 , Shelby County, Ala.
Moved to Lee County in 1913
Mother died - 1914
It was during the school year of 1914--1915. I
did not own any shoes and walked to school barefoot each day.
Many days the ground would be frozen,and I would
intuitively walk through this soil and kick the ice with outspread toes. I do
not recall having been sick at all during that year.
That year that I got a 6 oz. china mug for
Christmas so I could drink milk from the family cow from my very own mug. It
must have cost at least 3 cents.
Maybe the life of a 6 year old orphan was not so bad
after all. Dad really did love his 3 small children and that made all the
difference in the world.
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"Prevailing Prayer" 1915-16
While we were living in a small cabin in Chambers
County, my grandmother was caring for us. We came on "hard times",
and on one occasion there was nothing to eat but corn meal. My grandmother was crying as she mixed some meal
with well water and cooked it on top of the stove with tallow, that was used
for medicinal purposes, and served it with fresh well water. We as small
children enjoyed the meal very much. (I was about seven years old at that time
- 1916)
It was during this time that the
"tornado" season came and one evening during a storm a full blown
tornado was bearing down upon the cabin. As we as children watched spellbound
my grandmother began to pray very loud. As the roar of the tornado became
louder she was shouting into the face of a roaring tornado. Just before it
struck our cabin it turned to our left passed between our house and the one
next to it and struck a large barn. There were no animals in the barn at that
time. The barn exploded and the large rough boards were lifted at least a mile
into the air, looking like small birds as they swirled about there were
scattered over miles of fields but no one was injured. Neither person or
animals. Although I was only seven years old I will never forget that prayer
over 80 years ago. Many times I have seen
answers to prayers but none quite as dramatic as that one. When a sainted
grandmother actually turned a tornado or rather God did because of her
powerful prayer.
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During the years from 1914 to 1918 when we lived on
the various farms in Lee and Chambers County we experienced things that has
lived with us through the years, one such experience was when we were very
small, 3 to 6 years old, several of the young fathers would take their young
sons and go to the favorite swimming hole there they would go "skinny
dipping" and the small boys would cling to their fathers as they swam
around.
Still another was when my Dad would take us to the
woods in the spring.. He would cut a small hickory branch and would slit the
bark into 4 strips and pull them back from the tip to about 6 to 8 inches from
the large end. He then would taper the wood for a few inches and then make a 4
plait to the very end. As long as we kept these soaked in water they made
excellent "bull whips". Still another was to take a small part of a
hickory branch perhaps 6 to 8 inches and fashion a sliding variable pitch
whistle and teach us to play it.
In the cooler months when we had a fire in the
fireplace my Dad would gather small canes (American bamboo) and would slide
these, 2 or 3 at a time, under the logs into the coals of the fireplace. As
the air expanded inside the canes they would explode with a noise similar to a
firecracker. In fact this was our first firecrackers, American Indian style.
He also taught us how to build small animal traps and to trap alive small
animals and birds. We always set them free. Later as an older adult (50-60) we
represented our mill on a seminar to North Carolina. As we visited "Okonolufti"
Indian village all of the things that we had made were still being made and
displayed in the village. The nostalgia was over powering. Our favorite was
gathering blackberries for the family "blackberry wine" that my step-mother
made. Bama and I carried on this tradition for several years putting up
several half-gallon jugs of natural blackberry wine each spring.
Moved to Fairfax 1918
"Five and Ten Silent Movies" (1926-28)
My older brother and I were employed by the Al Dunn
Movie Co. to work at the local theatre. (I still wonder why I never did get
paid). We would sell peanuts, popcorn, and fresh homemade ice cream before the
show and then sell tickets and take up tickets and patrol the auditorium
during the movies and eject all trouble makers. It was often easier to give a
person his dime back than to have a free for all.
The Virginia peanuts in the hull was about as large
as a man's thumb. If some young man was sitting with his best girl some one
back of him a couple of rows would pelt his head with these large peanuts.
This was a "no no" and the offender if caught was sure to be put out
for the evening. The movies were silent and some person who loved the piano
would provide background music for the cowboy movies. Our most popular pianist
was "Miss Maude James". As the one who collected the tickets I would
exercise my right to let my girl friend in free and then walk her home after
the movie. We also worked the lights and curtains during stage plays and swept
the peanut hulls, candy wrappers, and assorted waste from the building the
next day. I never was allowed to run the projector but I did everything else
connected with the movies of that day. To this day I have not figured out how
the house lights could be operated from three locations with a single switch
at each place.
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"Pocket Change" 1925-1928
The mill salary back then was 16.5 cents per hour or
$9.90 for 60 hours but there were odd jobs sometimes distasteful that had to
be done and paid very well by comparison. One was "Barnyard Pilot".
I would clean out a cow stall and lot and pile it on the wagon then go to some
garden and pile it on
the garden and would get 75 cents for cleaning the lot and 75 cents for the
load of fertilizer. I could clean 2 or 3 in one Saturday afternoon and pick up
from 3 to 5 dollars for my work.
On one occasion my Dad had a coal car loaded waiting
on the spur track. There was a penalty for not releasing the cars and Dad
could find no one to empty this car. The time was 12:00 noon on Saturday and
the deadline on the care was train time Monday morning. The fee for unloading
the car was $5.00 or half a
week's pay. I volunteered to unload the car. Dad did not think I should. I was
around 16 years old and not very strong but he consented. I began to work on
the car and was kidded and jeered by my friends. I was black with coal dust
and dog tired but by 12:00 midnight Saturday
night I closed the drop doors on the car and locked them in place. On
Sunday morning I collected my $5.00.
When I worked in the mill during the summer before I
finished school and from the time I went back to the mill in August 1927 I
gave my step‑mother $5.00 per week for "room and board". When
I worked for my Dad I was paid $5.00 and "room & board". This
seemed to be normal for that period. Several young people came and boarded
with Bama and I after we married and us the customary $5.00.
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Bama remembers that when they moved from near Dothan
to Shawmut, Ala., 1920 - 1922 that they along with another family rented a
railroad box car. One family used half the car and the other family the other
half to transport their household goods to the Valley. The family then came by
passenger train. When they arrived in West Point, Ga., the Chattahoochee River
was at flood stage and they had to use a rowboat to leave the train.
After a brief stay in Shawmut (3 years) they moved to
LaGrange, Ga., (6 months) where Bama worked in the mill for the first time.
After about 6 months in LaGrange, F. A. pulled up and moved to Pinkard, Ala.,
to a small cotton mill. This was a very old mill. The boiler was fired with
wood and the "stack" was a tall round pipe like an oversized stove
pipe, one day during a wind storm the "stack" blew down. The mill
did not operate after that time. When on vacation we would go by there and
Bama would show us the metal stack still lying there. When this happened
Fannie came back to the Valley with her brother Ross LeMaster and secured jobs
for her family in Fairfax Mill.
This was early 1926. While working here Bama & I
were married June 14, 1928.
Finished Fairfax High School -- June 1927
Was employed as Yarn Dyer for Fairfax Mill -- Aug. 1927
Several days before Bama and I married. We went to
Schnedl-Jones Furniture store in West Point and picked out $1200.00 worth of
furniture. Based on the wages of that day and on minimum wages for 2. Today
the bill was equivalent to over $20,000.00. The owners of the store came to my
Dad and the 3 of them came to me on the job. They wanted Dad to "stand
for" the bill but he refused saying "I taught him to be honest. If
you don't trust him don't sell him the furniture." They did sell and
deliver it and we still trade with them 58 years later. The dining table and
chairs are still in use today.
Married (Bama Hall) -- June 1928
In late July 1927, the youth of Fairfax Methodist Church went by truck to
Pine Mountain Boy Scout camp for an outing. W. R., the author, then 18 years
old had taken a young woman named Evelyn Jones as his date. Her sister, Thelma
Jones and Bama Hall had not accepted dates and were together.
After the picnic meal, and just about dark the couples were strolling
around the half-mile track. This was a well-lighted track and was used for
night games. W. R. ask Evelyn to got with him around the track. She accepted
but her sister Thelma objected. She did not trust her sister nor W. R. At this
point W. R. turned to Bama and ask her to stroll with him. Without realizing
it at the time they joined hands and started a stroll that at this writing has
lasted 58 years. When Bama said yes and started the stroll it was the
beginning of a courtship that led to marriage 11 months later.
The principle recreation of that day was getting several couples together
and getting someone with a transfer truck to carry them to carnivals, state
fairs, county fairs or just on an outing. Another practice was to pool their
resources and rent a U-Drive-It car with the mileage meter on the front wheel.
On one occasion, W. R. rented a car and it cost him 2 weeks salary to pay the
bill. On one or 2 occasions W. R.'s Dad consented to let him use the family
T-model sedan. Gas was 16 to 19 cents per gallon at that time. For one dollar
per couple, 2 or 3 couples could enjoy several hours of joy riding.
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After the stroll around the track that we mentioned
earlier, I would get permission to call on Bama at her home. We would sit in
the porch swing, her two sisters would kid us through their bedroom window
until her father would run me off around 9:00 p.m. Our mutual attraction grew
during the fall and winter and it was perhaps early 1928 that we knew that we
would be married. There was no formal proposal, no bended knee dramatics. But
on one occasion while riding back from Opelika I asked her if I could always
be her baby. Her answer to me sealed the future for me and her.
About the first of May we set the date for our
marriage as the middle of June 1928. Her mother Fannie Lee and her aunt Berta
Coley. went with us around 10:30 a.m. June
14, 1928 to West Point, Ga., to "Judge H. C. Hardy, JP and we were
married with them witnessing. We brought them back to Fairfax and then ate
dinner. Our first meal as man and wife at a cafe in Fairfax. Later that day we
drove my Dad's T-model sedan over into Georgia and bought and ate June
peaches. Later in the evening we came back to West Point, Ga., checked the car
into the storage barn and walked across the street to the old St. Charles
Hotel. Later the "Gen. Tyler" and finally
torn down to make room for stores, etc.
We spent our first night upstairs in the hotel
and had our breakfast sent to our room. It consisted of a regular southern
breakfast served with half a cantaloupe filled with ice cream. Later we went
to LaGrange, Ga., and spent our first full day with Bama's brother, Tillman,
his wife Lillian and their 2 small children. Along about sunset we came to her
mother's on Bailey St. in Fairfax, (this was Friday June 15th) The next day I
carried my bride to spend some time with my family and my 3 week old sister.
(This was Saturday June 16th) We have no account of that Sunday but Monday we
were back in the mill and on Wednesday June 20th we moved into our own home on
Sears St. here in Fairfax. From this day on her family and my family became
our family.
The Great Depression (1929-1939)
The following events happened during the summer of
1931 or 1932. My wife Bama and I were married in mid June (June 14) in 1928
and 6 days later moved into a small 3 room mill cottage on the same street
(Sears) that we live on now 64 years later.
Our first born son Ray was born at home 104 Sears St.
Fairfax on Jan. 10, 1931 and was a small "Babe in arms" at the time.
These events occurred Bama and I owned a 1929
"model A" Ford convertible with rag top and rumble seat, with real
wire spoke wheels. We still owed the local dealer $100.00 on the car and had
not paid even one dollar on the debt within the year. The representative from
the dealer told us that if we would pay only one dollar we could keep the car
another year.
We could have gotten the one dollar from my dad but
we did not see how we could buy gasoline, even the "Kyso Green". A
cheap mixture of gasoline and kerosene cost only 9 cents per gallon so we
allowed the dealer to repossess the car.
At the guard house located at the South Gate of
Fairfax Mill the company kept plenty of corn meal, ribbon cane syrup, and
sweet potatoes and any one who was in real need could go by and pick up a
gallon of syrup, a pick of potatoes or a pack of water ground corn meal.
The group of fellows that I was socially connected,
all in their early 20's, owned single shot 22 caliber rifles and cartridges
were about 25 cents per box of 50. We were all expert marksmen and our protein
was jaybird, turtle, frog legs, squirrel or rabbit.
We could only work about half time and at 16-1/2
cents per hour this was less than $5.00 per week, yet in one way I was very
fortunate. My overseer Mr. R. E. (Lefty) James owned a small Chevrolet Coupe.
It was his "fishing car" and he had the use of the family car, a
large "old sedan".
When we were finished with our meager week's work, he
would fill the small car with gasoline and let Bama and I use for the long
weekends.
My mother's sister, Aunt Belle Thompson, and her
family owned a farm about 12 miles out in the Salem, Ala., community, and Bama
and I and our small son would purchase sugar & coffee and stay with them
until Sunday evening at least 4 days.
While Bama would help Aunt Belle and the 2 daughters
in canning or drying fruit, I would help the sons, mend fences and "blast
out" kindling to sell to the "well to do" people in Opelika, by
the wagon load.
Let me explain that many of the stumps of the
original stand of long needle pines were still in the fields perhaps close to
a hundred years after the trees were cut and they were 100% solid heart pine
or "lightwood".
We would place a charge of dynamite under the stump
and light the fuse then run and hide behind a tree. The charge would loosen
the stump and we would pull it from the ground with a chain and the family
mule team. We would then put the
stump and load it into the wagon for the trip to market in Opelika, Ala.
Often we would take the day off throw a feed sack
across the back of a farm mule and ride down to Salem, Ala., to see the
freight trains come by from Columbus, Ga. to Opelika and points north, the
empty gondolas or coal cars would be filled with people often whole families
just moving from place to place stopping only for trips through the "soup
lines" that was near the railroad yards. Each train held hundreds of
people just wandering from place to place with no permanent home or job, and
as we sat there astride the old farm mules, we thought ourselves to be the
luckiest people on earth.
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It has been said that it is the little things in life
that adds to the contentment of later years. Ours (Bama & I) are no
exception. Even today we are accused of doing very foolish, childish things,
still playing, never growing up. Yet even this has its advantages. You don't
have to go back into your second childhood since you never left the first.
From the time I was 10 or 11 years of age I have
found joy with children a few years younger than myself. Our early
married life was no exception. We were blessed with 3 fellows from 7 to 10
years younger than we were. The first was "Otho" Bama's brother and
Paul Lewis, (Pete), also her brother and Carlis, my step-brother, Otho &
Carlis were 7 years younger and "Pete" was 10 years younger.
We never went to South Ala. unless one or more of those boys were with us, and
often as I did odd jobs such as being delivery boy for the local grocery
store, they were along. The following are little things that happened along
the way.
First, let me tell of the expression from Bama's
brother Otho, "Do you remember when I shot you?" to which I replied
"Do you remember when you hit that Hog with our car?" The first
account occurred when we were hunting on my aunt's farm, along with a good
friend Mr. John B. Tidwell, we were hunting rabbits, and I was covering one
side of a clump of bushes while they covered the other, a covey of quail came
up on their side and came through the bushes towards me. I turned immediately
and covered as best I could but several shots peppered my hunting coat but did
not penetrate it causing only a sharp stinging sensation. However one shot
came between my coat and my hunting cap entering back of my ear and moving
under the skin along my skull the effect was a burning sensation and as I was
hot & sweating it bled a good deal spotting my hunting coat with blood.
Since both of them fired at the birds no one will ever know whose shot really
hit me. The only thing was that it scared several people because of the
bleeding. P. S. I can still feel the shot 50 years later.
The second part of this is that one week end around
1938 we allowed Otho to use our small car to go down to Troy, Ala., to visit
some close friends, on the way back a large hog ran in front of him and as it
was running from him he hit it squarely in the rear with the center of the
front bumper of our car. These bumpers were spring steel and stood out at
least 12 or 14 inches from the car. The impact put a permanent
"curve" in the front bumper which was still in it when we traded the
car years later.
The other brother "Pete" ask me one
day "do you remember when you hit that cow?" and my counter question
was "do you remember the bantam rooster?"
On Saturday evenings along about dusk we as
delivery boys for the local grocery store would always leave a deliver over
beyond Fairfax line. This black gentleman would buy a small order of groceries
and then hop a ride on the delivery truck for the 2 mile trip home. On this
occasion it was almost dark and had been raining that afternoon and the red
dirt roads were wet and slippery as we came back through the village about
half way to the store a cow came off a bank directly in front of the truck
that I was driving and the front headlamp struck the cow's head as these lamps
were bolted to a rod that ran between the two front fenders. They could be
adjusted on the rod. In this case the head lamp pointed up we called it
"hunting possums," the cow was knocked down & rolled over but
she got up and walked on into a nearby field. The manager of the store only
laughed and said "We will have hamburger on sale Monday".
I knew that some young fellow was with me but I
could not recall who it was until Pete told me years later. The counter
question "do you remember the bantam rooster?" Came as a result of
an incident when Pete brought his young sons back home from California. When
they pulled in and stopped, one of the children got out of the car, stooped
down and picked up the half grown bantam rooster that was at my feet. As the
father saw this he exclaimed "It can't be, it can't be. That rooster was
that size 10 years ago" and do you know he was correct! The only thing
was that it was the wrong rooster. When our older son Ray was young he was
with me as a mechanic in Lee County. Overhauled the engine of the small car we
owned around his shop, was a bantam hen that had hatched of some chicks around
Christmas, which was unusual for our area. At this time the chicks were about
half size, and I gave the man a quarter (25 cents) for one of the little
"Roosters". I explained to our son Ray that with a little attention
it would become an ideal pet eating from his hand, riding on his shoulder and
crowing while perched on his hand and tame enough to follow him around. This
proved to be true and Ray was thrilled with the progress he made with his
little pet. It was this one that Pete knew before he left our area. As time
went by Ray owned a small flock of bantams but soon out grew the idea and
passed them on the someone else. Ten years later as our younger son was the
same age as Ray was when he got his "rooster".
We were serving our first church as Lay Minister. One of the young
members of our church gave W. L. a half grown bantam rooster with similar
markings and color of the first rooster that Ray owned and he trained it very
much the same way as Ray did his 10 years before. It was this 2nd rooster that
Pete saw and he experienced a "play back" to the first account. Of
course when we explained the parallel story he knew what had happened.
Began study Oct. 10, 1947, Fairfax Methodist Church -- Rev. Hamner
Entered Ministry -- April 1948
Received Local License-- Waverly Methodist -- Apr. 7, 1948
Associate Pastor Hopewell -- Feb. 1948 & Harrington -- November 1948
Lafayette Mills Circuit 1949
Two years after I was licensed to preach in the year
1950 I was invited to preach in the old union church on the Shelby Circuit in
Shelby Co., Ala. where my grandfather preached when I was born in 1909.
Below is an account of that trip. Bama, Ray,
Charlotte and I made the trip on July 30, 1950 shortly before Ray &
Charlotte were married.
We drove 246 miles round trip + 40 miles visiting.
We used 19-1/2 gallons of gasoline at 25 cents a
gallon and 1 qt. oil at 30 cents --
Total $5.30.
The sermon topic was "Ungathered Grapes"
There was 40 people in attendance. The weather was
foul. Continuous rain.
We had dinner with O. C. Messer
a first cousin of my granddad ‑ A. C. Messer back in the
foothills below Birmingham, Ala. We had to catch & dress a fryer and we
had dinner around 4:00 p.m. We later visited more of Dad's relatives and drove
home that night.
We drove 286 miles and used 20 gal. gas. We used on
quart oil at 30 cents. We spent $5.00 for gas and 30 cents for oil. We were
given $5.00 by the church. Total cost to us 30 cents.
Asst. Department Head -- 1954
Plant City United Methodist Church 1955
1 year leave 1959
Lafayette Mills circuit 1960 & 61
Buttston, Harmony 1962 -- 64
Head of Yarn Dyeing -- 1964
Ebenezer -- Hopewell 1964 -- 70
Bought new Ford Galaxy 500 -- Oct. 2, 1972
Riverdale -- Hopewell Associate 1971 & 72
Massive Hemorrhage, ulcers in Aug. 1973
Retired June 1, 1974 (47--1/2 years)
Left knee replaced Nov. 10, 1977
Bama heart attack Dec. 1978
Retired from assigned ministry 1981.
Fell & broke left hip in Palm Beach, Fla., March 21, 1982. Repaired March
23, 1982.
Riverdale -- Ebenezer 1973
Appointed Sandy Ridge Half Station 1973 to 1977 -- (SR & PA 4 years)
Sandy Ridge Alone Half Station 1977--1978
Plant City 1979 to 1981
Taught Bible Study G. H. Lanier Nursing Home 1980 -- 1987 ( 7 years)
Was Volunteer Chaplain during this time April 1980
Coordinator Religious Services for G. H. Lanier Home 5 years 1980--85
NOTE: Was fill in or supply minister North Ala. Conf. -- 1981 -- 1985
Shawmut Christian -- May 1985 through Sept. 1987
Bama Bypass Surgery (Opelika) Dec. 4, 1987
Fairfax Christian 9 weeks Aug. -- Sept. 1990
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Copyright © 1998, Rev. William R. Tucker | All Rights Reserved