Remembering Daddy

It was 1939 when Daddy decided to leave North Carolina and go to Coalwood. He was 20 yrs old then. George L. Carter’s mining business changed ownership shortly after Daddy began working there. He told me that Homer Hickam was his boss, and he made 4.60 cents a day as a bone/rock picker separating the coal that rolled through the conveyor belt. Olga Coal Co. became the new name of the mining company. Later he became a motorman and brakeman on the motorcars that carried the men deep inside the mines. Eventually he became a skilled welder, which was the vocation he practiced until retirement.

Having grown up in an era of hard work and lean finances, Daddy learned to “make do” with whatever resource was at hand. He made a carport with locust posts from the mountain, used cardboard to trace my foot and patch the hole in my shoe, a dry weather fix and he dug out a cellar and lined it with cinderblock and wood, so Momma had a place for all the canned goods she made.

Yes, Daddy carried a dinner bucket and was self-taught, as many were, to find answers to problem solving.

=

the Rugged Road we traveled to the house

Feel free to comment.

'My memoir is available through my home page. I am currently offering a reduced price for my book. 10.00 only and I pay postage for mailing.