January 7, 2010

Emily shares some memories  -

I graduated from Mt. Vctory High School in May 1945 when I was seventeen. WWII in Europe had ended in April and by August it had ended with Japan.

 I had always thought I would go to college and could have attended Sue Bennett Jr College at London, KY.  But my parents decided it would be good for me to spend some time with our grandmother VanSant, (Mama).  Mama lived in Cape Girardeau, MO, with my aunt Ruth, who was Daddy's sister. She and her husband Vest Meyers had two little girls close to the age of my little sisters, Frances and Joyce. Uncle Vest was Academic Dean at Southeast Teachers College there.
 
Aunt Ruby, another of Daddy's sisters came to visit us at Mount Victory and took me to Cape Girardeau.  I completed a quarter semester there and came home for Christmas. Soon after I got home, Gene was back from the war. He arrived home in Harlan, KY, just in time to help his mother and sisters escape a record flood in the Cumberland River which ran close to their home. He carried his mother out of the house as the water rose up the front steps. He said the water was chest high on him before they got to high ground.
 
Gene left high school to volunteer for the army before he graduated. When he came home, he decided to finish his last year of high school so he enrolled at Harlan City High School. He came to see me in early January. I didn't go back to Cape Girardeau.  We were married in April, and Gene finished High school in May. He decided to attend college at Berea College.  So many GIs were going to college because of the GI bill that there was a shortage of college housing.  So our very first “home” that first semester was a bedroom in a private home. We had our meals at the boarding hall. 

Today I wore a necklace ( carved from stone) that Mama gave me when I was attending school at Cape Girardeau. The stone beads are tan and have small light brown beads between them.
 
So Mama has been close in my thoughts today.