Growing up in Kentucky: Glen DeBoard Reflects on His Life in David and Middle Creek (part 1 of 3)

The Beautiful DeBoard Family in David, Kentucky: Willard and Beatrice Leatha Kilgore DeBoard with children: Charlotte, Kenneth, John, Glen, Wayne and Brenda.

This posting is from dear friend and David classmate Glen DeBoard. Enjoy Glen's memories. I hope they stimulate your own reflections on your life on Middle Creek and in the coal camp community of David, Kentucky. We hope to hear from you. Enjoy!

GROWING UP IN Kentucky 1944-1960 (Part 1)
by Glen DeBoard

Some of the things I remember growing up in David, Kentucky, around 1945, before we moved to what our family referred to as "the house on the hill below Allen Sloan’s store".
The truck or wagon with a tank on it that delivered water to David residents: Did they deliver ice also? I can remember large blocks of ice before we had an
electric refrigerator.

I remember one of our grandpas sitting on our front porch. He had a mustache. John DeBoard or Oliver Kilgore? Help me out Ken, I was too young.

Jim Henry and his team of horses pulling a wagon of candy and treats. Brother John was hit by a car while he was running to meet Jim Henry. I remember the sliding front right wheel pushing John as he lay in front of it. It was a scary moment for all but John wasn’t harmed. I was right on his heels to meet the wagon and was lucky I couldn’t run as fast as John.

I remember the boardwalk across the creek to an area on the side of the hill where people kept dogs and chickens penned up. The creek looked so gigantic to me at the time and it was in later years when we moved back to David that I realized the creek was very small.

Across the road from our house is where the Wards lived in later years. It seemed as though we lived there some but I believe we just spent a lot of time there playing with neighbor kids in their yard. There was a small stream that ran under the railroad track, through a large cement tile and through this yard. It continued under the road through our yard and out in the creek I mentioned above. The reason I mentioned this stream is one time after a hard rain this stream looked like a raging river to me. I was so young and there was an incident so scary that I can’t remember the details. I believe Kenneth fell in it and was carried down stream a few feet. I must have been very young at this time-2 or 3.

Our neighbor Varnel Clay, who now lives in Lagro, Indiana, cut a tree down with our brother Kenneth in it. The location of this was in the back yard by a small road that went up over the railroad track. Varnel was a neat kid about brother Ken’s age. His family moved to Johnson Co. sometime during the second time we lived at David. I remember a very hard paddling he received from the school principal. He was bruised very badly and today his punishment would be considered abuse for sure.

I remember the red water stand pipes with valves on them that people got drinking water from for home use. You could hang your bucket on it and open a valve. They were at different places in town. This must have been the start of the new water system from the reservoirs and filtration tanks. Later we all had bathrooms and laundry stoves installed, which were heated by coal. These heaters supplied us with hot water, which was a luxury in those 1940s years in the coal camp.

I could go on and on about memories of growing up in this small town David that we all loved and missed when we moved away. I really enjoyed family evenings watching TV, especially on Saturday nights when friends from out of town came. We watched wrestling matches, enjoyed Pepsi and popcorn, what fun. We had so many kids come that Dad had his and Mom’s bedroom made smaller so there would be more room in the living room for kids. There were not enough seats, so we lined up on the floor.

How about all the fun we had at the school gym. For several years the principal, Richmond Sloan, who lived out of town, let us keep the key. I guess he got tired of us coming to his house and asking if we could use the gym. It was hot in the gym but we used it a lot all summer long. I believe this is why the basketball team at the big county high school in Prestonsburg always always had at least three kids from the small town of David on the starting five.

One night Ken, John, Wayne and I were jumping off each others' backs and dunking the basketball. We were having a ball. Being the youngest, Wayne could not quite dunk the ball. He was so close, but could only pin the ball against the rim. I got the brilliant idea to rise up as he jumped off my back. From a kneeling position. I rose just as Wayne’s foot hit the middle of my back. This caused Wayne to turn sideways and fall to the floor, breaking his arm. Sorry Wayne, that was not very smart of me.

Do my friends from David remember Billy Ray Hamilton? He had a brother named Philip who was my age and we were good friends. They later moved to Abbott. I will never forget when they told Billy in front of our house his Father was killed in a mining accident. This was a sad day.

All the trips in the hills were fun. We climbed trees and large rocks all the time. I had so much fun with my brothers and friends from David doing this. The last years in David as a teenager, I roamed the hills hunting squirrels and rabbits. Doing this and fishing caused me to really like outdoor sports. I think our son Mike got this from me. He loves it also.

Growing up we had the swimming pool all summer at no charge because our parents, our coal mining fathers, built it with company furnished the material. Outsiders paid to swim. It was the only pool around for miles. Later Paintsville had a swimming pool built. The coal camp of David had a swimming pool before the city of Huntington, West Virginia did. The kids of David were called water dogs when we went to Boy Scout camp at Jennie Wally State Park.

One year we won all the contests in the swimming area because we were such good swimmers. Brother John won the diving contest and I was second. We had a potato race where you put a potato in a spoon and put the spoon into your mouth. When we started swimming toward the finish line all lost their potatoes. I went under water and felt the bottom for potatoes and found two. I put one in my trunks and the other in my spoon and swam to the finish line.
Hey John, do you remember you and I won the greasy watermelon contest? Two boys from each camp met in the middle of the lake and the one that got it to the bank was the winner. You could get drowned in this contest.
We went to scout camp about every year. Most all the kids couldn’t afford it but Princess Elkhorn Coal Co.(PECCO)let us earn money by working in the community for a week cutting grass, trimming hedges and other things like grubbing bushes around the reservoirs. This work paid our way to a really fun week at Jenny Wiley State Park Boy Scout Camp.

The older kids,who were working for money to go to college, were our bosses. We got away with murder but also worked hard to pay our way to camp. Ray Stambaugh was our scout master. He was a coal miner and had about six kids. His wife died when I was very young. His oldest daughter, Mary Frances, took care of the small kids and one of the girls was in my class, Carol Sue Stambaugh. Two of the younger boys were twins Ron and Don and a younger one was name Gilbert. Neat family-

David had a park with swings,a merry-go-round, sliding boards, sandboxes and other rides. It was great for small kids. The company hired one of the college girls to supervise the small kids every day through the week all summer at that park. We had a party at the end of the summer. Looking back it was a great community activity to get the small kids together. I can remember Peggy Bussey and Peggy Bartley doing this at least one summer. Boy, they were beautiful supervisors.

The baseball diamond was fantastic with large bleachers. When it was new they had, I think, triple A baseball there. When I grew up we played baseball and softball there. We had a traveling baseball team and a traveling softball team over the years. I have a ton of memories of the games we played over these years and I’m sure my brothers do also.

Some of the kids we played ball with were James & Ronnie Hager, Tommie & Jimmie Dawson, Green & Billy Tussey, Gene Clark, Jimmie Penix, Roger Waugh, Ancil Patton, David & Ronnie Lions, Tommy Cole, Rodney Bussey, and many more kids that were our friends.

Evert Hager whittled (carved) a bat from a willow tree limb for us to use. He even put a trade mark on it so it would look like the rest of the bats. I used it playing softball, until the ump at Wayland declared it illegal. Boy-could I hit that softball with that bat.

The two reservoirs provided the drinking water for the community. They stocked the reservoirs with large catfish every year. They always had bass, crappie,and bluegill. I grew up learning and loving to fish. I could tell you hundreds of fish stories from both of the reservoirs. Once, Tom Castle and I were fishing and it came a flash flood. The spillway couldn’t release all the water and the dam almost washed out. The company had miners stop working and put sandbags on top of the dam. The town marshal, Oak Mullins evacuated the town or at least tried to because they thought the dam was going to give away. It probably would have washed all the houses down Middle Creek.

Another time I missed school to take my dog rabbit hunting. I didn’t take a gun because it was the day before opening season. I was walking up the frozen ice on the bigger of the two dams, watching my dog track a rabbit on the side of the hill. The sun was shining several yards ahead of me as I walked on about a ½” of fresh snow that was on the ice. As I got past the hill and out of the shade, I felt the sun shining on me and saw it shining on the fresh snow. After about two more steps on the ice where the sun was shining, a crack in the ice ran in front of me making the snow fly up in the air about 6 inches (neat). I decided the ice was not that solid, especially where the sun was shining on it. I turned and took one step and the ice broke through and down I went.

I can still remember how cold the water felt and the shock to my eyes made me close them. I must have gone a little sideways under the water because when I came up, my head hit solid ice. There was a panic feeling that came over me that would most certainly give me a heart attack these days. I opened my eyes and like a miracle, I could see the sun shining through the broken ice. All around where the snow was on top, it was dark. I still love the sunshine. Each time I tried to get out of the water, the ice would break. Again and again I tried to get out. I looked to the bank and decided that it was to far away to break the ice all the way to the bank. Putting both hands on the ice, slightly pulling down, I put my right foot up on the ice pushing down with it. Somehow with both my hands and my right foot, I rolled myself out of the freezing water. I didn’t take a chance standing up. I crawled all the way to the bank. Needless to say, I ran as hard as I could home, at least a mile away.

I stripped out of my clothes on the back porch and rushed to the bath room. That hot bath sure felt great. I still remember my frozen pants standing up on the back porch when I tossed them in the corner.

Once after the large dam was stocked with huge catfish, my brother-in-law Bill Ratliff (more like a brother) bought some Zebco rod and reels for us to fish with. I will never forget Sister Charlotte going with Bill and me one evening. She was with child (Ronnie) and might not have been in condition to fish. Well not in condition to pull in a 24” catfish. She was totally exhausted and had to sit down. The fish got off the hook and was flopping on the bank. When Bill tried to keep it from getting back into the water with his foot, Charlotte picked up the fish and it slipped through her hands, back into the water. We all had a good laugh. Later, Bill caught a 36” catfish. It took a long time to get it in due to the 6 lb. test line. We took it home and prepared it for dinner. Good memories--- Another time Bill and I both had a large catfish on at the same time and our lines got all tangled together. My line broke and Bill pulled both fish in at the same time. What fish stories!We were a close knit family and David, Kentucky was a great place to grow up during these times.

Random thoughts and flashbacks at David
-Stick ball games in the back yard of the grade school. Also football games in that yard and in the front yard and also the company store yard and swimming pool yard... Hey Ken, John and Wayne, How many times have you gone through the hedges down the hill and get the ball that got away in the front school yard?
I remember a few games we played the boys from Prestonsburg at the David Airport.Red Minix would come with them. He was tough.

Brother John and I doing almost everything together. We were more like twins.

-Going to the Boy Scout meetings in our scout cabin by Hagers. We would built a huge fire in the fire place when cold weather set in.

-Building a small cabin with a loft on the hill behind Hagers. We murdered a stand of young popular trees. They were soft and straight and easy to cut. I wonder if anyone from the company really cared. James and Ronnie did most of the work. If we needed any advice, James and Ronnie’s Brother Charles (Baldie) Hager would straighten us out. We camped in this small cabin a few times.

-Listening to Cincinnati Reds games late at night with Brother John. The games on the west coast were late. Dad would come home from work at midnight and sit in the floor with his work clothes on to catch the last of the game. How did we get up early enough to catch the school bus?

-We had some dare devil slay rides when the snow was just right. Down the hill from the scout cabin was a scary ride. Few made it without flipping. One winter we walked to the top of the hill pulling our sled. From the Magoffin county line with Wayne on my back was unbelievable. We could not make the last curve with the straight in front of us above Alkie Davis. We hit the bank so hard; I don’t know how we survived. I cut my hand and broke my belt. I don’t remember Wayne sustaining any injuries. We got back on and went to the park before we stopped again.

-As we got older we all learned how to put a fast breakfast together. It was either oat meal, box cereal, cream of wheat or can biscuits, eggs and bacon. Mom stayed up late since Day got off work after midnight. That meant when Charlotte was old enough to take care of this chore, Mom could sleep in. I’m proud of my Sis. How did she put up with us? Mom always had our clothes ironed and laid out for school. Occasionally Dad would get up and surprise us with sausage-gravy, eggs and drop-biscuits. Wow—

-Hog Pin Hollow- This place behind our house, up over the railroad tracks had gardens and hog pins. The land belong to the company, but first come first served when it come to using it. There were chickens there also. One time a large boar broke down a wooden fence to get to a young sow. The bore was so huge; its weight broke the back of the sow. “Butchering time”.

-There was a large septic tank in E. Music’s yard. This was the first house on the right of School House Holler across from the school. It had several pipes about 5 ft. tall that ventilated the tank. Each pipe had a U fitting at the top of them. One of our good friends who was about 13 at the time was striking matches and throwing them up the end of a U fitting. He got the job done, but I don’t think he knew how dangerous this was. Suddenly an explosion rocked the whole town. Music’s yard was totally destroyed and our friend was laying several feet away wondering what in the hell happened.

-How about Bill Ratliff installing a gas-motor on his bicycle. A small pulley pressed against the wheel and moved him alone. He showed it to me after he came back from the service. Cool

-How many David boys remember playing pool in a small house across the creek that belonged to the Durhams? Location was where the creek crossed the road on the way to the park.

-Playing ping-pong in a room upstairs in the church. Had some good games. Tommy Cole was good.

-Bill Clark could shoot a bird with a heavy rubber band using BBs.

-Ralph Wells used his Dad’s shop behind their house. They would talk on a radio. It would override the local P-burg station. I remember girls singing over the radio from this station. Could they have been Ralph’s sisters and their friends? Where was the FCC? –

-That old juke box in the fountain. Fats singing Blue Berry Hill.

-Hanging out after dark in front of The Fountain by the hand rails.

-A few swimming parties at night at the David Pool.

-I accidentally burned the stock off Ken’s 22 rifle. Elmer Crum carved a new one for it and it looked just like new. -Sorry Ken-

-Freddie Harper coming back to David from POW. I hope this info is correct.

-A couple of our David Grade School picnics I particularly remember us walking to Magoffin County over the David hill. Another was a picnic at the Boy Scout Cabin. We chased all those pretty girls all around the hills.

-I found a mommy dog with about eight puppies in a cave at the top of the hill behind our house. It was cold and there was a deep snow. Since I had my shotgun, and couldn’t carry all of them, I came home and asked Bill Ratliff to go with me to get them. It was a struggle to carry the mother and a couple of the pups in the snow. Bill got the rest of the pups and we made it home. I found a home for all the pups except one that I kept. The mother and all the pups died from distemper soon after that.

-There was a low spot in our yard and under the house that collected water. The company hired a crew to raise our house and back fill under it to get rid of the problem. I remember that Chuck Goble from Auxier worked for them. When I moved to Wabash, In. Chuck lived there and owned a Texaco service station. We were good friends over the years.

-Playing basketball at the fire station by our house. Who put the goal up?

-Shooting Bill Ratliff’s Colt 22 pistol and Marlin 22 rifle.

-Saying hello to all the people on their porch each time I walked down the sidewalk.
Mr. & Mrs. Dawson, Coles, Cavins, Prestons, Daniels, Clarks, Adkins, Ratliffs, Halls. Adams, Burketts, Clarks, Fitzpatricks, Pattons, Hamiltons, Stambaughs, Stumbos Hammens, Prices, Clays, Hicks and Hales. I know I forgot some-

-Playing Tin-Can-Alley. John, do remember seriously cutting your thigh when you hid behind that post with a nail sticking out of it? Just look at that large scar and I’m sure you will remember. One of the Miners on the First Aid Safety team bandaged it.-Gabby Hall

-Planting pine trees on every hill around. Was this a Boy Scout project? Thousands of them.

-A large snake bit Wayne on the top of his foot. Also, all the snakes Kenneth caught. He would just grab them behind the head. –no way-

-Frog gigging in the reservoirs at night. Snakes all over the place.

-All of the times we went to this huge rock called the Turkey Rock. Kenneth is the only person that climbed on top of it to my knowledge. At least that I knew of.

-Driving sister Charlotte to McDowell Hospital in the middle of the night to have her first born—Ronnie- Her husband Bill worked 3rd shift and we couldn’t wait for him.

-Oscar Adkins bought the material and furnished all the tools and let at least a dozen boys build a bird house. It was in his yard. I thought this was the greatest. His son Greg was my best friend. Not long after they moved to Johnson Co. Greg passed away. Dad and Mom took me to their house to see him. This was a sad day.
-Greg and I were best friends. We were ages nine and Ten. We rode our bikes and were together all the time before they moved to Johnson Co. I can remember his Mom worrying about her son because of his heart condition.
-One time Oscar took his family on vacation. He hired me to feed his hunting dog that was chained up by his house and slept under it. This beautiful bird dog broke the chain one day and came to our house. As it came through our yard dragging the chain, I grabbed the chain to catch him and take him back home. The large dog dragged me through the yard until we came to our gate opening. I can still remember my shoulder hitting the gate post and the chain slipping out of my hand. The bird dog ran out into the road and a truck ran over it. It was so hard for me to tell this to my best friend’s Dad.

Ruff-In-Tough
I was in the 2nd grade when we moved to Ruff-In-Tough. John and I started the 4th grade when we moved to David the 2nd time, so we must have lived at Ruff-In-Tough about 2 years. We knew all the people in the area, even on both forks. Mostly Sloans and Shepherds. I remember walking to the David store to get groceries with Dad. We took the tram track and Dad always said do not touch the tram car cable, it has 500 volts. We passed two entries into the mountain that was mined by our Dad and his co-workers.

How many trips did I take with my brothers to the trash dump at the head of this small road we lived on? The company trucks dumped sludge there also. We had fun there playing, even though it was a dump. Just past that in the edge of the woods, we had our yearly Ruff-In-Tuff school picnic. We played games and covered every sq. in. of that area. There were trees cut down, like someone was logging the area also.

I also remember Dad bringing home a 1939 Chevrolet. We thought it was the neatest car in the world. I always went with Dad every chance I got. I remember him letting me drive that car a few times when we turned up Ruff-In-Tough. I was younger than 10 at the time. He wrecked the car one night. He wasn’t hurt –just a few bruises. The next day a flat bed truck brought the car home in pieces. I wondered how Dad was still alive. It was sad to see the car. Later Dad said his horn was blowing and would not stop. He raised the hood and pulled a few wires until the horn stopped blowing. Later on the road it was dark and Dad stopped because one of the wires he pulled went to his headlights. He flagged a car down and asks the guy if he could follow him to the next town. After the guy refused and speeded away. Dad decided to follow him and wrecked. Could this have happened? Or, was Dad a good story teller.

Dad took all of us to Lomansville one time in that car. This was where Dad grew up. I can remember an older gentleman (my grandpa or great uncle) in the house raising hell because someone was smoking in his house. I remember this lady putting us to bed that night. I thought I was going to freeze to death in that upstairs bedroom. She put enough quilts over us; it was hard to move in bed. Later I remember being so hot I had to push these heavy quilts off.

We went somewhere that first night in Dad's Chevy. I can’t remember who was with us. Dad hit a red fox. He stopped and picked it up and threw it in the trunk of the car. Later when he opened the trunk, the fox jumped out so fast, it almost knocked Dad down.

Brother John, was it when we lived in Ruff-In-Tuff that you and I visited Uncle Charley Clark and Aunt Leona? It was Gene Clark and my birthday. We took a birthday cake that Mom made for us. While we were visiting, you, Gene and I went to the new swimming pool that they were building. I can remember all the pretty girls roller skating on the roof of the pool building. There was no gravel on it at that time.

Glen E. DeBoard 1998

Middle Creek

My sister, Charlotte Ann (DeBoard) Ratliff and I exchange e-mails going over our wonderful memories of growing up in Kentucky. Most of the memories of mine that I shared with her were of us when I was the age of 10 through 17 years. The last e-mail from her was about memories she has at about the age of 8 years when we lived on Middle Creek. I was about 3 years old and we moved to Ruff-In-Tuff when I was 6 or 7 years old. Most of us refer to our house on Middle Creek as “The House on The Hill”, or below Allen Slone’s Store”. This residence was about half way between David and the (Forks) Mountain Park-Way.

My memories of living on Middle Creek are vague. This had to be around 1945 to 1949. Not being very good at putting my memories together, I want to attempt to write some one liners of my flashbacks starting at the age of one until we moved to Ground Hog Holler or also known as Ruff-In-Tuff when I was about 7 years old.
At the age of 1+ I have a few flash backs of living at Garrett and also in Ohio.
As I was talking to Dad one day, telling him of them—He confirmed them.

At the house on the hill I use to crawl under a small table just inside the outside door going to the kitchen. This table was against the wall just inside the door to the left. This was my safe haven when company came to visit. I was to shy to play in front of strangers.

I fell asleep on top of two new linoleum rugs one day. They were still rolled up in their round containers lying side by side in the bedroom adjacent to the front porch. When I awakened, I was surprised I could sleep on something so uncomfortable.

We were looking for Mom one night just before bedtime and found her on her knees in the closet, praying. We heard her voice and opened the door or curtain to find her. She was in tears and looking up in the dark and talking to God in a slightly raised tone of voice. I only remember Mom going to church a few times in my life, but as I think about this, I realize Mom was close to God and I’m sure several of those prayers were for her Kids.

Before Dad ran a power line from Henry Morris’ electrical meter for our electricity in the house, we used kerosene lamps in the evenings before bedtime. I can remember Dad bringing his battery powered light home from work and using it to read. This had to be after midnight and I should have been in bed. Bad boy- I use to get up through the night and check Dad’s dinner bucket to see if he left anything from his lunch for work. Many times there was a piece of cake.

Dad was building a hog-pen for a hog that he purchased. I watched him all morning and he was about done with the job. He bent over the new hog-pen to drive a nail at the bottom. He drove the nail through the fence into his ankle. I bet you could hear him at Allen Slone's store. I can remember him bandaging it. I think Charlotte, Ken and John were at school. I didn’t think Dad could do a job of this magnitude. I was so proud of him.

Dad made a bow and some arrows and actually went hunting in the woods above our house. I remember the arrow heads were metal inserts. I was totally amazed when I saw Dad shoot an arrow and hit a vegetable package on a stick in the garden. We thought our Dad was really cool after this impossible feat.

We had chickens and some turkeys at one time. I remember finding a nest full of eggs by the huge tree, just over the bank. Later, I remember several chickens with small chicks. I heard a saying later in life. This mother told her kids to “quit working them chickens”. I bet I worked our chickens.

We had a pet dog. I can’t remember what it looked like. I believe it was small and before the Collie we had just before we moved to Ruff-In-Tuff. A lot of small things came up missing around the house. Most of them were small toys. I think it was Ken that figured it out one day and gave the dog a small toy to play with. He followed the dog to his hiding place under the house and found several items the dog had taken. Ken started his detective skills at a young age.

At one point Dad was hauling water from a well at the Sloan Store to our home. Our well must have been dry. It was a large container, similar to metal garbage can. He had it in our toy wagon. It was a job pushing this wagon with about 30 to 40 gallons of water all the way home, especially up the hill into our yard. I think Dad was tired and left the wagon and container of water outside the door and went inside to rest. Being the smallest, I could not push the wagon like Ken and John, my big brothers. I decided to push the wagon by myself, just to prove to myself I could do it. You got it, I turned the container over and spilled all the water. Again, you could hear Dad at the Sloan store. I was so scared; I crawled under the house in an area that no one could get to me. I stayed there for hours. I contemplated running away from home at this early age of 4. Later, after Dad cooled down, Mom and Dad talked me into coming out from my hideaway. They didn’t even give me a whipping. Till this day, I believe I deserved one. Can you imagine all the work getting that water?

Seems like we always had a large garden close to the house. I can remember all the fresh vegetables. One year Dad put out a garden across the road. This creek bottom was mostly sand. I can remember the Sloan boys planting corn in this bottom. They had a hand corn planted and would walk down the entire bottom sticking the hand planter in the sandy soil every step of the way. When Dad laid out his garden across the road, he made several long rows for the sweet potatoes by heaping the sand up 12 to 18 inches high. I can remember the thought of the day was, as he pushed the sweet potato plants into the top of the rows,nothing will grow in this sand. I never will forget how large the sweet potatoes were that year. I have never grown them that big in my 64 years.


There was a neat small store down the road from us. I think Jay Shepherd owned it. Orange Crush in the dark bottles was my favorite drink there. In the field behind him was the place they made sorghum each year. They would fire up a large stove with the juice from the cane running onto the top of it from the mill. One or two mules would walk in a circle turning the mill while one of the workers would feed the fresh sticks of cane into the opening of it. The juice would run down a flume onto the top of the hot stove while another worker would stir it or push it back and forth until it got thick. Mom sent me after a gallon one year. It was all I could carry. I dropped it as I crossed the road by Jay’s store at the large curve. As I tried to catch it, it landed on my finger on the blacktop and cut and or smashed my finger. Dam that hurt-

At a house by Jay’s store, just across a lane, was a union meeting or election one time, Two men got into a fight. One of them was knocked out and lay unconscious for a very long time. I didn’t know either one of them at the time. In later years, I overheard one of the men we knew at David, talking about this in a conversation with someone else. It turned out that both of these men were from David and I knew both of them. We were all friends at this time. Today I just think it was a disagreement between two young men.

How about all the trips Charlotte, Ken, John and I made going around the hill to Richmond Sloan’s Dad’s property. I don’t think we were supposed to be there. One time we built a fire in a small cement room on the hill above his house. Some of his kids came up and ran us off and gave us all kinds of hell. We went back several times but were always quiet so they would not know we were there. Charlotte told me she remembers gathering paw paws once when we were there. You could hear Mr. Sloan telling us to get out of his paw paw patch. Charlotte ran home with her paw paws wrapped in the tail of her dress. One time I made this trip by myself. Just as I got to the edge of the woods above our house I saw a very long black snake wrapped around a tree. You could see large knots on the snake. Later I found out they swallow young rabbits and birds whole and this is the way they break them up inside. I moved on and the trip to the cement room went well. On the way back I made my way down the hill to early and got into some thick brush. Just as I got to an empty stream bed or some rocks of some kind. I heard the sound of what I know now to be a rattle snake. I peered through the brush toward the rattling sound and saw a large snake by some rocks. I backtracked out of the brush and made my way back up the hill to the woods and then toward home. Just at the edge of the woods I stopped to rest and was looking down the hill at our house. I heard a noise close by and it was that large black snake I saw earlier crawling up very close to me. I rolled sideways down the hill and got up on the run toward the house. I got my brothers and we went back and threw rocks at that snake until it crawled into a hole.

One time our Mom and Dad had a disagreement. Mom at about 30 years old went to stay with her mom. Seems like it lasted about a week. I really can’t remember. She got in Uncle Glen’s Oldsmobile or Buick carrying a baby. I think it was Brother Wayne. I was a little tyke. The older kids were staying with Dad. This was a sad day for me. I jumped into the big car. I was going with my Mom. I had to get out of the car and stay with Dad and my older brothers and sister. At this age, it was hard to understand. I really missed Mom while she was gone. Kelly Haywood’s daughter cooked and cared for us while Mom was gone.

The Haywoods were a great family and great neighbors. We always were made to feel at home. They had at least three daughters and at least two sons. For the life of me I cannot remember their names. Was it Alta, Christine &???

The youngest girl, Alta, was my sister Charlotte’s age. ?? They treated us like gold. Their youngest son made trips to the hills playing with us. We played there and also in the creek. I helped Kelley in his large garden by the creek one year. To tell the truth, Kelley and his wife was probably baby sitting me. I remember one time we were at the Haywoods. Seems like some kind of celebration. Someone in an airplane flew overhead several times that day and was diving down close to his house. Rules today would not let a pilot do that for sure. Kelly also give us haircuts.

Just after I turned six years old, Dad took his kids to the movie at David. I think Wayne was to young so I believe it was Charlotte, Ken, John and me that went with him. We were in line to pay our way into the movie. Can you remember the small room there where they collected the money before going through the big double doors? When it became our turn to buy tickets, they told Dad if any of us kids were under six years old, we could get in free. Dad turned and ask me, “ Glen, aren’t you five years old? I said: “No Dad, I’m six years old.” He said: OK, and paid at least a quarter for my ticket.----Sorry Dad----This is so funny to me when I think of it.

We went to Sunday school at David several times. We rode the public bus there and back home. The driver was Jim Pee. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to go if I didn’t have big brothers and my sister Charlotte. A few times I remember going to church there. Preacher Durham’s driver picked us up in a truck with seats in the back. There was also bible school at the buckeye school every summer. They served cookies and fruit. The walk to that school was about a mile. This was our school my first two years until we moved. That would be a long walk to school these days. Seems like it was up hill both ways-ha. John and I got a new pair of suspenders when we were in first grade. They were snapped to a cardboard clock with an hour and minute hands. We took the clocks to school. Mrs. Mildred Whittaker was our teacher. She put the clocks on the chalk holder and taught the whole class how to tell time with them. This was Goldie Stephens’s sister. Goldie was our teacher at David.

It was Christmas time when I was in the second grade. Mrs. Whitaker gave each kid in the class a poem to memorize while school was out for Christmas. I read it a few times and thought there is no way I could recite this poem. Mom helped me with it over and over again each day until we went back to school. Mrs. Whitaker asked each kid to stand up and recite their poem. No one in the class could do it. When she finally asks me, I wanted to say no also just to go along with the class. I thought of how much time Mom spent with me making sure I knew each word. I stood up and without missing a work recited the poem. Mrs. Whitaker pinned a star on my butt. No, but she did give me a good grade.

One time my brothers and I were chasing Sister Charlotte and another girl around the house. Somehow Charlotte got her right elbow into the window pain at the back of the house. It not only broke the glass but Charlotte received a large cut on her arm. Look Sis, to see if you still have a large v shaped scar on your right forearm. Mean boys.

I remember Dad dressing up in his khaki shirt and pants on Saturday to go to a first aid meetings at David. Seems like his picture, with his team was in the newspaper. One Saturday he ended up at Ocy Sloan’s store buying chances on a clock with a horse on it. I think he use to hang out with Ervin Sloan and Johnny Prater. Mom sent us to tell him to come home. We went to this store and told Dad, Mom wanted him to come home. After we told Mom what he was doing, she went to the store and bought all the chances left and took the clock. Way to go Mom.

The first football Mom and Dad bought us boys, we were above the house seeing who could kick it further. Ken and John could kick the you-know-what out of that ball. It finally was my turn. I would completely miss the ball with my foot. Finally after Ken and John got tired, I tried and tried to kick that ball. I don’t remember if I ever made contact.
Last summer, I was watching Cody next door trying to kick his new football and having a hard time making contact with his foot. It made me think of us over 60 years ago.

I’m sure Charlotte, Ken and John remember that Dad was always playing tricks on us. This one instance he made a dime disappear. We checked his sleeves and looked all around. We stayed right after him asking what happened to that dime. Finally, he said it was inside a potato under the hot ashes in the fire place. We thought he was pulling our leg. He raked around in the ashes with the poker until he pulled out a potato. Sure enough, a dime was inside it. Boy, did I think he knew magic.

A few times he told us the story of Raw Head & Bloody Bones. Man, this would scare the crap out of us. This one time, shortly after he told that story, he slipped out of the house and put his head inside one of the windows and screamed. He had a white sheet on his head. I think that marked all us kids for life.

I remember the picture of Mom and Dad sitting on the dresser. Who has that picture now? Man, they were a good looking couple. Do you guys remember the picture of “Jesus knocking on the door”? I have it. It had some damage on the edges. I had it professionally framed.

One time Dad spent most of the day fishing in the creek across the road. He came home for a snack and returned to find his fish gone. We walked down the creek looking for them. Sure enough, he found the huge stringer of fish. Not to long after that all the fish in this creek died from bad water from the David mines.

Did we get our first refrigerator while we lived there? Seems like Clayton Wills delivered it with the company delivery truck and Mom helped him get it into the house. I believe Mom had problems from lifting that heavy thing.

The year before I started school, I remember spending mornings with Dad. There was a program on the radio each day that he listened to. I remember that old radio with a huge battery behind it. Dad practiced his first aid, while listening by tying tourniquets on me at the pressure points. He would put my arm in a sling and tie splints to my leg. Boy, was I being used!I knew all the pressure points to the human body before I started school. I still know them.

I remember Mom cooking on that wood stove. She would make chocolate candy from time to time. We loved it. Did we fight over who got the spoon she used to stir the candy? Mom would string green beans and hang them on the wall behind the stove to dry them.

I believe our sister Brenda was born not too long before we moved. Seems like the doctor came to the house. Mrs. Morris made us stay at her house during this wonderful occasion. Brenda was the pet. We thought she was the most beautiful baby in the world.

I think times were hard during the years we lived on Middle Creek. I assume this from reading the history books. I don’t remember wanting for anything. I thought we had everything. I’m sure we did, because we had each other. We were lucky kids.

Glen DeBoard
2007

Greatest Mother In The World
January 18, 1997

I would like to tell you of one of many instances why I thought my Mom was the most wonderful mother in the whole world. First you need to know the setting. It was in a small coal mining town ( David ) in the state of Kentucky in 1953.We had a contest at school that helped raise money. I was in the fourth grade and decided to compete in the contest. Each year in our gymnasium the school and community had a festival. It was actually a fund raiser for the school and entertainment for the children and their parents. Several activities took place leading up to the Saturday night festival.

Each class sold pies, cakes and candy each day at school that week. It was all donated by the parents and sent to school by very proud kids. Each child that wanted to participate in the contest would raise money that eventually would be part of the fund raiser. I asked for donations by going from door to door and also by mowing lawns to get all the cash I possibly could. The one that raised the most money would be crowned King with one of the fund raising girls being crowned Queen.
Looking back on this event, it seems child like and I wonder sometimes why I wanted to compete. It must be the need of kids to feel special sometimes. I believed if I could win this contest, it would be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
The money I earned cutting grass wasn’t much, but with the donations I collected it all added up to $9.50. It seemed like such a large sum of money and really, it was in those days. We all put our money in glass jelly jars with our name on them. That Friday morning all of us in the contest put our jars of coins on the end of the bake sale table. You could not tell for sure who was leading except that some of the jars were almost full of coins. The dead line was the end of the school day and prior to lunch, one of my classmate’s Mom came to the school and brought some candy to put on the sale table. She picked up her son’s jar and looked it over. She folded a ten dollar bill and inserted it in the slot in the jar lid. This kid wasn’t even in the running and all of a sudden he was the leader. I was sure he had over $10.00 at this time.

I was kind of quiet on the way home for lunch and my brother John talked to me about what had happened. As we all sat around the lunch table at home, John told the story to all and there was a few comments said about it. Mom made no comment at all. A quick lunch and out the door we started. We always wanted to get a few minutes playing time in before the school bell sounded. Just as I was going out the door, Mom asks me to come back in the house and talk to her. She let me know that she had not contributed to the fund raiser and give me a $5.00 bill. Our eyes met and I didn’t know what to say. She gave me a hug and said get out of here or you will be late for school.
You know $5.00 was a lot of money in 1953,especially in a family of eight people. This was one of many instances of how Mom treated her kids. She was strict and firm, but had a heart of gold and much love for her kids. This must be why all my brothers and sisters show so much love today and will give you the shirt off their backs. In later years Mom (Beatrice Leatha Kilgore DeBoard) was known as Granny Bee and all her grand kids loved her. She passed away April 14, 1987 and will be missed by all.
Oh, by the way, look in the 1953 Floyd County Year Book and see King Glen DeBoard on stage with Queen Francine Burkett.

Glen DeBoard Today, 2010



COMMENTS

There is always a DeBoard in my memories of David Kentucky, our East Kentucky coal camp home. In every grade in my school years, there was always a Bussey and a DeBoard. Charlotte was in the generation of my older sisters, Toby and Peggy, Brenda in the younger generation. The boys were such good friends and protective boys, just like my brothers.

The Bussey kids bonded much like the DeBoard kids did. We loved & protected each other, supported each other in all competition from round town to swimming to sleigh riding down those treacherous hills. I think maybe all of us coal camp kids bonded in our prayers that our parents could survive the challenges that came along with coal camp life.

I related with so many of Glen's memories, like the time I collected a meager 63cents in an effort to become a Halloween princess....

or, walking up the road and speaking to the adults sitting on their porches, "hello Mrs Capelli, hello Mrs Wilson, Hello Mrs Cole, etc", I dreaded this ritual at times, being a shy little girl. But that's the way it was back then.

In talking to my David classmates I've learned that there are generational perspectives and memories that are unique to each of us. While each is different, each is real. By compiling these individual accounts, we're building a bank of memories that validates our own self concepts and enables each of us to understand our history, our culture, and the work ethics and dedication of our parents who were true pioneers in the East Kentucky coal fields. Thanks for writing, Glen!