University of North Carolina at Asheville
D. Hiden Ramsey Library
Special Collections/University Archives

Oral History Register
for

John and Elizabeth Garland

OH-VOA G37 Jo

Voices of Asheville Oral History Collection
D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNCA

Title

Creator

Dorothy Joynes for Voices of Asheville Oral History Collection

Subject

LCSH:
Garland, John
Garland, Elizabeth
Asheville (N.C.) -- History
Veterans -- Education -- Law and legislation -- United States
Retail trade -- North Carolina -- Asheville
Depressions -- 1929 -- North Carolina -- Asheville

Subject

Keyword: Grace School ; Sears ; Bon Marché ; Elizabeth's [dress shop] ; Grove Park Inn

Description

Abstract: Elizabeth discusses her experience growing up in this area, describing life during the Depression, her education, and her jobs in various clothing stores.  John also describes his experience growing up in Asheville during the Depression, and discusses the constraints that poverty put on his family.  He discusses his experience as a soldier during WWII, and talks about the technical training that he received upon his return from the war as a result of the G. I. Bill.  He describes various jobs that he has held through the years.  He discusses changes that he has seen in the area over time.

Publisher

D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, NC, 28804

Contributor

Date

Electronic Record Issued: 2002-04-30

Type

Sound ; Text ; Image

Format

Physical Description: 14-page abstract ; 1 90-minute audiocassette ; 15 color photographs ; newspaper articles

Identifier

Source

OH-VOA G37 Jo

Language

English

Relation

References: VOA Elmer Ownbey Oral History

Coverage

Acquisition

Donor number: 146 ;  Date of acquisition: 1998

Processed By

Dorothy Joynes, Ruth Beard and staff

Interview Date

Interview Location

Biography

List of names

Side 1:

[1]  Elizabeth (called Lil) - Her father worked for the railroad, coming home to his family on weekends.  They lived first on Ashland Avenue, moving to Beaverdam and Merrimon (where Great Expectations is now - photo) and bought the present home (photo) which is now 75 years old. [Amon Pilpot Lawrence and wife, Jessie May Parsons Lawrence]

[20]  There were 5 children.  Her father loved Christmas and got all the children up at 12 midnight to celebrate.  Her mother cooked all night. [Amon Pilpot Lawrence, Rufus Harrison Lawrence, Mary Frances Lawrence, Elizabeth Matilda Lawrence, Willie Don Lawrence]

[37]  She attended Grace School (now named Ira B. Jones).

[40]  Her father had a garden, sold vegetables and on the 4th of July bought an upright radio.  She remembers listening to "Little Orphan Annie."

[52]  She told of a Tom Thumb golf course on Merrimon and going to the movies.  Her brother built the golf course. [Rufus Lawrence]

[67]  Everyone had a hard time during the Depression but, because of her father's job, the family did not suffer.  When he came home on weekends he brought presents.  He bought her a pair of shoes, they were too small but she didn't want to hurt his feelings.  When shoes wore out he glued new soles on.

[76]  Her mother was active in the P.T.A.  She loved the principal, did good work and still sees the teachers.  Her English teacher just died (see AAUW tape 5/1/89 - a review - not indexed). [Jessie Huff]

[89]  She walked home for lunch.  Her mother had a maid helping her.

[98]  She just closed her ladies' dress shop on Haywood St. (see enclosure).  She leased her space from the Haywood Park Development Association (see White tape).  Previously she had been at 18 College in a store called Jr. Miss.  She helped open it with Merki (see enclosure of store front) and bought it in 1954.  Business was good but she wanted time with her husband.  [Alice Webb White, Merki Poehlien (now Sloan)]

[137]  When her son was in college she worked from 5-9 at Sears.  Said she learned a lot for they insisted on giving service. [Marshal Hill]

[143]  She considers buying for a store a big challenge.  She went to Charlotte and Atlanta for merchandise, buying what the public wanted from petite to size 16.

[153]  When her son was young she worked at Bon Marché.

[171]  There was a change in buying patterns when the malls came in.  While Westgate was not as big an attraction as the Asheville Mall, and the River Ridge Mall is newer, the competition forced downtown stores to keep improving.  If she was unable to supply a customer's request she would phone other stores for them.

[199]  John (called Howard) was born on Beaverdam Road and his father built a home on Spook's Branch Road.  His grandfather had a farm where Woodland Hills is now and also built on Spook's Branch Road.

[212]  His father was an electrician but, during the Depression his shop in Grace, which he ran with Bob, only had jobs for 2 days a week.  He had to take care of his parents as well as his own family so worked at Newt's grocery store on weekends to supply food. [Bob Matthews, Newt Johnson]

[236]  The family had a garden and his father had a little store.  Four or five different pieces of land were rented for farming, the children doing most of the work. His mother canned 100 quarts of blackberries.  Irish and sweet potatoes were "buried in" for the winter and heads of cabbage were covered with straw.  Chickens were raised but there were no eggs left to sell. [Father: Andrew Jackson Garland, Mother: Georgia Irene Garland, Siblings: Helen Otis Garland, Harold Garland, Andrew Jackson Garland Jr., Margarite Garland, Phyllis Garland]

[279]  Hog butchering time was a community type of thing.  Hogs were hung in hickory trees, six to seven at a time, a fire was built and the boys scraped the hair off.  They were rewarded with the bladder which, when put in the sun, was almost as tough as a football.  They were cut and hung in a 12' x 12' granary after being salted.  The fat (lard) was used for cooking.  His mother didn't make soap but made cracklings.  For breakfast, when times were better, they had fried chicken and steaks for breakfast.

[327]  When his father was 40 he had a heart attack but still delivered milk from his 5 cows to his first cousin whose father was killed in a train accident.  He was working at Enka as an electrician and the milk had to be ready by 7 a.m.

[347]  There were two separate dairies on Beaverdam run by brothers during the Depression.  He helped them milk. [Ed Carter, Elmer Carter]

[355]  He has known Elmer Ownbey since he was a little boy.  He is older then Elmer (who is 72 - see his tape). [Elmer Ownbey]

[365]  He went to Grace (now Ira B. Jones).  Ira, called "Doc" was the principal.  They used to go squirrel hunting together, but when Doc discovered that he and some of the boys stole apples from an orchard off Kimberly he called them in his office, had them empty out their shirt tails and gave them four "licks with a board."  When his father found out, he got another one...times have changed.

[391]  He always addressed elders as "Sir" and "Mam" and still calls "Aunts" and "Uncles" as his father demanded.

[397]  His father came from this area but his grandfather came from Kentucky.  His mother was from Georgia and came by horse and wagon with her husband to work on a power dam.

[413]  He still has a hay rack in the house he still owns on Spook's Branch Road.  The family always had a horse and wagon - sometimes two.

[423]  When he was growing up he had one pair of shoes for school and church.  After the 1st of May the children went barefoot.  He still has the last his father used for repairing shoes using glue and nails.

[437]  His family owned a phone line with Frank.  There were 8 people on the line. [Frank Nelson]

[445]  His father put electricity in the house but there was no inside water at the time.  There were 2 reservoirs on the 8-9 acres near the house shared by Doug, and water was later brought into 5-6 houses with gravity. [Douglas Caloway]

[471]  Fish, called "hogsuckers" a foot long, came up Beaverdam creek to spawn.  Boys, two on each side of the creek, would grab for them under the rocks and throw them up on the bank.

[498]  He found a snake, hit it with a stick and babies, which had been swallowed for protection, crawled out of the mother's mouth.

[573]  The boys hunted rabbit and squirrels which they par boiled and fried.

[524]  He knew his present wife's sister in school and went to her house for a party.  He said her mother was strict and told everyone to clean up. [Mary Frances Lawrence]

[545]  His mother lived to be 96.  She was midwife to 7 births on Spook's Branch Road and prepared meals for sick people.  He and his mother made family decisions when his father was sick.

[572]  He remembers hearing about Westall Landing at Bard's Bottom and the bridge under the water.  His parents courted on the street car that went over that area. [Henry Westall]

[593]  There was an ostrich farm on two sides of Merrimon around Colonial Place, run by brothers. [Joe Johnson, Sam Johnson]

Side 2:

[2/2]  He said that in the latter part of WWII wooden bullets tipped with poison were used so that an enemy who was wounded would need 10 men to take care of him.

[2/20]  His son flew a cobra helicopter in Vietnam.  They kept running out of ammo. [John Howard Garland Jr.]

[2/33]  He volunteered for the Air Force in 1941, serving 2 years and 8 months.  With the Battle of the Bulge he was, after 6 weeks training, transferred to the infantry.  His wife was expecting her first child but it was two weeks before he knew she was born and two years before he saw her.  The Red Cross was not helpful in getting the information. [Eleanor Garland, Linda Garland Nichols]

[2/82]  He worked at Enka in 1937 and was told he would get his job back, when he didn't he appealed to the Veteran's Administration.  He was given outside mechanical work but didn't like the way he was treated and quit.

[2/92]  Under the G. I. Bill (see enclosure) he went to the Asheville Technical School (held in the High School) at night while working for W. A. Ward Electrical Contractors. He stayed there 5 ½ years but there wasn't enough work so he joined the union at Hayes & Lunsford Electric Co. - a closed shop - by contacting their business agent and paying $50 for membership. [William Ward, Abe Warren]

[2/117]  There still wasn't enough work so he joined his father who was turning work away.  They worked out of their building on Spook's Branch Road and did electrical work for Grove Park Inn.  He also worked for WLOS, owned by Wolfson.  The Wolfsons owned the Beaver Lake golf course and a farm at the end of Beaverdam Road, where they had a riding ring for horse shows and remodeled a brick house built by Fred Tilson, which they used in the summer (see Edith Owenby tape). [Michael Wolfson, Fred Tilson]

[2/141]  He did not find much change in the city when he returned after the war.  Materials were hard to get.  The Grove Park Inn was owned by Jack Tar, a chain operation.  He did contract work for them - not on the pay roll.  He met with Williamson and Joe in the spring to get the hotel open in April [1956].  This was before they bought the golf course.  The homespun factory was still operating.  (See book on Grove Park Inn - their publication). [Williamson, Joe Kanewske]

[2/188]  His father helped put the big rocks over the fireplace.  He describes the 3' x 4' crawl space under the hotel which held electrical wiring and water pipes.  The engineer knew where all the circuits were - there were no plans except in his head.  He was more valuable than any of the managers.  His wife was head housekeeper and they never took a vacation.  In gratitude the hotel flew them to the Bahamas for a vacation. [Bill Nelson]

[2/264]  She married and moved to Hendersonville.  In war time she had to stand in line to get anything - e.g. sugar and coffee. [Mack Hill]

[2/271]  He lived off the post in Del Ray Beach, Florida and had to use stamps for purchases - e.g. meat, butter, shoes.

[2/278]  She couldn't find any decent clothes for her daughter and had a coat made for her.  There was a polio epidemic (see enclosure) and she didn't let the children out of the yard. [Sandy Hill]

[2/288]  His wife died of cancer in 1980. [Eleanor Garland]

[2/295]  She visited her husband in this country when he was in the service.  When he returned they moved in with their in laws for a while.  He worked in the post office and became superintendent.  He worked with Elmer in the Grace station which moved twice before its present location at Larchmont and Merrimon.  He signed up for disability and died of cancer. [Elmer Ownbey]

[2/354]  He went to Beaverdam Baptist Church, joining in 1938.  He now goes to Central Methodist with his new wife, feeling they should go together.

[2/263]  They had many friends in common.  Don, who died last Thursday used to work with his father. [Don Neilson]

[2/275]  His mother's parents lived in Shamley, GA on a 100 acre farm where they raised hogs and pole beans.  Every year they planned their vacation with Mr. Biddix, a neighbor - both families had Willow-Snipe touring cars.  They started at 4 a.m. and arrived at 9 p.m. (the same trip would take 3 hours today).  They averaged 3-5 flat tires and didn't see another car on the road for an hour at a time.  When they passed farmers, all waved.  They pumped their own gas at a station for 15-20 cents a gallon and always carried an extra can with them.  At lunch time they looked for a well, stopped and asked if they could have a picnic on the farmer's property.  Today, one would not do this. [Mr. Biddix]

[2/439]  The roads were red clay and the mountain roads were curving.  His mother bought black cow suckers so the children wouldn't get sick.  The car got so hot going up hills that the radiator steamed.  Curtains were put up when it rained.  His father built a bench for the back seat to take care of the 5 children.  They saved all year for this trip, but, a colored man worked in the yard and his wife helped in the house.  Watermelons were saved for the children.  There were times when 34 people spent the night in the farmhouse with its wrap-around porch.

[2/498]  Her mother gave her candy when driving but hers wasn't tasty.  She made all her own clothes and dressed her daughter in a dress matching the graduates at St. Genevieve's. [Sandra Hill]

[2/531]  He used to work at the A&P on Merrimon and Colonial and describes the store with bins of food.  Prices of items were written on a paper bag.  The store moved across the street and later burned.

[2/567]  There used to be a drug store where Citizen's Hardware is.  Johnson had a grocery store below it - the building is still there.  An ice house was close by and, before they had an electric refrigerator, his father used to pick up ice there. [Joe Johnson]

[2/594]  She loves living in North Asheville and he wouldn't want to live any place else.  His family has 34.7 acres on Beaverdam Rd.

Thanks.

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