Reclaimed Memories
ca. 1936 - 1939

he Bumgarners were prominent leaders in the church at Union. There were three brothers and their families, as well as two of their sisters, who were maiden ladies and living at home with the aged mother. The youngest brother and his wife and baby daughter also lived at the home place and the family ran a dairy. This family kept us supplied with milk, while on this work. Each evening Troy would drive to their place to get our supply for the next day. The road was graveled and not often scraped. When it rained the water would stand in deep puddles in the depressions. Howard would usually go with his dad when he went for milk. One day Troy hit a vicious hole, filled with water, and Howard said "Daddy, you ought to "frow" out an anchor." Another time they were going for milk and there was a scarecrow in the field and Howard teased his dad by saying, "Oh, I 'fought' that was my daddy."

The first names of the three Bumgarner brothers and their wives were; John and Oma, Ottie and Anna, and Oris and Nellie. Ottie seemed a little more prosperous than the other two brothers and, while we were there, bought a brand new car. It was probably a Ford or a Chevrolet but the outstanding thing about it, in the very late thirties, was the color. Almost all cars in those days were black and the first Sunday they drove the car to church we all stood around and admired their avocado green auto. Oma showed a little streak of jealousy when she whispered to me, "I don't like that shitty, green color." In our family "Bumgarner green' means just one thing and the word need not be said.

About every family living in the country made a big brass kettle of apple butter in the fall, and we were not to be outdone in this regard. Some of our parishioners helped us in the peeling of a tub full of sliced apples. We built a fire under the big brass kettle, which sat above the fire on a tripod. It took hours to cook the apples down enough to add the huge amount of sugar required. Then more constant stirring until it had cooked down to the consistency desired. It had to be stirred continually to keep it from sticking on the bottom. It just about took three people from early morning to late afternoon to make the apple butter. The fire had to be kept "chunked" every few minutes and stirring was tiresome, so that job alternated between the workers. When we finished we had between thirty and forty quarts of apple butter. We must have had all we could use for years to come!

If you, my descendants, think about this process at all you are bound to wonder how we could get close enough to the bonfire, under the contents of the kettle to stir it and what instrument we could use to do the job. The "stirs" were home made and passed around between the families, at apple butter making time. They were shaped like huge, wooden, garden hoes. The handle part was a sturdy, smooth pole, somewhat larger around than the farm tool, and a foot or two longer. The "hoe" section on the end of the pole was similar to a boat paddle, with several holes drilled through it. This section was as long as the kettle was tall. A small bottle of oil of cinnamon, or some other flavoring was added to enhance the taste. Now! Can you make a kettle of that good old fashioned apple butter?

In the hallway of the parsonage at Union there was one of the really old-fashioned telephones. On the wall beside it was the names of the subscribers, and the designated "rings" for each family with a phone. The rings were a mixture of short and long rings, and were made by turning a little "crank" on the right side of the telephone box. Sometimes you could almost guess who was making the call by the length of the rings. Some peoples short rings were as long as others long ones. The system was called "'The Party Line." We soon learned that no one expected to have a private conversation on the party line, for others would join in the conversation taking place, if it interested them. People were surprised at times that we had not heard some bit of news. It had been on the party line so we should have listened! I'm sure the telephone was a source of pleasure and entertainment to those people back in the thirties.

NEXT - ROMANCE REKINDLED?