Reclaimed Memories
ca. 1936 - 1939

n September 17, 1936, we moved to the Union Circuit, in Mason County, West Virginia. It was a good promotion for us. The first year's salary there was just twice what we had received the previous year at Cairo. The parsonage was a rather large house, in good repair, with an adequate detached storage building, which we called "the wash house." We were lucky, for we had kept the washer we had when we left for Bonebrake and stored it with our other furniture. We had kept it on the back porch at Cairo and brought it into the kitchen to use, if it was too cold to wash outside. Here we always did the washing in the storage building.

There were three nice size bedrooms upstairs with separate doorways off the hall. There was no bathroom, so the next summer after we moved we improvised a "G.I." shower in the wash house. This consisted of a five gallon oil can with small nail holes in the bottom; a pulley fastened to one of the rafters of the roof, and a rope to raise the can, to which five gallon of warm water had been added. The recipient of each can of warm water must be prepared for his or her shower as soon as the can could be raised. A companion pulled the shower up and held the rope until the water was gone. It is surprising how good we felt after a G.I. shower! Another use to which we put this little building was as a meeting place for the boy scouts.

The most unsatisfactory aspect of this parsonage was the water supply. It came from a cistern and we heated with coal, so there was often coal dust in the water. In the winter, when the water was unsatisfactory we carried our cooking and drinking water from a neighbor's well. There was a nice, clear creek a short distance down a bank, from the parsonage and we often carried water from it for other purposes. There was a sink with a pitcher pump in the kitchen.

The parsonage lot was large so we always had a nice garden. On the back of the lot was a large barn, in which the early pastors stabled their horses. There was no garage so while we were there Troy, with the help of some of the Union Church young people, tore down the barn and had plenty of second hand lumber to construct a garage, which he did. One day, while tearing the old barn down, Troy came in the house as pale as death and in an agony of pain. His hammer had caught on his pant's leg and he mashed the end of his thumb almost flat. He could not work for several days and later lost the nail from his thumb.

The house had three rooms downstairs. The living room had a coal-burning fireplace, as did the bedroom just over it. We found these to be inadequate for the house and the second winter bought a large "Warm Morning" coal heater. This we installed in the dining room. From that time on we were as snug as “bugs in a rug," for we could bank the fire, (cover the hot coals with ashes) and it would keep until morning. After our experience at Cairo I considered myself an expert paper hanger, so we used a part of our tithe and bought paper for the entire house. This was not all done at once, but over the period of our ministry there. We always took pride in the fact that when we moved the pastor who followed found a more attractive place to come to, than we had found.

When Dr. Capehart, the Conference Superintendent, discussed sending us to the Union Circuit he told Troy that it was one of the better circuits and that the Union Church was the church in which he was reared. One of his sisters, Kelsie Roush, and her family belonged there and they attended faithfully. Other members of his family lived in that area. The church had celebrated its 100th anniversary in the summer of 1936, before we moved there a month or so later. It was the first United Brethren Church organized in West Virginia Conference, so the members were proud of their heritage.

There was the regulation one room school, not far from the parsonage and school began about a week before we moved. We took Marion down and left him with Kelsie and Van Roush so he would not miss the first week of school. They had a little girl about Marion's age. The second year we were there chicken pox broke out in the community and Howard broke out with it before Marion did. By the time Marion broke out and the scabs had disappeared six weeks had passed. We had to keep Marion home and I taught him there. When he went back to school he was so far ahead of the children in his grade that the teacher put him in the next grade. The next year it was the whooping cough and he again missed six weeks of school and again was given a double promotion. Consequently when he started high school he was just a little past his 12th birthday and short for his age. When he was fourteen he shot up so fast it was almost impossible to keep him in pants long enough for the style of the day.

The parsonage was just a few steps from the Union Church, but there were five other churches on the circuit. The farthest was only seven miles, so we never had to stay away from home to serve them. They were all located in a big bend of the Ohio River, in rather level farm land. Many of the farmers were dairy farmers and the deep depression did not hit them with the impact that it had on other regions. The names of the other churches were: Fairview, Salem, Peniel, Oak Grove, and Vernon. They formed a rather irregular semicircle around the Ohio River bend from west to east of the parsonage, in a northern direction. It was about four miles to the nearest one from the parsonage and the Union Church, to about seven or eight miles to the one at the greatest distance.
 

Troy preached as he did at Cairo, every two weeks at each church. One Sunday he would preach at Union in the morning and in the afternoon drive about seven miles to the Fairview community, where he preached in the schoolhouse in the afternoon. That night he drove about five or six miles to Salem for a service. His record book shows that on the next Sunday he preached at Vernon before Sunday School, then drove four miles to Oak Grove, where he preached after Sunday School and that night at Salem which was about six miles from the parsonage. The boys and I usually attended every service with him. It would not do for the pastors family to show a preference for one congregation over another! We were often invited for dinner by parishioners and, if that happened we would visit with that family all afternoon and go from there, to the preaching appointment that evening. Country people are usually so hospitable, so we learned to know them well.

The next evening after we moved into the parsonage, the folks from the Union church surprised us with a party to meet the new occupants of the parsonage. Everyone brought gifts of canned foods, or things from the market that could be stored in the cupboards or in the cellar. It was a surprise to us and I had already put Howard to bed, but all wanted to see him. So I brought him down in his little gown. He lacked one week of being eleven months old, but would repeat almost any simple word he was asked to say and was beginning to put words together. He could say," I love you," when prompted. He was really the center of attraction all evening. No one had ever known a baby to talk so well at less than eleven months. But it was no wonder he talked early. Someone was always talking to him when he was awake.

One Sunday at the Union Church, Troy was having the prayer before the worship service. I was holding Howard in my arms and he sang out, loud enough for the entire congregation to bear, "Amen." Troy continued to pray and he repeated "Amen." Still Troy did not end his prayer and Howard exasperated said emphatically, "Amen, Daddy, amen!" That time it was "Amen" for there was subdued laughter all over the church.

While we were at Cairo my brother, Ted and Troy's sister, Blossom were married at my sister, Ruby's home by Troy, on March 15, before we moved to Union in September. They soon paid us a visit at our new location and took Marion home with them, to Akron. Blossom had stayed with us for several months and kept Marion while I was working in Parkersburg. There has always been a strong bond between them.

Marion was always fascinated with planes, and spent quite a bit of time making the model ones. While he was in Akron Blossom bought him a large kite airplane and we all went out in the field to fly it after he came home. I have never seen a kite fly as well as that one did. It flew completely out of sight. I cannot remember if he was able to bring it in, or if the string broke and he lost it.

Planes flying overhead was a novelty in those days, and we would all rush outside if we heard one. Marion remembers an autogiro flying over while we were at Union, but I do not remember that.

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