My Parents, Richard Edgar ROTH b.
Feb. 4, 1877 Brocton Town, Edgar Co. IL. - d. Apr.
26, 1959 & Minnie Ann DURHAM b. Aug. 22, 1877 Macon
Co. MO. - d. Aug. 6, 1952 Comstock, Custer Co.
NE.
Sisters:
Mom & Dad had a 640 acre farm, which consisted of manpower and horsepower. It would take a week to plow a big field with horses, which now takes a farmer half a day.
I was approximately 7 to 12 years old when we lived there. Dad had only 1 hired hand to help, otherwise, it was left up to Dad and we four boys.
We had 18 head of work-horses to curry and harness each morning at 5:00 a.m. and two saddle horses, 20 head of cows to milk each morning and evening, by hand. We also had hogs, chickens and ducks. I don't remember pictures of the farm, guess we couldn't afford one or they hadn't been invented yet.
We had running water on the farm: we would grab a bucket and run about 40 yards to get it...which in the winter months, was a little rough. We also had a long pipe we hooked onto a windmill that ran water to the milk-house. It was a small building where we separated the cream from the milk in a large wooden trough. The other pipe ran out back to the livestock water tank. We would set the cream and butter in the trough to keep it cool. It was our only refridgeration.
When we four boys went to Pleasant Valley School, we had to walk 2 an 1/4 miles to and from school. Sometimes, we would ride double-up on the two riding horses. When we got to school, we would throw the reins up on their necks, smack them on the rump and they would return home.
I remember some teachers. One year, D.A. JONES was the Principal and Mr. SAMUELSON was the sports coach. Ella BENTHACK was the math teacher. I believe she and SAMUELSON were married. The next one will ring a bell, in name that is...Alva CAVETT was our sports coach hs first year of teaching. His wife Erabelle, was the principal another year. They happen to be the parents of Dick CAVETT of television fame. Mr. M.E. BOREN was principal another year. I have a couple of pictures of the school house, one of which was taken in 1985 when your mother and I went to visit my brother Levi and his wife, Edna. It, at that time, seemed to be abandoned.
Copied from Dad's Comstock High School Yearbook:
The farm, Dad did not buy, he took it over on a 50/50 basis from the owner, Alex STONE. While Alex furnished the farm and buildings, Dad and we four boys furnished the labor. After five years, Dad sold his half of the crops to the owner for a $5,000.00 profit. Dad and brother, Levi went up to South Dakota and bought a farm on the Indian Reservation that the Indians were allowed to sell. That venture didn't turn out so well : drought and grasshoppers didn't let the crops grow for harvest. Dad eventually lost the farm and came back to Comstock where we were living before, at Alex Stone's.
We boys did a lot of trapping for skunks, civet cats, weasles, etc...a good skunk pelt brought us about $3.50 each. Good money back then. We would pack a box full and send them to a St. Louis Dealer. Your Mom would think that awful, killing wildlife, but the women were the ones who wore the furs...
Bicycles, Coaster Wagons and Scooters were rarely seen around the poorer farmer's yards. My brother's sport and mine was rough riding an old one-horse buggy-bed. It had four wheels and a flat bed. We tied a rope around the axles and would drag it up the hill on the entrance road to our farm. Then, one of us would sit on it and take the rope to guide it; the others would release it and jump on and ride down the hill. When it got tame, we would drag it up the hill in a pasture, which was about 1/4 mile from our house. The hill was cat-steps from top to bottom, so that made it kind of like riding a bucking bronco on wheels. This sport lasted until we broke all of he spare wheels.
Another sport was to saddle up the two riding horses, stick a few staples and a staple puller and hammer in our saddle bags and take off on a ride through the pasture fields. When we came up to a fence, we would dismount, pull the staples out of the posts, push the barbed wire down, stand on them and lead our horses across. We would then take the hammer and staples and put the fence back in order and ride on. Most of the time, we would end up in the barnyard of our neighbor's farm and would visit awhile. They never questioned how we got there, they knew the fences would be back in order.
I graduated from school in May, 1934. Sometime after that, during the summer, I practiced on a trumpet with the High School Band. They didn't have a band while I was in school, so they announced that anyone who graduated that previous year could practice with them. I borrowed my cousin's trumpet and a friend borrowed a clarinet from someone and we practiced wth them all summer
Then, I had a chance to join the C.C.C. (Civilian Conservation Corporation) similar to the P.W.A. (Public Works Administration), except the C.C.C. was for younger men and the P.W.A. was for older men. I think they paid us $2,500 per month and most of that was sent home. This was during the Dust Storm era when very few had work, crops and the livestock couldn't live on the food available.
They pulled me and one other guy out of the group I entered with and kept us there at Halsey, Nebraska. The rest were sent somewhere??? They said they need two men to fill their quota at Halsey. While I was there, I picked pine cones for seed, worked the nursery pulling up seedling pines and transplanting them to another plot, further apart. Then I was on a crew that set the pine trees that were ready, out in the National Forest. I also worked on a road they were building out in the forest. I drove a team of horses, pulling a big scraper. Then when the scraper hit a big rock and flipped over, you'd better let go of the handle real quick or you'd find yourself between the horses.
I entered the C.C.C. on 1/03/1935 and left on 3/31/1935. Ordinarily, you signed up for a six month deal, but they told us at Halsey that it was mid-term, so I told them I was getting out at the end of March. I think that was why they put me in the "Piling Crew" down on the river. They had about a 6 foot square raft on the Middle Loup River. Our crew's job was to get on the raft and sink big poles into the sandy bottom near shore to keep the river from washing further into the bank. If you could keep the raft balanced, it wasn't so bad. They had a powerful motor pump on shore that would pull the water out of the river bottom and at the same time, sink the big pole into the hole. The sand would settle back around the pole and hold it solid. As I said, it was easy as long a the raft stayed steady, but with four guys on it, working and moving around, there was some spills. The river water n March wasn't exactly swimming temperature. I think some of the guys didn't try too hard to stay on the raft, because they could go back to their barracks and dry out. By the time they got back, it was almost quitting time.
While I was there, I tried out for the C.C.C. basketball team and made it. I didn't get to play much, but it got me close to the Lt., who was the coach. I think he must have put in a word for me to the Capt., because he called me in and more or less bawled me out for signing up to get out at the end of March. I told him I had a job on a ranch waiting for me, at the same wage as C.C.C.'s and I wouldn't be under Army Regulations. So, they paid my way home and I soon went up to Merriman, Nebraska up near Gordon and worked for the BELSKY Ranch. I was there for a couple of months and then got word that my sister Nina's husband had died and she wondered if I could come to Akron, OH. and look for work and help take care of her daughter, Elaine while she (Nina) was at work. So, I told Mr. BELSKY of my plans and left there and went to my brother Wayne's Filling Station in Gordon. His station was right on Rt. #20 which was the road to my sister's in Casper, Wyoming. So I hitched a ride with a couple of guys who were going through Casper and said that I could ride with them. On the way, I paid for their breakfast, so they wouldn't think I was just a bum. They were friendly after that.
When we pulled nto Casper, I recognized one street that I knew was just a few blocks away from my sister, Mildred's, so they let me out and I walked the few blocks to her house. I visited her and her husband, John, for a few days. She said she would like to go to Comstock to visit the folks. So she took me back to Gordon, then on to Comstock. That must have been early fall, 1935. I think I visited there until Mildred started her return home, then went to the town depot and got my tickets on the train to Chicago. For some reason, they routed me from Chicago by bus. I guess they may not have had connections with the B & O railroad, which I learned after I got there. After hanging around the bus terminal for about 4 hours waiting for them to call out Akron, (all they had been calling out was "Toledo" and "Cleveland"), and when they called them again, this dumb country boy went to the departure door and asked the bus driver "Where is the bus to Akron?". He said "Right here"...it was his bus ! Anyway, I finally reached Akron in the wee hours of the morning. Some kind gentleman from Wyoming, who was on the same bus, took me to breakfast. Then at the depot, I got instructions about the city bus for Newton Street, got on it and went to Nina's house.
I spent the first six months to 1 year cooking evening meals for Elaine after her school days and between Nina and I, trying to get a hold of some of her Goodyear "friends"(?), who told her they would help getting me into Goodyear...they were either not home or wouldn't answer the telephone, or the door, as we never got ahold of them. Maybe it was just as well, as at that time, it probably would have been a factory job. Anyway, Reverend BANKS, the preacher at the Meade Avenue Church nearby (which I attended) also had a Business College by me working for my tuition. I must have started in the fall of 1936. I took a course in Accounting, of course, part of that class had to be shorthand and to type at least 45 wpm...While there, I did the janitor work and chauffeured Mrs. BANKS to where-ever she had to go. I must have finished in the fall of 1937. Anyway, Mr. BANKS sent me out on an interview with Mr. KELLER, the office manager of the F.W. ALBRECHT Grocery Company. I must have satisfied Mr. KELLER, as I got the job. In a few months of training, their accounts payable clerk left for another job. They put me in as his replacement.
Mom and I were married March 10, 1939 at the East Market Street Church of Christ. Rev. BANKS was or pastor. We went on a honeymoon to Canton, OH. in a downtown hotel. I only had the weekend off, so we couldn't go very far. We couldn't afford it anyway. We lived in an apartment on Inman Street, Dan was born there. We moved into an apartment across from your Mom's folks.
After being with ALBRECHT 4 years, I tried to get a raise. After six months of trying, I got a $5.00 a month raise. Instead of making me happy, it made me mad and I started looking for another job. A friend who lived on the same street as Nina, worked for a Commercial Credit Company and told me they had an opening. I think the big thing was, at the time, it was not only a little higher salary, but they would furnish me with a car that I could also use for my personal use, as long as I kept track of the mileage. My old Ford V8 Coupe with a rumble seat was shimmying like mad at the time, so I took the job. I left the grocery company after four years and started with the Credit Company on 3-10-1941.
Later we rented a house down the street a couple of doors on Hollis Street. Bill was born while we lived there.
After three months, I discovered the job wasn't all it was painted to me. I had a certain territory to make house calls on the "dead beats" who didn't pay their bills for the appliances they purchased. I think some of their problems were that they didn't understand that the document they were signing turned the account over to the Commercial Credit Company. I blamed some of the Sales people at the appliance stores for some of that. Anyway, after 3 or 4 months, I started spending more time looking for a new job. I did want to get into Goodyear, so I bugged them the most. After four or five calls, trips I should say, to the Goodyear Personnel Dept., as I got up to leave..again, I turned around at the door and asked the personnel manager, if there was an opening for an accounts payable. He told me to go up to Accounts Payable and talk to the Manager, Charles BAKER, maybe he'd have something for me. After talking to Mr. BAKER, without any promise, I no more than got back down to the personnel office and the man said I was hired. That was one week before Pearl Harbor. With two weeks notice to the C.C.C., I started at Goodyear on 12-15-1941. The big thing I think I learned about interviews, was to ask for something specific that you are looking for. Don't generalize or say you'll take anything just to get in.
So, the first day I worked for Goodyear, I proved myself so well that they worked me overtime till 10:00 p.m. We didn't have a phone then, so I couldn't call your Mother to let her know I would be late. I guess she got pretty frantic.
We then purchased 2517 Ogden Ave. in Oct. of 1944. They were still not through with the house, but we had to get out of the house on Hollis Street as the woman who worked at Goodyear purchased it and wanted to move right away. All that was needed at 2517 was painting of the walls and woodwork. We added the garage and dinette in 1952. Grandpa KELLERMAN dug the footer the week I was at Camp Manatoc with the Boy Scouts. He was able to get us some used lumber from Goodyear, since he was in the Waste Control Dept.. We got a truck load of lumber, mostly 2 x 4's and 2 x 6's and miscellaneous lumber. We got the whole lot for $45.00. It was enough to put up the studding and rafters. Grandpa and I did the work. We weren't sure about tying into the roof, so I got Jack Moore (a working buddy) to help out and then I did the rest.
With so many young ones having to leave for armed forces, I soon moved up rather fast in the next five years. In my career there, I was in all of their 7 or 8 sections, with the exception of advertising accounting.
It must have been in April of 1945 that I got my first notice to report for induction. So I made arrangements to rent our house and for Mother and sons to move in with her folks. I found out that about a week later that Goodyear got me a 30 day extension. So I had to cancel the house rental. When the 30 days were up, my manager asked me if I wanted another extension. I told them if it was only 30 days to forget it, because I didn't want to go through the house rental deal again. So, the Army got me.
The war in Europe was over, but I still got notice to report to Cleveland for a physical. From there I went to Camp Atterbury, just outside of Indianapolis. I was inducted on May 22, 1945. After the normal typhoid, tetanus and flu shots, the next thing was for the interview, where they try to find out what you are qualified for. When the officer asked me what I did in civilian life, I told him I was an IBM operator and programmer. He pushed his chair back and pulled out the desk drawer, got a piece of paper and started writing something. I leaned over to see what he was writing. We wrote : "Hold for special assignment", so I was quite sure what I would be doing right away.
After a few more days at Atterbury, they sent a group of us to Fort Lee, VA. This was the "special Service" basic training camp (office workers, musicians, entertainers, etc...were sent there for a five week training). I was exposed to several entertainment people. One that I remember was Harold JOHNSON, who was emcee for the spooky radio show, "Inner Sanctum". He liked to pitch horse shoes, so I pitched several games with him. Another time, I sat in the yard at the PX drinking beer with Bob EBERLY, the singer. He was easy to talk to and showed me pictures of his wife. Another was a sax player, who played with Charlie BARNETT. He was in the same barracks that I was in. Another in the barracks was a piano player who played with Tommy DORSEY. So with all this talent at Fort Lee, there was plenty good entertainment at the outdoor stages in camp.
After five weeks of basic training, I was supposed to go to Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia for IBM class. The first session there was already filled up, so they told me I'd have to wait until the next session. It must have been filled too, because finally they sent 10 of us to the 98th Mach. Records Unit of the 2nd Army Headquarters in Memphis, TN. They needed 8 of the 10 to go to Oregon for eventual shipment to Japan. I was fortunately one of the two that stayed at Memphis. After a couple of weeks there, they gave me the job of running and mailing AWOL (Absent Without Leave) reports to Washington. It was the only job that was strictly a day time job. The others worked days one week and then night shift the next week. So, I lucked out again. It was just like working in an office.
The rest of the IBM crew were all former IBM workers, so they were all nice guys and officers were all easy going and friendly. One day, after I finished my reports, I sat at a table reading my IBM book to pass the time, soon I felt an arm on my shoulders, looked up and there was the Captain. He asked what I was doing there. I told him, "killing time mostly"...He asked me if i wanted to play Ping-Pong. So we went into the game room and played a few games. All told, the 8 months plus time in the Army, was good experience. I left there with a TIV rating.
In January of 1946, I called my boss at Goodyear to let him know that I was back, but told him that I would like to take a couple of weeks before I started back to work. He told me that maybe I had better come down and sign in, as it looked like the factory was going on strike in the next few days. Then I would be on payroll, but would probably not be able to get back to work. So, I went down to sign in...they didn't strike, so I had to start work right away.
After 38 years in Accounts Payable at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, I am now retired and have turned professional loafer.