Mrs. Lynn had a relative in the hospital in Prestonsburg, KY back in the late 80’s/ early 90’s.  My great grandmother was in the same hospital at the time and my Grandma Bonnie, her daughter, was sitting with her.  Mrs Lynn stopped by my great grandmother’s room, a lady who she did not know, and she sat and chatted with my Grandma Bonnie for quite some time.  Before leaving she invited her to “come down and see me”.  This situation has endured me to this stranger more than anything.  She showed kindness to my family, whom she did not know.  She is the real deal, a real Appalachian Coal Miner’s Daughter, down to earth, beautiful inside and out.  Unchanged by fame, southern hospitality abounds within this woman.  She is an inspiration to all women, not just Appalachian women, but her heart belongs with us, in the mountains.  She is beautiful and still “plain as dirt” despite her great success.  I’m very proud to have her represent the area of Appalachia that I am from. 

Loretta, you are an inspiration to us all.  May we not forget where we come from no matter where we go.  Let us know forget our raisin’!

Phone: 859.494.2540

Email: chsweeney@centralkylaw.com

Website: www.appalachianfolk.com

APPALACHIAN FOLK FOUNDER FINDS HER ROOTS AT THE MUSEUM OF APPALACHIA

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY (APRIL 2010) – Preservation of Appalachian culture has always been a passion for Christy Howell Sweeney, Esq., founder of Appalachianfolk.com.  In a pursuit to discover even more about her heritage, she recently ventured to the beautiful valley in Clinton, Tennessee which is home to the Museum of Appalachia.

Upon her arrival, Mrs. Sweeney was taken aback by the sheer size of the Museum.  “It’s not just a Museum, it’s much more than that.  It should be called the Village and Museum of Appalachia!”  Mrs. Sweeney exclaimed.  “It’s a working Appalachian farm complete with animals, gardens cabins and artifacts, many of which I had never laid eyes on before.  It was a real treat to see and I loved it!”

Sweeney and her husband Joe met with the founder of the Museum of Appalachia, John Rice Irwin, who is also an acclaimed author.  They were treated to lunch in the Museum’s restaurant where they enjoyed the wonderful food made in the kitchen, including the Museum’s famous cornbread.  They then began an exploration into the past by walking the grounds of the Museum.  “The amount of artifacts in the museum is massive and the attention to detail is nothing but excellent.” Sweeney said.

“Appalachia has a culture unlike anywhere else in the country – a culture that includes an unmatched oral tradition rich with folk lore, old wives tales, and parables,” Sweeney said.  “John Rice Irwin has taken that tradition one step further and created something we can actually see and touch, an Appalachian time machine, if you will.”

Perhaps the Museum of Appalachia is so great because of the heart behind it.  “Mr. Rice is a really sweet, down to earth person, a kindred spirit who is sincere in his desire to preserve our heritage.” Sweeney said.  “We met as strangers and we parted as friends.  I have great respect for him.”  Sweeney encourages everyone to visit the Museum located at 2819 Andersonville Hwy, Clinton, TN, just 30 minutes outside of Knoxville.  “To know who you are, I believe you must find out where you came from”

AppalachianFolk.com is the project of Christy H. Sweeney, a daughter and granddaughter of coal miners who was raised in Fort Gay, West Virginia and Louisa, Kentucky. Now a practicing attorney in Lexington, Kentucky, Sweeney hopes that the Appalachian stories collected on the website will help others who share similar pasts learn and connect. She encourages everyone to take their tradition one step further and visit the Museum of Appalachia. 

 “The Appalachian stories and memories people share on Appalachianfolk.com reveal both diversity and a wide array of common themes,” Sweeney said. “Already, the collection reflects some of the universally important aspects of Appalachia life as I knew it growing up: a distinctive mix of family, tradition, food, music, tall tales, close knit towns, and mountain adventures. The Museum of Appalachia brought the oral traditions shared on Appalachianfolk.com to life.”

AppalacianFolk.com is an archive of true stories, fiction, folktales, poetry, art, recipes, and pictures from those who have lived in Appalachia or who have Appalachian ancestry. To begin discovering Appalachia – or to share your own stories and experiences from the region­ – please visit http://www.appalachianfolk.com.

          Deedie was her father’s favorite, for the first three and one-half years. With flaming red hair she was his little love.  Her father worked long hours in the coal mines but spent any free time playing games and holding her on his lap.  From family pictures and stories that have been passed down, she was always on his lap or running down the road to meet her father. The highlight of her day was to have him pick her up and carry her in his arms as he came home from the mine. In late 1933, another daughter was added to the family, and then in 1935, a son was added to the family.  There are also pictures of all three of these siblings running down the road to meet their father, but he always picked up his little love.

         As time passed, four more siblings were added to the family, but Deedie was always known by the family and friends to be her father’s favorite even though he loved all the other siblings, they never received that same special attention given to Deedie. It seemed that she always demanded and received those special hugs and attention from her father. There was no resentment every expressed by the other siblings as it was just an accepted practice. The other siblings especially the younger ones, were usually asleep very soon after he arrived home from work.

        The fateful day that forever changed her life came January 4, 1944.  At 5:30 PM, his union brothers came to the home.  Every mining family knew that meaning; someone had either been injured or killed in a coal mine accident. By the time they arrived, many families of the camp had noticed the procession and followed them to the home.  Deedie had just arrived home from school and was anxiously awaiting her father’s walk down the road when she saw the crowd, but not her father.  The union brother most close to her father called her mother to the outside and told her the horrible story of Jack Hise being injured by a slate fall in the mine just at closing time.  He had been taken to the mine hospital in Middlesboro, Kentucky and was critically injured. Deedie being 13 years of age quickly ran to her mother’s side and heard of the tragic accident.  The union brothers had a car and friends of the family came in to take care of the children as they took her mother to the hospital.  Though Deedie was hysterical, she could not go to the hospital because of the rule of no children under 14 years of age being allowed in the hospital for visitation.  It was 3:00 AM the next morning when Deedie’s mother arrived home with the news that her father had passed away.

            This life changing event took place at a time when coal mining female children were considered to be young adults, and there were even those at that age who were married. This may have been a practice since young males at 13 years of age were working alongside their fathers in the coal mines. Deedie was different, her father had protected her and demanded that she stay in school even though she saw many of her female cohorts leave school and become wives and mothers.  She had been obedient to any instructions from her father.  Everything in her life centered on maintaining a close and loving relationship with her father.

            With Deedie having been the “star” in her father’s eye, it was difficult for her to come under the supervision of her mother. One must also recognize that there were six other siblings and that special 13 years of attention from her father could not be obtained from her mother even though her mother loved her very much and did the best that she could to provide equal attention to her that the other siblings received.  Deedie had witnessed the practice and behavioral habits of the other children in the mining camp and began to develop some of their practices especially those that had negative attitudes towards their parents.

            A short time later, another shock came into her life; the coal mining company forced the family to move from the camp as it was for miners only. This meant that Deedie must leave her home and friends to another place that was unfamiliar to her and also required that she change to another school attendance area. With so many changes and trauma, Deedie became more and more uncommunicative especially with her family.

            Having seven children and her only income being $125 dollars a month for survivor’s income, it became more and more difficult for her mother to survive. Her mother made a decision to move her family to Oklahoma a place quite strange to Deedie, but where her mother had relatives. This was a small farming community occupied mostly with tenant farmers. For a year, the family lived with an aunt and uncle of her mother’s. They were to say the least, very strange acting to Deedie. The aunt was very aggressive and overly strict with Deedie and the other siblings. Deedie became more and more traumatized and finally received permission to live with another uncle and his family in a small town 13 miles away. One reason it was more satisfying was that he had a son of the same age, who was very kind to Deedie as was the rest of the family.

            This arrangement lasted for six months and then the uncle decided to move to California meaning that Deedie would have to return home. By this time, the aunt and uncle where she had previously shared a home had moved away and allowed her mother and family to remain in the home if they would farm a small plot in a “share cropper” arrangement.  Deedie upon her return became more and more withdrawn and rebellious against her mother and her discipline. In truth, her mother was not authorization but as relaxed as possible in her discipline. Deedie created so much rebellion (i.e., refusing to attend school), that her mother had to take very strict action even to the point of having to “switch” her one day in front of the other siblings who were horrified as they had never witnessed any harsh discipline  by their mother towards any of them.

            During this period of time, World War II ended and the soldiers were returning to their homes.  Deedie met one of the soldiers who was 10 years her senior. This may not seem too much of an age difference, but being 15 and having so many traumatic experiences in her life, it was just the beginning of more traumas. Her husband had been to war and was very wise to the world however he was uneducated and abusive.  It is unknown whether she ran away from home to get married, as she was under the legal age for marriage in the state of Oklahoma without permission from the parents.

            Deedie moved into the home of her new husband. This home consisted of living with his father and a brother of the husband who also had just returned from the war.  She was required to cook for them, something that she had never previously learned to do as well as their cleaning and washing of their clothes.  From the narrator’s knowledge, there never appeared to be any complaining from Deedie even though in retrospect, she must have suffered severely.  Deedie appeared to be ill most of the time, but was never treated by a physician.

            Three years after her marriage, her husband obtained a job in New Mexico working in the oilfield. There she met a nice married couple who became lifelong friends. Deedie continued to have health problems and finally had to have surgery removing one of her ovaries.  A few years later, she gave birth to the first of her three children.  Deedie and her family then returned to Oklahoma where her husband worked at odd jobs, mainly as a ranch hand. It was during this period that the other two siblings were born.

            The narrator of this biographic sketch joined the military and knowledge of all that happened during the next four years is second story related. Deedie divorced her husband and returned with her children to her mother’s home.  She had not completed her high school diploma requirements and she completed a GED exam, allowing her to enter college. There was a government aid program for students who desired to enter the educational degree program and she chose to become a special education teacher.

            Deedie met her second husband, a career military man and taught school in Arkansas, California and New Zealand. After her husband’s retirement, they came to Oklahoma. Her husband decided to return to his home state in the Northwestern United States and Deedie remained in Oklahoma with divorce following shortly thereafter.  Deedie made a decision to leave her teaching career and become a nurse.  She attended nursing school and became an LPN.

            This career change to nursing developed into an extreme attitude of being a caregiver. It was during this time that she met her third husband who was also an extreme hypochondriac and alcoholic.  Her husband demanded her fullest attention and was very abusive. However, with the development of her attitude and his desire to be in complete control of her time, she did continue to work part-time in local hospitals. This provided her with some peace-of-mind and fulfillment in her life.

            Deedie suffered many illnesses; the most major was two surgeries on her knees from constant standing and an overweight problem.  During these years, she still remained at the mercy of her abusive husband and his demand for constant care and attention. This became so demanding that she became very ill and finally placed him in a Veteran’s nursing facility and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to live with her children who were now adults and married.

            A short period of time after being with her children, one evening she walked to the kitchen of a daughter’s home and suffered a massive stroke, she was rushed to the emergency room of a local hospital, but the stroke was so massive that she had passed away immediately . The date of her passing was 2004, ironically 60 years after the passing of her father in the coal mining accident.

            Looking back over the life of Deedie, the traumas, the decisions, and how she lived her life, the narrator often tries to take her life story as a puzzle and place together each piece struggling to find a fit for the oddly shaped pieces to develop a beautiful picture of the flaming red-haired little girl, the “star” in her father’s eye, the little girl running down the road each day to meet her father coming home from the coal mine, and the one day when he did not come home.

            Questions remain about Deedie’s life and personality, was it the culture of Appalachia and the coal mining way of life? Deedie’s inability to adapt to her father’s death or the many changes in her life of being among unfamiliar surroundings, or was it as one learns from developmental psychology, was it nature or nurturing or environment?  Was there an unconscious drive that somehow through her marriages, she wanted to bring her father back to life and care for him? It will never be known, for she never told her own story.

Leo Hise

Husband, Father, Miner

Mr. Hise

The memories that remain in my mind of my father are still a haunting memory. It was January 1944 that we children returned to our home in Bean Fork, Kentucky. There we found that our father had been taken to the Middlesboro, Ky hospital. No information was given to the children, but our mother was at the hospital. My mother returned home early in the morning and we found that our father had passed away.

From information that has been given to me, Jack P. Hise was killed right at the end of the work day when he knocked out a prop after blasting had taken place earlier. A large piece of slate fell on him and crushed his body. As I searched for records, there are only the newspaper obiturary and death certificate available.

Rest in Peace

If anyone from Garmeda, Kentucky or Bell County has a memory of this accident or the work that took place in the Garmeda mine, I would love to hear from them.