Reclaimed Memories
ca. 1923 - 1926

unt Amanda Tenney wrote to Mother that she had very high blood pressure and had been ordered by the doctor to spend a lot of time lying down. She wanted me to come -to Sedalia, Ohio, and spend the summer with her. She said that her daughter, Stacey, would like for Elma to come and work for her. The two of us spent six weeks in Ohio. We had never been away from home for any length of time. By the end of that period we were very homesick.

While we were there our parents again sold the hotel and moved the family to Parkersburg. Of course that made the two of us even more eager to get home. Uncle John understood our longings and they did not try to keep us. I received three dollars each week for my work at Aunt Amanda's and Elma got two dollars. I imagine she worked harder than I, for Stacey had four small children. We were real happy when Uncle John bought our train tickets home and we could leave with our money intact.

The family had secured a house on Tavener Avenue, on the streetcar line between Parkersburg and Marietta, Ohio. I think they were just renting this property, for it was only a short time until we moved again. This time only a short distance from the center of Parkersburg. It was a really nice, large, two story house. At first Elma and I rode the streetcar to school for half price. We soon discovered that we could walk over Quincy Hill and be there in twenty or thirty minutes. Being the misers we were we elected to walk to school and keep the money they gave us for streetcar fare for something we wanted to buy.

We did not realize the importance of good nutrition either. Instead of eating in the school cafeteria we often would get with a friend, go to the store and buy a candy bar for a nickel and save the other fifteen cents. I did this almost all my senior year. I wanted to be sure I had money enough for graduation expenses.

Parkersburg High School was a very large building as far as I was concerned. When I first started I did not understand the numbering of the rooms and went around with butterflies in my stomach for fear that I could not reach the next class before the teacher began the lesson. It took me several days to get rid of the butterflies. During those last two years in high school I learned to drive both a gear-shift Chevy and a Model "T" Ford. I thought I was "Hot Stuff." Not many high school girls could drive at that time.


One of my happiest high school experiences was the day that my name was called and I walked up on the auditorium stage of Parkersburg High School, the largest high school in West Virginia, and became a member of the National Honor Society. To be eligible for this distinction a student must be in the upper 25% of the class academically and have performed some service for the school. A stated percentage of those eligible were then chosen by the faculty as members. Those of us who were eligible were told of that fact. We were on pins and needles when the entire student body was assembled, in the large auditorium, to hear the results of the faculty voting. I was one of the student helpers in the school library and an usher at the football games. I suppose those activities fulfilled the requirements of "service to the school."

We usually had three or four men boarders where we were living during my junior and senior years in high school, in Parkersburg. We never had a lady boarder. Women did not work away from home much back in the '20's. The men were generally bachelors, or younger men working on construction. I had a number of dates with two of the young men. Ralph Wilson, had just graduated from college. Charles Marshall was with a construction company that had a contract in Parkersburg. They were both nice young men and I probably would have married Ralph if I had not been more interested in Troy, whom I had met earlier. Ralph tried to persuade me to go to Buckhannon and board with his parents and get my college education at Wesleyan. He had received his degree from there the year before. Troy and I were corresponding but not engaged, while I was going with Ralph and Charles. But, I have not told how I came to meet your future grandfather. Since this is to be dedicated to you, our grandchildren, you might be interested in that.

The Thrash Sisters, 1925.

Standing: Opal, Beulah, Elma

Seated: Ruth, Elizabeth

The Brady Trilogy  I  Reclaimed Memories - (1991)  I  Pop Troy's Anthology - ( 1992)  I  Kinfolk - (1994)