A Teacher to Remember

Virginia (McCoy) Skinner

by David Parmer

A Rough Start

She was the third of four daughters born to Nola Hugh McCoy and Audra “Maud” (McAvoy) McCoy of Gem. When her father died at Gassaway in a rail yard accident in December 1912, Mary Virginia McCoy, who at all times was known as “Virginia,” was only three years of age. Her two older sisters, Ione and Elizabeth, were eight years old and five years old respectively. Her younger sister, Laura, was only a few months old. In 1916, her widowed mother married Ira O. McCoy, her late husband’s first cousin. In 1917, Virginia’s mother and step-father happily became the parents of a son, Ira O. McCoy, Jr. The fates however were unkind to Virginia and her siblings. Tragedy struck again the following year when their mother died of influenza at the age of thirty seven. Virginia was nine years old. Orphaned at a young age, Virginia, her sisters and half-brother, Ira Junior, were raised by her step-father Ira and her grandparents.

Right: Mary Virginia McCoy in the 1930s

Salt Lick District High School at Burnsville

A brilliant student, Virginia shined in the classroom, was advanced by “double promotion” in grade school, and entered Salt Lick District High School in 1922 at the age of thirteen. In high school, Virginia again proved her mettle in academics and completed four years of high school in only three years and graduated with the Class of 1925 at the age of sixteen. Virginia’s high school activities included membership in the Acme Literary Society and the Glee Club. Virginia’s little-remembered nickname in high school was “Moses.” The high school annual, Onimgohow, proclaimed “That she’s bright, you’ll all agree, She did four years worth in three.”

Burnsville High School, 1924. Virginia is 6th from the left, center row.

Glenville Normal School and State Teachers College

After graduating from high school, Virginia enrolled at Glenville State Teachers College. Her older sister, Ione, who graduated from Salt Lick District High School in 1922, was a senior in the college when Virginia enrolled. Virginia received a Normal Certificate from Glenville in 1927 and began her teaching career. She received her A. B. Degree in Elementary Education from Glenville State College in 1948. Later, Virginia received a Masters Degree from the University of South Florida.

Left: Virginia and Ione from their Normal School days at Glenville.

A First Teaching Assignment

After finishing the requirements for a normal teaching certificate from Glenville State Teachers College, Virginia found a job teaching in Nicholas County at Richwood. Her sister Ione was also teaching in Richwood along with her husband, James McLaughlin. While teaching in Richwood, Virginia boarded with her sister Ione and her husband. Teaching at the end of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad line and in the wilds of Nicholas County would be short-lived however because Virginia had met her future husband Glenn Skinner who had recently finished barber school and matrimony was in the air.

Marriage and Time Off for Children

After Glenn and Virginia married in Garrett County, Maryland in 1929, Glenn continued barbering in Orlando. Virginia’s teaching career however had to be placed on hold because children came in rapid succession. Jean was born in 1930, Marjorie in 1931, Peggy in 1933, Eleanor “Bump” in 1935, Nolan “Dick” in 1936, and Linda “Shine” in 1938. During the early years of their marriage, Glenn and Virginia lived with Glenn’s father and mother, Gid and Sarah Skinner on Clover Fork. Later, they lived in a house just above Locust Grove School which belonged to Glenn’s younger brother Hayward who at the time was living on Knawls Creek. All of the Skinner children were born on Clover Fork, except the youngest, Robert Glenn, who would be born in the Sutton Hospital after the family moved to Grass Lick.

After a more than ten year hiatus from teaching and with the children growing older, Virginia returned to the class room, due in large part to World War II and the drafting of male teachers to fill the ranks of the military services. During the 1941-1942 school year, Delis “Fisher” Blake, son of Lee and Civilla Riffle Blake of Clover Fork, was teaching at the Walnut Grove School on Oil Creek when Uncle Sam sent him an RSVP letter. Delis, not waiting on some Induction Center Private First Class to decide how he would serve his country, instead joined the United States Navy and entered the Officers Training School. As Delis was packing his bags, the Lewis County Superintendent Marion G. Rogers asked Virginia if she would be interested in the Walnut Grove School position. Virginia said “Yes.”

Left: Virginia and Glenn in the 1960s.

Virginia was active in her community. She was a leader at Orlando's Methodist Church (Mt Zion). She also belonged to the church's Ladies Aid Society, although working as a teacher meant she could only hostess or even attend monthly meetings during the summer months. She was active in Burnsville's Order of the Eastern Star and later in the Jacksonville, Florida Eastern Star chapter. (Glenn was also active in Burnsville's Masonic Lodge.) From her mom Virginia's daughter Peggy ". . .thought that you just had to get accepted into the Eastern Star to be anybody, so applied and was accepted when I was old enough. I remember saying to mom that I couldn't see what all the mystery was about and she really didn't like that. . . . I finally demitted after moving to Jacksonville . That did not make Mom happy."

From Clover Fork to Grass Lick

In 1942, Glenn and Virginia Skinner and their growing family of six children were living on Clover Fork. Also adding to the household was a boarder, Blanche Bleigh, who was the teacher at the Locust Grove School. Obviously, Glenn and Virginia needed more living space for their family. The Dolan farm with a large fine farmhouse on Grass Lick of Three Lick owned by the Dolan heirs who also operated the Dolan Hotel, had become available for sale. Since the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad decided to close the Orlando Depot because of declining civilian rail travel, the Dolan Hotel became impossible to remain open. The Dolan sisters and the other heirs decided to close and sell the hotel and their farm. Every good barber knows the business of the town and Glenn Skinner was no exception. Glenn discussed the possibility of the purchase of the Dolan farm with his wife Virginia and together they thought it was an excellent idea to buy the Dolan farm and move to Grass Run. According to their daughter Peggy, there was only one problem---they didn’t have any money to buy the place, and, the Depression-weary banks weren’t lending money. Glenn and Virginia discussed the possibility of purchasing the Dolan place with Glenn’s father Gid. Gid acknowledged that it would be a good buy and agreed to front the purchase price-- Peggy believes it was $1000-- and Glenn and Virginia agreed to re-pay him over time in installments. So the deal was done.

Right, above: Dick and Peggy Skinner in front of the Grass Lick home.

Right: Bobby Glenn with his dog Bill on the platform for mounting carriages, built by original owners, the Dolans.

Left, below: Jean and Margie, with the Catholic School in back to the left.

Virginia and Glenn's move to Grass Lick set off a chain reaction. John Gibson and his family had been renting the Dolan place, so the Gibson family had to move. They moved to the Jeddy Groves farm on Oil Creek above Rag Run. Jeddy’s widow, Esta Groves, moved to Charleston with family. Glenn and Virginia and their family moved onto the Dolan farm. Dwight Skinner moved into the house that Glenn and Virginia had vacated on Clover Fork. The house that Dwight Skinner vacated was moved into by Mrs. Oley McCoy and her sons. Blanche Bleigh, who had been boarding with Glenn and Virginia, began boarding with Pres and Jessie Bragg. Clarence Posey and family who had been living in a home on the Pres and Jessie Bragg farm moved to the Mike Moran farm at the mouth of Three Lick. And finally the Sol Brown family moved into the house vacated by Clarence Posey. It was a busy summer of 1942.

The Dolan Farm

The Irish Catholic families of Orlando had large farmhouses. From its mouth to its head, Grass Lick was the home of three Irish Catholic families in the late 1800’s. The John and Margaret (Griffin) Moran family lived at the mouth of the run; the Patrick and Elizabeth Farrell Dolan family lived about halfway up the run and the Patrick and Elizabeth Farrell family lived at the head. Each of the families built similar houses – large two story frame houses with commodious porches and outbuildings. The original houses were ell-shaped, approximately forty feet long and twenty four feet wide. The length of the ell added an additional sixteen feet to the width of half of the house. The houses had porches running the length of the house on the ground floor and on the second floor. Unusual for the day were inside bathrooms, instead of outdoor privies. According to Sonny Wymer, the present owner of the Dolan property, the Dolan house was built around 1895 and the Moran and Farrell houses were built from the same set of architect plans. The Dolan house also included an exceptional concrete platform at the end of the front walkway to the Grass Lick Road from which the ladies of the house could easily mount a horse or step onto a wagon or buggy. The houses had a bedroom, bath, living room, dining room, and kitchen on the first floor, and four bedrooms upstairs. The original houses included a central hallway which ran the width of the houses. The staircase to access the second floor ascended about halfway down the central hallway. The houses were handsomely constructed and were among the finest homes in the Orlando area. It was to the Dolan house that the Glenn and Virginia Skinner family moved in 1942.

Resumption of a Teaching Career

Males in the teaching profession became an endangered species during World War II. The heavy manpower requirements of the military forces resulted in the military draft of most physically fit male teachers. The Lewis County Board of Education suffered from the loss of its male teachers to the draft and brought about a modification of its previous policy of restricting married female teachers from employment. When the Walnut Grove teacher, Delis Blake, received his notice of induction after school started in September 1941, the Lewis County Board of Education offered Virginia a contract of employment to complete the school term at the Peterson Siding Walnut Grove School. Virginia returned to the same school the following year. In 1943 Blanche Bleigh, the long-time teacher at the Clover Fork Locust Grove School decided to marry Earl Burkhammer, a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad conductor, and leave the teaching profession. Virginia applied for and received the appointment as her replacement and thus began over a decade of serving the children of lower Clover Fork as teacher at the Locust Grove School. Virginia continued as teacher at Locust Grove until 1955 when she returned to the Walnut Grove School, where she served to the end of the 1956-1957 school year.

A Glowing Tribute from a Former Student

“She was my very favorite teacher of all time. She was unique, my everything when I was growing up,” effused Rosemary (Riffle) Crutchfield of Burnsville, now 77 years of age, about her former teacher Virginia Skinner. “She stressed the importance of getting our lessons. She had such a wonderful voice which I loved to hear as she read good books to us. She taught the girls how to take care of our hair and our nails, things that otherwise we would not have known to do. She was so good with the girls.” Rosemary remembers another act of kindness of her favorite teacher. “When I was in the lower grades, someone in my family died and I was crying at school. Mrs. Skinner took me aside and explained ‘death’ to me and the importance of crying to show our grief; that it was a natural thing to do and that we shouldn’t be ashamed to cry. She had such a kind way about her that I remember and treasure beyond words to this day.” Rosemary further reminisced that when she joined the church in Burnsville she met Virginia’s brother, Junior McCoy, who “also was a kind, considerate and wonderful man. They were two of the kindest people I ever met.” This writer could feel Rosemary’s genuine spontaneous emotion as she spoke of her “favorite teacher of all time.” No teacher could ask for a greater tribute than to be loved so movingly after more than sixty years.

Other School Memories

Darrell Skinner of Clover Fork recalls that he was a student of Virginia Skinner from the first grade through the fifth grade and that he thoroughly enjoyed the experience of his years as a student of Virginia Skinner. “She was a really good teacher,” he recalled. Carla (Mick) Conley, daughter of Bernice (Skinner) Mick and Charles Mick, remembers that her mother, now in a nursing home, would fondly recall her days as a student of Mrs. Skinner and how much she appreciated the mentorship of her favorite teacher. “She loved Virginia Skinner and would frequently talk of her and how important she was in her life.”
Tessie (Morton) McGinnis was another of Virginia’s Locust Grove School students. Tessie remembers Virginia as one of her best teachers and enjoyed going to school to her. Coincidentally, Tessie’s mother was the second wife of Virginia's father-in-law Gid Skinner. Tessie has happy memories of the Locust Grove School and her teacher Virginia Skinner. She feels she was well-prepared by her teacher for her high school education at Burnsville High School from which she graduated in 1952. Tessie in the past few years re-visited her former home on Clover Fork. During her visit, she was surprised that the Clover Fork was asphalt paved (although still one-lane). Tessie recalled that when she lived on Clover Fork many years ago the road was unpaved and when it rained the road was so muddy that students had to walk the railroad track or get lost in the mud.

Delma (Foster) Skinner of Oil Creek recalls that Virginia Skinner was her 4th and 5th grade teacher at the Walnut Grove School in 1942 and 1943. “She was an excellent teacher, and I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true.” Delma continued that “Lynn Riffle followed Mrs. Skinner as our teacher at Walnut Grove School and he was an excellent teacher also. Mrs. Skinner kept our noses to the grindstone; she kept us busy. She had a unique way of reading to us. She would read a passage from an important book and then wait until we had time to think about what she just read. It helped us analyze the importance of the passage.” Delma was very emphatic about the great foundation she received during her school days at Walnut Grove School and of the importance of Mrs. Skinner and Mr. Riffle in her preparation for high school in Weston. “I remember when I first went to Weston High School and attended the assembly for incoming freshmen. The principal made the point that kids from the country schools may have a hard time catching up academically with the city kids. Although I was apprehensive at first, after graduating from Weston High School in 1951, I am thoroughly convinced that compared to the academic background I received at Walnut Grove, it was the city kids who were at a disadvantage.”

Tom Jeffries transferred from Orlando School to the Walnut Grove School in 1955 and was a student of Virginia Skinner for the next two years. “She was a marvelous teacher. Two things she inspired in me were the love of good books and the importance of travel in order to know the world. She would read from important books in such an expressive way, almost acting the part, and would bring the book alive, and make you think you were there.” Tom continued and recounted the memory of a trip that Mrs. Skinner and her family took to the Western states. “She told us in great detail of the things that she had seen, describing them vividly, so that you could see them in your mind’s eye. That is why I love to travel to this day.”

It is certain that Virginia Skinner touched the lives of all of the students she taught, giving them a positive example, and preparing them for life. Perhaps the hallmark of the many compliments this writer observed in speaking with her former students was the kindness and caring that she exhibited for each and every one of them. Virginia Skinner gave rural children of West Virginia twenty years of her life in the classroom. It was a true loss to the children of the Oil Creek Valley when in the summer of 1957 Glenn and Virginia Skinner, and their children Marjorie, Jean and Bobby Glenn, climbed in their 1956 blue and white Chevrolet station wagon and headed south for Florida. Virginia would teach many more years in Florida, her adopted home, and assuredly her Florida students felt that West Virginia’s loss was very much, their gain. She died in Jacksonville, Florida in 2001 at the age of 91.

Click on the obituary to the left to enlarge it.

. . . . .

Correction from Virginia's son Bob

I know Mom was teaching at Walnut Grove by the fall of 1950. That is where I started to school in 1950 with her as my teacher. Her story had her moving to teach there in 1955. She became the Principle in 1954. The reason I remember that was that was the only year I had a different teacher (Mrs. Ernestine Tulley). That was 4^th grade in 1954. Mr Reed was the “Big Room” teacher and Principle before that.

Comment on a special student

Rosie Blake and her granddaughter Christine lived in the first hollow on Clover Fork. Clell Smarr recalls that they chewed tobacco, smoked old clay pipes and raised hundreds of turkeys. Rosie and her granddaughter spent the entire day outside with the roaming turkeys so that they would not fall prey to predators, both four-legged and two-legged.

Rosie refused to send Christine to school. Her quote was “I got along without learnin. My daughter got along without learnin. She don’t need no learnin either”. She finally relented when they threatened to take her away from Rosie for not going to school. Dale Barnett recalls that her teacher was Virginia (McCoy) Skinner. Virginia told Dale she was the smartest girl in the school.

Comment on Virginia's heritage
Virginia (McCoy) Skinner’s paternal grandparents were William McCutcheon (“W.M.”) McCoy and Sabina (Cogar) McCoy. W.M. McCoy was a merchant and postmaster in Cogar, was a former deputy sheriff of Braxton County, teacher, and Superintendent of Schools of Braxton County. He died in 1935. His wife, the daughter of John M. Cogar and Mariah (Haymond) Cogar, preceded him in death many years previous.

Comment on the town of Gem
The old town of “Cogar,” sometimes spelled “Coger,” is located two miles east of Burnsville. The town was renamed “Gem” by the United States Post Office in a naming contest in which Virginia (McCoy) Skinner’s grandfather, W. M. McCoy, submitted the winning name. The name “Gem” was derived from the initials of the name of W. M.’s son, Guy Everett McCoy.

Comment
When Virginia McCoy’s father, Nola Hugh McCoy, was killed in the Gassaway rail yard accident in 1912, he was laid to rest in the Town Hill Cemetery in Sutton where his mother, Sabina (Coger) McCoy, had been laid to rest two years earlier. Virginia’s grandfather, William M. McCoy, former superintendent of schools of Braxton County, was also buried there in 1935. Virginia’s older sister, Ione (McCoy) McLaughlin and her husband James Orville McLaughlin, are also buried there.

Comment on Married Female Teachers
Before and particularly during the Depression there was significant discrimination against married female teachers. After her marriage to Glenn Skinner, Virginia McCoy Skinner left the teaching profession for several years. Not only was the rearing of children involved but the Lewis County School Board, as did the Braxton County Board of Education and other counties, had adopted a policy not to hire married female teachers. Some female teachers, to skirt this policy, married in secret and kept their marriages “secret.” Some counties, such as Upshur County, also barred female teachers from the classroom if they were pregnant or had young children. The West Virginia State Board of Education also weighed in on the issue in 1942 by issuing a policy barring female teachers from the classroom if they were past four months of pregnancy or had children younger than seven weeks old. Some, but not all West Virginia counties enforced this policy well into the 1960’s. However, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended the practice of discriminating against female teachers who married or who became pregnant.

A Granddaughter Remembers Orlando Visits

by Ruby Jarvis Brooks

My memories of Orlando go way back- I am now 84 years old. My parents lived outside of a small town called Belington, WV. Every summer, my Dad would take me, along with my mother, my sisters Rose and Martha, and later my little brother Franklin, down the road to the town of Norton and put us on the train to Orlando. There we would spend 2 or 3 days visiting our family, then we would get on the train again to go to Copen, where my Grandmother Estie (Henline) Godfrey Thomas lived, to stay the rest of the week.

Left: the author Ruby with younger siblings Franklin, Martha and Rose
Right: Map of West Virginia showing the towns mentioned in this entry.

In Orlando, we would stay with Aunt Clorie, and her brother Uncle Heater Huck [Ernest Roy Henline] and my mother's cousin, Opal (Jeffries) McCrobie. When we would arrive, Uncle Heater always had bubble gum waiting for us- those big gumballs! He would put Aunt Clorie in charge of the gum to hand it out to us as she saw fit.

1. Great Aunt Vada with her daughters (Ruby's cousins) Annabelle and Mary, Opal with cousin June Nixon. 2. Cousin Owen Thomas holding Franklin. 3. Heaterhuck Henline, 4. Cousin Coleman Jeffries with cousins June and Billy Nixon.

We would also visit Uncle Polar [Verdis Carder Henline] and Aunt Vadie, [Vada Belle Riffle] who lived up a steep hill that started up by Uncle Heater's and Aunt Clora's lawn- and I do mean straight up! We liked playing with Uncle Polar's daughters, Mary and Anna Belle. Uncle Polar was a tall man, and when I was very small I was afraid of him because I thought he was a giant!

Right: Ruby's mother Sophia (Godfrey) Jarvis.
Left: Ruby's parents Jesse and Sophia (Godfrey) Jarvis.
Right below: Aunt Clorie (Clora Henline) with Ruby and Rose.

My mother was Sophia (Godfrey) Jarvis, the oldest daughter of Estie (Henline) Godfrey Thomas by her first and late husband, Malitas Godfrey. Mom only had one whole brother, Harry, who then lived in Clarksburg. All the other siblings, the Thomases, were her half brothers and sisters. Their father was Estie's second husband, Mike Thomas. My mother's father had died from typhoid fever when she was just a toddler.

My father was Jesse Jarvis. He met my mother when she was working at Dick Skinner's restaurant and he came in as a customer while traveling for his job with the mines. They were married in 1925. I am the oldest of their children, born in 1926, followed by Rose in 1928, Martha in 1932 and Franklin in 1934. I am now a widow and I live in Woodbridge, VA. Rose passed away in 2004. Martha lives in New Bern, NC. Franklin lives with his wife Norma on the family home place near Belington, and still farms.

After all these years, my memories of Orlando are still very vivid. My visits there were very happy times. Uncle Heater, Aunt Clora, and her children Opal and Coleman still lived in the house in Orlando. Sometimes Aunt Margaret (Henline) Nixon would come to visit when we were there and that was always fun! We liked playing with her kids, June and Billy. At night, the sleeping quarters were scarce when everyone came to visit. They would make palats on the floor for us kids, and that was fun.

One of the biggest parts of life and times in Orlando was of course the trains! Several of our family members worked for the railroad, including Heater Huck. The train whistles, the sound of the train chugging on the track, and how they'd wave at us when it passed by are other fond memories. After the train was gone, it left a special kind of dust on the bushes and trees near the tracks. I can still see it and smell it to this day.

Left: The Henline home with Oil Creek at the front.
Right: Great grandmother Samantha (Skinner) Henline

I remember visiting at the house in Orlando when my great grandmother Samantha (Skinner) Henline was still living. I recall her as being quite old and ill and she spent a lot of time in bed. Someone would put me up on her bed, and I would pretend to feed her. She was such a sweet lady, she pretended to eat my imaginary food. I remember going to her funeral. I was four years old when she passed away in 1930. In those days, there was no road up to the cemetary on the hill, so we all had to walk as they carried the casket all the way to the top of that steep hill. I was so little, all I could see were the legs of the adults, and my little legs were getting so tired. Then one of the uncles came along and scooped me up and put me up on his shoulders, and carried me the rest of the way. There is now a good road that goes up there.

The Shave and a Haircut Man

Glenn Skinner

by David Parmer

Shoes Shined: Fifteen Cents

In 1955, Glenn Skinner of Orlando was busy plying his shave and haircut trade to the many customers in Burnsville. Not only could the customer get a shave, but the haircut included a trim around the ears with a straight razor, something unheard-of today. Since no self-respecting barber shop at the time was without the services of an expert shiner of shoes, Glenn maintained a shoe shine stand with a green vinyl-seated chair perched on the top of a platform in the corner of the barber shop.

Left: Glenn Skinner in his barber shop (Note the gas lights on the "T" as well as an electric bulb handing together froom the ceiling.)

Right: Edmund Glenn Skinner
Left: Two of Glenn's shoeshine boys: Max Hamilton and David Parmer.

Whenever the regular shoeshine boy, Max Hamilton, decided he would take Saturday off and go fishing in Oil Creek, this writer eagerly slapped the black Esquire polish on the shoes of Glenn Skinner's customers, then buff them to a marvelous shine, for which there was often a generous tip. When there were no shoes to shine, this writer was fascinated by the conversations Glenn had with his eager-to-talk customers. There is nothing like warm lather to bring out mirth or a risqué joke from the man in the barber chair and no one better than Glenn to coax an amusing anecdote from him. Some of his customers however spoke not a word in the barber chair while Glenn was clipping away and there was no coaxing a peep from them. Glenn would remark after the “Silent Cal” left, “The cat must have had his tongue,” or “His wife must have told him not to breathe of word of it.”

Family

Edmond Glenn Skinner was the son of Gideon Columbus Skinner and Sarah Esther (Bennett) Skinner of Clover Fork. Born in 1904, he was their fifth child who lived beyond infancy and the first son. His older sisters were Edith, who married Oras Stutler, Annie who married Howard Smarr and died young, Mary Genevieve, who married Bee Heater, and Jeanette, who married Worthington Hurst. His younger siblings were Haydee, who married Claud Mick, and Hayward, who married first Reva Pritt, and second, Lyda Williams. Glenn also had a half-brother, Jackie. Having four older sisters can be an advantage or a disadvantage growing up, but Glenn seemed to thrive from having four older doting sisters.

School

Growing up on lower Clover Fork, Glenn attended the Locust Grove, or Lower Clover Fork School, located near the mouth of Meadow Run, in the community formerly known as Blake. After eight years of school, no further local schooling was available to the children of Clover Fork.

Right: Gideon and Sarah (Bennett) Skinner with Jennette, Genevieve, Edith and Ann, Glenn on his mother's lap.
Left: left to right, Gid Skinner with his children Edith, Genevieve, Jennette "Tom" and Glenn.

Farming and Barbering

Like all farm children, Glenn became well acquainted with farm chores and earned the usual blisters during haying season. And, there was always corn to hoe, cows to bring in, hogs to slop and butcher, and corn to shock. But, farming would not be a full-time occupation for Glenn because he was enamored with the barbering occupation carried on by his Uncle Lloyd “Billy” Skinner in his busy Orlando barber shop. Encouraged by his uncle, Glenn sallied forth to Cincinnati, found a boarding house, and entered barber school which he completed in 1927, a full-fledged barber.

After completing barber school, Glenn joined his Uncle Billy in the latter’s barber shop in Orlando, in the Morrison Building across Clover Fork from the railroad depot. Many present day residents of Orlando who have been without the services of a home town barber for over sixty years would be surprised to know that Orlando once had a two chair barber shop and two full-time barbers. For the next few years, Glenn and “Uncle Billy” kept the hair of the men of Orlando cut and groomed with Wildroot hair crème or Lucky Tiger hair tonic, gentleman’s choice, and faces shaved and soothed with E. E. Dickinson Company’s Witch Hazel. Glenn’s daughter Peggy Morris, who now lives in Florida, recalls that her dad also gave a great “shingle-cut” to the ladies, which was the fashion of the day.
Around the mid-1930’s Glenn’s Uncle Billy decided to move his barbering trade to Weston where he barbered a few years and then later moved again to Elkins. Glenn remained in Orlando but moved his shop from the Morrison Building to a smaller building located behind the store of J. W. "Bill" Conrad and continued to give his shaves and haircuts at this shop for nearly the next twenty years.

Left above: The barbershop behind Bill Conrad's store

Right: Mugging for the camera are Clora Henline, Nina Matthews (who married Billy) and Lloyd "Billy" Skinner
Left below: Lloyd "Billy" Skinner

There is Nothing like a Barber Shop

There is something mystical about a barber shop to a young boy. It seems every barber shop has large windows and bright lights not only to aid the barber to find every stray hair to banish but also to aid in reading the detective story magazines which only adults were supposed to read. A moist hot towel to soften the hair around the ears to be shaved is also quite a treat to the short legged boys in the magnificent throne of a barber chair. And then there is the ritualistic sharpening of the straight razor on the leather strap to delight a youngster and make him feel like a full-fledged adult. Dale Barnett recalls getting many haircuts at Glenn’s barber shop at both of his locations. According to Dale, there was nothing like the soothing warmth of hot lather applied with a soft hog bristle brush and he found the experience almost as enjoyable as going to see a movie. Today, doting mothers take their sons to women’s beauty shops for “hair styling,” whatever that may be, and those young men never experience the youthful thrill of a real man’s hair cut.

The Days of an Orlando Barber Shop Become Numbered

As long as there were passenger trains stopping in Orlando and passengers with time to spare for a shave or a haircut while waiting to transfer to the other branch of the Baltimore & Ohio, there was enough business to keep Glenn busy. But, with the completion of U. S. Route 19 and the easy availability of automobiles, rail traffic diminished greatly in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. And, by the early 1950’s, rail passenger travel had dwindled to practically nothing. The days of a two chair barber shop became a memory of the distant past and the days of even a one chair barber shop in Orlando were soon coming to an end. The mythical “Floyd the Barber” of Mayberry fame was delighted whenever Sheriff Andy Taylor or Deputy Barney Fife, or any other “warm body,” visited his barber shop for a haircut. Floyd always seemed to have customers enough to stay busy, but not so with Glenn’s Orlando barber shop, as business continued to dwindle. But, a wise businessman from Burnsville, Orlando’s neighbor, four miles distant, knew a good thing when he saw it, and Jim Marple thus came calling.

Glenn Moves His Shop to Burnsville

The W. E. Marple Store in Burnsville was the largest general store in the town and carried a full line of shoes, clothing, groceries, guns and ammunition, and school supplies, as well as hardware supplies. The store also contracted with Letch Wiant to furnish weekly, a fully butchered beef, for sale to the store’s customers. Another major line for the store was cattle and hog feed for the area farmers. To accommodate the many farm customers, in the early 1950’s, Jim Marple built a large two-story stucco building on Main Street with a drive-in basement, to house cattle feed. At the time, Burnsville was down to one barber, Coger Maulsby, who was also a part-time school bus driver, and a relative of Glenn’s wife Virginia. As a service to his customers, Jim Marple dedicated a front corner of Marple’s Feed Store Building for use as a barber shop. Glenn’s son, Bob Skinner, now a resident of Dawsonville, Georgia, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, recalls that Jim Marple came to his dad’s Three Lick farm in the early 1950’s and walked out into the hay field to speak with his father. As a result of the hayfield visit, Jim persuaded Glenn to move his barbering business to Burnsville, and to bring along his Wildroot Original Hair Crème and his Lucky Tiger 3 Purpose Hair Tonic. Orlando’s loss was Burnsville’s gain as Glenn embarked daily on his commute from Three Lick to Burnsville to cut hair, shave faces, tell jokes, provide employment for a shoeshine boy, and delight customers.

Barbering in Burnsville

The barbering business in Burnsville was “good.” Glenn welcomed his old customers from Orlando and his many new customers from Burnsville. His modern shop on Main Street had two large picture windows, was well-lighted, furnished with handsome wood cabinetry, and well-serviced by laundry trucks from Weston and Glenville. Glenn even splurged on a new-fangled lather-making machine which did away with the hog-bristle brush, and produced a steady stream of warm, soothing lather with a touch. Weekdays in the barber shop were busy but on Saturday customers never seemed to stop coming. Men of the day would never dream of letting their hair encroach upon their ears or grow to female “sissy-like” proportions. Tennis shoes were relegated to the high school gymnasium, and real men wore leather boots or shoes which could always stand a good cleaning or polishing, so shoe-shining business was also “good.”

Right: Virgina (McCoy) and Glenn Skinner (Note the nice shine on Glenn's shoes!)

Retirement to Sunny Florida

Glenn barbered in Burnsville until 1957. Suffering from intermittent bouts of stomach trouble, Glenn opined that retirement in Florida may cure his chronic discomfort. Deciding to make their future home in the Atlantic Ocean coast city of Fort Pierce, Glenn, his wife Virginia, his daughters Marjorie and Jean, and his twelve-year-old son Bobbie Glenn left Three Lick for the land of oranges and sunshine. After living many years in Florida, the last barber of Orlando died in the Sunshine State in 1997 at the age of 93.

Postscript

This story did not forget to mention the family of Glenn Skinner, Orlando’s last barber. Glenn was married to Virginia (McCoy) Skinner, a highly respected and beloved teacher of many children of the Oil Creek valley. A story about Virginia and her family will be forthcoming shortly.

. . . . .

Note 1:
Glenn Skinner was an inveterate practical jokester. A frequent target of his jokes was Max Hamilton who shined shoes in Glenn’s Barber Shop in Burnsville during the early 1950’s. On one occasion Glenn told Max that he was going to re-paint his barber pole which was attached to the outside of the barber shop. Glenn told Max to go next door to Marple’s Store and get a bucket of red and white striped paint so he could start painting the barber pole. As a good lad who was used to minding his elders, Max went to Marple’s Store and asked for a can of striped paint. It is unknown whether Max was humoring Glenn, or whether he really did believe there was such a thing as striped paint. On other occasions, Glenn sent Max to Marple’s Store to get a “sky hook” and a “check stretcher.”

Left: Glenn Skinner's barber's license. Click on it to enlarge it.

Right: Lloyd "Billy" Skinner's barber's license. Click on it to enlarge it.

Note 2:
Until 1934, anyone with or without a steady hand could be a barber in West Virginia. Probably with a means of producing revenue (taxes) more so than safety and health considerations, the West Virginia Legislature in 1934 passed a law requiring that all barbers or beauticians be licensed and be required to pay an annual license fee. By 1934, Glenn Skinner had been a barber for seven years and his uncle Lloyd “Billy” Skinner had been barbering much longer. Both Glenn and Billy applied for and were granted their West Virginia barbering license, which was renewed annually thereafter as can be seen from the renewal cards.

Denver Owen Henline X 2

by David Parmer

Many years ago, the comedian Bill Saluga appeared as a guest on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.” His hilarious stand-up comic routine concerned a man whose name was “Raymond J. Johnson, Jr.” and involved the numerous variations of the name that were available for use in identifying the man.
“Ahh, ya doesn’t has to call me Johnson! You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Johnny or you can call me Sonny, or you can call me RayJay, or you can call me RJ…but ya doesn’t hafta call me Johnson.”

Right: First cousins Denver Owen Henline. In the Navy uniform is the son of Coy Clarence "Frank" and Audrey (Reip) Henline and in the Army uniform is the son of Ezra Andrew "Pid" and Minnie (Riffle) Henline.

A Case of Double Identity

Samantha Henline, the matriarch of Orlando’s Henline clan who was born in 1853, was up in years by the 1920’s and her mind wasn’t what it used to be. As one becomes older, undoubtedly there are times when person’s name is on the tip of our tongue, but the connection just can’t be made. It becomes quite frustrating when a name doesn’t come immediately to our memory, or, in the case of the elderly Samantha Henline, just how was it possible that she had two similarly aged grandsons who are both named “Denver Owen Henline.” An elderly mind is easily confused enough without another quirky mind binder, and it is a sure bet that when Samantha’s son Frank told his mother in March 1925 that he named his new-born son “Denver Owen Henline,” she somehow seemed confusingly familiar with that same name.

Indeed, just three years previously, Samantha’s son “Pid” named his first son “Denver Owen Henline.” The writer asked Burlen Henline, son of “Frank” Henline and brother of the “other” Denver Owen Henline, how it came to be that his father named his brother the very same uncommon name as his first cousin had been named. Burlen was at a loss for an explanation. There was no popular Methodist circuit –riding preacher named “Denver Owen,” nor any current movie star or country singer, or president by that name which could have inspired this case of double identity, and to Burlen it is still just a big mystery. The folks at the Henline homestead in Orlando referred to Pid’s son as “Denver” and Frank’s son as “Owen” in order not to confuse the two cousins. There is no report on how the two boys may have introduced themselves to the other.

Ahh, ya doesn’t has to call me Henline! You can call me Denver Owen, or you can call me Owen, or you can call me Denver, or you can call me D. Owen, or you can call me D. O....But ya doesn’t hafta to call me Henline.

Be that as it may, this is about as good a lead-in to a little story about the two Denver Owen Henlines that the writer can dream up. Briefly, here are some differences between the two Denver Owens.
~ Pid and Minnie Henline’s son Denver Owen, b. 1922, grew up in Orlando, was nicknamed “Red”, and served in World War II in North Africa and Italy. He married Gladys Hitt and worked in coal mining and glass production.
~ Frank and Audrey ‘s son Denver Owen, b. 1925, grew up in the Clarksburg area. He served in the Pacific in World War II. He married Doris Williams and worked in the steel industry.

Denver Owen Henline-

Son of “Pid” and Minnie (Riffle) Henline

“Pid” Henline’s true name, according to the handwritten inscription in his mother’s Bible, was Ersie A. Henline. He was the fifth child of Beham Henline and Samantha (Skinner) Henline. With regard to the spelling of “Pid’s” name, it should be noted that his tombstone in the Orlando Cemetery declares his first name to be “Erza.” Born in 1885, “Pid” was followed in birth by his younger brother by three years, Coy Clarence, who was known to his siblings and friends as “Frank.”

Left: Ezra "Pid" and Minnie Henline with Ruth, Earnest Andrew "Bud" and Jessie. Center: Minnie with Denver Owen, Right: Edward, Jessie, Ruth and Denver Owen.

In 1914, “Pid” married Minnie Riffle, daughter of Stewart L. and Abigail (Blake) Riffle. Their second son was born in 1922 and was named “Denver Owen.” According to his granddaughter, Selena Barton, the “Owen” part of her grandfather’s name was derived from the name of Owen Thomas who was a first cousin. The derivation of the name “Denver” was unknown to her. Also according to Selena, her family was unaware that another first cousin, the son of Frank Henline, who would be born three years later, would also be named “Denver Owen.” Since the Frank Henline family lived in Clarksburg and only infrequently visited Orlando, they also were unaware that Frank’s brother Pid had a son named “Denver Owen.”

Does Red Hair Make a Mischievous Child?

An outstanding physical feature of Denver was his fiery red hair, and, as was custom in Orlando, everyone seemed to have a nickname. It was a given therefore to call a red-headed boy simply as “Red.” And so it was with Denver Owen Henline, son of Pid and Minnie (Riffle) Henline, who would go through life known as “Red,” rather than Denver, or Owen, or Denver Owen.

Speaking from personal experience, red-headed boys are frequently suspected of mischievous behavior by their school teachers. Just as red capes incite a bull in a ring, so too does red hair excite the suspicions of harried school teachers when their backs are turned. Perhaps there was a kernel of truth of the connection between hair coloration and mischievous behavior in the case of “Red” Henline. According to Stanley Barton, his son-in-law, many tales of school-related pranks were told by “Red” to his children as they were growing up.

Teacher on a Sled

Stanley Barton recalls an amusing story his father-in-law told about one of his female teachers, believed to be Beth Curry, at the Three Lick School. It seems that during recess one winter day the boys of the school were engaged in sled riding when icy conditions made sled riding a bit hazardous for one’s safety. The boys, including “Red,” made the observation that if one were not careful, the ice on the hill could propel the sled so fast that it would run all the way to Three Lick Creek. Naturally devious minds think up devilish pranks to pull on unsuspecting teachers. “Red” was delegated to convince their teacher that she would enjoy the fun of a slide down the hill. Reluctantly, Miss Curry agreed to appease the boys and assumed the prone position on the sled. With more than adequate vigor, the boys gave her a hearty shove, and off Miss Curry went toward Three Lick. Of course there are no brakes on a sled and an inexperienced rider would not know to apply the “shoe-dragging” technique of stopping a fast moving sled. With a “whoop and a holler,” Miss Curry and the sled disappeared over the creek bank of Three Lick. The boys quickly scurried down the hill to see if their teacher survived the “ride of her life.” Stanley did not know what sort of punishment his father-in-law may have received as the result of the perilous prank. Presumably, his color of his rear-end matched the cardinal of his hair when he went home that day after school.

Right: Denver Owen in boots in the front. Elmer Pumphrey behind him in the middle, sister Ruth Ellen is beside him in front.

Paddling of a Teacher

As we get older, tales of our youth become bolder. Of course facts often gets in the way of a good story, and the “good” story always seems to win out. Since the following tale makes for an interesting story, veracity-notwithstanding, it is here re-told. Again, according to Stanley Barton, “Red” related a school-boy tale of the teacher who got a paddling. The teacher in this episode most assuredly was Lynn Riffle who taught at Three Lick School from 1931 to 1937. It seems that the Three Lick School boys had been particularly nettlesome on a certain school day and a number of them had earned a few strokes of the old hickory paddle. With his back turned to a gaggle of boys at his rear and the old hickory paddle laying in easy reach on the teacher’s desk, some emboldened red-headed boy, deftly picked up the paddle and administered a decisive whack to the teacher’s rear-end, and quickly returned the paddle to its original position. There is no word on whether the culprit was apprehended or the nature of the retribution exacted. At any rate, after six years of Three Lick schooling, “Red” achieved the pinnacle of his educational history, and left his empty seat to some younger scholar.

Ghosts and Coon Hunting

Every respectable Orlando boy during the 1930’s knew a thing or two about coon-hunting and “Red” was no exception. “Red” and his friend, Elmer Pumphrey, frequently marched through the hills of the “Free State” on the trail of the wily coon. On one coon hunt, “Red” and Elmer were joined by Elmer’s brother Harley. The boys were chasing the raccoon in the neighborhood of the head of Rocky Fork and the Heater Cemetery. Harley, it seems, had been poking behind and “Red” and Elmer decided to give introduce him to some graveyard humor. The night was dark and moonless and stumbling through the hills was par for the course. Taking up positions behind tombstones in the Heater Cemetery, the boys remained quiet as the confused Harley listened in vain for their voices within a stone’s throw of their hiding places. Every self-respecting Orlando boy could also give a good imitation of a graveyard ghost and “Red” and Elmer were quite good in imitating old “Casper.” Without the ready and present support of his brother and friend, Harley’s confidence was no match for the wretched cries of the graveyard ghosts, and more than terrified, he beat a quick and hasty retreat toward home, as a result of the graveyard humor of “Red” and Elmer.

Walkers

After “Red” left school in the midst of the Depression, he took up employment doing farm work on his father’s farm. Wages weren’t lavish, but he had a roof over his head, and food to eat. Of course he had no automobile given his meager income but country boys were used to walking. “Red’s” son-in-law, Stanley Barton, recalls that “Red” and his brothers, Bud and Ed, frequently walked to Burnsville to see a movie. Not many youth of today would walk five miles to see a movie and then walk back home in the dark.

World War II

“Red” was twenty years old when his number was called at the local draft board. In 1942 ‘’Red” left his Three Lick home for a home with Uncle Sam. As was the common practice of the military during World War II, if a conscriptee had minimal education he was either assigned to the infantry or some similar front-line position. “Red,” by chance, was assigned to training as a machine gunner and it was in that position that he served during World War II in the North African and Italian theaters of war with nearly two years in overseas service. Although “Red” did not talk much about his service in World War II, Stanley Barton does recall that his father-in-law mentioned the bravery of French nurses who were serving in Sicily. During an artillery bombardment, the French nurses went into the field of battle to care for the wounded despite the artillery blasts which were occurring all around them. The French nurses won “Red’s” undying admiration for that heroic act. Stanley also recalls his father-in-law’s reminiscence of a happy, but brief, reunion with his older brother “Bud” when they both were serving in North Africa until their respective units went their separate ways. Stanley also relates that the nearest that his father-in-law came to being injured during the war was when his machine gun “blew up” during an engagement, causing a serious eye injury. Although “Red” recovered from that mishap, later in life he lost the sight in the eye which had been injured when the machine gun exploded.

Left, above: Draftees. Denver Owen is in the back row, fourth from the left.

Right: Poster celebrating the French nurses.

Left: Denver Owen Henline

Marriage

After the war was over, and the military issuing discharges, “Red” again became a civilian. Returning home and starting courting in earnest to make up for lost time, “Red” couldn’t believe his luck when the pretty seventeen- year-old Gladys Katherine Hitt of Bendale said “Yes” to his marriage proposal in September 1946. Married in Weston, most of their married life was spent there where they raised seven children.

Right: Gladys Katherine Hitt

Post War Employment

Coal Mining
During the war, Pid and Minnie Henline decided to give up life on Three Lick and moved to the metropolis of Weston and its suburb of Shadybrook. It was to this home that “Red” returned when he was discharged from the service in December 1945. After a period of re-adjustment to civilian life and surveying the employment prospects, “Red” decided to take employment in the coal mines of Webster County and he and Gladys moved to the Webster County town of Cowen. The small town of Tioga was the location of a deep mine which was welcoming returning veterans for coal mining jobs and “Red” signed on. According to Stanley Barton, the seams of coal in the Tioga mine were five to six feet thick. Being only five feet and four inches tall, “Red” didn’t have to bend his head much to work in the lower seams of coal. Although high coal was much better to work in than low coal, a troublesome aspect of the Tioga mine was the frequency of roof falls which endangered the miners. “Red” reported to his family that “glory holes,” nearly twenty feet high would appear in the mine roofs after a roof fall and shoring up such a cavity was problematic and scary to the miners who worked there. After less than a year living in Cowen and working in the Tioga mine, “Red” didn’t want to press his luck any further and left the wilds of Webster County and a “death trap” coal mine for the more placid countryside around Jackson’s Mill where he found employment loading coal on coal cars for Bitner Fuel. For the next thirty-five years, “Red” was employed by Bitner Fuel.

Glassworker

After his employment in the coal industry, late in his working career, “Red” found employment with Louie Glass of Weston mixing batches of glass, sand and lime for use in making for stemware, glasses and pitchers. Later, he worked for West Virginia Glass carrying hot stemware.

Black Lung

Stanley Barton recalled that his father-in-law had a terrible cough when he first came to know him. Pneumoconiosis or “black lung” was not then widely recognized as a disease of coal miners but from his years breathing fine coal dust, “Red” came to know the disease well. Black lung disease often exacerbates existing heart troubles.

During his later years, “Red” often asked family members to drive him to Orlando, the home of his youth. “He loved Orlando,” recalled his son-in-law Stanley Barton, who frequently was the driver for the Orlando excursions. Besides Three Lick, one place in Orlando which especially drew him was the Orlando Cemetery, a place where he found peace and contentment. “Red” passed away in 1996 at the age of 74 and now rests in the Orlando Cemetery. In November 2000, his wife Gladys joined him and reposes by his side.

The Other Denver Owen Henline –

“Frank and Audra's Boy”

The gathering place for the children of Samantha Henline who lived away when they visited Orlando was the Samantha Henline home place located across Oil Creek from St. Michael’s Catholic Church. Samantha’s son Frank, his wife Audrey, and their family lived for most of their lives in Clarksburg and Doddridge County. Born in 1925, the second son of Coy Clarence "Frank" and Audra or Audrey Henline was named Denver Owen Henline. Frank and Audrey are believed to have been unaware that "Frank’s" brother “Pid” had also named his son, born in 1922, Denver Owen Henline.

The Samantha Henline family was peculiar when it concerned names of individuals or animals. For example, the family always had farm dogs but there seemed to be no consensus among the family as to the name of a particular dog. Some family members referred to a dog as “Bullet,” while others called the same dog “Sandy,” and then others called it “Porter.” This of course caused endless confusion to the poor dog because it never knew what its name might be from one minute to the next. The same confusion reigned when it came to the names of Beham and Samantha Henline's children. William, the oldest, was known as “Todd,” Estella was known as “Estie” or “Stellie,” Ernest was known as “Heaterhuck,” Erza was known as “Pid,” Clora was known as “Cooch,” Margaret was known as “Mag,” Verdis was known as “Polar,” and Coy was known as “Frank.” So, what to do about two grandchildren, both named “Denver Owen Henline?” Imagine, if you will, the old folks sitting around the Henline living room chuckling and discussing how to identify each of the two boys. One might suppose that one could be referred to as “Frank’s boy, Denver” or “Pid’s boy, Denver.” Of course, substituting the name “Owen” wouldn’t work either because Samantha already had a grandson named Owen Thomas. Just as the diehard Henline family members continued to call the same dog “Bullet,” “Sandy,” and “Porter,” they never worried about the incongruity of having two close-in-age grandsons of Samatha Henline who were both named “Denver Owen Henline."

Although Samantha Henline and her children who remained in Orlando would have enjoyed their brother Frank’s company more often, the fact of the matter is that he lived in either Clarksburg or in Doddridge County and didn’t make it back to Orlando that often. As the old saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind,” so having two Denver Owen Henlines in the family didn’t cause that much confusion.

Uncle Sam Finds Another Recruit

Frank Henline’s son, Denver Owen, was born in 1925, the third of four children. Although he was born in Doddridge County, Denver went to Washington Irving High School in Clarksburg. His father had found war-time employment in Clarksburg and the family lived in the Northview section of the city. In Denver Owen, as well as in the minds of many young high school boys during World War II, the urge to be of service to country trumped the idea of finishing high school. Consequently, in 1943, before finishing school, Denver prevailed upon his parents to consent to his enlistment in the United States Navy and, with a nod, off he went to the Great Lakes Training Center in Illinois. After basic seaman training, Denver was assigned to the destroyer, U. S. S. Van Valkenburgh, DD-656, and service in the Pacific.

Left: Frank's son Denver Owen Henline.

Right: the U.S.S. Van Valkenburgh

Kamikazees

The war in the Pacific was for the most part a hazardous occupation for naval ships. During the battles for the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Japanese pilots, flying one way trips laden with bombs, found many American warships as targets. The U. S. S. Van Valkenburgh was in the thick of the fighting for the well-defended Japanese islands. One after another, the Japanese kamikazes struck the harried American fleet. Denver served as a pilot for the landing ships which carried the Marine invasion force to the beaches. Fighting was intense during the early months of 1945 and Denver was in the thick of it. Fortunately, like his cousin Denver, he came through the fighting relatively unscathed. Like most veterans of the great conflict, he spoke little of it to his family after the war.

Left: Example of a Kamikaze attack.

Married Life and Weirton Steel

Soon after the war, Denver married the former Doris Williams in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. They lived their married life in the Weirton area and were the parents of two sons and a daughter.
Denver found employment with Weirton Steel and later with its successor, National Steel. He retired from the latter corporation with many years service as a loader at the Riverdocks.

It’s Not Denver, It’s Owen, or Is It

Doris Henline, Denver’s widow, stated that she never cared for the name “Denver,” so she always called her husband “Owen.” Likewise, his brother Burlin Henline always referred to him as “Owen.” Doris however said that at work, his co-workers didn’t call him “Owen” but called him “Denver.” When he died in 1994 at the age of 69, his obituary referred to him as “Denver O. Henline.”

What’s in a Name?

Not only did their names mirror the other, but in many respects the lives of the two Denver Owen Henlines were lived in much the same fashion. Both men were rooted in Orlando, both served their country honorably during World War II, were good providers for their respective families but lived simply. Neither man seemed attached to his first given name, perhaps to avoid the confusion which resulted in both being named Denver Owen Henline.

. . . . .

Comment 1: from Lora Lee (Swiger) Gilmore:

I am the granddaughter of Coy (Frank) and Audra (Audrey) Henline. Just wanted to comment that it is incorrect when it states that Owen the 3rd child of Frank and Audra. Owen was the second child. My mother Ernestine Rose was the third child. Irma Lee the fourth child. Also, in the names of the two cousins, Owen was called Owen because his older brother Burlin couldn't say Denver and called him "O" and that transferred into Owen. Grandpa and Grandma were not aware of the other Denver when they named Owen, Denver Owen. Uncle Owen served during the war in Australia also. Uncle Owen didn't come away from the war without some damage. Grandma always told me that Owen returned "Shell Shocked" because his ship was torpedoed. His head and body shock when came home. It eventually went away, but returned sometime prior to his death. I talked to him by phone a number of times not long before he died.

Left: Lora Gilmore's graduation portrait

Right: Lora Gilmore's school picture at 12 years of age.

I was also wondering if much is known about Uncle Todd. I have a picture him. He was a handsome man. Grandpa did not talk about him much. I too have fond memories of Orlando. We always went to Orlando when Burlin would come up from Marietta and get us. I lived with Frank and Audra and they raised me. For most of my life my grandparents and I were alone as all the other children had moved away. I have very found memories of them and I miss them to this day. They loved me very much and had great faith in me. My grandfather used to tell me not to depend on a man for a living. He said that I should get myself and education and be able to be self sufficient. Prior to getting married to Ed Gilmore in 1970 I did just that by becoming a nurse.

We were always very happy when Burlin came and took us to Orlando. Grandpa or Papaw as I called him did not own a car and could not drive. I even remember riding with Burlin by myself to Orlando so I could be with him. He was a very special Uncle to me. I saw him just recently back in June. It was so good to see him since it had been 10 years when I last saw him. Burlin would sit me up on his school books so I could see out the window. I remember once when I went with Burlin to Orlando; I went to barn with Uncle Heater in the morning to see the animals and I got my socks wet from the dew. Aunt Clorie told me she was going to spank me for getting my socks wet. She made me stand by the hot coal fueled potbellied stove. As a young child I disliked her and was afraid of her because of the sock incident, but as I grew into a teenager I knew her as a very sweet, loving, and kind. Great Aunt.

My favorite thing to do in Orlando was to go to Coleman and Helen's house. She was such a great cook. I always got to play with her children and we would run around the farm. Once Charles Jefferies and I collected leaves in the woods for a school project I had and I got poison oak and was in really bad shape for awhile.

I'll sign off now. Sincerely, Lora Gilmore