Oral History Interview with James Gillespie, March 14, 2019 Page: 3

                                
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:

Mr. Metzler:
Mr. Gillespie:
Mr. Metzler:

Really?
Yes.
Year and day?
No.
Okay, just--
The month and year; she is three years younger than I.
That is a coincidence.
I gave up when I found that out.
(Laughs). You said this is just meant to be! Okay, so were you
born on a farm, in a town? Tell me a little more about that.
I was born in a small town. My daddy was a butcher; he owned a
butcher shop. He was really a good butcher, and he made a living
through the Depression that we went through in the '30s, on 12
dollars a week, sometimes 14 hours a day, but we made it through.
We had no telephone, no car, no heater, no nothing.
Those were different times, weren't they?
They were different times, but we made it through, because he was
a hard worker and he provided food and shelter and everything we
needed. I didn't know we were having a bad time.
Yeah. As far as you knew, everything was okay.
Everything was all right
Yeah. Your mother, was she a quote, homemaker, end quote?
Yes. In those days there was very little mothers working outside
the home.

That's right.
She was the daughter of a cotton farmer around Wellington, and so
when I was a little kid, she and I would go out and pick cotton
during the fall, which I didn't like very well, because I thought
when I was out of school, I was supposed to be out playing football
somewhere.
I think that's right!

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