| Living in Rural Hall 1924-1946 By Ola May Tate Bovender February 2007 On the outskirts of Rural Hall, on old Highway 52, there is Tate road which leads to a farm originally owned by the Tate family. My name is Ola May Tate Bovender. I was born in Rural Hall, N.C., on April 12, 1924, the fourth daughter of Charles E. and Agnes Chadwick Tate. We lived on the Rural Hall-Bethania Road, opposite the Christian Church, next door to Rufus and Betty Ledford. Those two houses are still there and are occupied. My father was employed at Covington Ford Motor Company in the auto parts department. We lived in Rural Hall until I was five years old. My grandmother, Alice A. Tate, passed away on October 11, 1929. After my grandmother passed away, my grandfather, Irvin S. Tate, lived alone on the farm, so it was decided that our family should move in with him, which we did. As I remember, it was very difficult moving from the town to the farm. There was no electricity and no running water in the farm house. We used oil lamps and lanterns for light. Since we had no running water in the house, we had an outhouse like everyone else. We had to draw water out of a deep well for all of our needs. To get water out of the well, a rope with a bucket was attached to a windlass to draw water out of the well. This well was located on a screened-in back porch. Also on the porch was a dry well about five feet deep. A wooden frame, with two shelves, was built on it, on which we placed milk and butter. The frame was attached to a windlass, which was lowered into the dry well. The milk and butter were kept cool in the dry well. This was a great inconvenience since we had moved from Rural Hall where we had electricity. My father made many trips to the electric company where he applied for electricity to be brought to our farm home. Finally, in 1932, the poles were erected and electricity was turned on in the farm home. That was a day for a great celebration! I believe the first large item purchased was a refrigerator. At Christmas, my father's gift to my mother was an electric Singer sewing machine, which was gratefully appreciated since Mama made clothes for her four daughters and for herself. On the farm we grew tobacco, corn, wheat, and always a big vegetable garden - corn, beans, tomatoes, Irish and sweet potatoes, okra, watermelons, pumpkins, and more. Also on the farm, there were apple, peach, cherry, walnut, and hickory nut trees. Riley Miller and family lived on the farm and helped so much with all the work there was to do. There were two flue-curing tobacco barns, which were used to cure tobacco at harvest time. There was so much work to do in harvesting the tobacco. The men would pull the leaves from the tobacco stalks; place the leaves on sleds, which were then brought to the tobacco barns. There the leaves were tied onto tobacco sticks to be placed on tiers in the barn to be cured. Fires were built in the flues, and those fires had to burn continuously for three or four days until the tobacco leaves were dry. Some of the men stayed at the barns all night to keep the fires going. During this time, we would have gatherings of young people for wiener roasts and chicken stews. We roasted potatoes on the flue pipes. The chicken stew was cooked in a very large black pot on an open fire. Mama would always make delicious desserts for us, pound cakes and an assortment of pies. We played games and had sing-a-longs. It was a great time of good food, fun, and fellowship. In addition, we also ran a dairy. Hay and grain had to be grown to feed the cows. At one time, we had six cows. This was before there were electric milkers. We didn't have electricity anyhow. Twice a day, Mama milked all of these cows. Evelyn, my sister, would help Mama milk sometimes. I tried to help milk the cows, but the cows just would not cooperate with me. The milk would always go in the opposite direction. My Mama would milk the cows, bring the milk to the house, where she would strain it through a cloth and then pour it into quart bottles and seal it. When all that was completed, we would load up the car, take the milk to our customers in Rural Hall, place the full bottles on the porch, and collect the empty bottles to bring home to use again. My Mama also made good, creamery butter, which was sold to our customers. My parents had to get up very early in the morning to get all of that work done. Sometimes when my Papa was not able to deliver the milk, our cousins, Walter and Roger Tuttle, would come to our house to drive our car, and I would deliver the milk and butter. There were five children in our family: Florence Louise, Alice Margarette, Evelyn Pauline, Ola May, and Edwin Cicero. All of us graduated from Rural Hall High School. My Papa was on the school board for a few years. It was very exciting to us when new teachers came to our house to be interviewed. I don't think teachers are hired that way any more. We were very faithful in attendance at school. We would only stay at home when we were sick. When we had the measles, whooping cough, mumps, or chicken pox, the county health nurse would come to our house and post a quarantine sign on the porch. Of course, we stayed at home until we were well. We loved our teachers and looked up to them as our great examples-people to be admired and trusted. My parents always attended the Parent/Teacher Association meetings, where they talked to our teachers to find out if we were doing our school work well and if we were behaving as we should. Of course, every three months, we were given report cards to take to our parents for them to see our grades and to sign. With our parents' patience and encouragement, we did very well in school. Florence was the valedictorian for the graduating class of 1932; same for Alice, class of 1943; same for Ola May, class of 1941. One of the highlights of our senior year was a one-day trip to the Capital of our state, Raleigh. Most of us had never been there before. We were given permission to use one of the school buses. We left early in the morning. In Raleigh, we toured the Capitol Building and our state facilities. We were taken to the state prison where we were shown the gas chamber-a gruesome sight to me. On our way home, we stopped in Durham and visited the Duke campus. We toured Duke Chapel, which is a most beautiful cathedral. We arrived home late, but we had a great day. In September 1942, the twelfth grade was added to all North Carolina schools. I was only 17 years old when I graduated in 1941. I could not find a job so I took post-graduate classes at Rural Hall High School. I helped some of the teachers by typing their test papers and making copies on the mimeograph machine. I also played on the basketball team for four years. I have such fond memories of going to the games at all of the county schools. Our school had no activity bus so we were taken to the games by parents and some of the teachers. We always looked forward to playing in the Journal-Sentinel Tournament at Reynolds Gymnasium in Winston Salem. My days at Rural Hall High School are days to be cherished and fondly remembered. With the encouragement of my typing teacher, Miss Frances Burwell, I took the Civil Service exam and passed. As you know, the Second World War started in December 1941. The U.S. Government was asking people to come to Washington, D.C., to work. I applied to work in Washington, and I accepted a position as a clerk typist. I was assigned to the Aviation Marine Corp and worked in the Navy Department building on Constitution Avenue in Washington. In December 1943, my father passed away. I was so homesick because everything was not as it had been at home in Rural Hall. I resigned my position in Washington and returned to Rural Hall to live again on the farm. I applied for a job at the Office of Defense Transportation in Winston Salem and was accepted. Within six months, that office closed, and I transferred to the Fourth U.S. Civil Service Region. Two years later, that office moved to Washington, D.C., and I transferred to the Veterans Administration. During the years of World War II, many items were rationed - sugar, coffee, gasoline, and other items. For the rationed items, we had to obtain stamps from the government. Our best mode of travel was by way of Greyhound Bus Lines. Their daily route was from Mt. Airy to Winston Salem and return, which we rode to get to our jobs in Winston Salem. In June 1946, I married Howard Bovender and moved to Boonville, NC, where I still live. My mother and sisters, Florence Tate Hall and Alice Tate Ronk, lived in Rural Hall so I visited them often and kept up with the Rural Hall news. I would often go to church with them at Rural Hall United Methodist Church. After I retired from the Boonville Post Office in 1979, I would often go with Florence to the Rural Hall Senior Citizens meeting. So, all of my life, I have been closely connected with Rural Hall. In 1990, a class reunion was held for the members of Rural Hall High School classes of 1941 through 1945 at the Sheraton Hotel, North in Stanleyville. It was a great time to see "old" friends and renew friendships. In 2002, some of us talked about having another reunion. So, we sent a letter to all for whom we had addresses, and in May we met at the Mayflower Restaurant in Rural Hall. We had such a good time that we are now making plans to make the reunion an annual event. In 2006 we had 64 people in attendance, and we hope to have more this year. We think it would be great to have a reunion of everyone who graduated from or attended Rural Hall High School. We were faithful members of Rural Hall Methodist Church, which is now Kingswood United Methodist church. My father was Superintendent of the Sunday school for seven years. My sister, Florence, learned to play the piano, and she played for many church services. We were a happy, singing family. During those years, perfect attendance certificates were given to those who came to church every Sunday during the year. In 1930, all the members of our family received a perfect attendance certificate. We were very proud of that record. Over the years, all of us sang in the choir, and when Alice was mature enough, she was the choir director for a few years. We children were members of the Epworth League, which is now known as the Kingswood United Methodist Youth. We met every Sunday evening at the church. In the summertime, we went on picnics to different places. One of our favorite places was Crystal Lake, which was off of Reynolda Road. The Ladies Aid Society of the church had a chicken pie supper and bazaar every year as a fund raiser. This was held in the large room over Ledford's Drug Store. This was a church-wide endeavor and was enjoyed by everyone. Every four years, a new minister was assigned to our church. Rev. C. M. McKinney was one of those ministers. The McKinney family lived in Rural Hall for four years. Their daughter, Evelyn, and I were the same age, and we still stay in touch. Evelyn and her husband attend our reunions. They live in Jamestown, NC. My years of growing up in Rural Hall are fondly remembered. We were very safe walking from the farm to town. Many deeds of kindness were done every day. We shared in the good times and in the difficult times. Rural Hall was a great place to live. |
