[Begin Interview]
Fitch: Shampoo.
Interviewer: Shampoo. Mrs. Walter Fitch. And we’re interviewing Mrs., Mrs.
Fitch. And today is June twenty-fourth.Interviewer: It’s Earlington.
Interviewer: Huh?
Interviewer: This is Earlington.
Interviewer: Earlington, Kentucky. When you got married, did you rent or buy?
Fitch: When I first married, I didn’t live here. Oh, let’s see. I’ve been here
about, I moved here in ’31. About forty-six years, it will be this fall. But we didn’t rent. We bought.Interviewer: They were selling property at that time. The company didn’t–
Fitch: We never lived in a camp. Coal company camp.
Interviewer: Were, were there a lot of homes here that, that were part of the company?
Fitch: Well, there was quite a few back [then], you know, out. But you know, in
this section, there wasn’t any camps. But there’s some, back up that way and out that way. Or there was at that time.Interviewer: The, we were getting a description of the company store at that
time. And I asked what–[pause in recording]
Fitch: Housekeeping. You know, a homemaker.
Interviewer: Would you prepare your husband’s lunch to go?
Fitch: Yes, have his meals ready when he came in.
Interviewer: What type of things did he like to take for lunch?
Fitch: Well, he liked sandwiches.
Interviewer: Did he have the round dinner pail?
Fitch: At one time. You know, back in the early days, it was a long, with a
compartment at the top, and you’d carry your water in the bottom. And then later, you know, it was more modern, with the, I don’t know what you call it. But anyway, you know, it wasn’t, the water pail type.Interviewer: What were the normal hours your husband worked?
Fitch: Really, I don’t know. Could have been ten. Did they work ten hours back
in those days?Interviewer: Yeah. Started out working ten.
Fitch: Yeah. And then got down to eight, I think.
Interviewer: Right. Right. Did you have a large family?
Fitch: I had two boys. And there’s almost twenty years between them.
Interviewer: Did they go into mining or something else?
Fitch: The oldest son works for the L & N. And my youngest son has been working
for Island Creek about five years.Interviewer: What does he do for Island Creek?
Fitch: What you call it? He works out of the engineering office, and he checks,
you know, equipment and things. Goes around. [pause]Interviewer: Okay. This is reel number five. We’re continuing our interview on
June twenty-fourth. The–Fitch: Well, in fact, we didn’t have any. No more than, you know, you go to
church on Sunday. But as far as recreation, there wasn’t too much.Interviewer: Would the church, you normally have a picnic after church or
something like that?Fitch: Have picnic about once a year. What we call a homecoming.
Interviewer: And that’s something they just started again recently, isn’t it?
Only not connected with the church.Fitch: Well, some churches still have them around here. But, course, they really
aren’t like we used to have. Because way back in those days, you would have them outdoor, you know, a table. Now when we have a homecoming here, we have it in the church basement. It’s, you know, changed considerably from back in those days.Interviewer: The–
[pause in recording]
Fitch: W.P.A.
Interviewer: Did the mines work all the time?
Fitch: No. Back during the Depression, they didn’t. Two and three days a week.
Interviewer: Was the business a little slower in the summer than it was in the winter?
Fitch: Well, about the same, I think, the year round. You know, for several years.
Interviewer: Did you all garden?
Fitch: No.
Interviewer: What, was there much socializing between the wives of miners?
Fitch: Oh, I don’t know. I do quite a bit of PTA work. You know, we did. As a
groups. And that was about all the social part we had. And that would keep you, you’d be very active in those things.Interviewer: Did, did your husband feel the mines here were much better run than
the mines in eastern Kentucky that he went to?Fitch: I don’t know. I, you know, I never heard him comment about that.
Interviewer: The, did–
[pause in recording]
Other interviewer: Were there, were there any different type, were the people
any different in the coal camps than they were from the ones in towns? Was there any mingling back and forth? Or did they pretty much keep to themselves, and the townspeople–Fitch: Oh, I don’t know. You know, I wouldn’t want to comment on that.
Interviewer: I just wondered.
Fitch: We always lived here in this house. Live here, I’m still here.
Interviewer: Right. Very nice home.
Fitch: Well, thank you.
Interviewer: Nice and cool out here on this porch.
Other interviewer: Yeah.
Fitch: They’re all, you know, mostly chain stores. We have IGA store here. And
we have a Quick Pick. And one little, you know, individual owned.Interviewer: The--Miss Higgins said that there used to be a bakery and quite a
few individual shops. Did that, did the individual stores go down when, during the Depression? Or because–Fitch: No, they stayed here. You know, till later. But I think, you know, most
everyplace, they have done away with the smaller stores.Interviewer: Oh, yeah.
Fitch: You, you have shopping centers around close.
[pause]
Fitch: Always think about those things. But he was fortunate.
Interviewer: He never did, never was injured any.
Fitch: He got a thumb cut off, the end of his thumb.
Interviewer: Did you sometimes feel like every morning would be possibly the
last time you’d see him and...Fitch: No. Because that’s something you just can’t dwell on. You just have to
hope and pray and trust for the best. Because after all, I don’t think mining’s any more dangerous than getting in a car and driving down the highway.Interviewer: Would you tell me what, how you feel about the safety of mining again?
Fitch: Well, I think that you have to hope for the best. And after all, it isn’t
any more dangerous than getting in a car and going down the highway.Interviewer: I would agree with you. From the way drivers drive today.
Fitch: You know, like everything else, it’s improved tremendously. Everything’s
more modern. And, and they’re---I guess, better kept than they were way back.Interviewer: Do you have any friends who, whose husbands still work in the mines?
Fitch: Oh, I don’t know. I suppose. I don’t know of any.
[glitch]
Fitch: ...in his ‘30s. And when he came back, he decided he wanted, you know,
something outside. And he went, you know, to L & N. He’s been with them ever since. And as far as Eddie’s concerned, he made his own choice. So, he, I think he likes it.Interviewer: It’s a very good profession.
[glitch]
Fitch: I think it’d gone to the coal mines.
[End Interview.]
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