Oral History Interview with Wilburn Pratt

CASSIE MULLINS: Get it going, today's date is July the seventeenth, nineteen ninety-eight If you don't care, just go ahead and state your name.

WILBURN PRATT: I am Wibbie Pratt, my real name is Wilburn James.

C.M.: And what year did you graduate?

PRATT: I graduated in nineteen fifty-six.

C.M.: I guess first just tell me a little bit about your family and where you grew up.

PRATT: Okay, well I grew up in Hindman and my father was an attorney in Knott County. My mother was a school teacher and she taught on and off, off and on, and raised a family. We lived right on the edge of Hindman, and my grandmother was Dora Perkins. One of my grandmothers was Dora Perkins. I did not know my grandfather Perkins. My other grandparents were 1:00Pratts and they live up in Garner, Kentucky, Wilburn and Lucy. We were totally on the left hand fork of Troublesome Creek and I guess we, both families grew up on the left hand fork.

C.M.: And now, did you have brothers and sisters?

PRATT: Yes, I had a sister that was older than me, Virginia Lee. She lives in Georgetown, Kentucky, and has never been married. And I had a brother that was almost fifteen years younger than me, Warren Clark. He is an electrical engineer at present and lives in Toronto, Canada.

C.M.: Now, I guess, how many years did you go to school at Hindman? Did you start in grade school?

PRATT: I started in grade school and went all through 2:00the first eight grades and all through high school in the big city of Hindman.

C.M.: Well, talk about the big city of Hindman. What was it like in Hindman, when you were in high school, maybe?

PRATT: When I was in high school it was, I guess kind of a rural town, for example, I remember when we got television. I remember when I went to the theater in Hindman. I remember when they got the first movie there. So, I guess it was kind of rural, prior to that time we had to go to Hazard or Prestonsburg or someplace like that to a movie. And other people had television a little bit earlier than we did. I guess we got T.V. about, I don't know. I think it was nineteen fifty-four. I'm sure 3:00there was some other television. I remember Stanley Napier and little Hillard Smith both had antennas on top of the hill above our house. And they were always checking those, and finally we got an antenna up there and got television. It was somewhat of a pain to look after those lines, because every time we had a storm, well we had to go up and do them. But Hindman was, you know, I guess it was pretty much self contained. There, I don't know of anything that we ever wanted for. There were grocery stores and drug stores and doctors and lawyers and Indian chiefs, the whole bit was there.

C.M.: So it was just all right there in that one little place. So I guess, did you live on campus? 4:00PRATT: No, I did not. I grew up in the edge Hindman, walked to school all twelve years and did not live on campus.

C.M.: Okay let's talk a little bit about maybe your grade school years, not all of them, but just some teachers or experiences that you had in grade school, that stand out in your mind.

PRATT: One of the things that really stands out, well there's two things that really stand out in my mind. But first of all, and they were both kind of humorous I guess.

C.M.: Well, that's always good.

PRATT: The first one, well the first one is not really humorous. The first one was in the first grade, an individual by the name of Buell Cowton, who was a classmate of mine. I remember, I'll never forget that one day at lunch he kicked a girl 5:00in the eye. And my mother was the fourth grade teacher and she happened to be on duty during the lunch hour. And Buell kicked her and ran to the boy's toilet, which was on the school grounds. Mother went in and got him and drug him out and whipped him hard. [Laughter] C.M.: She drug him right out of the bathroom.

PRATT: She drug him right out of there. So, I'll never forget that. That really made an impression on me. And the second thing that made an impression, also concerned the toilets and I happened to be in the second grade. [Laughter -Mullins] But, we were out on the school grounds playing one morning, and John Milton Carter, whose dad taught at the high school, came running down on the playground. His dad had let him out of the car and he came running down on the playground and said, ran up on the ....First of all, we had a boy's toilet over here, 6:00or over here on the left hand side. And there was a cesspool with a concrete cover between them. And we had a girl's toilet on the other end. And Johnny ran up on top of that cesspool, on the concrete and said, I'm toilet hole bound and it broke through. And he really was toilet hole bound and he fell down in the cesspool. [Laughter] C.M.: How awful.

PRATT: And that really made an impression on me. Of course, his dad made him walk to town and get a box to sit on, or get some cardboard to sit on. But that was kind of humorous. And that just goes to say, that I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to my 7:00more academic subjects along the way. [Laughter] But we progressed and I remember, remember our teachers well, in terms of multiplication tables and diagraming sentences and those sort of things. They really hammered those into us. We really got a good education from that standpoint. And I think all though grade school we got a good education and we progressed. Even though we didn't have the broad offerings that a lot of the schools across the state had, particularly the more urban areas, the things that we did have, we got them well and they were well taught.

C.M.: Who are some of the teachers you had in grade school?

PRATT: I had a lady by the name of Doris Stumbo in the first grade and Mabel Hall in the second, Alma Pigman in the third and 8:00the fourth grade, I think we had Ethel Sturgill the whole year. Had Mavis Ingall in the fifth, a little bit uncertain about the fourth grade, just when Ethel came, but I think she was there the whole year. And Mavis Ingall in the fifth grade and George Cornett in the sixth, Martha Allen in the seventh and Vinnie Dyer in the eighth.

C.M.: Gosh, I don't even know if I remember all of mine that I had in grade school, you're making me look bad.

PRATT: Hadn't thought about some of those folks for a long time.

C.M.: Were there any of those teachers, thinking about, I know I have certain teachers that when I think about them I remember something that they did in class, or maybe the way they dressed or something. Are there any that like when you're talking about them, you think, oh, you have memories about them?

PRATT: I remember 9:00Martha Allen in the seventh grade. She was, I knew Miss Allen and I knew her well, but then I don't think that I personally ever played any pranks on her. She and her husband had rented a place to live from my grandmother until they built their own home. And I got to know the Allens pretty well. But I remember she was pretty strait laced. She was firm. She was really an enjoyable person when you got to know her, but you just had her in class. She was firm. 10:00She was never jokey or anything like that. And I remember we had in the seventh grade room, we had a map box on the wall, students were always putting, I don't think that I ever did, but I remember numerous times they would put rocks, small rocks, they weren't anything that would really kill you or hurt you real bad. But they were putting small rocks in that map box and the lid always opened downward and she would open the map box, why the rocks would fall out. And I remember they were always doing that. And I also remember Mrs. Ingall in the fifth grade. She was, I think the only paddling I ever got in grade school was from her. And she was always taking people out to the cloakroom 11:00and paddling them. I'll never forget that. [Laughing] And I guess there are you know, a lot of incidents that you could remember. But I remember in the fifth grade, Mrs. Ingall, I remember the Sugar Creek Game stories that we read. We always had a reading period in there. I remember spelling in the sixth grade particularly. George Cornett was always insistent that we learn where the marks, the correct marks went, the correct place and all that. And I guess it all helped in the long run.

C.M.: Well, what about once you got on to high school? Who were some, 12:00maybe people that stand out in your mind that you had? Or maybe just classes that you enjoyed.

PRATT: I, you know, I guess a lot of people stand out in my mind, but George Cornett and Ralph Keller, Ralph Carter, Mrs. Combs in English and Mrs. Hall in English. They're all individuals, I guess that really stand out. I remember Tub, Foster Calhoun, we all called him Tubby. He was the assistant basketball coach and he taught, I had sociology under him. And I remember that John M. Cornett and myself were managing the basketball team that year. We were juniors in high school. And we would always grade the papers, that was our job, and of course, after a while we got to just throwing them away, 13:00[Laughter] and putting the grade in the book. One day Mr. Calhoun caught us and that was a rude awakening on our part. We ended up in the principal's office. That wasn't too good. But I guess those are some of the folks that I remember in high school. And I remember when we built the, of course they've moved on to Knott County Central High School now, but we built a new gymnasium. Our new gymnasium was built on the high school campus 14:00in Hindman. I remember Claude Fradey, who was the principal of the high school at the time. I remember I would go out there and want to get up on those beams and walk across them every day at lunch. And Mr. Fradey would always get me off. I can see the danger now, if somebody had fallen, that would really be a tremendous kind of liability in terms of the school. And you know, one thing that really stands out in my mind about the high school was the work that our class did and the money that they earned in terms of our, of course it was all to go for a Senior trip.

C.M.: So what kind of things did you all do?

PRATT: Well, we went to Washington on our senior trip. But like the money that we earned was used for tiling in the new gymnasium and used for, I don't remember what all, but it was a lot of the decorations and kind of things 15:00that it went for in the gymnasium. But we earned money on our senior trip and went to Washington. And I'll never forget, that was a big time for all of us. None of us had ever been very far from home. We went to Paintsville and caught the train, caught the George Washington.

C.M.: Did you?

PRATT: And we made a fast trip. Everybody rode the train and we saw all the sights in Washington and we were back home in two or three days. It was a fast trip, but it was really worthwhile. And I think education wise, 16:00I think the people in Hindman got a good rounded education and I would think the only part that was really bad was, and I wouldn't say that it was necessarily bad, but it was the rural versus urban. We just weren't exposed to as many kinds of other lifetime situations. And I'll never forget when I came to UK, after graduating from high school, that it was a big place. I had never seen anything like that and you didn't really know where to go and what to do, I had to dot my I's and cross my t's. But a week later why everything fell into place and we were okay. And you know, growing up I remember also the settlement 17:00school was always a large part of Hindman and the happenings.

C.M.: Yeah, let's talk a little bit about that. That's something that I've really been interested in.

PRATT: I can remember a time in grade school when the furnace blew up in the grade school building. And of course the buildings that we went to had been, well, I guess the grade school was maybe owned by the settlement. I'm not sure about the ownership. The whole eight years that I went there was in an old, wooden structure with a playground on the settlement campus. And I think it was owned by the settlement. And I remember a time when the furnace 18:00blew up. I forget, I was in the fifth or sixth grade and we were out of school for three or four days and there came a big snow, and we were over at the settlement. And there happened to be one of the few graded roads in Knott County and a good place to sleigh ride. I think everybody in the whole city of Hindman was up there at one time or another, sleigh riding. I'll just never forget that, and I remember us playing where the manual training house was and where just a building was that housed just general maintenance, I guess. It was hard to separate the campus of the settlement school from whatever we did, it was hard to separate. 19:00Unless you went to the high school and you were physically separated by the creek. Why, you never knew whether anybody was bussed in, or whether they walked as I did, or whether they lived at the settlement and came over to school. You just couldn't hardly tell the difference if you saw them playing, you'd just have to know. But at the time I grew up all through grade school and high school, why, there were individuals that lived at the settlement, all through that period. They were just, there wasn't any difference. There wasn't any difference made in people no matter whether they were bussed or whether they walked or whether they lived at the settlement.

C.M.: Yeah, because that was something that I was wondering about. Because at this time, like you were saying, some people lived there, but I would say the majority walked or were bussed in somehow. And I guess from you being 20:00part of the town and being able to walk to school and live with your family, what was it like? I'm sure you had friends that lived on campus or whatever. Just from being a friend of somebody, what do you think it was like for them to be living there? You know, to be away from home. Because that is a really different situation.

PRATT: Yeah, it sure is. It sure is.

C.M.: Because they are going to a public school and living in like a kind of a private, controlled setting. What did you think about that?

PRATT: Well, you know I guess I thought about it more in later years than I did at the time. You just sort of took it that the individual that lived at the settlement, he had to, 21:00he was tied up at certain times, he had work to do. We all had chores to do, that sort of thing. There were different times that they just couldn't come out and play, so to speak. But you had to respect that. Because everybody worked that stayed at the settlement. But there wasn't any real difference, I mean we didn't think about. They weren't segregated in terms of those folks stay at the settlement and these folks walk and these folks ride the bus. There wasn't that kind of thought process, for whatever reason, going on.

C.M.: Well that's good. I hadn't really heard anybody say anything about that, but I was just wondering.

PRATT: But I don't recall 22:00a time where those guys, I don't recall any instances where there were fights because they stayed at the settlement or because they were polarized. There was just a good blending. I can remember more fights among us that lived in town. They weren't real fights, but little skirmishes and that sort of thing, pranks more. I can remember more of those among the town folks than I can between the town folks and the settlement folks.

C.M.: Now, was Miss Watts around?

PRATT: Yes. Miss Watts, her presence was felt very much so. And she was there, I've forgotten what year she retired. But I think she was there all of the time I was in grade school and high school.

C.M.: Yeah, I was thinking that she would have been. What was she like? What do you remember about her?

PRATT: Well, my impression of her was that she was, you felt her presence. 23:00You just always felt her presence. You knew she, even though you didn't see her from day to day, you knew she was, and you knew she was directing the school. She was the person in charge. For example, I remember seeing Mrs. Burns. I remember seeing her a lot. I guess she was out because of the grounds and it was her job to look after the grounds and that sort of thing. And so I saw her a lot, from the standpoint of her being around the school. Because they were their grounds, the school grounds, the settlement grounds, that sort of thing. You just had a lot of respect for Miss Watts. You could tell, even back then that she had set herself apart and she was apart 24:00and a part of the leadership of the community, if you will.

C.M.: So how much, like you were saying before that the settlement school and town were kind of like one entity, it blended together. Were there ... .In what ways was that? Was it just because it was so close to town or did they provide services or there were programs they did with the community, at that time? Or was it more just taking care of the kids?

PRATT: Well, it was more just taking care of the kids. There were things that they did, that the settlement did in terms of the school system, like provide the Music. There was always a Music teacher, or two or three, as a matter of fact.

C.M.: That were provided?

PRATT: Yeah, that were provided, that kind of thing. The art kinds of activity. But as far as interjecting themselves into the community, they were kind of standoffish, 25:00to tell you the truth. Miss Watts, for example, you know I don't think anything ever really happened to Hindman that she wasn't aware of, and if anything ever happened that would involve the settlement or make things bad for the settlement, why she was on top of that. But I don't think that they really ever injected themselves, or tried to run the community or tried to inject themselves in the community in any way.

C.M.: Yeah, because I know that I had talked to, like students from several years before you were in school and asked them about the fact that a lot of their teachers were from New England. So I guess when you were there, there weren't as many.

PRATT: No.

C.M.: Mainly local people. And that's a question I would ask, well what did people think in the community about these people. So just from growing up, what do you think people thought about Miss Watts and Mrs. Burns and these ladies 26:00that had come from, you know that's pretty far away up in New England. What did people think about that?

PRATT: Well, you know, I guess I personally never gave it a whole lot of thought. They were there, and they were there for a purpose. And that purpose was to educate the kids and provide a means that they could, and provide a place for ... .I can remember there were just a lot of kids that would have never had the opportunity for an education, had it not been for people like Miss Watts and Mrs. Burns to do what they did. And you know provide the settlement for a place for them to stay and go to school. Because there just weren't any buses. The transportation network wasn't there at the time.

C.M.: Okay. Another question I had talking about, you mentioned the art, music, and things they provided. 27:00And I know when I was talking to Mr. Roberts yesterday, he was talking about the folk dancing, the emphasis that was put on that. Were you involved in anything like that?

PRATT: Yes.

C.M.: What was that like? Because I think that is really kind of fascinating that that was emphasized. Because it is kind of like part of the culture and heritage was being preserved even then.

PRATT: Yeah, I think that is exactly right. You know, you can think back and the more you think about it, some things I hadn't thought about in years. But I think about the May Day program that the settlement sponsored. And the community was always invited to those kinds of things, whether they participated or not. Or how much they participated was up to them. There wasn't any pressure to participate. But I can remember participating in the May Day ceremony. I remember the alumni luncheon. The settlement school always 28:00made sure there was an alumni luncheon, and that sort of thing. Of course, they said luncheon, but it was in the afternoon. [Laughter] C.M.: Yeah, now it's dinner.

PRATT: It was dinner, or supper as we always said. Yeah, but they did the dancing, and that was an integral part of family life. And something that the settlement school sponsored and made sure that people could do. I know we as part of the school system, participated in those activities. And I can just think about a lot of things that we probably wouldn't have had in the school system, dancing, the music program. 29:00I can remember missionaries coming to the school and they had a time, this was before we could display the Ten Commandments. We had to have prayer at school. I remember those kinds of activities that took place and they were an integral part of what we did. Had it not been for the settlement, I doubt if they would have been there and been an integral part of what happened.

C.M.: I thought that was real interesting that, that was emphasized, because they don't have that anymore, you know. Nobody knows how to folk dance or do things like that. I think it is kind of sad.

PRATT: I know that we use to, my wife and I. My wife is also a graduate of there. And we were talking about that not too long ago, what an integral part and what an opportunity we did have. Where we might not have had the breadth of academic kinds of subjects 30:00 .....

END OF TAPE 20A, 31, WlLBURN PRATT, SIDE A BEGINNING OF TAPE 20A, 31, WILBURNPRATT, SIDE B PRATT: .... And then come to work for us.

C.M.: Okay. I think that is pretty interesting. Now we've talked about the fact that you are a graduate of the settlement, but you are also on the board.

PRATT: Right.

C.M.: And how long have you been on the board of directors?

PRATT: Oh gosh.

C.M.: Uh oh, uh oh.

PRATT: You know, since about seventy, I don't know to tell you the truth, seventy-two 31:00or three or one, somewhere along there.

C.M.: Seventies, early seventies.

PRATT: Yeah, early seventies.

C.M.: That's good enough. We don't have to be exact. Yeah, I just think that is really interesting. You grew up there, you went to school, went on to different experiences, but you still have this tie to the Hindman Settlement School. How did you go about becoming a board member? How did that evolve?

PRATT: Out of the clear blue one day, Mrs. Weatherford over at, her husband was the president of Berea College at the time. And she was on the Board of the Hindman Settlement School and she invited me to be on the board. And I don't know. I had always had close ties to Hindman, largely family. The people I guess, had just 32:00been a drawing card and drew me back. And so I accepted that, being on the board. And I've enjoyed, I'd have to say that I've enjoyed my tenure on the board. And all the things that have happened to me in the past.

C.M.: And you've seen quite a few changes.

PRATT: Seen quite a few changes. I remember Miss Watts was still on the board and the most dramatic change I remember was when your father was hired as the director of the Hindman Settlement School. And Miss Watts had a nephew that was a candidate at the time. I will never forget that some of the....I was, happen to head up the hiring committee at the time. And I will never forget some of the arguments that Miss Watts and I had 33:00over the direction of the Hindman Settlement School. And I think even though it was a long time ago, that's been my strongest contribution to the Hindman Settlement School. That's the one that at least stands out in my mind. And it was a matter at the time, of whether we were going to hire somebody that would make the settlement a part of the city, the town, or whether we would, it's hard--how to explain it. Or continue the settlement and just let it find its own way, have a direction or let it find its own way. And I remember Miss Watts' 34:00nephew was, he was more interested in some of the books that were coming out about that time on death and what role death played. And I guess it was a matter of, would you, was there a role for the institution? Was the role active or in the community, or was it sort of passive and more research oriented and that sort of thing. And more of a foundation that you would just set off to the side and go about. I think we made a good choice. [Laughter -Mullins] C.M.: What was the direction of the settlement from the time you came on the board until I guess, maybe when my dad was hired? Those years, because I know that it was a lot different than it is today, 35:00because you wouldn't have bad as many students. I guess there were maybe a few that still lived on campus.

PRATT: Yeah, we had dwindled down to where there was two or three students in the very end. And I don't think, you know and I wouldn't fix the blame. I don't know whether it was the board's fault. I don't know whether it was the director's fault. I don't know whose fault it was, you know. I just don't think that all of a sudden, why Knott County had a transportation system that they could transport kids into school in the mornings and back home in the afternoons. Of course, everybody would have liked to stay at home. And that mission just wasn't there. Or if it was there, it certainly wasn't a priority with the board or the director or anybody else. But largely I think that the 36:00county outgrew the school in terms of the transportation network. You know, I would say there was a period where the settlement school was just had to find its direction. I guess that's what we went through when your father was hired, when Mike was hired. What would the direction of the settlement school be? We didn't have a direction, that sort of thing.

C.M.: So, I guess, thinking back over the years that you've been on the Board and been a part of the decisions that are made. What do you feel have been some of the more important things that have taken place, maybe in terms of programs or just things that you feel, in your opinion, have been so important to the development over the past twenty years?

PRATT: Well, first of all, I think that giving the school a direction of being 37:00a part of something, standing for something, you know, was an important decision. I'll never forget when three, four, or five of us, we went over to the James Still Building that it is now, and it used to be the old library. I remember Miss Standish and Mr. Still as librarians there. And using that building for that purpose. But I remember some of us going over there and the building was all full of everything in the world.

C.M.: Junk PRATT: Junk. [Laughter] C.M.: Yeah, I remember.

PRATT: Had no purpose really. And we decided that we would make, we'd have a child development program in Knott County. 38:00Nobody had any real idea, I guess, of what that meant. But we knew that children were important. They were the backbone of the community and they would be the backbone of the community. So we just felt like a true mission for the school would be something to do with the children. To sort of interject the school in the community, in the county and have a mission for it, rather than just let it flounder around and do whatever it wanted to do. So, I think that was an important decision in terms of doing something for the children 39:00of Knott County and eastern Kentucky. And it has grown into the dyslexia program today. I think that is probably one of the most important things that we could do. And I think that the work that your dad has done in terms of upgrading and not letting buildings, not letting the campus just cave in, you know.

C.M.: Yeah, I think it is funny that you say that, because I know that a lot of people don't agree with that.

PRATT: Yeah, I know.

C.M.: They like the fact that, I don't know, just the fact that things have changed over the years. And I think that is really hard for a lot of people that went to school there and lived there. It is hard for them to understand why you would want to build a new kitchen, or why you would want to replace things. That's been a question I've asked people, what do you think about the developments. And some people, they say, I don't like it.

PRATT: Why yeah, I can understand that, you know, because change is hard. And it is hard on people, and you don't want 40:00to see that stuff change, but my goodness, you know. We've got buildings on that campus that would have really fallen down had, you know, they have already fallen down. Well, you know. [Laughter] C.M.: I know. I lived in one of them for a while. Yeah, I can see...

PRATT: And people just don't realize that happens, but it does.

C.M.: Yeah, I understand that, I know that's hard, that's hard to deal with, I guess. Well, thinking back now over this conversation we've had. If I were saying now what impact has the Hindman Settlement School had on your life, how would you answer 41:00a question like that? I know it is pretty broad.

PRATT: Well, it is broad, but I would definitely say that the Hindman Settlement School has had an impact on my life. And it's had an impact on everybody's life in Knott County. Just the fact that the level of people that the settlement attracted and brought into the community were there. You know, I think about, it is pretty broad, and I don't know the total impact that it has had on my life. But my father and my mother and my uncles and aunts, you know, they all went to the Hindman Settlement School and a lot of them stayed there. And I remember my father worked there and he lived there. 42:00I can remember things that, I remember finding, in an old book, I remember finding a page, a little sheet of paper that, where he had been paid. The receipt I guess it was, that he had been paid by the settlement, thirty-five cents for working the entire week, you know, which would be unheard of today. That kind of activity and the fact that those people and my parents went there and the impact that the settlement had on them, and in turn what it might have had, what they might have turned out to be, had it not been for the settlement. It's hard to measure what the settlement's impact on your life might have been. But you know, if you just take all things even, from the time that I grew up and went to school, I would 43:00say that it certainly has had an impact on my life. And as you say, it is hard to measure, but I definitely think it has.

C.M.: Okay. Well and this is also kind of a weird question too, but it's one that I like to ask people. [Laughter -Pratt] And I get some pretty funny stories out of it. What would you say is like your most special memory of being there, being at the settlement school? Even if it was grade school, high school or being a board member. Maybe there's one or two things, just something that is special to you, when you talk about the settlement. Or maybe it is a person that you knew there. It could be any number of things. 44:00PRATT: I think the most important thing to me was the play that was put on at the settlement. And the settlement had a large part in it, even though it involved a lot of townspeople and county people, that portrayed the founding of the settlement and the role, its role in the community, its role in the county, if you will. It's a pretty big community. It took you, it was all local, it was by local people and I think that's probably the thing that stands out in my mind, as encompassing a lot of things for the settlement 45:00and for the county, in terms what it would mean to me.

C.M.: So was that something they did every year?

PRATT: No. That was put on one time, I remember I was in about the fourth grade, the fourth or fifth grade. I remember I had some little part in it. It involved almost everything. I remember some of the townspeople. I remember Dave Wallen, for example, he was an individual that lived in the city of Hindman, or the edge of Hindman, lived across the creek from my grandmother. I remember him in particular, I don't know why. But I remember him singing religious songs. They had a scene in there, where there was some religious songs. But 46:00I just remember, that just had a tremendous impact, I guess, on me from the standpoint of portraying everything the settlement had done, what all it had meant to the community and that sort of thing. And the participation, and you know there's not much to do in rural areas, but the participation that they had was just tremendous from the standpoint of the settlement being the sponsor and the community being ... There was just a big sense of community, I guess, is what I'm trying to say.

C.M.: That's pretty neat. Nobody's ever, I hadn't heard about that before. Well, is there anything that I haven't asked you about maybe that you think would be important for this project, or that you've thought of while we've been talking?

PRATT: No, not really, I think we've 47:00hit on the highlights of the things that I can think about.

C.M.: I know, of course, I have these questions and I look at some of them, and then I usually go by whatever we're talking about. I just like to ask people if there's anything that I've left out or anything.

PRATT: No, I don't think so. I don't think we can... and not because you're interviewing me, but I don't think we can underestimate the importance of when your father was hired. When Mike Mullins was hired as Director of Hindman Settlement School, because I think that set a direction for the school. And I think that is very, very, very important, because at the juncture, we could have sure made a decision to go some other route. I think that is important. 48:00C.M.: Okay.

END OF INTERVIEW