Oral History Interview with Audrey Combs Rogers

AUDREY COMBS ROGERS: There was a lot of good things. I mean I enjoyed the four years I stayed there. I made a lot of good friends. But the only thing about it, if you were sick, you went to the infirmary. You may miss two days of school, if it was tonsillitis, or whatever it was. You always had a written excuse, you know, you had a nurse on campus. It was an enjoyable four years. I enjoyed it. I don't have any regrets from it.

CASSIE MULLINS: Who were some of, you were talking about Mr. Still, I thought that was funny. Because I've been trying to get memories of people that were there, maybe that we haven't heard about. At first let's talk about, other than teachers, is there like a cook or maybe a secretary or somebody that you got to know on campus that you have memories about? Anybody like that, any kind of faculty that were there on the campus with you?

ROGERS: Well of course, Miss Beeman 1:00was like I said, the nurse. Miss Strong, Verna Strong was always in the office and I worked under her for four years, and had a real close relationship with her. Matter of fact, after Les and I married, for years while they were still alive, when we went to Florida, we'd go visit them. We'd take Miss Beeman and Miss Strong out to eat. I was trying to think, well Mrs. Stahl. Irene Stahl was my Freshman year, she was the head dorm mother and lived actually at Westover. And she had family there in Hindman. Richard, I can't think, they lived in Frogtown. Their names have just left me. I'm not sure where Mrs. Stahl was originally from, but her daughter, Helen, lived in Frogtown. And of course her children, which were Mrs. Stahl's grandchildren, would be on campus all the time, but they actually went to Hindman High School. Pigmans. The Pigmans. And I don't know if you know if you remember any of those or not.

C.M.: Oh, okay, yeah. 2:00I know that name, but I don't know if I know any of them.

ROGERS: But they would all be older, even her children would be older than you. But Mrs. Stahl was really, matter of fact when Lesley and I married...and then Mrs. Hall was my house mother at May Stone Building. And when Les and I married, Mrs. Hall and Mrs. Stahl came to the wedding. But now, Mrs. Hall always, as four years in high school, Mrs. Hall always talked about coming to the country. And I'm trying to think what old Chevrolet that she had, looked like it was brand new. But she would a lot of times, her weekend off campus. And I don't know if that was once a month or whatever, she always came to Hazard. Well, I had no idea that she was Presbyterian and lived, went to the Presbyterian Church here in Hazard, which is where I'm a member now. And is where my husband grew up. So when we announced our wedding and married here, Mrs. Hall came, because that's where she came on the weekends. 3:00She actually went to Viper, I believe is where she ended up. But she always talked about going to the country. And we were living in Hindman, and I kept thinking, I live in Decoy, that's country. Where is she going in Perry county? [Laughter] And it was actually Viper, I guess. But I think you asked about being close to them. I felt like I was close to all of them. I mean I knew them on first name, but it was a big family. On Friday nights you folk danced. And on the weekend there were things to do. I think probably my younger brother there wasn't that much, but by that time the McClains were gone, so you didn't do that folk dancing and stuff. You didn't travel. So I think some of that home atmosphere kind of, maybe left those last few years. And I want to say that probably the last year, my youngest brother Dan Junior, may have lived at home, because the roads were much better. And he may have commuted back and forth the last year, 4:00his senior year. He may not have lived on campus. But on the weekend they provided things to do. And if you stayed on the weekend, you were required to go to church, either First Baptist, J.S. Bell or you went to the Methodist Church. And I think that was really our choices that was at Hindman then. I'm not sure if there's more, I know there was not a Catholic Church in Hindman, there still isn't. Is that right?

C.M.: Uh uh.

ROGERS: Never will forget Geneva Moore. She wasn't a part of the settlement school, but Miss Moore taught at Hindman. And she always had revival at her little church. I can just see it heading up toward where Benny Ray's clinic is, on the right. I can't think of the name of the church, but you always got points if you went to her revival.

C.M.: Was it Iviss?

ROGERS: Iviss, yeah, that was Geneva Moore's. And she made no bones about it in her class, if she had revival. Well really, the settlement school students didn't really have a chance to go to that because you know, you had to be chaperoned, you had to be taken. 5:00If you went to her church during her revival, you got a good grade, you got good points. [Laughter] But it was kind of neat, just things that you were a part of. I don't think anybody really bucked it, or refused to do some of those things. There were things that were good for you, maybe they didn't think that at that time. But a lot of times we went to the Methodist, because the Baptist sometimes went over.

C.M.: Past ten o'clock?

ROGERS: A lot of times students found out real fast that the Methodists got out faster. [Laughter] But we always had...Sunday was a big dinner at the settlement school. And there was like, extra things. Miss Connelly was the cook when I was there, I think all four years. And of course, she is no longer living. She did homemade rolls. I mean, it was like extra on Sunday. It was kind of a special day, you know just like sometimes we do at home nowadays. You kind of do 6:00a little something extra on Sunday or whatever. It was a good four years.

C.M.: Now talking about the high school a little bit, who were some teachers that were maybe kind of your favorites? Or ones that you remember that you had?

ROGERS: Probably Mrs. Combs, that would have been Pearl Combs' wife, Betty.

C.M.: What did she teach?

ROGERS: English.

C.M.: English, okay.

ROGERS: And she was good. And to this day, her favorite saying, and I guess probably one of the best English teachers I ever had, there were a lot of students that would end a sentence with a preposition, like where's it at?

C.M.: I always do that, and people yell at me.

ROGERS: And she would say, "Behind the at." [Laughter] So anyway, she probably was one of my favorite teachers. I did have Pearl Combs in Algebra. I didn't really learn a lot, my Freshman year in Algebra, because I was in there with the basketball team, 7:00in the evenings. And they talked basketball. Pearl was a good guy, but that particular class was full of basketball people. My Freshman year I was actually put in Algebra, because based on your eighth grade test. And the kids at Decoy always scored high in Math, and maybe it had to do with Lionel was a good Math teacher. But I don't think any of the kids from Decoy hardly ever went into, they had like a General Math course, or whatever. We went straight into Algebra. Of course, my kids and Hazard has changed a lot over the years, were able to take Algebra in grade school on a high school level. Mia and I think, Craig and Chris all went to Hazard High School and took it as an eighth grader. But we went straight into Algebra, so we didn't take that General Math course. But my class in the evening happen to be the one with Pearl Combs' basketball crew, so sometimes they got off on basketball.

C.M.: I'd say so, I guess that would happen if the coach was in there. [Laughter] ROGERS: Exactly. But 8:00there was really some good instructors at Hindman, I think then. And Hindman was really a county school, it wasn't...but everybody kind of thought of it, the town of Hindman as a city school. It really wasn't. But I do know, in even talking to Lesley after we married, a lot of the colleges would look at a school and they'd know if you came out from a good high school. And Hazard, I guess, has always been that way. But when we were growing up, if you went to Hindman High School, it was supposedly a decent, a good school. And usually, you know, lots of times they'll say nowadays, well they'll take a "C" from that school over an "A" from some other school. And I think they looked at Hindman that way, because there was some excellent teachers there.

C.M.: So, I guess how do you feel overall about the education you received after you went on to college?

ROGERS: You mean received after I left Hindman?

C.M.: Yeah, like the education you got while you were in high school.

ROGERS: Oh, I think it was excellent. We had problems with foreign language teachers. I don't think there's anything, 9:00I mean I think that's not any different from any other county schools at that time. That field was not wide open like it is now. And so they were always trying to recruit foreign language teachers. So, I actually did not get a foreign language in high school. What ended up happening is that they had one, probably when I was a Freshman, but they were trying to get the Seniors, the Juniors and Seniors. So they only let the upper level students take that. And so I really missed out completely, my class, because when we were Sophomores or Juniors, then that teacher, you know they'd come and stay two years and move on. So actually I did not get a foreign language. Now that was different from Hazard, because I know my husband had two or three years of foreign language here. But overall, other than not having a foreign language, Hindman was always known as a good high school.

C.M.: Well just thinking, you've told me a lot of really useful things, especially because I've been focussing, talking to people that graduated 10:00in forty and back. And so I've had that whole group of people that I've talked to.

ROGERS: You hadn't really talked to that many in my age group?

C.M.: Uh uh. Not many at all, a couple. I've talked to one lady that graduated in seventy-two, and a couple of people that graduated in the fifties, but you're the only person in the...

ROGERS: in the sixties.

C.M.: the sixties. And the thing that's neat is a lot of the things are the same. Maybe not, like you said, you still had to work, not as much as they would have had to in nineteen forty, of course. But a lot of things and a lot of the values are still the same, it sounds like to me. And why do you think that is, or how do you feel about that? Because it is a lot different, you went to public school, but you lived in a private place. You had chores to do, you had the devotion thing, which is not really something that goes on now. How important do you think that was?

ROGERS: I think it was very important, and I think it would be nice to still see some of that. I think this day and time, so many of our families, both parents, moms and dads have to work. And I think you lose a lot of that, when 11:00the child does not have some of that upbringing. In settlement school, when they came in there, if they hadn't had that, they got it when they got to settlement school. And I think in this day and time so many of us probably, I don't, but a lot of people do expect the schools to do all these things. And if they haven't been taught anything at home, you can't do it in six hours in the classroom. And I'm talking about grade school and high school. My daughter comes home and talks about how rude some children are. We just, we respected the teachers. We weren't allowed to do those things. And now with rights and all these things, it's just very different to what it was when I was growing up. But we've always tried to instill that in our children, that you don't do that. You treat people with respect. You may disagree with them and you can do that. But I just think that had a lot to do with the students that came out of the Hindman Settlement School, 12:00with what they offered us over there. And like I say, we didn't have a choice, if you were going to be there, you abided by those rules. If you didn't, you packed your bags and went home. That doesn't mean to say that there wasn't people that came and couldn't abide by it, and they got sent home. They just didn't tolerate it. So, as far as preparing us for going away to school, I think it was an excellent education, I really do.

C.M.: Well looking back on it now, I guess you've probably answered this through other questions, but what kind of impact has the Hindman Settlement School had on your life overall? Because you had so many different experiences and you lived there for four years. What would be the big impact that it's had on your life?

ROGERS: Well, I don't even know how to start that. It was my life for four years, and I think it made me probably what I am today. 13:00I'm kind of at a loss for words. I don't really know how to answer that, except I appreciate it.

C.M.: Is there anything that I haven't, maybe asked you about that, that you've thought of while we've been talking? I've been kind of asking general questions. I always like to see if there's anything maybe that I've left out that people would want to share, that they think would be important.

ROGERS: Right. Seems like we've touched on a lot of things.

C.M.: Yeah, that's what's hard about it.

ROGERS: I can't even think right off. I mean, like I say, I think all of my brothers and sisters had a good experience and enjoyed it. It would be nice if students....That's probably why I have pushed for my kids to live in a dorm 14:00in college. Because I think that is part of growing up. And a lot of kids, there's nothing wrong with local community colleges, but you don't get to grow up and share that experience living in a dorm with somebody. I see that as, I really grew up fast in the settlement school.

C.M.: Yeah, that is true.

ROGERS: Yeah, you didn't have a choice, at thirteen, fourteen years old, if you went away from home, you grew up whether you wanted to or not.

C.M.: That's true. I'm going to turn this off.

END OF INTERVIEW