Oral History Interview with Kathleen Campbell Moore

CASSIE MULLINS: And get it rolling, make sure this thing is working right. [Clears throat]. Had something in my throat. Okay, today’s date is August the fourth, nineteen ninety-eight. Just go ahead and state your name.

KATHLEEN MOORE: Kathleen Moore.

C.M.: Okay.

MOORE: I guess I should say Kathleen Campbell Moore.

C.M.: That’s right, I probably called you Kathleen Campbell when I called, because I had it written down backwards. I had your name switched around. I thought about that later. Okay, let’s just get started. Tell me a little bit about where you grew up and your family.

MOORE: I was born in Mousie, Knott county, Kentucky. Born October the thirtieth nineteen and twenty-three. I’ll soon be seventy-five years of age. I spent most of my early years with my grandmother and grandfather, Sam Maggard. And attended, my first school was at Owen’s Branch. And then I also attended school 1:00at Mill Creek. Then I attended the sixth grade under Mrs. Clair C. Keesell, at the settlement school.

C.M.: So you began there in the sixth grade.

MOORE: In the sixth grade.

C.M.: Did you live on campus?

MOORE: No, I did not.

C.M.: Okay, then you traveled back and forth.

MOORE: I was with my grandmother in Hindman. One of the vivid things that I remember being in the sixth grade, the ladies from the settlement wanted cream and butter from my grandmother. So, I would take a half a pint of cream and a half a pound of butter periodically to Mrs. Gunn and Mrs. Keesell. They lived in the settlement. 2:00And it was always interesting to me, that when I would go and knock on the door of the little cottage where Mrs. Gunn lived. I left the butter and the cream with her. And then I went back to Mousie and graduated from Mousie grade school. And then came back to Hindman for high school.

C.M.: Now how did you get to school? Did you ride a bus?

MOORE: Yes I did.

C.M.: So how long was the bus ride from Mousie over to the high school?

MOORE: Oh, I don’t really recall the time, ten miles, so, made several stops on the way. And even when I lived with my grandmother I rode the bus.

C.M.: Yeah, I was just seeing if you ever had to walk, 3:00I did know, some people they still walked.

MOORE: No, I never walked.

C.M.: Did you have any brothers and sisters when you were growing up?

MOORE: I’m from a family of eleven.

C.M.: Wow. [Laughing] So you had a crew.

MOORE: Nine of us lived to be grown. And I guess I had, I guess there were five of us that attended the Hindman Settlement School.

C.M.: So, when you started, I guess we’ll maybe focus on high school and then go back and talk about that sixth grade year. When you started high school, what was Hindman like at that time? Like what was the town like, since you would have been....Since you were a commuter student you probably had more contact with that. Did you go to town much?

MOORE: Oh, we went to town most every day at noon, had lunch. 4:00We had a place they called Palace Lunch. Then they had a B( ) Clark Drugstore that we could have a sandwich and something to drink.

C.M.: Yeah.

MOORE: Sandy Bollen had a restaurant. The IGA store, most of the boys ate there. They would fix sandwiches for them. It was a very warm, close town. The people then were very friendly. They were friendly to the students. It was a lovely town, still is in my opinion.

C.M.: What kind of stores were downtown besides, you named a few of them like the drugstore and things, were there clothing stores or....?

MOORE: Oh yes. I guess Sheldon Maggard and Charlie Young had the two clothing stores as I recall. It’s been a long time since forty-one.

C.M.: I’m 5:00trying to get an idea, I guess knowing about the town tells you a lot about the school too, you know, when you think about it. And just getting a description. Would Saturday be the time, did a lot of people go to town on Saturday?

MOORE: I really don’t know, because I did not have much of an opportunity to go to town. I was aware of what they called Court Day, when everybody would come into town. And of course, we had Lodge Hicks had a store. But I really wasn’t too, I didn’t spend much time in town.

C.M.: Okay. I guess talking about your school days a little bit, who were some teachers that you had when you were in high school? Maybe ones that stand out in your mind, 6:00ones that you enjoyed.

MOORE: Well Betty and Pearl Combs, and then a Mr. Adams, a Miss Standish, Devon Pratt and of course, Professor Smith, whom all he had to do was clear his voice and everybody became silent. I just can’t remember all of the names of the teachers that I had, you know. I can’t even remember the Home Ec teacher.

C.M.: What classes did you like when you were in high school?

MOORE: I liked them all.

C.M.: Did you?

MOORE: I was never off the honor roll.

C.M.: Wow.

MOORE: Had to study 7:00to be there, couldn’t goof off. There’s a little plaque that I would like to have. I have never seen it, but it was supposed to have been in the library of the old settlement school, that gave my name as an honor student. And I would love to have that plaque.

C.M.: I’ve never seen that before.

MOORE: I don’t think they would have taken it down to the Knott County School.

C.M.: Probably not.

MOORE: But I wish that it could be located and I wish that I could have it.

C.M.: Now how many did you say were in your class the year you graduated?

MOORE: We started out with forty-one, but I believe thirty-nine graduated.

C.M.: And you graduated in nineteen forty-one?

MOORE: Nineteen and forty-one.

C.M.: What was your all’s graduation ceremony like? Was it just kind of like ones today? 8:00MOORE: Well no, it didn’t have anything in particular. We had the Baccalaureate sermon and then we had graduation. And I was valedictorian of my class. So I have some fond memories of this school, and fond memories of the courtyard.

C.M.: What are some of your special memories? Every person I’ve talked to has different things that, when they talk about being at the settlement school or going to that high school that they think of, whether it’s the courtyard or something that they would do every day with their friends. Is there anything like that, that stands out in your mind?

MOORE: Not particularly. I just enjoyed all the people that were there. And it is always a pleasure for me to go back and see, you know, during 9:00the Alumni Luncheon, that I go back and see people that I knew then.

C.M.: Okay, did any of your close friends live on the campus?

MOORE: Yes they did.

C.M.: Do you remember things that they talked about or was there any differences because they lived on campus and maybe you rode the bus to school?

MOORE: No, not that I recall. We were just, we had a wonderful rapport, or I did with all the students there. It didn’t matter whether they came in by bus or lived in the town or were at the school. Very fond of the teachers associated with the school.

C.M.: What was the 10:00overall demeanor of the teachers? What were they like?

MOORE: Very friendly, very dedicated.

C.M.: And how did most of the, in your opinion, how did most of the students get along with them? Was there a pretty good relationship between teachers and their students?

MOORE: I thought it was excellent.

C.M.: Yeah, that’s what most people have told me, I mean, I’ve heard a lot of positive things about the teachers. What kind of education do you think you received going there? I guess what caliber of education do you think you got?

MOORE: Really don’t know how to answer that, because having to work hard 11:00in order to make my grades, made me, I guess, more aggressive, which probably was very beneficial for me in my work in the future.

C.M.: Now, what did you do after high school, after you graduated?

MOORE: Well, I went to a business school in West Virginia. And then during World War II, I worked in Washington. I came back home and worked in the Board of Education. And I got married, we moved to Floyd county. And my husband was elected County Court Clerk and I was the Chief Deputy in the office for twelve years. Then we came to Lexington 12:00and I became a jobber for Phillips Petroleum Company. And I was their jobber for twenty-seven years. And I retired in eighty-five. We came to Lexington in nineteen and sixty-two. I have three children. My two girls graduated from the University of Kentucky, and my son has three years of college at Eastern.

C.M.: Now, when you were at the school, I don’t know if you had much association with the people over at the settlement school. Were you ever around Miss Watts much?

MOORE: No, I wasn’t.

C.M.: Okay, I didn’t know if you were around her much or not. What about Miss Cobb? 13:00MOORE: I wasn’t with her very much either. I knew them both. My two brothers attended the settlement school when they were very small. And they liked it. But with the transportation that we had, we could stay home and ride the bus.

C.M.: Yeah. Well I’ve just kind of been asking, those are my main questions that I like to ask people. Are there things about the settlement school, or your years in high school that maybe I haven’t asked you about, that you thought of while we were talking, or you think would be important to preserve? I mean, that is kind of just like a general question, because sometimes people think of things while we are talking, that they remember from high school, a special friend or a special memory. Anything like that?

MOORE: Although I didn’t attend, you know 14:00wasn’t a resident of the school.

C.M.: Right.

MOORE: I was sorry to see it not be able to continue to have students. And I thought it was very, very beneficial for those who had, you know, lived further out in the county and could not, you know it’s just a long, long drive sometimes. I thought they got good discipline. I hated to see it not continue, to have the type of school that I was familiar with.

C.M.: Are you very familiar with the programs today? What goes on there.

MOORE: No, I am not.

C.M.: Okay, I was going to see what you thought about the changes over the years, just from, I guess from going back to the luncheon and seeing the changes over the years, what your opinion is of that. 15:00MOORE: The few things that I do know about, I think it is very progressive for the county. I have a very soft spot in my heart for Hindman and the settlement school.

C.M.: Yeah. Let’s see if there’s anything I missed here, that I wanted to ask you about, in my big mess of papers. Oh, I know one thing I wanted to ask you about. Was there much emphasis on things like weaving and music, when you were in high school? Were those classes that were offered? Or anything like that?

MOORE: I don’t know that there was a lot of emphasis on it, but it was available 16:00if you had a desire to be in it, you know.

C.M.: Did you ever take part in any folk dancing or anything like that?

MOORE: No, I did not.

C.M.: I know, I think it was the later years that people got a lot more involved in that. A couple of people I’ve talked to.

MOORE: Well, I think those who were residents of the school and who lived in the town, you know, were more involved. Those of us who were transported in, didn’t have much time to spend there.

C.M.: Yeah, I’d say not.

MOORE: We came and went.

C.M.: Uh huh. Now when Mr. Still was your librarian, what did you all think of him? I mean, what was he like?

MOORE: Oh, we adored him. He was a wonderful person, 17:00still think he’s a wonderful person.

C.M.: Was he very strict in there? How did he run things?

MOORE: Oh no, no he wasn’t strict. He was pleasant, but we all knew our station. We knew we had to behave.

C.M.: Oh yeah.

MOORE: We had a few that were a little rambunctious, but I would say that we didn’t have more than three students that had to have Professor Smith talk with them.

END OF INTERVIEW