Oral History Interview with Ilene Wills

“START OF TAPE 12.6” Wills: That is not Willis, it’s Wills [Laughter] Harris: Right. Okay. This is Russell Harris, at the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort, Kentucky, on December 19th, 1991. I’m talking with Ilene Wills and about, about…Franklin Runyon Sousley, her second cousin. Okay. Now you’re, you were telling me that he was a…he came over to your house as a, as, as a teenager?

Wills: Yes, yes he did.

Harris: As a teenager.

Wills: Uh-huh, as a high school student. He was in…about the same class as one of my brothers and he often--not often but sometimes came to spend the night with my brother. 1:00Harris: Mm-mm. And you said he was…what kind of a, what kind of a kid was he?

Wills: He was a redheaded, had blue eyes, and liked fun. You could tell he was kind of an impish type person, not mean at all, but…just liked to…just have a little fun with people, and he was very well liked. I think he was pretty good in sports in, in high school and he did graduate from high school, at Flemingsburg High School.

Harris: Mm-mm. You said he was…in sport, was he on the athletic team?

Wills: I really can’t say, I left there just about, about that time, and (clears throat), I, I really, I can’t say because…I had married and moved away at that time. He was, he was quite a bit younger than I was.

Harris: Uh-huh. 2:00You said he was pretty impish. Did he get into any pranks that you can recall?

Wills: I don’t recall that he ever got into any trouble of any sort. I don’t think he would be that type of person. He was like to play little tricks on people, and just have a good time, that’s all.

Harris: Mm-mm. He was always, always into something.

Wills: Well, I really don’t know him that well, because…as I said, he was in a, an entirely different age group from me, and…I’d, I’d…we were not in school at the same time, so, and even though he lived only about eight miles from where I lived, it was a different direction from the school and I didn’t see him that much.

Harris: Huh…he went off to the Marines when he was ni…nineteen, so you were what age at that time?

Wills: Well, let’s see this was in the forty-five, 3:00five, twenty, I was ab…about twenty, twenty-two or three.

Harris: Mm-mm. And, and your brother was about the same age as he was?

Wills: Yes, yes, he was a younger brother of mine.

Harris: Mm-mm. I recall reading that…after he left the high school, he went to Ohio, I can’t recall the city. He worked at a factory there. Do you recall anything about that?

Wills: No, I was not aware of that. I had…I had moved to Tacoma, Washington by then and I lost contact with him at that time and, so I, I really didn’t know that until I read about it.

Harris: Uh-huh. So he had, he went through high school.

Wills: Yes, apparently, yeah, he graduated, uh-huh.

Harris: A good student of, of 4:00 what?

Wills: I would say, and I, I really don’t know, but I would say off hand he was an average student; he wasn’t a brilliant person but just an average person.

Harris: Mm-mm. His…his parents were…farmers, weren’t they?

Wills: Yes-yes, mm-mm. Now his father died when Franklin was very young.

Harris: That was Duke Sousley.

Wills: Duke Sousley, yes. I would say that Franklin was oh maybe ten-twelv…ten or twelve years old when his father died, and his mother (clears throat)--excuse me--m…his mother remarried. Franklin had two brothers and then later on, after his mother had remarried he had a brother and a sister, in addition to the other two.

Harris: uh, you were telling me about all 5:00the…all problems that family had had. Would you like to… Wills: Yes.

Harris: …explain that?

Wills: Well, uh-huh. Franklin’s father was called--was name Duke Sousley, and he had a, a brother, Malcolm Brook Sousley who died when he was twelve years old. He’d been a, a sickly person all his life. And then his younger brother, Julian, was killed in a car wreck up in Ohio, probably about the time that Franklin was working up there. I, I wasn’t aware of that until I, s…I read about it because that was after I had left the area. Then, when his mother had remarried, she ma…uh let’s see, she married a fellow named Hensley Price, and they had…two--a brother, had a boy and a girl who would be half brother and half sister to Franklin. The, they did grew to ma…adulthood and the half brother has died within the last few years, and the sister is not very well. They’ve always had poor health, and, 6:00but, so, and, and that husband died also, so…his--Franklin’s mother has had a pretty hard time, you know.

Harris: What did, what did you say her name was?

Wills: Her name was Golda. She was Golda Mitchell.

Harris: Golda?

Wills: Golda.

Harris: G, G-o-l-d-a?

Wills: Yes, or i-e, I think sometimes they called her Goldie. She was a Mitchell, and she had married the Sousley, and then after his death she married Hensley Price (phone ringing sound). Now during the war, after, after Franklin’s death, his mother traveled around all over the United States selling bonds, you know, appearing on, on the stage with…the people who were selling war bonds… Harris: Yeah.

Wills: …to raise money.

Harris: Huh how, she did that how many times?

Wills: Oh, I don’t know, but I know she went to some of the larger cities in the United States, 7:00 though.

Harris: That must have been quite an experience.

Wills: Mm-mm. I’m sure for her and being a farm girl from back in Kentucky, you know, that was an experience for her.

Harris: Did…it must have been sort of a bittersweet (phone ringing stops) experience too.

Wills: Mm-mm, yes that’s--but she felt she was doing some good you see.

Harris: Mm-mm. How did…did you know her very well?

Wills: Well yes. I, I’ve been rather close to her because she was my mother’s first cousin and they were very close. In fact, I had been in touch with her the last few years, she died only about a year ago, and I had kept up with her pretty much over the, the last few years.

Harris: Mm-mm. Did she talk about going on these war bond drives?

Wills: No. I was away for four years and this happened during that time, you see, my husband was in the service and… Harris: Yeah.

Wills: …and 8:00I lived in Tacoma…when she was doing these war bonds deals. No, she didn’t talk much about any of that.

Harris: Mm-mm. How did…how did the family…react to the, the, the flag raising incident and the…the death of Sousley?

Wills: Well, I really don’t know because at that time I was away too. See, that was in the midst of the war and my husband was in the service and…and so I didn’t have close contact with them at that time.

Harris: Yeah.

Wills: But I’m sure they were very much upset and I heard about it, but…they were proud of him and…so they, I’m sure they all made appearances when they could to try to…keep 9:00up the spirits of the men.

Harris: I was wondering about the years, a period of years after the war…did you have any contact with them at that, at that point?

Wills: That’s, yes, that’s when I had the most contact with them is after the war.

Harris: Did Sousley name come up frequently or seldom?

Wills: Well, yes, in passing. Several years ago, they erected a highway marker outside the cemetery. Of course, I--they brought his body back at, at the end of the war and he is buried at Ellizaville in Fleming County… Harris: Yeah.

Wills: …along with his father…Duke Sousley, and…so of course that had, that drew a good bit of…attention. And then, of course later they erected this large monument, the Marines erected a huge monument in the, in the cemetery in honor of him.

Harris: Did the…in the years after the war, did the people of, of that community…hold Sousley up as a hero? 10:00Wills: Yes, I think they did…so far as I can say, I, yes I think they are real proud of him (sigh). As I said, he was a, a sort of a, an impetuous type person. As I understand it, there, there was already--I mean they first put up a small flag up there, because you know the troops couldn’t carry that great big flag up the hill the first thing. So they put the small one up, and then later brought this large one up so it would be more visible to the other troops from, from a distance.

Harris: Yeah.

Wills: …to show for sure that they had captured the hill. And he just happened to be sort of standing there, and when they saw 11:00them struggling, he dashed over to help them, and that would be typical [Chuckling] of Franklin.

Harris: Oh he was concerned about helping them.

Wills: Helping them er…erect the flag, yes, mm-mm.

Harris: Can you think of any other incidents where he went out of his way to help somebody?

Wills: No, I really can’t, because as I said, I just didn’t have that much contact with him.

Harris: Mm-mm, but he--that was his per…personality ( ).

Wills: Yes, but what I knew about him I think that was typical of Franklin, I think. I knew him more as a child, a smaller child than I did later on see.

Harris: Oh. Did you see anything in him as a child that would indicate…he would later stand up under this kind of pressure, under the pressure of battle and… Wills: No, I, I didn’t, I just didn’t 12:00have that much contact with him, and… Harris: Well what, what I mean is that, you know, you said the family was--had some pretty hard times… Wills: Yes.

Harris: …and I wondered if, if he bore up well under that.

Wills: Uh-huh. well, I really…of course he was young, I’m sure he did what he could, although, as I said, they lived a different direction from the school, as, as we did, and so I didn’t see he, him with his own family that much. He, he had a lot of support. His grandfather, Charles, Charlie Mitchell, who lived to be a hundred and one years old… Harris: Oh.

Wills: …was--lived nearby and I’m sure he was a great help to the family. They, they lived very close together and, I’m s…I know, and then, his mother had…two sisters and a brother who lived near, fairly close, and I’m sure that they--the family gave them very much support.

Harris: So he was raised in sort of a close knit… Wills: Yes.

Harris: …community.

Wills: Yes he was, uh-huh, and I’m sure the whole community 13:00tried to help, they, they was that kind of people.

Harris: Huh, do you think that kind of attitude of one person being depended on and helping another, do you think Franklin carried that with him? Or was that… Wills: I think he probably… Harris: …be too much of a stretch?

Wills: I, I would say he, he would have that kind of a personality that yes, if anybody needed help I’m sure he would be right there.

Harris: I don’t want to put words in your mouth.

Wills: No, no, uh-huh, yes, but I, I think he would.

Harris: Yeah.

Wills: Yes.

Harris: I was just--that’s interesting. I, I’ve heard, I’ve read accounts of some of the other men involved in that incident, and they said exactly the same thing, that they were just trying to help other fellow marines get the flag up, 14:00you know, they said that they could see they were having difficulty with it.

Wills: Yes, it was quite a heavy flag… Harris: Yeah.

Wills: …and Franklin is the one in back, he is the last one, and he is reaching I’m sure, he helped them get it started but he couldn’t…hold all the way, it was up to high.

Harris: I’ve… Wills: (Good?) picture.

Harris: I, I’ve been told that the soil right there is very crumbly… Wills: Right, really, uh-huh.

Harris: …and the wind from, from the ocean was quite stiff, so that’s why they had trouble with it.

Wills: Yes.

Harris: But…anyway, that’s an interesting insight into his, his personality and background. You said they were farming; they were farmers and had some hard times. Do--were they almost under agriculture during the thirties and forties was in 15:00pretty, pretty hard times.

Wills: Well, I think the farmers all lived, they lived pretty well, because they could grow what they needed on their farms pretty much, and so they, they probably lived fairly well and I don’t know really of, in what house they were living at that time. I know he was born in a little old building on the farm, I guess it’d be on his grandfather’s farm, that was later made into a chicken house, so [Chuckling]… Harris: Really?

Wills: …yes it, it was over close to the highway between Ellizaville and Hilltop, a little town up there. Now his grandfather was not wealthy, but he was not a poor man, and so I’m sure that they had any support that they needed from him.

Harris: Are they, all those buildings still standing?

Wills: No, unfortunately, it, it was standing until, oh, two or three years ago, and they’ve, we thought they should have put a marker there, but they didn’t, and the building 16:00has been torn down now.

Harris: Mm, that’s too bad.

Wills: Too bad, mm-mm.

Harris: What about the rest of his family. Are they anywhere around there now?

Wills: Well, the, the ones who are still living, live fairly close to that, he has one--he has two aunts, his mother’s two sisters live within four, five miles of that area, and I suppose they are the last ones of the family because the grandfather is dead, the grandmother is dead, the uncle is dead…though I don’t know of anyone else that--and I don’t know where his half sister lives. She lives somewhere in the county, but I’m not sure where it is. I don’t know her very well.

Harris: Yeah. Huh the cemetery is, is out in a rural era…area? Is that right?

Wills: Well, it’s just outside a small town.

Harris: Yeah.

Wills: It’s quite a good size cemetery, and…it’s…when 17:00you turn from the main highway that goes to Flemingsburg, turn and go up the hill and, and the cemetery is up on the top of the hill, it’s a beautiful cemetery, but it’s, it’s quite old, I think it was established, oh, it was seventy-five to a hundred years ago, and… Harris: The cemetery is on a hill, the entire cemetery?

Wills: It’s up--no, it’s up at the top of the hill and it’s just slightly, it’s not steep hill, it’s a--I mean, the cemetery itself has some sloping…little hills, but not, not steep ones.

Harris: Any trees around?

Wills: Oh yes, with trees, mm-mm.

Harris: Oh, sounds like a lovely spot.

Wills: It is, uh-huh, very pretty.

Harris: It’s quite a contrast to Iwo Jima. 18:00Wills: I should say [Laughter – Wills] Harris: Yeah, yeah.

Wills: Yes, I think he would be proud to see how they have…marked his grave.

Harris: Is, how do the town’s, town’s people now feel about Sousley.

Wills: Well, I really haven’t heard any expression of. I, I know that when they had it, when they erected this monument, when the marines did, they had a huge crowd there. It was one Sunday afternoon and they had just a great big crowd.

Harris: Yeah.

Wills: So I think that shows that they, you know, had some respect for him.

Harris: Yeah I sh…apparently so. See now, if I reme…remember correctly there was a m…a marker, you said there was one on the highway, is that right?

Wills: Yes, a highway, you know, the, those 19:00highway markers, yes.

Harris: There was a…it seems like, somewhere in my memory there is a, a, a small marker that was erected not long after he was buried, and somewhere near the grave.

Wills: Yes, I believe there was, yes, a small marker in there, uh-huh.

Harris: Did the marines put that up or someone else?

Wills: I supec…suspect the state did that, I’m not sure--well no that wouldn’t, that wouldn’t be, the highway marker would be put up by the state. But I don’t know, probably the local marine group might have put that up, but yes, there was one there marking his grave, and that was just a… Harris: Smaller version.

Wills: …small, small.

Harris: That was a small wooden marker, one… Wills: I think so, mm-mm.

Harris: …cross?

Wills: No, huh… Harris: No.

Wills: …let me see, I believe that was made of metal, I’m not sure. It, it was not a great big one though.

Harris: Yeah, the monument that’s--was put up recently is huge, it looks like… Wills: Oh it is, uh-huh. 20:00Harris: About, about… Wills: About… Harris: …twelve feet tall?

Wills: …something like that, and it’s a black marble.

Harris: Yeah.

Wills: It’s beautiful.

Harris: Quite elaborate.

Wills: Mm-mm.

Harris: Let’s see, you said you weren’t in, in, in Flemingsburg area when the, when Sousley was killed. You were in Tacoma then.

Wills: Uh-huh.

Harris: Do you recall how you heard about it?

Wills: No, I suspect that my mother probably wrote to tell me about it. And then we, we, we received the Courier Journal all the time we were out there, my husband did--had it all of his life [Chuckling] so we subscribed to the Courier Journal, and that was probably in the paper too.

Harris: Yeah. Do you recall what your emotional reaction was?

Wills: No, 21:00no I really don’t. Of course…I was sorry that it happened, it was…but I can’t say right off hand, I did, I don’t remember how I felt exactly about it. Of course, I had a brother who had been killed in Germany, and so, you know, I, you sort of get used to that idea that, well, maybe another one.

Harris: Was that…a long time before Sousley, or… Wills: Oh, about the same time, you see.

Harris: Yeah I’m sure, I’m sure that’s very hard.

Wills: Mm-mm.

Harris: Did…I know the, the f…the famous photograph was printed in this country very soon after the battle, maybe before the battle was even completed. Was--did you know 22:00Sousley was one of the group… Wills: Yes.

Harris: …then?

Wills: Yes, I suspect that my mother wrote that to me that I, I’m sure everyone in Fleming County heard about that sooner, you know, because he wrote home to his mother…about how they did this, and…so she knew it and I’m sure you know, the wo…the word spread through the county, and my mother probably wrote to tell me that. Oh, and too, through the Courier Journal, I’m sure they had a story on it.

Harris: Mm-mm. How did you, and they, how did you find out which one Sousley is?

Wills: His mother told…some of the family which one. He had been to tell her, he, he described it pretty well to her, and he said I’m the one in the back and I had my jacket tied around my waist, well see it show…shows it hanging down there…I think.

Harris: Does this story quote the letter?

Wills: No, no it doesn’t.

Harris: Oh.

Wills: This is mostly about the…dedication of this monument, monument, mm-mm.

Harris: Mm-mm. Did--you said Mrs. Sous…you 23:00said Mrs. Sousley had died. Do you know where the, whether she kept the letter or…not.

Wills: Well, I’m sure she did. I, I don’t know but, I’m, I feel she did.

Harris: Do…you have any idea where that letter might be?

Wills: Well, his half sister just may have it, or one of his aunts. He has one of her--his mother had a younger sister…who might have the letter. I really don’t know.

Harris: Do you know, do, could you, do you know their names and where they are?

Wills: Yes. His--I know his, I know his aunt’s name, I don’t know his sister’s name because I don’t know what her husband’s name was. His aunt was named Florine Mitchell and she married Paul…let’s see, oh no, oh I can’t think right off hand what her married name is, I know it very well, and, 24:00and she lives in Fleming County. I see her now and then.

Harris: Yeah. Well if, if it, it would be worth…pursuing because some other accounts I’ve read of this incident, indicate that one of the other figures is Sousley, instead of… Wills: Oh really!

Harris: …instead of the one that f…at the end.

Wills: Uh-huh. Well, that’s…the story that I heard--her, her aunt is Mrs. Paul (Merand?) and she lives in Fleming County. I could write to her and ask her if she knows where it is… Harris: If you could.

Wills: …( ) as it ( ) if it, if that’s what she understood. But I remember they were saying that he had his jacket tied around his waist. 25:00Harris: If, if that letter still exists…some effort should be made to find it…because…the marine, the Marine Corps’ official version is that the one on the end is…Ira Hayes… Wills: Really?

Harris: …and that the…see, and that Sousley is the…this one.

Wills: The one in front of him.

Harris: The one with the rifle.

Wills: Oh!

Harris: Yeah.

Wills: Mm-mm.

Harris: So I… Wills: I didn’t know that, of course I’m, I’m sure there are several versions of this, but…as I remember it, that’s the way he wrote to his mother.

Harris: Mm-mm. Well… Wills: And he wrote--see, he was killed just about ten days after this… Harris: Yes.

Wills: …by a sniper. And so he had to write it pretty…soon.

Harris: He wrote her on Iwo Jima, I guess.

Wills: Yes, mm.

Harris: Well.

Wills: Mm-mm.

Harris: It’d be a very valuable letter, if it could be located.

Wills: Yes, it would.

Harris: If you could write the, the woman and then ask her about it, it would be a…a big 26:00help to, to history [Chuckling].

Wills: Yes, uh-huh.

Harris: Right.

Wills: Would you…want… [Interruption] Harris: Well, we, we have, we collect manuscripts from all periods and places. If they want the original, and we’d love to have the original.

Wills: Yes, but… Harris: But, if they want to keep it, we could make a copy… Wills: A copy.

Harris: …and return it, return the original. But…if we have a letter in, written by Sousley at the time identify himself as, as one of the figures that’s different from the version, the marine corps publishes, it would be extremely valuable… Wills: Yes it would.

Harris: …to have that.

Wills: Mm-mm. I will see what I can do about that.

Harris: Okay, they are, it would be a big help to everybody if you, if you would. 27:00Let’s see, it… Wills: As I understood it, he just was more or less standing up there, and he saw them having this trouble, so he dashed over, which would s…indicate too that he might be on the end… Harris: Yeah.

Wills: …and…tried to help them get the flag up.

Harris: Yeah, that it, it does. It’s interesting to, to trace the…the lives of each of these men, so.

Wills: I supposed no one is living now, right?

Harris: One.

Wills: One?

Harris: Mm-mm. See, three of them did not survive the battle, and…there is one living now. I believe it’s…oh…which figure is it? Rene Ganyon, I believe he is the, the second one. But…well that letter would be an extremely important document if we could find it.

Wills: Mm-mm. I’ll see what I can do. 28:00Harris: Okay. Well…anything, like I said, or anything we can piece together about Sousley is going to be worthwhile, and this tape is, I’m sure, so, it’s, it’s been a, a valuable information.

Wills: Well, I wish I could tell you more, but see, I really didn’t see him that often, and I really saw his mother a great deal more than I did him. In fact, we ( ) she was a very… [Interruption] Wills: …have a favorite with my mother, her favorite cousin maybe you’d say.

Harris: Yeah. Would she…while we’re on the subject…how would you describe her personality?

Wills: Oh dear! 29:00Well she was a very strong person apparently, because she lost two husbands and four children, and…but she…always seemed to be…in good spirits. She kind of looked after her father who was, well he, she--he was with her after when he celebrated his hundredth birthday, and I got the two of them Kentucky Colonel’s (lease?) Harris: Oh good!

Wills: And, and she took him over to the newspaper and they took his picture and put it in the paper and wrote him a story about his hundredth birthday. But he lived to be a hundred-one before he died. We used to have a Mitchell reunion in Fleming County and he was the patriarch of the family because he was the only one, 30:00the only real older one living, and…and his wi--and his daughter and her other sisters, more or less supervised it. We met in Flemingsburg at, at the…oh what a place had a…the facilities for such a thing, and we would have fifty or seventy-five persons there, kind of a potluck up there, you know.

Harris: Yeah. And, and you were reasonably close to Mrs. Sousley.

Wills: Yes-yes, I…she was a, I would say, one of my favorite relatives. I wasn’t with her re…very often, but when I was I, I enjoyed her and…she was a strong person, apparently because she’d gone through so much. She had to be.

Harris: Did she, was she…cheerful or… Wills: Yes sir.

Harris: …sour or what?

Harris: No, no she was cheerful, no, no she didn’t let her troubles get her down and, no, she was…and she was active until… [Interruption] 31:00Harris: Okay, you were saying Mrs. Sousley was active and cheerful and…didn’t let her troubles get her down.

Wills: No.

Harris: Was she a religious person?

Wills: Huh…not a zealot, but… Harris: Yeah.

Wills: …yes I am sure she had, had st…had strong religious, but--leanings.

Harris: Do you recall what church they went to?

Wills: I believe she--the family in general I think belonged to the Christian Church. But…I believe…she would probably, would go to another church you know, if it’s more convenient and, but, as I say, she wasn’t a, a kind who lis…talked a whole lot about religion or anything like that.

Harris: Did she talk about Franklin much?

Wills: No, no, not unless you 32:00maybe asked her a question, so she seldom brought it up. Now I usually saw her in a group, I didn’t see her alone well, you know, enough to really…discuss that with her very much.

Harris: When, when she did discuss it, was it with…I’m sure it was a mixture of proud resignation and sadness… Wills: I would say pride… Harris: …but… Wills: …and resignation, yes, it’s… Harris: …which, which would you say was the, the dominant… Wills: Probably pride, I think she was very proud of him, and this, you know s…since she got a lot of attention personally out of this, you know, she was very much aware of it, and…as I said, she traveled quite a bit all over the United States, I think, appearing in those bond rallies.

Harris: That was just during the war.

Wills: Mm-mm.

Harris: After the war…people, people didn’t pay nearly as much attention to the incident 33:00but… Wills: No.

Harris: …did that seem to depress her, or… Wills: Not that I could tell. I, I, I would say she w…she wasn’t a, a very depressed person, she did the best she could you know, went right on with what she had to do and… Harris: Yeah. Did…her use--what she had to do, you mean, did they ha… Wills: You had to go on living you know, and making the best of… Harris: Did they live--work at the farm?

Wills: No, huh, well yes, although I, in her later day she didn’t live on a farm, but she lived in a farming area, and…I think she sort of looked after her elderly parents and they were close by. She didn’t live with them, but she…she always had her own home.

Harris: Every so often, when the 34:00anniversary of Iwo Jima comes out, or when a monument is dedicated, reporters will write stories about Sousley…did, to your knowledge, did…Mrs. Sousley welcomed such questions, or did she resent them?

Wills: I have no idea. As I said, I just didn’t see her very often, maybe once [Chuckling] a year and, and there were a lot of other people around at that time, so we just really didn’t discuss Franklin too I think with her.

Harris: I see. I just wonder what… Wills: I think she would… Harris: …her state of mind.

Wills: …would not be adverse to discussing it if, if reporters came and want to interview her. I, I feel that she would talk with them.

Harris: Yeah. I, I just… Wills: But she was sort of outgoing person, you know, she wasn’t reticent about it, but not the type who just bring it 35:00up just to be talking about it.

Harris: Yeah. Well, from what I read, Sousley, Franklin was sort of a outgoing person.

Wills: Yes, mm-mm.

Harris: Maybe he got that from his mother.

Wills: Probably--no, I don’t, I barely remember his father because he, he died when Franklin was fairly young, ( ) oh the first or second grade in school, something like that.

Harris: The reason I ask, was that some, the families of some other war heroes that I know about resent the intrusions of journalists every so often, and I just wondered if that applied here.

Wills: Mm-mm. I b…I don’t think so, I think she would be willing to talk to anyone and tell all she knew about it and I don’t know whether she would…expressing her own feelings very much about it, but she would talk about the details of it.

Harris: Yeah. And she died only a year ago?

Wills: Oh, 36:00let’s see…about a year and a half ago, I guess. I know her brother died and she died a week later, and then my brother died of cancer. I believe that was to be, it’d be two years, in the spring, it’s not quite two years. I said we, we kept going to the same cemetery then [Chuckling], who is next, you know [Laughing].

Harris: Yeah, it’s a shame I didn’t get a chance to interview her. I’d loved to, to talk to her.

Wills: Yeah, yes.

Harris: Well, I, this has been very helpful, and I’m sure it will be even more helpful to historians later on.

Wills: Mm-mm. Well I hope that I haven’t misrepresented anything but, that’s, that’s just the way I remember it and…as I said, I don’t see, I didn’t see her more than once a year, and those last few years you see. 37:00Harris: Well any information we can get about, about these people, we’re better off for it, so.

Wills: I might try to get that letter and maybe his, the aunt, the younger sister of the mother, might tell me something.

Harris: And her name.

Wills: In addition.

Harris: …and her name was what now?

Wills: Florine (Merand?), Mrs. Paul (Merand?) and she lives outside of Flemingsburg, not at, I don’t remember her address exactly, but it’s near Flemingsburg.

Harris: Yeah, if we, if, anything you can do to, to track down the letter would be very valuable. You know, I think I’ve probably taken up too much of your time.

Wills: Oh that’s all right, no, no, that’s all right [Chuckling].

Harris: Well… Wills: This came out of the file in here, I’ll put it back in there because I made a copy of it last time I was down here.

Harris: I see.

Wills: Because it had some dates in there that I didn’t remember.

Harris: Mm-mm.

Wills: It’s hard to remember, you know, I had all my family tied up with all those things and… Harris: Yeah, this is a story from the… Wills: Maysville paper, I believe.

Harris: Yeah, the led…the Ledger, Ledger Independent of Maysville, June 4th, 1984… 38:00Wills: Yes.

Harris: They…the large monument dedicated to Sousley.

Wills: Uh-huh, yeah, that’s the one, uh-huh.

Harris: It’s a very impressive monument.

Wills: It is, uh-huh. I’ll put this back in the file. Now we are not on tape now, are we?

Harris: Okay, I’ll turn that; I’ll turn it off, yeah.

Wills: Oh, okay.

“END OF INTERVIEW”