Brunette: The American Dream

It becomes an interesting process to go back and explore places that I have never been. But this territory often does become the arena for a story teller. To go back to places that are only in my imagination is an exploration unique to my minds capabilities. To go back to the "Old Home Place" in Menser, to go "Up on the Hill," to imagine the worries that filled the minds of a mom and dad with two sons in a war across the seas and two daughters in a city that was out of their sight as well. To imagine life in time without electricity, phones, indoor plumbing - without even mentioning cell phones, computers and the internet. I can only go back to these places because of the family that has taken me there. Remembering stories passed around family tables for fifty years. Stories about my Uncle William, who was injured in the war and was in an Army Hospital for several months with no way to write back to Mamaw and Papaw - an injury that earned him a Purple Heart. Stories of rations, war bonds, happy Christmas's all the stories that link me to these people. Knowing all the while that without them I would have never came about. Knowing the history of my family, the lore of our own people makes me tied to them even more. A tie that relates me to people that I never even met but share the same blood line. I suppose it is only a pride that comes from a family with so much love for one another. A large family that was certainly affected early on by World War II and because of that would always mark that period with phrases like: "just before the war," or "after the war." So I suppose that is just the way I will address it myself.

After the war ended and the Russell family reassembled I can imagine the work going on in Mamaw's kitchen - food galore. Like a hen gathering her chicks I am sure she swelled with pride and said a pray of thanks for her children to all be safe and home again. And it was during this time after World War II that the Russell children would start their own families. Raymond married as had Pauline. Pauline and Hugh(Crowe) not long after the war moved to Kuttawa and then to Florida where she still resides. Rudell would marry Bill Clay a young man whom she had went to school with who had also grown up in Menser. Nannie would marry my Grandfather Decola Franklin in 1946, a man that I never had the privilege of knowing, and soon after in 1948 Aminell would marry Garland L. Witherspoon, also known as "Spoony." These marriages would bring more seats to the table and very soon would fill the Russell's house "up on the hill" with grandchildren. The cycle would begin again.

Upon marriage Nannie and Decola moved in with his parents Chesley and Orva. However, there was a house on East Ramsey Street that had been split up into three or four apartments, Rudell and Bill rented one of those apartments already. As soon as one of those apartments became available Nannie and Decola followed their lead and set up housekeeping on Ramsey Street as well. The home is no longer there but I believe it would have been on the lot that is just behind the former First Federal Bank Building, their neighbors would have been Dr. and Mrs. Boitnett and across the was Mr. and Mrs. Woodburn. Some friends of my grandparents Lowell "Stump" and Loretta Smiley also lived in this building and I know that this was a happy time for these young couples. Traveling the country side going to football games and following Nannie's younger brother Joe's basketball team were among their activities.

In way of working Nannie was still working for Mr. Kavanaugh, and conveniently his grocery store was just across the street from their new apartment. Decola had attended Lindsey Wilson College in Colombia, Kentucky and studied to be a teacher. He was employed first at Nortonville High School where his uncle Chester Ausenbaugh was Principal; Chester's wife Carne Mae was his father's sister and she was a teacher at the Dawson Springs School System for many years. I believe Decola taught Civics, Economics and History. But soon he would find that the family business was calling his name, so he went to work at the mines. At the Chesley Frankly Coal Company he assisted his father with the management of what at one time would be a three, one tipple mining operation consisting of three different underground mines. The mines were located in a community called Beulah, located just outside of Dawson Springs. At that time coal was depended on as a source of heat for homes and this business proved to be a lucrative one for many years to come. Following in his father's footsteps by becoming a business man was not unconventional at all since his own father had done just that. Chesley was the son of Thomas Randall "T.R." and Salley Rachel Ezel Franklin, and T.R. Franklin was a long time entrepreneur in Mannington, Kentucky as well as Dawson Springs. T.R. had moved the family to Dawson Springs in 1925 where he had purchased several businesses including: a grocery store, a restaurant, a saloon and the Saint Earle Hotel. The St. Earle would become a nesting place for his children as they married and began their own families. I do believe that at one time Chelsey and Orvy lived there among, Oma Todd - Chesley's sister, Johnny and Tilathy Franklin, and any other members of the family were welcome and came and went. I am sure if there were any vacant rooms at the St. Earle they were rented to boarders. In those days the family all had tabs at the grocery for their food, and I am sure that was also available to them at the restaurant and the saloon. Among the photographs and post cards of these family members and the St. Earle Hotel, my mother has a calendar that had been saved by her Aunt Tilathy (I believe) the calendar is mauve and rectangular depicting a young lady in flapper style and printed on the calendar is the information about the grocery store. This was probably a gift to loyal customers as was and still is the custom of many businesses.

In this time of their life Nannie and Decola also Started their family. Their first daughter was born in 1947 and they named her Patricia Joyce. Patricia was the Franklin's first grandchild and they adored her. With a new baby a house was a new need and Nannie and Decola would purchase a house at 542 South Main Street, this home was located across from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Butch wise and next to Mr. and Mrs. Roam. They would live in this home for a few years before purchasing their home on Hospital Road that had been built by a man named Lonnie Parsons. The home at 714 Hospital Road would become home base for the Franklin family for many years. It is my memory that they moved there in the early 1950s living there until 1972. During their years there they built on a new wing, so to speak for their growing family. This consisted of a den, bedroom, bathroom and carport - they paved the drive way built a barbeque pit and bricked the home. Just as many World War II veterans - Decola and his wife settled in nicely to post war living and joined in the baby boom. In 1955 my mother was born and named after her Grandmother; Orva DeNell Franklin, and now the family was complete.

Too be continued…

{This blog is part of a series of blogs about my Grandmother, Brunette Russell Franklin Cato, titled: Brunette}