I know all these faces all too well…but I knew them when they were older. These people that grew up with Nannie were my own Mom's Aunts and Uncles. I knew them all - all but William. I have seen this photo so many times that I can identify them almost in order from memory. I watched them line up for photos such as this for years at the Russell reunion. I watched them line up year after year until this large group has become small. This photo was taken in the same time period that all of these children were attending the same one room school in Menser. A school from first grade to eighth. Once at my Uncle Joe and Auntie's house when several family members were gathered in the living room telling stories about the old days. A story came up about Nannie coming in from recess where she had been looking for her younger sister Aminell. Ami, as I refer to her, was sitting in from recess and the teacher was at her desk grading papers. Nannie approached her asking her why she was sitting in and Ami began to tell her. The little girl who sat in front of her had turned around during class and began to talk and the teacher had punished them both. A very believable story since my Aunt Ami was a very bashful child. Ami said "Brunette looked at me and said: " "You get up and come play, Momma told me to look out for you all." She said that she did just that and the teacher did nothing to stop them. After that story concluded my Uncle Phillip quickly piped in to say that she had done the same for him once during those days. That made me proud. I guess because I have always known what it is like to have a cool older sister to look out for me. Nannie always held that responsibility of keeping an eye out for her brothers and sisters over the years.
The years at the "Russell Home Place" was a time that Nannie and all of her brothers and sisters remembered fondly. A time period that our country was suffering from an ailing economy that we all know of as The Great Depression. Life for the Russell's wasn't perfect of course but Papaw Russell had a good job and the bounty of their garden, the fruit trees and livestock sustained them. I believe they felt little of that plight that so many other families during that time period did. As time passed and the war began Nannie's older sister married a young man, who was enlisted to serve in the United States Army. Pauline was expecting her first daughter and Mamaw and Papaw thought it would be best to have the baby in town where doctors were more readily available. On Labor Day weekend of 1942, Papaw sold the "Russell Home Place" to a family friend D.O. Dumbar, and the family moved into Dawson Springs. They rented a house on School Street from Aubry Inglish, a teacher and coach at Dawson Springs School, which was also located just down the street. I believe that Mr. Inglish and his wife lived right next door on the corner of Keigan and School Streets. The school building located in the neighborhood and Nannie and Phillip had an easy walk down the street to the school where as Joe and Ami were expected to walk a little farther to the newly built school located on Eli Street, this building is the current Middle School in Dawson Springs. This home had indoor plumbing, a luxury that the family had not yet known but the idea of renting a home and having a very small yard was not an idea that worked well for Papaw. As a result the family spent very little time at the home on School Street and later moved to the corner of Trim and Walnut Street, the home later gained the phrase "Up on the Hill." It was there that Papaw and Mamaw Russell would reside for the rest of their lives. It was this home that hosted countless family dinners with family spilling into every room and onto the lawn. It was "Up on the Hill" where yellow ribbons waved in the breeze on the porch and acknowledgement of their sons being in the service. A house that became a home for many in so many ways.
During that same time Raymond and William would enlist and serve the country in the U.S. Army. Rudell finished school and moved to Evansville, Indiana where she worked at The Evansville Shipyard where LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks) were produced. Forty five acre ship yard employed over nineteen thousand people, many of which were young women like my Aunt Rudell. Individuals who were eager to support the war effort. These tanks of the water were perfect for delivering troops and equipment to many theaters of the war. During her stay in Evansville she lived with Mamaw's younger brother Marion and his wife Lucille and she also managed to coax Nannie into joining her in this effort when the time was right. When Nannie made the move to Evansville she worked at Republic Aviation where P47 Thunderbolt Fighter Planes were manufactured. Nannie was among around eight thousand riveters and bumpers, mostly women who worked to create these nimble aircrafts. These manufacturing facilities such as The Evansville Shipyard and Republic Aviation were rapidly cropping up across the nation - mostly transforming existing factories into thriving producers of much needed equipment to be used in World War II. The young ladies that worked in these factories became emblems of patriotism at home. Young women like Rudell and Nannie became thought of as independent patriots in their own right and the iconic character: Rosie the Riveter, later became their badge of honor.
The war changed things for this generation in so many ways. The war and it's needs created jobs that helped the U.S. to rapidly climb out of an economic depression that proved to be the bleakest of our nation's economic time periods. Many lives were lost but our efforts among those of the Allies haulted Adolf Hitler's demonic plans. Returning from the war victorious were the young men who these same women had wrote letters to and worried over. And although their efforts may not have been as dangerous - the nation called and they answered too. Dutifully providing a much needed service. Of course there were more trivial changes as well…for Nannie, I can imagine Evansville was probably the beginning of her love affair with clothing. Saying good bye to her home made dresses and replacing them with garments from the stores that lined the downtown streets of this industrial town. This may even be where the trade mark red fringer nail polish originated. Photos of her during this time provide that of a beautiful young girl - all smiles with her friends and Rudell. These women returned home stronger, more independent and elated with the countries successful involvement in the War. There is really no way that I can determine what her feeling were at this time in her life. But I do know this, it changed her and upon returning from this venture she was probably ready to embark on her own future and not just that of the war. The years after the war would probably be considered the best years of her life.
During that block of time she began working for Mr. Kavanaugh a local grocer where she took care of business as a clerk at the counter. It was there that she would meet a man by the name of Chesley Franklin. Chesley at that time was a mine owner that sold coal to the likes of Fort Campbell and the VA Hostpital at Outwood. A successful business man who lived with his wife Orva Teaque Franklin on the corner of Franklin and Keigan Street. A two story white stucco home purchased from one of the doctors in town in the 1930s. Chesley and Orvy, as the family referred to her, had two children: Decola Wayne and Wetona Joyce Franklin. Decola was born in December of 1920 and Wetona later in 1928. During one of Chesley's trips to grocery, he mention to Nannie that he had a son that had served in the Navy during the recent war, and when his son returned home he would like for them to meet. And as she always said, she met Decola later that year and in 1946 she became Mrs. Decola Franklin.
To be continued.
{This is a contiuation of a story about the life of my Grandmother, Brunette Russell Franklin Cato, titled: Brunette.}
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