Reflections of a Survivor

Helen is the second child born into a family of nine children in the hilly undeveloped region of Eastern Kentucky just before the great depression. She learned at an early age that her right leg had been affected by polio. She refuses to believe or allow polio to prevent her from doing all the things her peers and siblings do. Maggie, her older sister, is her idol. She follows her wherever she goes and attempts to do all the things Maggie does: even though many are very difficult for her. All the children are responsible for many chores on the farm their father Lee had inherited from his father. The children have no toys except the ones their parents make for them: such as board games, wooden sleds, sliding boards and bran stuffed dolls. At the age of six Helen enters school to begin first grade in a one room schoolhouse. They use an outdoor toilet and a well to draw water for drinking. The schoolhouse is heated in winter by burning coal in a pot belly stove. There is only one teacher for all eight grades of children ranging in ages six through sixteen. The children carry their lunch in a four pound lard bucket and sit on a rock or under a tree to eat. When the sawmill where Lee works closes down, most of the men are left with no way to earn money. A few men are still working in the coal mines, but Lee hates the mines and looks for other ways to survive the depression. Some of the men turn to making moonshine and selling it to survive even though it is against the law to make moonshine. Helen spends her junior and senior high school years away in boarding school. She spends all her spare time working in the kitchen to earn money to help pay her tuition and room and board. The teenagers in the neighborhood are always busy on the weekends. That''s when they go square dancing, bean stringing and to box suppers. It is at one of these square dances that Helen meets and falls in love with her best friend''s brother James. He gives her an engagement ring and they plan to