World War I had ended some months earlier. The steel mill was laying off men by the hundreds. Pop's future as a factory laborer looked dark. What could he do to provide for Mom and us five children? This question was discussed at our little rented house at every meal. Should we stay in the city and seek other work or should we return to our little house on that six acres of unproductive land in Needmore?

In the late summer it was decided that we could and would be better off by moving out of the city. So, in early August of 1919 Mom took all of us children back to Needmore, more than a hundred miles away. Pop remained in the city hoping to save a little more money so that he might purchase the Anderson farm of 40 acres which would be for sale within a year. Each family member seemed overjoyed with the decision. And all went well with Pop's work and the family move.

But our joy was not to last. In mid-November when four of us children were in school and Mom went to visit Grandma, our little house caught fire and burned to the ground before anyone could get to it and save anything except for a few dishes and Mom could save a picture that was precious to her. Now for the first time of my twelve years, I felt that a tragedy had struck our family. I could not visualize what future lay ahead for us. Like other family members, I cried and I wept. What shall we do? Where will we live, we wondered. We were invited and went to live with uncles, aunts, Grandma and others. Pop arrived the following day on the afternoon train. There were discussions between him and Mom. Their decision was for him to return to the city as soon as we found a house in Needmore for the rest of the family.

There was one ramshackled dilapidated house a half mile from where ours had stood that could be rented for little if we could and would make it habitable. We did and within two weeks we were gathered together. Pop returned to the city two days later. He remained there until it was time to begin farming.

The following February we moved again. This time it was to a large farm (1300 acres) that was owned and operated by Ohio Wesleyan University. Our home was small but well kept. It faced the railroad and was surrounded on both sides and the back by large apple trees which bloomed profusely soon after our move and then bore the most delicious fruit one ever ate, especially red winesapes.

Pop had arranged with the manager of the big farm to raise 16 acres of tomatoes and an acre of potatoes. Their agreement was that the farm would provide land, teams, tools and equipment for producing the crops and that they and we would share equally in the harvest. The agreement was kept and all went well. Yields of tomatoes were good and potatoes were fair. When all produce, except what our family and the family of six of the farm manager, Mr. Hughes, had used was sold, Pop received a sum of $800. That was a considerable amount at that time in our lives. Pop was especially happy because it was the largest amount of money he had ever had in his 45 years.

The Anderson farm could now be bought and Pop bought it. So, again we felt secure and were extremely happy. We now lived in the best and most beautiful house in all of Needmore. It stood almost directly across the road from the school. Beautiful woods were at the rear and one side of the house. A broad meadow lay on the other side. The big barn stood near the center of the meadow and was surrounded by a tall tight fence with gates at each end. Our entire family was proud and happy.

Mom and Pop felt secure and happy with their achievement. They could live relaxed.

Pop had paid $350 as the first year's payment and was to pay only $500 each year for the next three years and the farm was to belong to him debt free. But again, it wasn't to be. Prices for tomatoes fell from $16 per ton to $8 per ton and potatoes fell from $7 per hundred pounds to a low of 50 cents. So when the payment of $500 came due we could come up with only $100. Mrs. Anderson demanded that the farm be returned to her. So, in February of 1921 we were again homeless and without a barn to house our livestock, grain, hay and farm equipment that Pop had purchased. What shall we do? Return to the city was considered in the family gatherings on evenings when all family members were gathered around the kitchen table or around the fire in the living room. But our joys of living and working on farms had been so great that city living was discarded.

Only one farm in the community was available It was well known as the poorest and least productive in the entire county. The last man to own it was so distressed and disgusted with it that he said "This waterlogged, unproductive little 58 acres of land is only good for one thing, holding the rest of the earth together." So he simply moved away leaving a little four room house, small barn and a dozen chickens. Pop went to the court house, paid past due taxes of $55 and took possession of the 58 acres, a little house, barn and chickens. Mom, Pop, Denny, Chris, Ted, Tuly, Little Betty, Grandma and I moved into the little house. We were so crowded that Pop decided to build a large unattached kitchen about 15 feet at the rear of the house thus making the present one into another bedroom.

Pop had no money with which to purchase lumber for the new structure, but to solve that problem we went to the woods on the back of the place and cut small long poles which we used for rafters, beams and studding. Then we tore down half of the barn for siding and roofing. The one large door that faced the rear of the house and was one of the barn doors which we repaired and hung on the hinges that were attached to it. Only the three windows and rubberized rolled roofing was purchased for the spacious 20' x 29' dirt floor kitchen that was used by all family members and guests as a place to eat, rest, talk and visit. The kitchen was the gathering place. Soon after we completed building the kitchen, Denny went back to the city to work and within a year Chris married. Now I, at 15, was the oldest helper Pop had. Having passed the county eighth grade examination, I quit school and could do almost as much farm work as a man and I did.

It was now 1922 and farm prices were dreadfully low. Many farms in the entire nation were being foreclosed by banks and other lending institutions. Even the large productive Ohio Wesleyan University farm was being trimmed down. They were employing no one and a year later they sold or shipped away every head of livestock and piece of equipment on it and closed it to the public. Its three good houses and many barns stood bare and unused. To barely get by, we raised large gardens, canned vegetables and fruits, both cultivated and wild. We butchered hogs and peddled fresh pork in North Vernon, ten miles away. We dug wild herbs, roots and peeled slippery elm bark at the rear of the farm and shipped them away for a little money. We raised sugar cane and made sorghum molasses thus saving the cost of most of our sugar. We also gathered walnuts and hickory nuts which on beautiful fall sunny afternoons we sat, cracked, ate, talked and enjoyed ourselves. In the late fall and winter, I established a trap line, set snares, steel traps and dead falls in which I caught rabbits, polecats, opossums and racoons. We sold their hides and ate the carcasses of all but the polecats which we fed to the hogs.

Although it was difficult to provide food and shelter for ourselves, repairing, patching, sewing and buying half decent clothing for all of us was almost impossible. This was especially true of footwear. We could get along when the weather was warm but when cold, frosty, snowy days came we needed shoes or boots. On many fall frosty mornings when I went to the pasture for the cows, I wore no shoes, but when I came upon the cows I would stand a few minutes on the grass where their warm bodies had lain. That felt so good to my cold feet.

Pop had tools and supplies for soling, patching and repairing shoes. We tanned horse and groundhog hides to provide leather for making shoe laces. We never threw shoes away but stored them for possible use by some other member of the family. On one occasion one of my rough brown work shoes became so run down and worn out that it couldn't be made wearable. So, I went to the wood box to see if there was a pair that would fit me or one shoe that would match my good shoe. There was a pair of fancy black dress shoes that had very sharp toes. One shoe, however, was totally worn out but the other was in reasonably good condition. It was for my foot that needed a shoe. So, I put it on, went to the house and showed it to Mom and told her that I couldn't wear it because it was black and pointed toe. Her answer was, "Go to the stove, get some black wood sut, put it on your brown shoe and no one will ever notice the broad and pointed toes." I followed her instructions and found her to be right in solving that problem as she was in most. Thus, I had my shoes for the rest of that winter.

Those years were especially difficult for Mom and Pop. John, Denny and Chris found jobs or married thus gave us more room in our little house, but it left a feeling of emptiness without them. Mom overcame her feeling of loss by giving more attention to Grandma and little sister Betty as each was critically ill. . . Grandma with age related problems and Betty with a malfunctioning heart. She also spent more time at religious services at the school house. She now prayed and read her Bible more it seemed. Three of her quotations, which I shall never forget were "It is more difficult for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle." We certainly had no reason to worry over riches keeping us out of heaven. If any of us became involved in a dispute she would say "Blessed be the peacemaker." If some relative or neighbor needed something that we could share she did so and said "It is more blessed to give than receive."

During these years Pop attended religious services occasionally and finally went to the alter to be saved. Pop was somewhat of an agnostic often saying these church going people will cheat and lie worse than many sinners I know. But the main thrust of Pop's thinking and doing had to do with earning a living for those depending on him for food, clothing and shelter. During these financially difficult years, neither Mom no Pop seemed to lose faith in a better tomorrow. And because of their beliefs, Grandma's encouragement and her small pension check each month, we all worked our way to better tomorrow.

Some of the things we did to make our way through those difficult years was to find work outside the community of Needmore. Yet, these jobs were few and far between and they paid little. A dollar for a ten hour day was the going wage. Pop and I were happy to get one however.

All during this period life was most difficult for us. With Grandma and little Betty there seemed to be no hope. And in mid January Betty died. Uncles Dode and John made her a small casket. With much grief and sorrow we hauled her in a wagon for a mile or more and then we carried her across Graham Creek to the almost forgotten Heacock graveyard and buried her. Uncle Charlie McHenry conducted the funeral beautifully but sadly. Then in early February Grandma died. Her casket was purchased from the funeral director. Her funeral was held at the Graham Creek Baptist Church and she was buried beside Grandpa. Their graves were quite near those of my other grandparents Amasy and Mariah Robbins. All three of them had quite nice tombstones but little Betty had nothing but a flat rock as a grave marker.

This is the way I saw things when working, loving and living through those years from 1919 until February 5, 1925 when Cousin Roscoe Hornsby who was attending Berea College persuaded me to leave home and attend school at Berea College. He had returned to Needmore to attend Grandma's funeral. My leaving would leave quite a hole in our family and because of that I felt that I should not leave. But Roscoe seemed to open my eyes and show me where my present life would lead me and where I might be if I left home and got a good education. So, with some clothing of my own, some borrowed from Pop, some from Roscoe, Denny's left over coat and ten dollars borrowed from Uncle Dode, I went off to Berea College with Roscoe and enrolled in high school. There I worked, studied and did well. But feeling unable to do high school work because of being out of school 3 _ years, I took some eighth grade classes the first semester along with two ninth grade classes. That was all I could handle and work half a day to pay expenses. At the end of the semester I had made an A in English, B in Algebra and B's in eighth grade arithmetic. Within the following seven years I finished high-school and college with high grades, had served in numerous leadership positions including college class president, YMCA, Christian Endeavor president, No-Tobacco president and I had worked enough during school and summer months to pay all of my expenses.

So, Roscoe opened a new life for me. And that has made all the difference, not just for me. It has made and will make differences for a bigger and better life for the many members of the family that my wonderful wife, Sue, and I are responsible for bringing into the world. Then it will, I hope make better lives for many, many others whom we and they have and will touch down through the eons of time. I lay it at the door of Cousin Roscoe and the truly great people-touching institution, Berea College.

With all the problems Pop, Mom and other family members faced in securing the bare necessities, we seemed to love and grow more closely together. It was one for all and all for one. If I had something that Ted needed more than I, Ted got it. This attitude penetrated the entire family from Grandma down to little Betty. Had we not felt and practiced such a spirit of love, devotion, caring and hope for the future we could not have survived. So, when in early February of 1925 I went away to school it was with a feeling of loss to the entire family, myself included. Yet, I felt some relief in knowing that there would be one less person to secure those scarce-hard-to-secure necessities of life for and knowing that I could return to help if needed. But thank God I did not have to return to help. However, after working the school term twenty hours a week and securing high paying jobs during the summer, I was able to give Pop and Mom a small amount of money. So in spite of hard times we worked, loved and hoped our way through to a better life for all.

Soon after I went away to school Pop rented a much larger farm and Mom, Pop, Ted and Tuly moved to it. Now again all family members, both those still at home and those away, were more pleased and happy.