The Good Life
James
Stewart sits in his lonesome house on his couch, with a positioned painting of
his farm behind him, as he gazes through his old albums stacked on his coffee
table. He was one of the proudest soldiers who was enlisted in World War II.
James Stewart is an 85 year old man who has had a long and enjoyable life. He
grew up in the small town called Chester ,West Virginia with no more than 2,000
people. James lived in this quiet town for about seventeen years. James recalls
life in Chester as the most memorable and wonderful moments of his life. He
describes Chester to have been a town where surely everybody knew everybody ,
and everyone was close with one another, but it was still a fun and safe
environment. James takes a trip down memory lane as he talks about small town
life, the farm life, but what he calls “ the good life.”
Our
town yes, was known for the huge teapot. Well there was a tourist home in
Chester and people would stop when they were driving through and say, oh
my! Well anyway they got the idea that they can get this teapot and make a
center of things. They had around the outside and inside row after row.. and
they had hotdogs and mustard and all that, and Sherly dropped the mustard jar
one day all over everything!(laughing).
I
had a farm that my dad and my great grandfather They were great farmers, great
people . I can remember my grandfather he used to take me for a ride on a pony
on his horse when I was very little and he put me on a saddle you know ,and
it was very very wonderful. It was a 500 acre farm I grew up on and I
enjoyed it very much.
My
daily task around the farm used to go out in the evening and get the cows
I d take the pony and go out in the Chester filed and get the cows
rounded up and bring em to the barn for milking. Now you milk cows twice a day
in the morning and the evening and when I say in the morning 5 o` clock in the morning, and
then in the evening about six or seven. But uh that kept us really busy.
I
worked at Taylor Smith and Taylor Pottery and
I worked there for uh I guess abut a year and a half after I got out of
school. Well I worked at the decorating shop they would have the finish wear. We
would count out the uh the wear and we would take it to the decorating shop
and they would decorate it with stamps, the stamps would turn silver or
gold or whatever color you used.
Yes
well I was 18 when I was enlisted in the army from West Virginia
University and uh I spent three
years in the army air force. The World War II affected our small town because
there was sugar rationing, meat rationing and gas rationing, that affected
because the wives but up with preserves and they needed sugar so that affected
them.
One
of our town tradition was the volunteer firemen. Our town was small enough that
you do not need a full time fire department, you couldn’t afford it.. so what
they would do is put out a notice that they were going to hire firemen and
volunteers. These guys would come up and volunteer for the for the fire. And a
if a fire did break out.. then the whistle would go off and everybody would come
and volunteer. ( laughing)
One
famous place was Rock Springs Park it was started by
C .A smith. It had a big marigoround, two horses wide ,and that was the
highlight of going to the park was riding the fairs wheel. However they had an
addition uh big airplanes by cables and they would go round d it was fun. Then
he would, C.A. would always have fireworks on one night of the year, like one
holiday and then you would go to the park to see the fireworks.
There
would be a circus come to town once a year and they would bring the animals and
they’d have a parade through the downtown area, the elephants and the
giraffes, and you know all of the animals of the circus. They would set of on
the softball field and then they would have the evening show. That was a great
time when the circus would come to town. That was an exciting thing in that
stage of my life.
This
area ( pointing) down below the houses was a valley like and .. this was Lincoln
highway (pointing to painting)the pathway between Chicago and New York and
people used to drive that because it was about the only way to go. Anyway my
friend and I dammed up full of water into this valley and the first thing you
knew the water build up and its over the road now. And oh my god the police came
and it was we were in deep trouble they said , “ Get that dam out of there
!” News traveled pretty fast ill tell ya
just by word of mouth
Dock
Liens was his name, the only policemen on Chester. As I say he would walk in the
upper end in noon and lower end in the afternoon and that was, he was the law, and uh I mean if you did anything your
parents knew before anybody else. He’d get on the phone.
As
a youngster my mother used to come down and pick us up at school. And you
didn’t walk away from school until your parents came. So anyways this night I
for some reason went down to the church which wasn’t too far from the school,
and there was a bunch of kids we all went down to the church and I tell you, my
mothers calling all over town to find out where I am, and finally she tracked us
down. But we were rolling under the seats and it was dirty(laughing) .. Ya But I
heck for that!
Everyone
always went to church on Sundays. We had a minister that I remember growing up
with, and he used to talk about an hour and half every Sunday and he would go,
and he’d just so slow and that’s what we had. Finally we got a new minster
and he was an hour, and we got a new one and he was a half an hour. ( laughing)
Interviewed by Anais Azoian