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Ready, so I'm going to start the interview now. My name is Valeria Medina. I'm with Professor Roger Horowitz

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for history to 68. We're gonna be interviewing the people in the black community and learn more about their lives.

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I'm here with Wilma Jones. If you could just give me your birth date real quick. December 20th, 1943.

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So that's my maiden name would be Tucker, so Wilma Tucker, gentleman's. Oh, which one do you prefer? Well, I don't know.

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Alright, well, thank you so much for taking the time out of your data. Let me interview you. And I just wanted to start off

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with simple questions like your childhood. I know you had mentioned your parents, Mildred's, Sarah Mildred together and George Washington tucker.

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Did you have any siblings growing up? Yes. I had my oldest sister was Doris Tucker and then

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Marion Tucker, June talker. Mary, I went to Tucker and George Tucker. And could you tell me more about where you grew up?

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I know you said you grew up in the same I'm sorry. I grew up on right on the same street. What? Up the street?

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Like if you walk out the front door to the left. Now, worn on 66 West Cleveland Avenue. I was there for

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a short period of my life and then I moved to New London. Rude. 131. You learned them road. And I live with my father's mother.

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And that's where I lived when I attended Georgia will swell. It's New London Avenue School, which is now that George Wilson Center.

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I live there. So I just walked from the bottom of the hill up to the school. And I attended school

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there from the first raid until the sixth grade. Then after that they had defect. And then I went to school,

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started seventh grade at Central Elementary. And when they are until they built newark high school. And then I graduated from

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new archives School class of 1961. So when you attended the New London school, it was a fairly small school. I I've heard that it only had

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like four classrooms and wound cafeteria. You tell me more about your experience going there. It was a very good experience.

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Like I said, it was an all-black school, but we learned a lot. They taught us a lot. They were very good teachers. The school was divided

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off like one main room, but they had partitions. And so each school was, I mean, each class was divided off with partitioning.

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Like I had a slide and walk and she would say. So. You had your regular your math teacher,

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your English teacher, your arts and crafts. One lady wanted to teachers and its core, Barry Sanders did arts and crafts, beautiful arts and crafts.

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We made flowers out of crepe paper, real, right? Highest Institute, anything. They look really nice.

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We always had a May Day. We had a maypole dance. The swings that we had on the outside of the school yard where the kind

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that came out run around and they went, they went out and they would decorate those swings. The poll with crepe paper.

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And we wore dresses or a little exits out of crepe paper. And we danced around the maypole that interweaves.

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It was really pretty because it interweaved at the end. It looked like we didn't want for anything really.

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I mean, every week we got a very good education, very good education, and some of the things, you know, still resonate today.

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Some of the points that I learned, I might not know all of them, but a majority I might know part of the, the poems that we learned about the when

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and the kites and different things like that. We learned about our history. They taught black history, so we were able to learn a lot about that.

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We had the cafeteria was downstairs and the principal at the time that I went was named Cornelius Morgan. And if you did something wrong,

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sometimes in the classroom you'd have to stand in the corner with a, it was a huge book. I mean, it was huge.

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And you'd have to hold your arms straightened out, which was not very easy. And if you choose them,

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he would take us downstairs, what they call where the boiler room was, where the volar was. And we all would stand in

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a row and we'd have to hold her hand out. And he had dislike fiber board now mean they didn't kill you, you know, you didn't get scarred or anything,

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but he would spell them out in your hand. Like, you know, go down if it's five people, you know, you gotta go G, G,

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G then UU, then M gone. And that's what we did. Everybody, you know, all the families work together.

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We just had a good relationship there. And you'd really learned a lot. We really did. I'm like, You know, I really

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enjoyed going to school there. That's good. Can you tell me more about the street that you grew up on, you know, your neighborhood and your friends.

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Okay. I grew right off here on mostly except for when I was on New London, West Cleveland Avenue.

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There, I lived in a row house. So there were several houses. I think it was like maybe five or six houses that were joined together.

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And they were mostly children in every last one of them, except for the one on the end closest to the street,

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there was they were just too old sisters that older sister that live there. But everyone has we all got along. In the old days.

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Cleveland Avenue wasn't like it is now. It was a two-way street. But we used to be able to park on the street and you could

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park in front of your house. And it got to be WE it wasn't traveled as much as it is now,

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like it's a main thoroughfare now. We would able to be able to close our ended a street which would be West Cleveland Avenue

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to the bottom of the hill, which is called North College Avenue, and have block parties or scanning or just stay close the street,

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no cars would come through and we would be able to do that across the street from here. They had the Alps home

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or to a proud of Delaware lodge. They used to do things for the children like Easter egg cartons or Christmas parties or different things.

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And we also had an old school, like an old community center that was near the Elk's Club. That we did everything we learned

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how to do modern dance. They put on shows. You would watch movies on a sheet? Yeah. Old black and white movies like

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Westerns and spanking or gang kids and everything. And they would serve, you know, down in the basement,

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they would have hot dogs and different things like that. But we learned a lot in the community. The Elk's Club used to have parades.

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They would freed up and down this end of the street. Everybody got along. And in the old days,

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you didn't have to lock your doors. You know, people who wouldn't touch your stuff. Also, we had discipline.

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I mean, really strong discipline nowadays, if you touch a child, you know, you go to jail. If a child of parent even touches the child,

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looks at her, they're ready to put them in jail. But if we did wrong, we got beat. When I say beat and you know,

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the step, if I did something wrong, my mother would make me go pick my own switch off the tree and other parents

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could correct your children. I mean, like I said, when I say I shouldn't use the word beat, I guess.

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But nobody was hurt, nobody died. Nobody ended up going to the hospital because somebody and then when they corrected you, you would go home and your parents

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would do the same, you know, they were correct. Yeah. So we didn't have to worry about too much.

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And then we usually had a certain time. We had to be in the house like of course, my mother because still be daylight outside. I remember I can still

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remember even though I'm almost 78. I was like, Well, it's still daylight. Well, pull the shades. Close the shades because

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you're going to bed at a certain time. We had a certain time to go to bed at a certain time to get up. In the old days on where I lived,

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they didn't have indoor plumbing in the house. So they had on the back porch, there was enclosed where

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you went to the bathroom. It wasn't like a I would call it a dignified outhouse because it flushed. It wasn't like, you know,

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the old houses he just went and you had to clean but it did flush. That's where we went and we took baths in big tubs, aluminum tubs.

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That's where we took our baths and they would keep the water because we had pot belly stove. There wasn't any like heat

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as far as furnishes. It was an old pot belly stove and that's what we heated the water on. And you took your bath in

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that big tub and that tub also was used or tubs were used for washing clothes. We'd have the big washing machine like

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an agitator washing machine. And then when you astronomy wring it out, it went through this little thing at the top, like it made it like a pasta maker.

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And then the water they she had to rinse water is 1.5 blowing in it. And then we always tongue all the clothes were hung on the line whether it was winter,

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I mean, you bring them in in the wintertime, they were stiff as a board but you're close went on the line and we used to have to iron or close

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with the orange that you put on a stove. Then you do your clothes with you ironed everything. Now we don't want anything.

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Well, I don't learn anything. Then finally later on, I guess the city changed and we were able to get they put

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a bathrooms and each wanted to house that's inside bathrooms with a tub and the total is going to fit everything like that. When I live with my grandmother, took Tom,

00:11:01.460 - 00:11:11.010

I live with her at the bottom under hill on New London. She did have indoor plumbing. And if you went out of her back door,

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she had a nice short and a great partner and a peach tree. That's Street, which is corvid Street, wasn't like really it

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was traveled but it wasn't that big. But I could go out the back gate and there was a field across the street which is now Terry manner.

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They made they changed that in housing Terry manner. So that was what I learned from her. And when she died,

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I moved back home with my mother up 66 West Cleveland Avenue. And then where I'm that the house I'm in now. Her name is Cecilia James Lewis.

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Her husband was a pastor. They weren't able to have children. And she asked if I could come and stay with her.

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I was never adopted. But in my mother's still had the final word if I did something wrong. So I moved here with her because her husband

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had paid while he was here and then he died. It was just her and I. And so she raised me and she worked at size. She worked for the rights couple

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of the richest families and new art. I think one now used to be the special haste over on the UT campus On can't way.

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So she was like one of them, the maids there. So she worked for now. But she did everything for me. She, you know, if I needed something,

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she was the one who did it. So then when she got older and got sick that I took care of her even though I worked I worked at Avon.

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But I had when she could to the point where I didn't want her to go into a nursing home. So she stayed right here in the room,

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had a bid and everything set up in the nurses came and took care of her while I was at work. So she left the house to me.

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Actually, she left it to me and my children. But the one little clause in there, it was actually left to the kids. But then the children just

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sold it to me for a dollar. Well, you know, just, uh, and then I need to work on the ad side, it still needs work, but the outside,

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I was able to get alone and get the house strip to the bare wall on the outside and he just redid the whole side of the house.

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Yeah. So and I've been here every sense. Yeah. And she is the foster mother you

00:13:38.840 - 00:13:46.870

had mentioned over Cecilia Jay? Yes. So you had mentioned that you attended the GAR meetings with her.

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Okay. Yeah, that was I don't know a lot about it, but it was called the ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic.

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That's what it was called. It was mostly Caucasian ladies that belong to this organization. They took trips where

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they had their big convention every summer. And that's what got me into traveling because it was all over the country.

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The first one she took me to listen in Portland, Oregon and we went by train. The train we used to be called the B&O.

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It used to be at the bottom of the street here off of ready at the bottom of New London used to

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train station was right there. And that's what we would catch the train. We had a sleeping car, so we went by

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Sleeping Car all way across country. And when it was in the Midwest, we went by train. And then when they had their conventions on

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this side like Rhode Island, New York, DC, we would catch the Greyhound bus and then we would stay it was usually like four days and we would stay in hotels.

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And I never attended any of the meetings. I did attend the dinners. They have the big dinner because her sister was

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like a national officer. She was just a member. That's all I know about the GAR it was just some sort of

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a women's organization was mostly Caucasian lady spot. I don't know what they did. Okay.

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I was like 910 years old. I was a little, yeah. Do you remember ever encountering any racial discrimination while

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going on these trips? No. No. No. Not at all. Right. And then you had mentioned that your community has done a lot,

00:15:34.610 - 00:15:44.690

but could you tell me more about the acute joint in the tea room? Did you join? Okay. The juke joint was I called her to join.

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It was like one of the people in the neighborhood had it in her house. Or a part of their house. And they just went there.

00:15:54.670 - 00:16:01.790

There wasn't any alcoholic beverages. This was like for teenager. Was just you just had a good time and they played music and

00:16:01.790 - 00:16:13.580

every day on also, what I stayed. Well, they had the tea room, which the rounded corner on Corbett street, and that was owned by a family wanted

00:16:13.580 - 00:16:22.220

a prominent family related to the one or two prominent families to Saunders family was his brother and his wife who had the tea room

00:16:22.220 - 00:16:31.490

in the front of their house. And what it was it was like sort of more like a little restaurant. If you go there on Sundays and, you know,

00:16:31.490 - 00:16:40.190

get a meal and everything to porch was closed in. The house, is still there. But it's, I think it's owned by students,

00:16:40.190 - 00:16:51.880

I think a student Reynolds now. But we like I was mentioned earlier, everything was in, you know, because of this, the sake of any segregation.

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We were allowed to go on Main Street, but we weren't allowed to eat in the restaurants. So that's why the neighborhood

00:17:01.490 - 00:17:11.000

really like flourish because we had to get learn how to do stuff ourselves. So we had her own restaurants,

00:17:11.000 - 00:17:19.390

we had her own gas stations. Right next door here. Little nine was little water. It was a tailor shop.

00:17:19.390 - 00:17:26.770

He had a pool room. We had what we call it a beer garden, but like a like a little tap room. We had that.

00:17:26.770 - 00:17:33.290

We had our own community center and then the Elks Lodge was there. We had all that right. In our own neighborhood.

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We went to the movies downtown. You'd have to sit down on Main Street. You'd have to set up in the balcony to go Rogers drugstore,

00:17:42.470 - 00:17:50.540

which is now I think it's called a beggar nor bagels. I think it's what it's called. Now. Lady from the neighborhood

00:17:50.540 - 00:17:57.520

work the counter there. She would serve you, but you couldn't sit there and drink the soda, you could take it with you?

00:17:57.520 - 00:18:04.240

Yeah. Same thing. Woolworths at first, but now than they've changed

00:18:04.240 - 00:18:11.000

and we could eat in Woolworths, you could get stuff and take it at everything we could like I said, we could go to data stores.

00:18:11.000 - 00:18:19.070

We could go we could go clothes shopping and everything else. But when it came to the food part, you'd have to go to the back

00:18:19.070 - 00:18:25.660

and get your food and then pick it up and then bring it wherever you want to go to eat at all for Main Street.

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But when we did go when we did have the sag, like I said, I was in seventh grade at Central Elementary, which now belongs to the day.

00:18:37.310 - 00:18:45.440

It's some sort of hole. I don't know what it is now, but the University owns that now, when we first started the course,

00:18:45.440 - 00:18:54.140

it was new and people, you know, the students had some had remarks. You know, like there's a black cloud going past, you know,

00:18:54.140 - 00:19:04.230

must be going to rain because there's a black cloud moving past and all sorts of things like that. But nobody ever physically touched me, yeah.

00:19:04.230 - 00:19:11.660

Or anything like that. They would make a little smile remarks every once in a while. But then after that it got all in,

00:19:11.660 - 00:19:20.210

started, you know, mingling and then, you know, because a lot of the boys were into sports, you know, that knocked all that off.

00:19:20.210 - 00:19:31.340

And if it was any little racial stuff, you didn't hear anything about it, you know, was quiet. So did you ever encounter any of

00:19:31.340 - 00:19:39.850

the protests and rallies that were going on on Main Street during that time? No. No. Because I'd never really went down. No.

00:19:39.850 - 00:19:48.570

I'm not one of those activists or people that, you know, protests. I mean, I have, you know, I support, yeah.

00:19:48.570 - 00:20:00.530

But I'm not one that's like in the crowd, like with my banner and that right. And then you had told me that you attended New York high high-school.

00:20:00.530 - 00:20:06.250

Could you tell me more about your experience because I know that was around the time they started integrating schools.

00:20:06.250 - 00:20:11.750

Right? Well, again, we had like a little and I think, let me see. My class might have been

00:20:11.750 - 00:20:21.780

like maybe five or six years after the, I'm going to say that I'm not quite sure when they first when we first moved down there.

00:20:22.090 - 00:20:30.530

A little racism but not a lot. I mean, you know, I was able to go to class without anybody calling me names.

00:20:30.530 - 00:20:36.320

Yeah. Unless they called them beyond my back, I didn't hear anything. So I got I had

00:20:36.320 - 00:20:46.220

my classmates or early I got along with. A matter of fact, I still see some of them. A matter of fact, one of them is a female director, Spicer Mulligan.

00:20:46.220 - 00:20:53.880

Okay. We grew, we went to school together and other people that I graduated with, I still see and I ended up

00:20:53.880 - 00:21:05.370

working at Avon products for 41 years. And some of the people that I went to school with work there and I still enter down still see them occasionally.

00:21:05.370 - 00:21:12.230

Okay. Did you have any did you ever end up attending college? Now I just want to go the vehicle

00:21:12.230 - 00:21:18.870

on for like a year. A year. And that was in Wilmington. Because I was working

00:21:19.210 - 00:21:26.880

during the day and I went to go to beat them at night. And I was just trying to get myself, you know.

00:21:26.880 - 00:21:34.910

So then I was working as a nurse's aid which now they call CNN's yeah. Certified nursing assistants. What I had my time,

00:21:34.910 - 00:21:42.260

it was just a nurse's aide and I was doing that at night at the Wilmington hospital. How come you decided to go there for

00:21:42.260 - 00:21:49.700

just one year or was it just one year? That was the program or something? No. It was more than one year,

00:21:49.700 - 00:21:57.920

but then at that time, I had got married. And then I had one Shaw and I was just trying

00:21:57.920 - 00:22:08.030

to health and then I was helping. My mother was still living at the time. Yeah. And my foster mother. So I had to give up something.

00:22:08.030 - 00:22:15.320

Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, then I kinda got away from the business aspect because I thought I was going to go

00:22:15.320 - 00:22:21.450

into something in the business field. Okay. And I was trying to find my way. I guess she would say, yeah, go ahead.

00:22:21.450 - 00:22:28.670

Could you tell me more about your husband and your family? My ex husband. My husband.

00:22:28.670 - 00:22:40.130

I was married for like 16 years. Okay. And we went our separate ways because he just wants it. So while we four we got married.

00:22:40.130 - 00:22:45.530

It was like, you know, couldn't move without him. Yeah. And everything like that and doing the beginning it was but

00:22:45.530 - 00:22:57.260

then he started he had problems with just a roving eye and just started running around. So we just ended it.

00:22:57.260 - 00:23:05.720

I just called it quits. Okay. Then you mentioned that you had 11 child I have 2222 okay.

00:23:05.720 - 00:23:15.680

To voice his waist. Uh-huh. One just turned 6158. Okay. And then I know you're a

00:23:15.680 - 00:23:24.350

pretty involved in your church. You helped coordinate Vacation Bible School and also coordinated the St. John's Church fair.

00:23:24.350 - 00:23:32.420

Could you tell me more about your role in your community? Well, it's kinda slow down now, but, you know, I was really

00:23:32.420 - 00:23:41.840

active in the church. I used to be the Church stuck. I was to church secretary, treasurer for eight years.

00:23:41.840 - 00:23:50.400

I was also like the head of the what we had called the family activities ministry, where a plan trips.

00:23:50.400 - 00:23:59.140

We went to like sight and sound every year for every play they had. During my Labor Day weekend, like the end of summer

00:23:59.140 - 00:24:08.560

was near the end of summer, I would always schedule have a trip to DC or something and it would just be enough money

00:24:08.560 - 00:24:18.500

to cover the cost of the bus. It wouldn't be like a big amount of money. We would take trips to the blacks and wax museum to Inner Harbor.

00:24:18.510 - 00:24:26.100

We had Brandy Wine picnic park, just different places of interests for the children and families to do.

00:24:26.100 - 00:24:33.820

We also had, like every other Saturday, we'd have arts and crafts at the church and you could make stuff somebody didn't

00:24:33.820 - 00:24:39.580

knew what they were doing, would come in and show us out. I still have some of my ornaments that we made

00:24:39.580 - 00:24:47.440

or bookmarks or whatever. We did a lot. And then the church before where you're parked on the church parking lot.

00:24:47.440 - 00:24:57.490

There's a vacant lot coming this way. That used to be a grove of trees. And I'll, before we got them cut down, we would use that and have

00:24:57.490 - 00:25:04.570

like Twitter senior citizens, we'd have like little outings for them under this tree. So we fix the food and have tables

00:25:04.570 - 00:25:12.150

setting out there and then serve them food, barbecue, cook over to grill. The Sunday school. We also would have

00:25:12.150 - 00:25:19.090

all kinds of events on the yard, the whole yard. All we took New London road. We wouldn't have fairs and everything

00:25:19.090 - 00:25:31.020

on the church was on vacation Bible school. I also was the church pastor store, which helped to pass there. Right now, I am

00:25:31.020 - 00:25:40.950

the chair of the pastors aid was two of us we work with to pass the date. The hospitality committee, where a small church,

00:25:40.950 - 00:25:50.090

you're not a very big church. But I've always been in the church. Even when I was little, when the church was across the highway,

00:25:50.090 - 00:25:55.070

I was always doing something well, for one thing, my foster mother was a minister's white. Yeah.

00:25:55.070 - 00:26:04.580

So she was always there at those days. We went to church three times a day. Now, it's not not like that, but we went to church.

00:26:04.580 - 00:26:11.800

And then in the summer we have vacation Bible school during the day with St. John's, which is across the street.

00:26:11.800 - 00:26:20.290

And they used to have another building in the back. So that meant when it was over, we would have a fair combined fair.

00:26:20.290 - 00:26:27.710

They're at their yard because hillside road didn't go there, wasn't there before. It was they just opened

00:26:27.710 - 00:26:35.630

at maybe ten or 15 years ago maybe. But it wasn't a street all the way through there. So yes, I work to help coordinate the fair.

00:26:35.630 - 00:26:44.840

We'd have all kinds of little funding games, like carnival games outside, but vacation Bible schools for two weeks. And it was during the daylight hours.

00:26:44.840 - 00:26:55.130

We'd be go like maybe nine o'clock till. Two or three in the afternoon with Briggs, they would eat lunch and everything. There's another church that

00:26:55.130 - 00:27:01.910

was at the foot of the hill, which was pilgrim Baptist. Now they move to Barksdale, rude, but now I think it's fair

00:27:01.910 - 00:27:10.670

temporal Church of God and crisis there now. But whenever we went on picnics, we all went the same time. We all took picnics the same time,

00:27:10.670 - 00:27:18.740

and we did a lot of stuff together, even though we were different denominations. We used to have a sunrise service. That was the big, big

00:27:18.740 - 00:27:26.390

thing in the neighborhood. All three churches got together. We would start at five o'clock in the morning at the church that I belong to,

00:27:26.390 - 00:27:34.100

which was across the street at the time, was called the lower church, manganese ion. And then we would go, that would be for an hour.

00:27:34.100 - 00:27:42.830

And then we would go to pilgrim Baptists for an hour. That would be there like the other, the upper church.

00:27:42.830 - 00:27:49.660

And then we would end up at St. John's and that would be like a candlelight service for an hour. And then after that, they would serve

00:27:49.660 - 00:27:56.020

free breakfast if you wanted to stay and eat it. And everybody would come in there. But John Omelas did their hair

00:27:56.020 - 00:28:03.040

rolled up and rollers or whatever. It was fun. I mean, five certainly started I mean, five o'clock in the morning.

00:28:03.040 - 00:28:09.370

That was the big deal. Yeah. But then later on as things change, you know, people moved out the

00:28:09.370 - 00:28:18.770

night, they stopped it. What else did we used to do? We'll use that block like I said, block parties and sometimes we close roads,

00:28:18.770 - 00:28:27.290

streets of your work off a week apart. And they would have block parties there in New London road, race street, the other street down on which they

00:28:27.290 - 00:28:34.240

would sled down that hill. We just we just had everything. We didn't have to leave the neighborhood really.

00:28:34.240 - 00:28:42.920

Yeah. Everything was right here and we had a lot of clean font. So you never felt the need to move because this

00:28:42.920 - 00:28:47.750

is basically everything you ever basically, right? Yeah. Right. I mean, I have left for

00:28:47.750 - 00:28:55.130

a few one time and came back because once she, you know, when I needed to help her, yeah. Then I came back because I

00:28:55.130 - 00:29:02.060

was divorced or separated. I didn't get divorced right away. But because sometimes you used excuse, you know,

00:29:02.060 - 00:29:10.550

the kids, but the kids really they started wants to suffer. But yeah. So I came back and I've been here every sentence.

00:29:10.550 - 00:29:15.550

Okay. What would you tell me as the most important thing about your community?

00:29:15.550 - 00:29:23.810

The most important thing I think about our community was the the togetherness. The community that come

00:29:23.810 - 00:29:35.810

out from Meredith camaraderie. Everybody, you know, we just gel together of you even though we're not related to each other.

00:29:35.810 - 00:29:44.900

We're like related. We were like family. You could go to anybody's house and talk to the parents about anything. Even though the voice could go talk to

00:29:44.900 - 00:29:55.220

the men about anything. He felt comfortable, you weren't afraid. So I stopped was important to me that everybody works

00:29:55.220 - 00:30:02.630

together and everyone looked out for each other. Like if somebody needed something, they might need food.

00:30:02.630 - 00:30:11.700

Because when you have one family that was burnout, lost, three or four children in a fire. Everybody rallied to help that family.

00:30:11.700 - 00:30:19.700

So we were there for each other food. Nobody ever went hungry. Yeah. You could go to anybody's house and eat.

00:30:19.700 - 00:30:30.530

And our house here was like, she always had the pastors and their families here every Sunday. We this has was always open.

00:30:30.930 - 00:30:40.090

The pastors and their families would come every Sunday for dinner. Now, if the pastor wasn't married, but he couldn't get them.

00:30:40.090 - 00:30:44.950

I don't know why. That was old school stuff. I guess that was her That's this after her husband died,

00:30:44.950 - 00:30:50.950

but only other people could come. She used to this sort of like a boarding house because some of the black

00:30:50.950 - 00:31:00.420

teachers that taught here, they couldn't eat down again downtown. So they came here every night. She had fixed center for them.

00:31:00.420 - 00:31:05.860

I guess they they paid, I guess a certain amount on, you know, I was too young. I was little and so I don't know.

00:31:05.860 - 00:31:18.260

But I'm assuming they would come every week, five days a week and eat. And then when the truly the people from Detroit relocated here for

00:31:18.260 - 00:31:26.300

the Christ or the Chrysler plant open. We had a family that stayed here with us. Now know how. And when you look at this house,

00:31:26.300 - 00:31:35.690

it was only three bedrooms. Upstairs. I said we had one bay if I just got this beth added down here, but we only have one bathroom.

00:31:35.690 - 00:31:43.030

And I don't know if he had he bought his time or not in the hat. Yeah, We did. We have like a stove pipe.

00:31:43.030 - 00:31:55.140

But they and the family from Detroit had was a husband, wife, and three children. So then it was my foster mother and me.

00:31:55.140 - 00:32:00.770

We all stayed in it. I don't know. I don't remember if I was a little, but I know we all stay here until

00:32:00.770 - 00:32:08.170

her house was ready where they moved somewhere in Wilmington. And he thought he was my dad. So whatever he told his children,

00:32:08.170 - 00:32:15.290

I had thought I had to abide by and I was respectful. So I did. So. Yeah.

00:32:15.290 - 00:32:25.050

So and then after they left. We had a couple of other people, not at the same time, but stayed here for awhile from Chrysler.

00:32:25.050 - 00:32:31.850

They rented rooms here. So there was always somebody at this house and then my kids, they had friends.

00:32:31.850 - 00:32:39.300

I know a couple of times when they were older that I had coupled or friends. They stayed here for a while until they were old.

00:32:39.300 - 00:32:45.800

They were like teeny, you know, 20 or something until they were able to stay here, renewed created from somewhere

00:32:45.800 - 00:32:54.360

until they were able to find I had to sit her own hands was always like open door. Somebody was always here.

00:32:54.360 - 00:33:06.640

Finally, when the kids moved out, I was like, well, it's been my great nephew came. They all have them and sometimes his sister.

00:33:06.640 - 00:33:19.030

Okay. What would you say is your favorite part from your childhood? My favorite part. I know just

00:33:19.030 - 00:33:30.230

being able to go outside and do whatever would not win out a problem. And everybody, you know, we just played together, having good times.

00:33:30.230 - 00:33:38.360

And then going back to your work, you had mentioned that you were working for Avon. Could you tell me more about that,

00:33:38.360 - 00:33:45.680

like how you got involved in it and what exactly you did. Okay. I worked for Avon for 41 years.

00:33:45.680 - 00:33:54.610

Before I started working in Avon. I was married and I just really wasn't working. I was mostly home and I

00:33:54.610 - 00:34:04.030

would take care of like French children during the day. And then I decided that I wanted to do

00:34:04.030 - 00:34:13.960

something on my own discipline case. Something went bad, what you did with the marriage. So I applied for a position.

00:34:13.960 - 00:34:22.510

At the time, Avon used to be mostly all white. There was no black people there because they came here from reloaded here,

00:34:22.510 - 00:34:32.470

from here, from West Virginia. I think it was originally they were down on the UD owns now they own the building

00:34:32.470 - 00:34:39.040

down there and then they relocate it to ogle town road. That's where I started. Down there were losers.

00:34:39.040 - 00:34:47.140

Yeah. So right next to them, as matter of fact, they open their eye applied at the time when I went,

00:34:47.140 - 00:34:53.380

I was to plot as a key puncher. And that's the time that you had to do everything manually. You have to put everything on

00:34:53.380 - 00:35:01.660

a drum and program it every everything. But I got the position. And at that time it was I was the only one in the office

00:35:01.660 - 00:35:10.660

at that time, black and shipping. There was one man. He was death. But I mean, he could do stuff.

00:35:10.660 - 00:35:18.550

He used to live right there. How to write up cross the rod near the church, crossing the church. He him his family lived there because

00:35:18.550 - 00:35:23.850

my uncle used to take them to work and pick him up every day. He worked there. I did something right there and shipping.

00:35:23.850 - 00:35:36.220

And then there are two ladies that live where these new houses or across the street. They were the cleaning people to janitors. So I think it was

00:35:36.220 - 00:35:42.590

another person there during shipping but they treated me and I was nervous at first being the only black person. Yeah.

00:35:42.590 - 00:35:50.020

But they treated me. I didn't have any problems. They work with me and I didn't have a car when I first started there.

00:35:50.020 - 00:35:58.120

And they had a lot of overtime and I was like, Oh my God, what am I gonna do? The boss, the supervisor

00:35:58.120 - 00:36:09.220

saying that I got a ride, you know, so that I could work to overtime. And we worked a lot at night. My shift was a day shift,

00:36:09.220 - 00:36:15.490

but we're sometimes we'd have to work because they want to get the orders. Now, I worked in the office. I didn't do I didn't sell Avon.

00:36:15.490 - 00:36:20.860

I wasn't wondering what they used to call it a ding dong liters your ring the bells or whatever. I actually worked in

00:36:20.860 - 00:36:30.970

the distribution plan and I worked in the office for it. Um, and I moved my way up. I started as a key puncher

00:36:30.970 - 00:36:43.120

and then I moved up as an auditor. And then later as a team leader, sort of like a semi-supervised or yeah, because I had a great ladies

00:36:43.120 - 00:36:54.280

undermine that had the report to me. I traveled a lot for them to different parts wherever Avon wash we had plants and Pasadena,

00:36:54.280 - 00:37:03.540

California, Springfield, Ohio, Morton Grove, Illinois, Atlanta, Georgia. So if they were

00:37:03.540 - 00:37:11.680

implementing some new program than I would have to go travel to teach the people on the other branches

00:37:11.680 - 00:37:22.570

along with other people from other places. We would go train them on that. When they had the President's Club, they always had these big, big award things.

00:37:22.570 - 00:37:30.970

Sometimes they would go on cruises. But when they had the events in the United States, they will let some of the employees

00:37:30.970 - 00:37:38.050

go now one year. So I got the goto up in Connecticut. I think it was up in Connecticut to this casino.

00:37:38.050 - 00:37:45.300

But we work now. Don't get me wrong, but it wasn't all play. We worked and we got paid for yeah. And I went up there.

00:37:45.300 - 00:37:55.570

And then when they went to Las Vegas, I was like, Oh my gosh. I would love to go to Vegas and I was like, they're talking in my little cubby hole

00:37:55.570 - 00:38:03.760

and the supervisor was sitting there. I said, I wish I could like if they would call my name that I loved Vegas because I've been several times.

00:38:03.760 - 00:38:10.440

Well, the next day he comes over and says, guess what? Well, my pack your bags. You're doing the beggars. I said why.

00:38:10.440 - 00:38:18.930

And so I went and we stayed at the Bellagio and each one of us had our own room. You didn't have to room with anyone.

00:38:18.930 - 00:38:25.610

But we worked. I mean, I worked and I still got I got paid for but I still had a little bit of time,

00:38:25.610 - 00:38:32.410

little free time to look around if I wanted to. But Avon, I loved working there and I

00:38:32.410 - 00:38:41.200

would've stayed if they hadn't. They closed the plant. But because of my age, I was 65 almost done.

00:38:41.200 - 00:38:50.510

I didn't want to relocate. And if you did what? Avon it wasn't like you could bomb somebody. So like if I was a team lead here,

00:38:50.510 - 00:38:56.770

I couldn't go to say a liner or wherever I wish they had and bumped that person, you'd have to start from

00:38:56.770 - 00:39:04.060

whatever position they had. So I said No, I just go ahead and retire. But I know if they were

00:39:04.060 - 00:39:15.400

stove and I would still be working. I loved they were good, very good benefits. And when I made the 25-year club, Every year, they would take

00:39:15.400 - 00:39:24.160

us different places. One year we went to Annapolis, Maryland. For today. One year they took us to the Baltimore Inner Harbor

00:39:24.160 - 00:39:34.060

and then at night we went on to boot. They took us to please and New York and all over the place. And then you got nice little gifts.

00:39:34.060 - 00:39:42.280

I know one time I went like a $100 gift card to write here new arc down at our cafe gelato. And I shared it with some of

00:39:42.280 - 00:39:54.370

my friends, like on my birthday, I took took them out on my birthday with my but they were very good. They were good and I'm not working there.

00:39:54.370 - 00:40:00.580

I really did. They were they were good. They were good to me. I'll put it like that. I didn't have any problems.

00:40:00.580 - 00:40:07.840

Everybody got along. They surprised me one time for my birthday because I was always the one who was playing and stuff

00:40:07.840 - 00:40:17.700

the parties we'd have for the holidays, I would be the one and they got over on me. I didn't even know because I had they let me go ahead and do what I do.

00:40:17.700 - 00:40:25.480

And then they said the supervisors wanted to having a meeting with all the team leads and everybody. So I didn't even faze

00:40:25.480 - 00:40:31.740

me because we only ever have meeting last minute. So I went on up there. And then afterwards I had told

00:40:31.740 - 00:40:41.460

the president of the company at the time, I said you're welcome to come to our lunch. And he said I might take you up on it. So then I go back to my desk and I was

00:40:41.460 - 00:40:48.000

doing something that I've washed my hands and went downstairs and I walked in. It was like he was already down there and they had

00:40:48.000 - 00:40:58.100

a special stuff for me and special gifts for me. And every day it was really I loved working there for 41 years that I did.

00:40:58.100 - 00:41:04.630

Is he did a lot of traveling, whether it was from volunteering or from your job, is there any place in

00:41:04.630 - 00:41:11.020

the form of traveling my regular traveling here. I traveled a lot. Yeah. Because I had told my family one time.

00:41:11.020 - 00:41:18.130

I said I'm not going to wait until I retire the travel. I might be dead or I might get sick the day that

00:41:18.130 - 00:41:31.990

I retire and can't do anything. So I used to go 123 cruises a year. And then my granddaughters only have two. We one time they saw a picture of

00:41:31.990 - 00:41:38.470

me calm and the duns River fall in Jamaica. So they wanted to do it. So I sit on my grandma, we want to go on a cruise now.

00:41:38.470 - 00:41:46.120

They lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. So I said, Well, I'll tell you what. We'll start off with like a three-day Cruz just

00:41:46.120 - 00:41:54.120

to see if you like a cruise. So I took them on a three or four-day cruise to the Bahamas. They loved it, they loved it.

00:41:54.120 - 00:42:02.040

And then I took them to Jamaica so they could call him. Now they didn't get the calm to hold false because we didn't have enough time

00:42:02.040 - 00:42:08.890

on the on the on the tour tour Tom was running. So they got the climb halfway up and then they got off what I

00:42:08.890 - 00:42:16.240

climbed from the beach to the end of the falls in and had a break in the middle where they call the nas nasty plunge where

00:42:16.240 - 00:42:22.480

you go back onto the false, unlike the pointing backwards. And they've got a picture it out of me doing that.

00:42:22.480 - 00:42:34.690

And they got a picture of me climbing at the very end where it says the sign says. And so I've been several places. I've never been like overseas.

00:42:34.690 - 00:42:41.620

I never really had the desire, but I loved the islands. So I've been on several cruises. I've taken my granddaughters

00:42:41.620 - 00:42:49.450

on several cruises. I've taken him to Disney twice, Disneyworld twice. And I've been to Disney Land to in

00:42:49.450 - 00:43:00.190

California because I have friends that live out there to the Rose Parade. So I did all my traveling mostly when I was working,

00:43:00.190 - 00:43:09.230

but I haven't done other other trips. And then I have a friend like my son had his girlfriend and her family lives from Tobago.

00:43:09.230 - 00:43:16.720

So I met the mother. We got to like like friends, like we've known each other forever. So I used to go down there for

00:43:16.720 - 00:43:26.560

a month every year at Christmas time, like levy for Christmas and come back after New Year's. So I'm always welcomed down there right now.

00:43:26.560 - 00:43:30.940

Can't get down there. Well, I told her I wasn't coming in in the wintertime since I'm living by myself now,

00:43:30.940 - 00:43:41.000

my son was here for a walk as he was going through some stuff and he never told him. But he stayed here with me for a while.

00:43:41.220 - 00:43:46.930

But then now I live here about myself most of the time, so I didn't want to leave the house in the winter time.

00:43:46.930 - 00:43:55.240

And he does come he lives in Virginia. He comes up and checks on me and the grass and fits my flowers out for me with the flowers

00:43:55.240 - 00:44:01.990

I pick out and playing them and whatever I need done. He calls every other day to check to make sure that I'm okay.

00:44:01.990 - 00:44:11.100

But so I haven't really done that much traveling, but when the weather breaks and then also with the COVID,

00:44:11.100 - 00:44:16.810

I did was able to get on a cruise just before the COVID hit. Ok. So I went to

00:44:16.810 - 00:44:28.230

the Bahamas and the Florida on a cruise. So I just love travel a lot and I like volunteer and especially working with the homeless,

00:44:28.230 - 00:44:37.920

which I'm working with now. Things changed with the COVID because we had to stop and they started housing the homeless and hotels

00:44:37.920 - 00:44:45.130

that are funding has run out. So right now they're trying to decide what they're going to do with some of the churches might open up

00:44:45.130 - 00:44:53.590

limited to one day, have code peripheral which just wanted to temperature drops below 15 degrees. The churches certain searches

00:44:53.590 - 00:45:01.050

work together and they housed them overnight from six o'clock at night to six o'clock in the morning. The question now is,

00:45:01.050 - 00:45:10.380

you get more than the limit. What do you do? Do you say you can't come in? That's up in the air right now. What they're gonna do with that?

00:45:10.380 - 00:45:19.640

The state or the county did by the Sheraton Hotel on I95 is called the Hope House now I think has a whole Yeah.

00:45:19.640 - 00:45:26.210

But that was for homeless too. But now there are mainly just families that are in need that live there.

00:45:26.210 - 00:45:34.910

So they were putting up the homeless at the red roof and down here, new arc on 896 and maybe some other hotels.

00:45:34.910 - 00:45:42.430

I don't know what they're gonna do right now with the money running. A lot of them had gone back to the woods. Intense because when I volunteer,

00:45:42.430 - 00:45:51.010

most of them have been asking for tense and sleeping bags. Some have been able to graduate and get jobs like one

00:45:51.010 - 00:45:59.200

yesterday the guy told me, so that's why I started working at Amazon to dwell starts today. And in the plant over and all Barksdale

00:45:59.200 - 00:46:06.750

road to new one-day open box would rude or mean. So he starts working. There are success stories and there's others

00:46:06.750 - 00:46:16.710

that do to their mental health or other things. They're still struggling. But I enjoy working

00:46:16.710 - 00:46:25.040

with them and that's what I do. I volunteer with them and then when they had cold purple, one night, I would go at night.

00:46:25.040 - 00:46:31.780

I didn't do too early shift because I had Davy on, I would take him with me so he could say, even though he's autistic,

00:46:31.780 - 00:46:37.330

He's very intelligent. They are things that you just don't want better, used to be really he wouldn't

00:46:37.330 - 00:46:48.580

communicate with antibody. And but now I can't shut him up. I want him to see how other people live because they

00:46:48.580 - 00:46:56.390

don't want for nothing that my niece she adopted, whether or not adopt their state children, but she has custody of them.

00:46:56.390 - 00:47:03.700

They're brother and sister him and assist or a year and a day apart. They want for nothing. So I want them to see how people live,

00:47:03.700 - 00:47:12.240

that they don't have, what they have. So appreciate what you have because he had Gaul got stuff going on all around and they're wishing they had

00:47:12.240 - 00:47:19.060

just one pair of shoes and you all got 10-inch welfare. You know what I mean? So I'm grateful.

00:47:19.060 - 00:47:27.680

I'm so far. I'll be 78 next month. So far my health is good. I can still do for myself.

00:47:27.680 - 00:47:35.920

I don't know for how long, but right now I'm thanking God that I'm still independent. Yeah. It can be what I want and I always

00:47:35.920 - 00:47:45.240

willing to help anybody if I can do whatever. How is it that you've gotten involved with the homeless? Was it through your church or was it just

00:47:45.240 - 00:47:54.380

know when I retired? I happen to be at the new archi not a Methodist Church they had like,

00:47:54.380 - 00:48:02.650

I think it was the New York City and New York's 150 anniversary or something. And they had a program down there. And I went during the day and then they had

00:48:02.650 - 00:48:12.280

this rule saying they were going to open up this place called the Empowerment Center in that church to help with homeless.

00:48:12.280 - 00:48:21.270

So let me try this. So when I went down and signed up, they were just starting for three days a week at that time.

00:48:21.270 - 00:48:29.100

And the first day I went, no one showed up. The second day, I think one person. The next time, three people and then the next week,

00:48:29.100 - 00:48:38.950

I guess when it finally caught on, more people started coming. So then they added five days. So it was open five days a week.

00:48:38.950 - 00:48:45.900

They have a room in the northern United Methodist Church on Main Street, but it's an organization called Friendship House.

00:48:45.900 - 00:48:53.320

Which operates the main headquarters is in Wilmington. And they certainly they also have transitional houses and Wilmington

00:48:53.320 - 00:49:01.360

for men and women and then women with children. Down here, new art, they just have them run room and what

00:49:01.360 - 00:49:11.220

they do is they give out. They're open from, well before the pandemic kept, they were open from 1230 to four.

00:49:11.220 - 00:49:21.200

And the people, the homeless or families in need could come in for snack. Like the day I went was like pizza day. And they would serve pizza from

00:49:21.200 - 00:49:29.500

a gourmet pizza place and new art. And I would just heat it up and serve them and mingle with them. Then some people came, families came,

00:49:29.500 - 00:49:36.280

they needed help with their electricity or utility, something. What are they needed? Housing, some of them in

00:49:36.280 - 00:49:48.910

needed birth certificates or whatever. So this is what they did. So they finally set up an area with laptops. There'll be used only for job search.

00:49:48.910 - 00:49:55.600

They learned, don't show them how to do a resume and they put it on all things so that you can have a flash drive.

00:49:55.600 - 00:50:01.990

Yeah. So it could be updated. Then they they never give people money. They would work with the utilities

00:50:01.990 - 00:50:08.230

or have them help their sales first and then they would send a check directly to them. Or if they found house and they

00:50:08.230 - 00:50:15.640

would help them to find housing. Or some of the men have found house. And so they sent out requests to help with if you couldn't

00:50:15.640 - 00:50:20.800

have an O or bed or something that you use for their household. And that's what and

00:50:20.800 - 00:50:29.260

then different churches would do Go bags or organizations would do Go bags, which is something that they can carry. It doesn't need heating up.

00:50:29.260 - 00:50:37.330

It could be microwaveable if they got into a place, but something that you could just eat out of the can without heating up on nutrition,

00:50:37.330 - 00:50:47.920

a bottle of water or juice, fruit, and things like that. And also hygiene kits for men and women. And then if they don't want the whole kit,

00:50:47.920 - 00:50:54.640

if they just maybe want all pair of socks or they just need a toothpaste or whatever, they could get that.

00:50:54.640 - 00:51:07.190

So that's what right now because of the COVID are not allowed in the building. So what we do, we meet them at the they have a new visitors center

00:51:07.190 - 00:51:15.820

and it's like a little opening. They stand outside and we have the food and stuff and we passed it out to them. And if they need a bus pass

00:51:15.820 - 00:51:25.090

or a laundry pads and we'll give it to them if we have it. And if they need clothing, they can fill out a voucher and then they

00:51:25.090 - 00:51:33.820

can get the clothes like the next week or whenever they come. Tents, like I said, tense or sleeping bags,

00:51:33.820 - 00:51:41.260

whatever they need, you know, try to help whether it's homeless or and that's how I got involved because I'm always

00:51:41.260 - 00:51:47.890

always always saying like, I know one time I was struggling and then on my lights got turned off and it

00:51:47.890 - 00:51:54.190

had to be on the weekend. So I sent my kids that was living here. I sent my children up. My mother was still living.

00:51:54.190 - 00:52:00.940

I sent them off the street and I was like, No, mom, we're not going to stay here with you. But I went through some hard times,

00:52:00.940 - 00:52:11.680

so I got on my feet and I said, You know, I've been there. So not as bad as now, but I'm like, you know, help other people.

00:52:11.680 - 00:52:20.590

So that's, that's my mindset to try to help. It's not always money. But I can give my time or my listening here, or maybe I might

00:52:20.590 - 00:52:29.140

have something that they could use. So that's what I do. And when these kids get out their clothes and I mean, it's a lot I use

00:52:29.140 - 00:52:35.230

the unit or clean some of this stuff. My knees. I told her she needs to stop because the tags are still on him.

00:52:35.230 - 00:52:45.790

Seriously. I one time I took ten codes for a girl and six codes for a boy down there. Shoes.

00:52:45.790 - 00:52:51.830

This recently they had a thing and I took all that stuff. I made sure it was clean and everything and took it.

00:52:51.830 - 00:52:59.440

So I give back, you know, to try to help people. That's just me. It sounds like you've been helping

00:52:59.440 - 00:53:07.990

ever since you were a kid, whether I have anybody and if I think of somebody that's a need because some people some people come

00:53:07.990 - 00:53:15.850

and talk to me because they know I'm not going to tell anybody else. But I'll just say we know there's someone that needs

00:53:15.850 - 00:53:22.690

help and you're not telling them what we need and they don't even have to know who the person is. Because like I told the past,

00:53:22.690 - 00:53:28.990

I wanted to ask you, there's people right in our church that need help. And I said, I know there's one person in

00:53:28.990 - 00:53:36.940

this church that they have relatives that are on the street. And, you know, I know you can take everybody in,

00:53:36.940 - 00:53:43.920

but when I mentioned it to them, they like, Oh yeah, every once in awhile, my dorm a dollar. But that's not why I was saying it.

00:53:43.920 - 00:53:53.080

I didn't mean for you to take a minute. So somebody always need so you can't judge a book by its cover. You might, I might be looking

00:53:53.080 - 00:54:00.220

at you and I'm looking at you and thinking that she got, you know, everything. But deep down inside you might be hurting.

00:54:00.220 - 00:54:05.500

You might have an issue that You want to talk to sunlight bed, but you're free to talk to them about it because you don't

00:54:05.500 - 00:54:13.570

want everybody to know your business. Because some people, they take it and run with it and it stretches it and by the time it gets back to you.

00:54:13.570 - 00:54:21.370

Well, that's not what I said. So patient. And would the job I had an Avon that was a big help because I've

00:54:21.370 - 00:54:28.720

had a different people, some of the people they didn't like each other. But we would to I could talk to both sides,

00:54:28.720 - 00:54:35.880

you know, and wouldn't we would come to an agreement. So yeah, I've always helped people in my life.

00:54:35.880 - 00:54:46.180

And how is it that you started carrying for a year and a few on the weekdays? My niece, She's my sister,

00:54:46.180 - 00:54:58.270

her her mother died when they were teenagers. So before she died, I used to have custody was signed over to

00:54:58.270 - 00:55:07.380

me in case something happened to her. Then she got better and I took the way that but then they were on their own. But she died.

00:55:07.380 - 00:55:17.320

And I was they just came to me, you know what, they finally they had their own places and they left. But later on, my niece always wanted

00:55:17.320 - 00:55:24.190

children and she couldn't have she did everything, IV, whatever that is. And then she finally

00:55:24.190 - 00:55:33.410

was able to hold the kids for awhile. She had twins but then she was on bed rest and then but they digest same day they were born shortly after they were born.

00:55:33.410 - 00:55:41.770

So she finally found this one child, and I don't know whether it was one of her friends, somebody she knew it

00:55:41.770 - 00:55:49.810

had this little girl but she was little. So she got her. And I used to go over and help her because she was

00:55:49.810 - 00:55:58.900

working and take help take care of her. And then a year and a day later, the one that I have, the brother, he was born and the state

00:55:58.900 - 00:56:07.360

called and asked her because she takes him right from the hospital. They didn't want to separate it, so she did. So again, I step

00:56:07.360 - 00:56:12.500

in and so I was watching them from different places she lived, I took care of them.

00:56:12.500 - 00:56:21.330

So finally, I'm saying about three or four years ago I might be off a little bit, but she lived like right here and new art.

00:56:21.330 - 00:56:31.750

But she had a house built in Dover. And they don't have that facilities like the special school, which is the Brennan school,

00:56:31.750 - 00:56:41.520

appear for children with special needs and everything down there. So she took the oldest daughter with her and she asked if I could keep him.

00:56:41.520 - 00:56:48.610

So he stays with me during the week where she don't like to go home at all. But I told him I need a break.

00:56:48.610 - 00:56:54.970

He goes from season, he picks him on Friday nights. And then sometimes if I don't have anything to do,

00:56:54.970 - 00:57:02.180

I'll keep him and take him to church with me because I have to tell her. I told her I go to church every Sunday.

00:57:02.180 - 00:57:08.200

And our churches only an hour now. So it's not like you're going to But I've gotten him you start talking to I took them

00:57:08.200 - 00:57:15.680

both the vacation Bible school, got them used to being in a church and everything. We had a Black History program.

00:57:15.680 - 00:57:25.420

He wanted to do Rosa Parks. And I wrote it out and big writing like a double-space on the line so he could read it and something short.

00:57:25.420 - 00:57:33.010

And I got to jump good upfront to Casey needed help if I had a coffee right up here real nice and loud because

00:57:33.010 - 00:57:40.480

I kept we kept practicing and he got up there. This is clear and read it. With no problems.

00:57:40.480 - 00:57:46.270

I brought tears to my eyes because I didn't know he could do that. But that's how I got him so that he would be able to still get

00:57:46.270 - 00:57:53.960

the special attention that he needs to and special instruction. So like I told her, I'm you know, I'm getting

00:57:53.960 - 00:58:00.570

older now so, you know, you need to be thinking because I wasn't supposed to read a backup. I was supposed to be just in case.

00:58:00.570 - 00:58:06.740

Yeah. But now I am the one. I've always fit on things. She had a backup.

00:58:06.740 - 00:58:15.070

But nevertheless, we have a good relationship. He's come a long way from the screaming and Han

00:58:15.070 - 00:58:27.780

and having fits and passing. A very intelligent and I haven't been swimming lessons right now. He's down to the night will be number ten.

00:58:27.780 - 00:58:34.870

Number ten, and he has two more. So I've been trying to get him in things at the why in different places. They go into the why to summer

00:58:34.870 - 00:58:40.930

camp to do things. And then when my son comes up, you've takes him out and throws the ball around and all now to

00:58:40.930 - 00:58:48.920

why just the members that were members of the wide now. So they just called or emailed and said they had soccer.

00:58:48.920 - 00:58:57.040

So I don't know if you'll be interest on my ASE because he likes to kick stuff around. Different things they have for right now it's in the swimming program.

00:58:57.040 - 00:59:06.010

So that's how I got it. How old is he now? He's ten. He was ten in March and I had them I take

00:59:06.010 - 00:59:13.900

them to their they just had a physical filter all updated on her shots. They got their flu shot and they just got there

00:59:13.900 - 00:59:19.420

first and they go to the Children's Hospital of Delaware. And the more it's just where they are, their doctorates.

00:59:19.420 - 00:59:30.430

So they just got their first of COVID shot last week and they'll get there last one on the 4th of December. Then I take them because I'll get

00:59:30.430 - 00:59:38.320

tested at least once or twice a month. I'll deduce the write-up top of the hill where the towers used to be. They have enough parking lot.

00:59:38.320 - 00:59:42.460

They have testing. Yeah. So I just go right up there. Used to be down the street here,

00:59:42.460 - 00:59:47.620

but when the students came back, they didn't have any space. Yeah. So now we go up there and then I

00:59:47.620 - 00:59:55.630

also signed him up for an antigen tests in school, which they give like once or twice a month. Because I said if you're staying with me,

00:59:55.630 - 01:00:02.350

you gotta be tested. And I'm tested and I also have my booster shot. So I said if you're staying with me,

01:00:02.350 - 01:00:13.140

you gotta be you gotta have your shop. Because you got to protect me because I'm almost so both of them do both of them have their shots

01:00:13.140 - 01:00:21.660

hurt his sisters 11. So we do things now. They're off next week. So of course he wants to stay here.

01:00:21.660 - 01:00:29.470

So I told him he could couldn't stay Sunday because our churches gone away, but he could come back on Monday. And, you know, Thanksgiving.

01:00:29.470 - 01:00:37.420

I'm not doing anything this year, but I'm not going anybody's house. So I might I'm a cook dinner. So if they want to come, they can.

01:00:37.420 - 01:00:44.470

But I said I still got to eat whether you're all here now. I have food. So the mother called me this morning

01:00:44.470 - 01:00:49.480

as she said, my niece said, since there's no school for neither one of them, she might be coming up

01:00:49.480 - 01:00:55.130

and then spending a couple of nights. So because she does Amazon like, you know, delivers packages. Yeah.

01:00:55.130 - 01:01:04.660

So she said she might come up and give extra time to do that. She has a job during the daylight. I mean, doing she works for a union,

01:01:04.660 - 01:01:09.310

but sometime they don't have the work. So, you know, she's got to pay for her mortgage. Yeah.

01:01:09.310 - 01:01:19.030

So she does Amazon now she was doing Uber until the pandemic. So she switched to Amazon and that's weren't working very well for her.

01:01:19.030 - 01:01:26.110

So yeah. So that's how they got to be with me. Yeah. Yeah. And he's going to remember all of this

01:01:26.110 - 01:01:30.580

for a very long time throughout his whole life. You're going to make a really big impact on how

01:01:30.580 - 01:01:38.530

well he enjoys coming and staying. So like they're having potluck at school on Friday. So they told them they could have. So I

01:01:38.530 - 01:01:45.280

asked him What do you want to take? So he says I want stuffing and you can also do it. He said, Well, I don't need to make

01:01:45.280 - 01:01:54.370

a lot because other people are making stuff, but just stuff and then dessert. I said, Okay, so I'll do this stuffing early Friday morning.

01:01:54.370 - 01:01:59.220

And then they're just going to put it I'll put it in a microwaveable bowl because they said they got to microwave.

01:01:59.220 - 01:02:06.480

And I'll make some sort of desert. Yeah. So that's it. And I'm looking back at your life.

01:02:06.480 - 01:02:20.700

Is there anything that you would've done differently? Anything I would have done differently. The only thing I mean,

01:02:20.700 - 01:02:28.110

my life, I enjoyed my life. The only thing I probably would have done differently was the weighted not gotten married so soon.

01:02:28.110 - 01:02:43.260

But otherwise, no. I'm happy with my life because I've accomplished everything that I really wanted to accomplish in a work,

01:02:43.260 - 01:02:51.640

had a good job, and I've gotten on my feet. You know, there were astonished before I was struggling. Now, I'm not struggling.

01:02:51.640 - 01:02:58.410

I mean, everything all my bills are current, I can say because one time I couldn't say that. But now I can say all my bills,

01:02:58.410 - 01:03:08.450

but few bills I have left because there's one dropped off I would add to the other. So I'm down to maybe a couple, you know, credit card, something like that.

01:03:08.450 - 01:03:17.000

But otherwise, everything else is paid for because the house was passed down. There was no mortgage, but it was, you know,

01:03:17.000 - 01:03:25.810

work that I had to pay for the loan that I got out and that's all been paid for longer. Still work to be done. It's a work in progress.

01:03:25.810 - 01:03:35.020

I probably wouldn't see it all completed. But right now, I'm you know, I'm happy to say that. I'm, I'm happy I'm content.

01:03:35.020 - 01:03:44.920

Everything is in my health is good so far. You know, I've had all my appointments and I go when I should go to the doctor. So if anything happens to me,

01:03:44.920 - 01:03:52.420

it's within six months to a year Because I go keep my appointments and keep my doctor's appointments. And right now I just had

01:03:52.420 - 01:04:01.770

my appointment not too long ago and everything was fine. And so I'm happy. I can still get around.

01:04:01.770 - 01:04:10.100

I don't know for how long I still drive. I don't like driving at night too much now and I can see but, you know, it's not a crazy idea.

01:04:10.100 - 01:04:17.700

I don't see you as well as I do at night. I'm okay during the day. But because he goes to some adolescents at night,

01:04:17.700 - 01:04:23.820

but it's a straight shot. It's like why? Awful Kirkwood highway. So it's straight up the road.

01:04:23.820 - 01:04:32.760

And I know my way. I could probably do it with my eyes closed. But I mean, I worked but otherwise I drove everywhere I need to go.

01:04:32.760 - 01:04:40.190

So I'm Sam sufficient right now? No, thank God for that. Don't know how long I had to be. I mean, it could change in a blink of an eye.

01:04:40.190 - 01:04:48.400

I could feel good now the next time I lose my memory, all timers or song. But right now, I'm okay.

01:04:48.400 - 01:04:58.940

And I'm happy for our last question for the interview. Is there any advice that you would have for someone around my age, like students?

01:04:59.700 - 01:05:11.440

My advice would be to find your passion, something that you wanna do, stick to it, follow through on it. At first when you do it,

01:05:11.440 - 01:05:17.850

it might not seem like it's going to work out, but if you really wanna do it, I would push my way to the end

01:05:17.850 - 01:05:26.470

to see how far I would go. Don't never give up speed determined. Whatever you wanna do be determined and stick to that.

01:05:26.470 - 01:05:33.970

Somebody might look at it and say, Well, why are you doing that or why is he or she doing that? But if that's what you wanted to do, I mean,

01:05:33.970 - 01:05:42.550

sometimes we try to follow what our parents want to do. And it's not always the path that we want to take.

01:05:42.550 - 01:05:52.310

Your parent might've been a teacher or a lawyer or something big. But if you just want to be a social worker or whatever you want to be,

01:05:52.310 - 01:05:59.800

Do the best you can be at that. Let's stick toward, you know, don't be jumping from one thing to another. Trick your passion and stick

01:05:59.800 - 01:06:06.730

with it. That's fine. Alright, well, thank you so much for your time. I really enjoyed listening to

01:06:06.730 - 01:06:16.200

everything that you had to say. It was my first interview, so oh, okay. Well, you do That's your hardened behind the math.

01:06:16.200 - 01:06:22.610

Yes. It is all like very valuable. Like I'm gonna cherish this. So thank you so much.

01:06:22.610 - 01:06:25.640

Oh, you're welcome. I will say for your help.