Lolean Simmons Adams discusses her life before, during, and after WWII, the way the war affected her relatives who served, and also acquaintances including someone who was a conscientious objector. Also present during the interview was Pansy Jessup,…
Martha "Alma" Blair Coleman discusses life during World War II, working in the defense plant that manufactured atom bombs, the effects of the war on friends and relatives who served, including her brother who returned from the war shell shocked, and…
Lorraine Virginia Beasley Gilley talks about life before and during World War II, and recalls the three years her sweetheart served in the war during which time they maintained their relationship by exchanging letters. She remembers saving the money…
Dorris Moore talks about attending Western Carolina Teachers College in the mid 1940’s, men getting drafted, World War II changing life on campus, and in her community back home.
Vera Blair Jessup remembers the hardships of food shortages and rationing during World War II, her community’s negative reactions to the war, and her brother’s struggles after coming back shell shocked from the war. Also present during the interview…
Lloyd Arneach discusses how a librarian at Cherokee High School encouraged him and others to share the legends they had learned from their families through storytelling and how he developed his own storytelling style. He mentions doing storytelling…
Karen Eve Bayne talks about the importance of storytelling during her childhood in the Appalachian Mountains, and how years later while living in England she pursued training at the Unicorn Storytelling School and Emerson College before becoming a…
Amy Ammons Garza recalls listening to her grandfather’s stories about the history and people of Jackson County, and how he encouraged her to remember and pass them on. At age 39 she dreamed of her grandfather and this prompted her to go to college…
Patricia “Miss Patti” McClure relates how she began using storytelling techniques she learned from her mother to engage with her students, being asked by other teachers to tell stories to their classes, and eventually becoming a professional…
Michael “Badhair” Williams talks about the importance of storytelling in his family, and being inspired to begin telling stories himself in the fourth grade after folklorist Richard Chase visited his school. He mentions that although he gets to tell…