WEBVTT 00:00:04.079 --> 00:00:07.639 All right, welcome back to the Dan time podcast 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:12.320 Dan McArdle here bringing you another exciting 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:16.820 episode and I can't believe it's number 98 so 00:00:16.820 --> 00:00:20.280 knocking on our centennial episode in a couple 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:24.739 weeks here and The occasion like you saw the 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:28.420 calendar fell it falls where it wants to and 00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:30.839 Who did we who did I talk to a couple weeks ago? 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:33.770 I think it was Travis for his birthday or something. 00:00:33.770 --> 00:00:37.770 We had May 4th on a Sunday Yeah, May 4th last 00:00:37.770 --> 00:00:41.350 so we did a best of Travis last week. I hope 00:00:41.350 --> 00:00:44.890 you enjoyed that I Some of you might listen to 00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:48.530 every second of every every episode so if you 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:51.369 did Maybe some of that was redundant. But for 00:00:51.369 --> 00:00:54.509 the large majority of you, I really try to I 00:00:54.509 --> 00:00:57.369 try to pull some select material for you. Okay 00:00:57.369 --> 00:01:01.109 today as you know is Mother's Day, a very important 00:01:01.109 --> 00:01:04.170 day on the calendar for a lot of people. If you're 00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:07.109 listening and you didn't have the best relationship 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:10.489 with your mom, some of these holidays pop up 00:01:10.489 --> 00:01:12.629 on the calendar and you're thinking, well, that's 00:01:12.629 --> 00:01:15.010 great for everybody else, but not so great for 00:01:15.010 --> 00:01:19.670 me. If that was the case, I recognize those listeners. 00:01:20.689 --> 00:01:23.790 So with that in mind, and that's actually not 00:01:23.790 --> 00:01:28.650 why I'm trying to segue into explaining this 00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:32.969 guest today, but I've got My dear old dad back 00:01:32.969 --> 00:01:35.790 on the show and you might remember him from the 00:01:35.790 --> 00:01:38.010 Father's Day episode about a year ago or last 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:41.810 June And you might be wondering Dan. What are 00:01:41.810 --> 00:01:44.469 you doing? It's Mother's Day get your mom on 00:01:44.469 --> 00:01:49.530 the line What how rude? Well, there's a reason 00:01:49.530 --> 00:01:51.730 why we're doing this and if you've been listening 00:01:51.730 --> 00:01:54.230 for a while, you know that I try to go outside 00:01:54.230 --> 00:01:57.439 the box a little bit so That's what we're doing 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.819 today. I did have a conversation as far as you're 00:02:00.819 --> 00:02:03.159 concerned with my mother earlier today wished 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:06.599 her a happy Mother's Day And today and I want 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:08.580 to do some of this as we kind of get over the 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:11.560 100th episode I would like to talk about people 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:14.620 who are perhaps not around anymore. They're from 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:18.439 a bygone era From another century what have you 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:24.020 and I've got my dad on to We can't talk for hours 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:26.259 about this, but we can talk for a little bit 00:02:26.259 --> 00:02:30.979 to talk about his mother my grandmother Who I 00:02:30.979 --> 00:02:33.900 really only have childhood memories of and I'm 00:02:33.900 --> 00:02:36.219 really excited to do this and very pleased to 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:42.379 welcome back my father Bob McArdle How are you 00:02:42.379 --> 00:02:47.060 doing today? I'm doing great Daniel. It is Mother's 00:02:47.060 --> 00:02:51.439 Day And I appreciate you squeezing me in because 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.699 you've got a lot of mothers in your life. I mean, 00:02:54.699 --> 00:02:58.020 you've got a wife, you've got a mother -in -law, 00:02:58.219 --> 00:03:03.580 you've got your own mother, of course. And as 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:06.740 we start, I was just thinking just something 00:03:06.740 --> 00:03:10.020 about your own mother. When she moved to New 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:13.300 York, we were not married at the time, and she 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:16.439 was in Atlanta and I was in New York. And it 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:18.719 just wasn't working out the long distance romance. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:21.539 And I said, look, I can't move back to Atlanta, 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.060 but you could possibly move up to New York. And 00:03:25.060 --> 00:03:27.599 this is a little girl from Rock Chapel, Georgia. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:32.219 Population 119 people to come to New York City 00:03:32.219 --> 00:03:35.259 and live on 14th Street. So I just want to kick 00:03:35.259 --> 00:03:40.780 this off a little bit by the word mother as it 00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:44.400 is. said in New York City is a little bit different 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.680 than other places. Some places it's mama, some 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.479 places it's mother, some places it's mom, whatever. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:54.479 But anyway, really quick, her first day in New 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.620 York City, this is your mother, Janie, she's 00:03:57.620 --> 00:04:01.099 going down the subway to get on the subway to 00:04:01.099 --> 00:04:04.419 go for a job interview in New York City. And 00:04:04.419 --> 00:04:07.020 she has to stop because they're coming up the 00:04:07.020 --> 00:04:10.539 subway with a body bag of somebody who has died. 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.659 in the subway and she has to stand at one side. 00:04:14.020 --> 00:04:16.500 Little girl from Rockcast Chapel, Georgia, less 00:04:16.500 --> 00:04:19.639 than 100 people. So she goes down, she's counting 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:23.670 out her money. and it was 25 cents to get a token 00:04:23.670 --> 00:04:26.069 and she didn't realize she just needed to give 00:04:26.069 --> 00:04:28.569 him a quarter and the guy behind the counter 00:04:28.569 --> 00:04:32.029 was he was a real jerk and so she's counted it 00:04:32.029 --> 00:04:34.589 out and she had a few pennies in there and she 00:04:34.589 --> 00:04:37.689 subbed it in and she said I counted it all is 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:40.410 correct and he pushes it back and says no it's 00:04:40.410 --> 00:04:43.189 not correct it's wrong and she counts it out 00:04:43.189 --> 00:04:46.769 back again and she pushes it back and she says 00:04:46.769 --> 00:04:49.750 I've counted it three times now I know it's right 00:04:49.870 --> 00:04:53.389 And so he takes the money to one side, but he 00:04:53.389 --> 00:04:55.649 takes the token where she can't reach it under 00:04:55.649 --> 00:04:58.709 the cage. And then he flips his finger to flip 00:04:58.709 --> 00:05:02.050 the token and it hits the sidewalk and rolls 00:05:02.050 --> 00:05:04.610 around for her to go get it. And he looks at 00:05:04.610 --> 00:05:12.329 her and he says, your mother. So with that introduction, 00:05:12.350 --> 00:05:16.089 uh, we can go forward now. I do remember hearing 00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:19.750 that story and wow, what a cold splash of water. 00:05:19.819 --> 00:05:26.439 For mom welcome to New York Just imagine you 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:29.279 grew up in a town of a hundred people and now 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:31.600 There's more than a hundred people that live 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:38.199 in your building. So anyway I'm all yours Love 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:40.620 that story. I mean, I like it now I'm sure at 00:05:40.620 --> 00:05:43.000 the time and I can I could always picture mob 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:47.079 in these scenarios Maybe what she wanted to say 00:05:47.290 --> 00:05:49.329 I'm sure she's just not used to that type of 00:05:49.329 --> 00:05:52.250 interaction, but. Yeah, I don't think they said 00:05:52.250 --> 00:05:54.930 your mother in Rock Chapel, Georgia. I just don't 00:05:54.930 --> 00:05:57.269 think that happened. But anyway, you wanted to 00:05:57.269 --> 00:06:01.269 talk about my mother, your grandmother, but anyway, 00:06:01.310 --> 00:06:06.009 I don't mean to take over your show. I've got 00:06:06.009 --> 00:06:09.910 a few things to tell you, but you kick it off. 00:06:10.970 --> 00:06:16.810 Mary Rose Crowe McArdle, my paternal grandmother. 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:20.600 And I knew her. I was out in the yard playing 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:23.439 with my oldest son, Warren, who's seven and a 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.259 half, call it, and almost eight. And I was thinking, 00:06:26.300 --> 00:06:30.240 how old was I when Cammie died and doing the 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:33.199 math? I was about eight. I was eight, not quite 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:36.600 nine. And so I have these select memories of 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:40.279 her. I still vividly remember her voice or the 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:42.259 way that she would speak to me. I can kind of 00:06:42.259 --> 00:06:45.139 sound it out, the, hey, sugar. There's a lot 00:06:45.139 --> 00:06:47.060 I don't know and there's pictures that I've seen 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:49.699 that's all great and a lot of people I think 00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:52.500 You know if you if your grandparent grandparents 00:06:52.500 --> 00:06:54.980 weren't around a long time you do have a lot 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:58.600 of nice photographs to look at and You get around 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:00.759 the extended family from time to time and they 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.420 say they tell you a few things But we don't really 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:05.459 know that much unless you had them around for 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:09.000 most of your into your adulthood So that's something 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.089 I was curious about today my dad was the second 00:07:13.089 --> 00:07:16.410 of six children and One thing we were talking 00:07:16.410 --> 00:07:18.470 about earlier was I was always kind of fascinated. 00:07:18.470 --> 00:07:22.230 What's it like when? you're old enough to have 00:07:22.230 --> 00:07:27.189 memories five or six and There's you and an older 00:07:27.189 --> 00:07:28.970 sister then you got a younger sister then you 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:31.410 got another one on the way How about what was 00:07:31.410 --> 00:07:34.990 the earliest age that you remember? Gammie or 00:07:34.990 --> 00:07:38.370 your mother walking around the house very very 00:07:38.370 --> 00:07:41.930 pregnant and you maybe Ask her hey, what's that 00:07:41.930 --> 00:07:45.769 in your belly or what? Why are you so? What are 00:07:45.769 --> 00:07:49.410 you carrying there? Do you have do you have memories 00:07:49.410 --> 00:07:55.569 of gammy being pregnant I? Do have very vivid 00:07:55.569 --> 00:07:59.689 memories of Mother as we called her she always 00:07:59.689 --> 00:08:03.009 insisted that we call her mother not mom not 00:08:03.009 --> 00:08:06.529 not Mommy not but it was mother was very formal 00:08:06.810 --> 00:08:11.029 that we called her mother. And quite frankly, 00:08:11.189 --> 00:08:13.790 it's hard not to remember her pregnant because 00:08:13.790 --> 00:08:20.310 she was pregnant most of my early life. I did 00:08:20.310 --> 00:08:26.050 some quick math and Serena, the oldest, was born 00:08:26.050 --> 00:08:31.250 in 1943 and Rosemary was born in 1956. That's 00:08:31.250 --> 00:08:35.090 13 years. and she had 16 children in 13 years. 00:08:35.570 --> 00:08:39.090 She also had four miscarriages. Yeah, six in 00:08:39.090 --> 00:08:41.870 13 years. So, I mean, she was, she was shooting 00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:44.789 them out. You know, she was, she was fulfilling 00:08:44.789 --> 00:08:48.129 the Catholic Church's proclamation, you know, 00:08:48.269 --> 00:08:51.909 to multiply. You did mention, I usually don't 00:08:51.909 --> 00:08:55.129 butt in, but the four miscarriages have been 00:08:55.129 --> 00:08:57.850 generally familiar now that you bring it up. 00:08:58.149 --> 00:09:01.149 Back then, I guess every situation is different, 00:09:01.149 --> 00:09:05.490 but do you remember there being kind of a Sorrow 00:09:05.490 --> 00:09:07.769 that your mother carried during those periods 00:09:07.769 --> 00:09:09.889 where that happened or did you not really notice 00:09:09.889 --> 00:09:14.509 much a miss? You know, I really don't because 00:09:14.509 --> 00:09:19.389 she always there was she never expressed any 00:09:19.389 --> 00:09:24.450 pain or you know discomfort or what have you 00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:27.049 I only learned about the miscarriages later in 00:09:27.049 --> 00:09:30.330 life because I mean, by the time Rosemary was 00:09:30.330 --> 00:09:35.129 born, you know, that was 1956. So I was what? 00:09:35.309 --> 00:09:39.090 Maybe 12. So, no, I would not have been, you 00:09:39.090 --> 00:09:41.009 know, I only learned about it afterwards. And 00:09:41.009 --> 00:09:44.190 then I started doing the calculation saying you 00:09:44.190 --> 00:09:47.190 had six children in 13 years. That's one every 00:09:47.190 --> 00:09:51.850 two years. And then you also lost three, you 00:09:51.850 --> 00:09:55.730 know, so there could have been 10 now. We always 00:09:55.730 --> 00:09:57.909 laugh about, well, who would that cut out? I 00:09:57.909 --> 00:10:02.070 mean, I was in, Serena was in, but I don't know, 00:10:02.210 --> 00:10:04.370 Margaret, Martina, you know, who could have been 00:10:04.370 --> 00:10:07.090 out in all those years. But anyway, just the 00:10:07.090 --> 00:10:09.409 fact that she was pregnant most of her life. 00:10:10.470 --> 00:10:14.509 Most of her, not life, but most of that time 00:10:14.509 --> 00:10:20.870 between, you know, 1943 and 1956. Also the sequence 00:10:20.870 --> 00:10:23.860 where there's a girl, then there's a boy. then 00:10:23.860 --> 00:10:26.460 there's a girl, then there's a girl, then there's 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:28.919 another boy. But the sequence when you're kind 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:32.960 of still a kid and it's you and three girls, 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:37.679 if that's right, as they're coming along, is 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:40.679 there less and less time for little Robert? Are 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:43.759 you able to access your mother with just random 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:46.779 questions? Are you able to pull on the apron 00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:50.379 and or she's kind of saying, hey, get out of 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:52.080 the house. It's a beautiful day. You need to 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.379 stay out. Just get out of here. What was that? 00:10:55.460 --> 00:10:59.860 What was that like it at that age? It was not 00:10:59.860 --> 00:11:02.100 good from my point of view as I look back on 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:06.120 it Not good at all. I mean, you know, I lived 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:10.759 in a house of women and you know My dad he worked, 00:11:10.980 --> 00:11:13.240 you know shift work. So I mean he was really 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:16.539 never home so it was just me and all these women 00:11:16.539 --> 00:11:19.820 and If you ever live with a bunch of women and 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:22.279 I you know, I mean this respectfully to your 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:26.279 your listeners and your subscribers and even 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:32.659 to my sisters. But I like to tell the story was 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:38.299 I never had a dry towel in my life until I went 00:11:38.299 --> 00:11:43.100 off to college because there was me and three 00:11:43.100 --> 00:11:47.360 sisters and they took baths and when you take 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.220 a bath, I'm pretty good with one towel. I can 00:11:50.220 --> 00:11:53.350 get away with Really a half a towel. I mean a 00:11:53.350 --> 00:11:56.230 towel for me would last three days, you know 00:11:56.230 --> 00:11:59.289 They would take three towels for for each bath. 00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:02.009 So and we only had so much money There was so 00:12:02.009 --> 00:12:05.470 many times anyway, just the point was there were 00:12:05.470 --> 00:12:08.029 all these and then there was Easter and you know 00:12:08.029 --> 00:12:11.649 Easter Sunday or Saturday night before Easter 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:14.629 They put all this shit on their hair. They just 00:12:14.629 --> 00:12:17.639 stuck like hell. I mean was this smelled like, 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:19.899 uh, ammonia or something. I had to leave the 00:12:19.899 --> 00:12:23.539 house to get out of it. And so it was just living 00:12:23.539 --> 00:12:25.960 with all these girls and all the stuff that they 00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:29.080 had to do. And then, oh, there's, there's, there's, 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:31.879 there's Robert as she called me, not Robert, 00:12:31.980 --> 00:12:35.340 but Robert. There was Robert over here and I'm 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:38.500 out playing baseball. I'm riding my bicycle. 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:41.600 I'm smoking cigarettes at 10 years old. I'm, 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:44.120 I'm doing stuff that little boys do, you know, 00:12:44.350 --> 00:12:48.049 And and then I just I can't get a I can't get 00:12:48.049 --> 00:12:50.850 a dry towel and finally when I went to college 00:12:50.850 --> 00:12:53.070 You know, I was able to take a shower with a 00:12:53.070 --> 00:12:55.870 dry towel so that was what it was like living 00:12:55.870 --> 00:12:59.610 up with my sisters and I love them dearly and 00:12:59.610 --> 00:13:03.350 And even today I love them dearly but those days, 00:13:03.350 --> 00:13:08.529 you know No dry towel is pretty tough. I could 00:13:08.529 --> 00:13:11.850 just picture that and Did what they hang them 00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:15.299 up at least over that shower bar? to dry or were 00:13:15.299 --> 00:13:18.179 they crumpled? Did you have to pick up something 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:20.179 off the floor and just, oh, of course this is 00:13:20.179 --> 00:13:24.179 soaking wet. Well, Daniel, you said the magic 00:13:24.179 --> 00:13:27.759 word. You said shower bar. We had a three bedroom, 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:33.399 one bathroom house for eight people. So, you 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:36.320 know, mother and daddy had a bedroom. I had a 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:38.679 bedroom and the four girls had a bedroom. And 00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:41.919 then we had this one bathroom. The shower, we 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.320 didn't know what it was. We read something about 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:47.659 in advanced civilization, there's going to be 00:13:47.659 --> 00:13:51.940 showers someday, but we just had a bathtub and 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:55.059 it filled up the bathtub. And of course it was 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:57.519 just dirty as it could be because, you know, 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:00.379 they didn't clean anything. So anyway, the towels 00:14:00.379 --> 00:14:02.759 were just piled up in the floor in the corner. 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:08.139 So no, there were no hanging towels. What a way 00:14:08.139 --> 00:14:12.559 to live. Well, we could spend a whole episode 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:15.399 just talking about your experience as a youth 00:14:15.399 --> 00:14:19.580 with those girls and And all that but let's kind 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:22.500 of shift forward a few years. How's your relationship 00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:26.840 with? With your mother at this time when you're 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:29.139 college age, but you know, not everybody's going 00:14:29.139 --> 00:14:34.340 to college at that time Tell me how The University 00:14:34.340 --> 00:14:38.720 of Alabama comes into play and is she proud of 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:41.100 you? Is she are you guys talk on the phone a 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:44.960 lot? Well, I mean, first of all, there were no 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:47.460 phones. You said talk on the phone. No, we had 00:14:47.460 --> 00:14:51.480 a rotary dial phone, one line. So there was no, 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.059 no phones, but, but, but to answer your question 00:14:54.059 --> 00:14:57.460 more succinctly, uh, I had, I really had a great 00:14:57.460 --> 00:15:01.659 relationship with her and mother or is, is we 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:03.740 later started to call her Gammie because that 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:06.100 was her, you know, the grandchildren named her 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:10.059 that. But anyway, she had this unique ability 00:15:10.059 --> 00:15:14.980 to be the I mean, if everyone in the world could 00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:18.919 have a mother like Mary Rose Crowe McArdle, this 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:21.519 would be a much better world because she had 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:24.960 six children and we were all different, whatever, 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:28.679 but she made all six of us feel like we were 00:15:28.679 --> 00:15:31.299 her favorites. She made me feel like I was her 00:15:31.299 --> 00:15:34.500 favorite, you know, and we play that back and 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:36.620 forth with everybody now, but she just had that 00:15:36.620 --> 00:15:41.200 ability to do that. As I got a little bit older, 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:45.159 more in high school, and then we began to assume 00:15:45.159 --> 00:15:48.019 a little bit more of the financial obligation 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:52.000 to keep the family household going, just in terms 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.539 of food and rent and what have you. And so we 00:15:56.539 --> 00:15:59.100 all had part -time jobs. I mean, starting at 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:03.139 age 13, I was... cutting grass or doing something. 00:16:03.960 --> 00:16:07.240 And the girls later were working at part -time 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:10.500 jobs and we all brought money home. So we were 00:16:10.500 --> 00:16:15.500 sort of the typical Irish Catholic. We weren't 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:18.940 impoverished, but we were on the border. We got 00:16:18.940 --> 00:16:22.779 free lunch at school and we got some other benefits, 00:16:22.940 --> 00:16:26.370 but what have you, but we all. chip money into 00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:29.269 the pot every month to make sure the rent was 00:16:29.269 --> 00:16:33.110 paid and there was food on the table. So, you 00:16:33.110 --> 00:16:34.929 know, I would have conversations with her as 00:16:34.929 --> 00:16:38.830 I got older, you know, about that just on a financial 00:16:38.830 --> 00:16:42.610 basis. And then as I got into college, you know, 00:16:42.649 --> 00:16:45.149 we would have, you know, I was the only one in 00:16:45.149 --> 00:16:48.070 the family, in all the McArdle family, not the 00:16:48.070 --> 00:16:50.029 Crow family, but the McArdle family that went 00:16:50.029 --> 00:16:53.529 to college. And I had loans and what have you 00:16:53.529 --> 00:16:57.330 so she was very very proud of me and and I was 00:16:57.330 --> 00:17:00.870 very financially supportive I could take this 00:17:00.870 --> 00:17:03.490 a lot further along but I think you get the point 00:17:03.490 --> 00:17:07.430 Yeah, and I also wanted to as you were talking 00:17:07.430 --> 00:17:12.490 there about the family being a strong unit The 00:17:12.490 --> 00:17:16.490 holiday season has always been a special time 00:17:16.490 --> 00:17:20.200 when I was growing up. I knew that Christmas 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:23.299 time was very important to you because we always 00:17:23.299 --> 00:17:28.160 from the time I was very young even here in the 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.140 past several years we a little more time apart 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:34.799 or Time between our gatherings, but there's always 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:37.640 these what we call the horde for those of you 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:40.099 listening There's a name for our extended family 00:17:40.099 --> 00:17:45.000 the horde When did you know that Christmas was 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:47.660 a big deal in your house? Do you know how old 00:17:47.660 --> 00:17:51.400 you were and did? Your mother and gammy to me 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:56.759 that she really prioritize Christmas and You 00:17:56.759 --> 00:17:59.460 guys aren't upper middle class certainly or even 00:17:59.460 --> 00:18:02.460 middle class, but are you happy around the holidays? 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:07.599 You know that that is such an insightful question 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:11.640 that goes right to the psychic of growing up 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:15.920 In a family like I did but I do remember that 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:21.960 that Christmas You got one toy not not You know 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:25.640 two dolls or three hundred dolls you got you 00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:28.859 got one toy. I hope you include this in the thing 00:18:28.859 --> 00:18:33.380 So you had to choose real quick what it was you 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:37.839 wanted so you got one toy and then you had a 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:41.059 stocking and The stocking would have some fruit 00:18:41.059 --> 00:18:44.859 in it and some candy, but it would be like You 00:18:44.859 --> 00:18:48.819 know, fruit, but it would be more like walnuts, 00:18:49.099 --> 00:18:50.920 but they were hard walnuts. You had to crack 00:18:50.920 --> 00:18:55.000 them to get them open. There'll be some walnuts 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:58.980 and some candy in the stocking. And then there 00:18:58.980 --> 00:19:01.700 would be the one toy that you wanted. So you 00:19:01.700 --> 00:19:05.960 got to choose. But generally, you know, you would 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:10.980 get that one toy and I remember getting a pool 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:14.440 table. It was a small, we talk about pool tables. 00:19:15.059 --> 00:19:20.900 I mean, this thing was like 14 inches by 30 inches. 00:19:21.539 --> 00:19:24.440 God knows they had to take out a loan or get 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:27.819 some money from somebody, but it was just this 00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:30.859 really small pool table with pool balls, you 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:33.240 know, about one inch. Anyway, so that was my 00:19:33.240 --> 00:19:37.569 toy. That year other times it would be you know 00:19:37.569 --> 00:19:41.390 a glove a baseball glove But you so anyway, you 00:19:41.390 --> 00:19:45.170 get the point you got you got the 120. Oh, yeah 00:19:45.170 --> 00:19:48.349 I mean it was a it was a big effing deal and 00:19:48.349 --> 00:19:51.250 And of course the girls, you know, they'd get 00:19:51.250 --> 00:19:55.750 you know, 300 dolls or whatever You know They'd 00:19:55.750 --> 00:19:58.809 get whatever they wanted So I was always happy 00:19:58.809 --> 00:20:03.779 at Christmas Um, okay. How about this? Did did 00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:08.599 she ever go or can you remember being? eight 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:12.140 nine or ten or eleven and going with your mother 00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:15.279 to Anywhere in public the store or somewhere 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:17.680 to pay the gas bill where you got to stand in 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:19.319 line You got to interact with people. Did you 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:24.119 ever observe? I'm sure you did but do you remember 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:26.900 how she handled herself in public because I think 00:20:26.900 --> 00:20:29.619 that's something that children Observe, I certainly 00:20:29.619 --> 00:20:32.539 remember you know how you interacted with somebody 00:20:32.539 --> 00:20:38.339 at a hotel desk or a restaurant server or wherever 00:20:38.339 --> 00:20:41.460 Same with mom. Did you notice things like that? 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:46.059 And were there some takeaways? Oh Daniel You 00:20:46.059 --> 00:20:50.500 are the journalist. I mean, you know, you really 00:20:50.500 --> 00:20:53.400 should make a living in journalism, but They 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:57.279 don't pay any money, you know picking up shit 00:20:57.630 --> 00:20:59.569 You know, it pays you a lot more money than you're, 00:20:59.569 --> 00:21:02.569 but anyway, you're exactly right. Yes. I mean, 00:21:02.710 --> 00:21:04.630 she would always say, okay, now we're going to 00:21:04.630 --> 00:21:07.950 go into this store and you don't have to say 00:21:07.950 --> 00:21:10.910 anything. You just let me handle it or whatever 00:21:10.910 --> 00:21:13.849 they have, whatever it was going to be, or maybe 00:21:13.849 --> 00:21:16.990 we were going to get a pair of shoes and she 00:21:16.990 --> 00:21:19.690 would get a pair of shoes and she would stick, 00:21:19.690 --> 00:21:22.630 you know, cardboard in the bottom of the shoes 00:21:22.630 --> 00:21:25.900 so that it didn't show out. And, uh, but, but 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:28.960 when we ever went out in public, it was like, 00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:32.799 we have no problems. We're just as rich as everybody 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:38.799 in lower Hensley. You know, and we're here to 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:42.240 pay the power bill so you can get the power turned 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:44.539 back on because it's been turned off for four 00:21:44.539 --> 00:21:48.480 days or something. And she would have to take 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:51.460 us with her to do that, but she just had such 00:21:51.460 --> 00:21:58.839 class and such. She could talk in a form that 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:04.000 it wasn't begging, it wasn't anything. She would 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.059 be there and she'd have on her perfect dress 00:22:07.059 --> 00:22:10.700 with a hat, not a veil. She only wore the veil 00:22:10.700 --> 00:22:14.460 to church, but she would be dressed up and we'd 00:22:14.460 --> 00:22:17.640 go down to the power company and she would pay 00:22:17.640 --> 00:22:21.220 the power to get the power turned back on, which 00:22:21.220 --> 00:22:25.039 had been off for a week. And, uh, but that was 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:28.380 just her style. She knew how to be effective 00:22:28.380 --> 00:22:31.599 when it was time to get something accomplished 00:22:31.599 --> 00:22:34.960 like that. Yeah. And then the interesting thing, 00:22:34.980 --> 00:22:36.980 and I don't know how you're going to wove this 00:22:36.980 --> 00:22:39.480 back into the interview or anything, but she 00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:42.279 came from a very prominent family in Mississippi 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:45.539 and Meridian, Mississippi. And the family was, 00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:50.640 was quite well off. But her father died in an 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:54.559 automobile accident at a very early age when 00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:56.759 she was only like six years old or something. 00:22:56.859 --> 00:23:01.599 He was a banker. But this was just before the 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:05.680 depression, just before the war, and just before 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:08.980 everything else that went bad. So she did grow 00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:12.799 up in a family that they were affluent, but... 00:23:12.910 --> 00:23:16.230 Her mother knew we're really not as affluent 00:23:16.230 --> 00:23:20.690 as we were before the depression and the crash, 00:23:20.930 --> 00:23:25.210 you know, and the war. I mean, we've got some 00:23:25.210 --> 00:23:27.329 money in the bank or what have you. We talk about 00:23:27.329 --> 00:23:30.509 that on another episode, but, you know, I mean, 00:23:30.609 --> 00:23:33.470 her family was quite well -off and quite well 00:23:33.470 --> 00:23:38.650 -educated. But here we are in... And some perspective. 00:23:38.789 --> 00:23:40.769 She was born in, and correct me if I'm wrong, 00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:47.509 19... Uh, yeah, 1916, 1917. Uh, yeah, exactly. 00:23:47.970 --> 00:23:50.609 So around the depression that she's just a young 00:23:50.609 --> 00:23:54.170 girl when that's happening. Yeah. I mean, she 00:23:54.170 --> 00:23:57.730 went off to, uh, St. Vincent's nursing school, 00:23:58.049 --> 00:24:01.130 uh, in Birmingham, Alabama. You know, somebody 00:24:01.130 --> 00:24:04.829 had to pay for that, you know, in 1930 something. 00:24:05.029 --> 00:24:08.250 This is the height of depression. And, uh, so 00:24:08.250 --> 00:24:11.099 she goes off to nursing school there. And then 00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:13.700 she meets Granddaddy McArdle, which is a whole 00:24:13.700 --> 00:24:16.299 other story about how they met and everything 00:24:16.299 --> 00:24:18.799 else we can talk about some other time. But, 00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:20.900 you know, they were able to pay her tuition, 00:24:20.900 --> 00:24:24.220 you know, to go to this private Catholic nursing 00:24:24.220 --> 00:24:28.339 school in Birmingham and come out of it, you 00:24:28.339 --> 00:24:31.539 know, with an RN degree, you know, and then, 00:24:31.539 --> 00:24:35.559 you know, go on. And I think she only practiced 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:38.480 as a nurse for several years before she started 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:44.170 having all these babies. How about is the years 00:24:44.170 --> 00:24:46.990 move on and you've now started a family and all 00:24:46.990 --> 00:24:51.130 three of us are born and It's it's Mother's Day 00:24:51.130 --> 00:24:56.410 You know 82 or something Are you calling her 00:24:56.410 --> 00:24:59.529 like clockwork at a certain time back? Then do 00:24:59.529 --> 00:25:01.250 you know when you can reach her are you having 00:25:01.250 --> 00:25:05.710 conversations? how Yeah, the yeah the Mother's 00:25:05.710 --> 00:25:08.299 Day connection and just how you're communicating 00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:11.619 with Gammie as you're kind of globetrotting, 00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:16.759 so to speak. Globetrotting is a great word for 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:21.559 me. I mean, I, you know, being the first college 00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:25.200 graduate and, you know, going into the military 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:28.720 and getting my, you know, I made captain. And 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:31.740 so I was sort of a, you know, a success story. 00:25:32.670 --> 00:25:35.910 And I was full of it, you know, it filled my 00:25:35.910 --> 00:25:38.690 head with a bunch of shit, which really wasn't 00:25:38.690 --> 00:25:41.950 all that important. But at the time, I always 00:25:41.950 --> 00:25:45.349 called her every Sunday. It didn't matter where 00:25:45.349 --> 00:25:48.730 I was in the world or when I was in Germany. 00:25:48.890 --> 00:25:51.849 I would call her as much as I could. But anyway, 00:25:51.890 --> 00:25:54.900 when I came back and I got on the. what I call 00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.680 the merry -go -round, you know, chasing the brass 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:01.259 ring, moving from New York to Chicago to Pittsburgh, 00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:03.920 all that stuff that you went through. You know, 00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:07.400 I still, every Sunday, I would call Gammie, you 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:09.819 know, to talk to her, and it would always be 00:26:09.819 --> 00:26:11.859 in the afternoon because I knew that she had 00:26:11.859 --> 00:26:14.900 gone to church or whatever. So we talked at least 00:26:14.900 --> 00:26:17.019 once a week all those years.