Interview with Mrs. Evangel Parker
November 2003
Interviewed by Sandra M. Lowe
Mrs. Parker, 82 years old at the time of the interview, went to Carrsville School around 1927 and then moved to the Courtland area.
Q: Mrs. Parker, could you tell us what area of Isle of Wight you grew up in?
A: In Halls.
Q: Did you have any sisters and brothers?
A: No.
Q: You were the only child?
A: Only child
Q: You went to the Carrsville School?
A: Yes
Q: Do you know about what years that would be?
A: No
Q: You started in the first grade?
A: Yes, started in the first grade.
Q: When were you born?
A: 1961, 1921. 1960
Q: How old are you now?
A: 82
Q: So you were born in 1921.
A: Yes mam
Q: You would have gone to school around 1927?
A: Yeah
Q: You were about six years old?
A: Six years old yeah.
Q: When you went to Carrsville how many room did the building have?
A: One room
Q: Do you remember who your teacher was?
A: No I don’t.
Q: So you had all seven grades in that one room.
A: yeah
Q: And she taught everybody?
A: Yes mam
Q: Do you remember, did you have another teacher or was that the only one you had while you were there?
A: That was the only one I had while I was there. I was there for about 2 years. Before I moved to Courtland.
Q: Do you know anything about; have any idea when the school was built since you were there in 1927?
A: No I do not know. I have no idea.
Q: No one mentioned whether it was there for a long time before you got there or not?
A: No they didn’t
Q: When you went to Carrsville how far was your house from the school?
A: Oh, about, it was within walking distance. It wasn’t too far. I’d say about 1 ½ miles. I could see the school from where I lived.
Q: So you didn’t ever have to walk very far?
A: No I didn’t have to walk far.
Q: Did you have some other classmates that walked with you or did you go
A: I had a cousin that walked with me.
Q: Do you remember the names of some of your cousins that walked with you, that went with you to school?
A: Johnny King was one of them. And Mary she was a Wiggins then. Mary Wiggins was my cousin.
Q: When you went to school there for the first and second grades, you were old enough to have some jobs around the house. Do you remember if you had to do any?
A: No
Q: You didn’t have to do any work at home? No chores?
A; No, No chores.
Q: In those two years, do you remember what school was like? What do you remember about the actual being in class or being in the building?
A: You had to be quite in the building and get our lessons done. Go from one grade to the other, and then you had to be quite. You had to be very quite.
Q: When she was working with other grades then you had to be doing something quiet?
A: Yes, we had to be getting our lesson out for the next day.
Q: Do you remember any of the lessons that you had or some of the things that you learned?
A: Sure don’t
Q: Do you remember any of the subjects you had?
A: We had reading and spelling. Learned that and arithmetic, just a little not that much.
Q: What was your favorite subject?
A: Reading. I loved to read.
Q: Do you remember what time you went to school or what time school started?
A: It started about nine o’clock in the morning. We’d go until about two.
Q: What did you do at lunchtime?
A: I had to go back home to get lunch, walk back home to get lunch and come back. We played outside for a while. Until time to go back in school.
Q: Do you think you had maybe an hour?
A: About an hour.
Q: When you played outside what were some of the games that you played?
A: Running behind each other, tagging each other running and tagging.
Q: You can’t recall any of the games, any games that you played, tag or hopscotch?
A: We use to play tag, ring around the roses.
Q: Did everybody just about go home for lunch?
A: No, no. The ones that lived farther away from school
Q: What do you remember about the inside of the classroom, the way it looked inside? Do you remember what was in the room?
A: She had pictures all up on the walls. I couldn’t tell you _________.
Q: Did she have letters of the alphabet up there or numbers or just pictures?
A: Just pictures.
Q: What furniture was in there?
A: Desks, we had a desk, _____________________.
Q: How was your building heated?
A: By stove and wood
Q: Where did you get water?
A: Well we got water from there. The school was behind the church and they had a pump side by the church and we got water from there.
Q: The Carrsville School that you went to was it in the same place that it is now?
A: No that school been torn down so long ago.
Q: The one you went to was behind what church?
A: Pulaski Baptist church.
Q: It was called the Carrsville School?
A: Yes
Q: Do you know if Mrs. Walden was there at that school?
A: I know a Walden but she was there after I was left, but I know her and all. I met her.
Q: But she was at that school for a while?
A: Yeah, she was there for a while.
Q: Do you have any remembrance s of any the people or things that went on in your school or activities or anything?
A: We didn’t have any activities or nothing going on in school.
Q: Could you describe the outside of the building? Did it have a lot of windows on one side or since it was just one room, maybe it had windows all around it?
A: No it didn’t have windows all around it. It had windows on one side not all around.
Q: Did you have a cloakroom in there or where did you put your coats and hats and things?
A: No.
Q: You didn’t have a cloakroom?
A: No. You’d hang them up on the walls.
Q: What do you recall about the way your teacher handled punishment?
A: You had to stand up in the corner. She punished you. If you did something wrong and she catch you stand up in the corner.. She had a rule that she’s give a couple or so licks in your hand.
Q: Was that usually enough to handle?
A: Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah!
Q: So you didn’t really have many kids act up so badly that anything else was needed?
A: No!
Q: What did you like most about, what can you tell us about things that you remember that you really liked?
A: Well I really liked reading. And I really liked (laughter) going outside playing.
Q: Can you think of anything that you didn’t like that you know was concerned with your school days?
A: I wasn’t too crazy about the math.
Q: You didn’t have any unpleasant memories of school?
A: No, I really liked school.
Q: Can you think of any other school experience you’d like to tell us about?
A: No.
Q: Then would you tell us a little something about yourself? After you went to school what did you do as far as jobs, work, retirement, family, children.
A: After during the summer time I worked for a lady in Courtland. Then I worked at a laundry for a while. Then I worked in an apartment, running the elevator and putting out mail. Taking out the mail.
Q: Did you go to college?
A: Yes, I went over to St. Paul’s to take up seam stressing.
Q: The job that you just mentioned was that before you went to St. Paul or afterwards?
A: Oh that was before.________________________Then I got married. After I got married I worked a little while. Then I retired.
Q: Anything else you want to tell us about, maybe your family or church?
A: I joined ___________________Baptist Church when I was in Carrsville. Then I went, left Carrsville. I went to Courtland. I still belong to ____________Baptist Church I didn’t join, I went to church but I didn’t join any church in Courtland. I went to Jersey. I joined Union Baptist Church in Jersey. We were in Jersey for a good little while.
Q: When you said for a little while, several years or?
A: What in Jersey? Oh I was in Jersey about 15 or 20 years.
Q: Then you moved back here?
A: Yes, Connie moved us back here. Got sick you know so she moved us back down here with her so I/m living with my niece.
Q: Did you have anything else you’d like to add about your school life or your family life now?
A: Oh Family life now is very nice. She’s very nice to us and she takes good care of us or takes good care of me. Also her husband he’s very nice to me. That’s about all. Connie is very nice to us. She takes good care. Although I guess I would get on her nerves sometime but she don’t pay me no mind. She just goes about her business. If my aunt gets to playing if she catch us she let us know about it. Yeah, so when I play with her I watch to see if Connie is coming in anywhere around so we have a nice time, we have a lovely time.
Q: That sounds nice. Is there anything else you would like to add? I have no other questions for you.
A: No that’s about all. Very nice and she takes good care of us. We get three good meals a day which we do better down here then we did up there. We get about two when we were to Jersey. Joined Zion Baptist Church down here.
Q: In Portsmouth?
A: Yeah, in Portsmouth.