Interview with Mrs. Otelia Tynes
April 16, 2003
Interviewed by Sandra Lowe
Mrs. Tynes grew up in the area near Trinity School. It was on the right side of Emanuel Baptist Church, between the church cemetery and the church. It is no longer standing.
Q: Tell us your date of birth and the area of Isle of Wight that you grew up in.
A: Good morning. Good morning to everyone. My date of birth is June 20, 1931. grew up in the Hardy District near Emanuel Baptist Church. At one time it was Highway 680. Now it’s Magnet Drive.
Q: How many sisters and brothers did you have?
A: My number of sisters and brothers was seven. They lived in Rushmere and they attended Lawnes School until they moved to New Jersey.
Q: What county schools did you attend, and what grades were taught there?
A: Trinity.
Q: You attended Trinity?
A: Trinity Elementary School.
Q: What grades were there at the time you attended?
A: The time I attended was first, second, third, fourth, and fifth; first through the sixth grades because I left at the end of sixth grade.
Q: Did they go to the seventh grade?
A: When I was here they didn’t go to the seventh grade. I only went to the sixth when I was here. That was my last year.
Q: What year was that?
A: My first grade was 1937-38 session. My second grade was 1939 through 40 session and the fourth grade was 1941 through 42 session, and my fifth grade was 1942 through 43 session, and that’s when I was promoted to the seventh grade.
Q: And at that time seventh grade was where?
A: Isle of Wight Training School.
Q: How many classrooms were at Trinity at the time?
A: Three.
Q: Three teachers?
A: There were three teachers, yes.
Q: Who were some of those teachers?
A: Mrs. Elnora Miles, she eventually married. Mrs. Elnora Long that’s after her marriage to Vincent. She taught me the first grade. There was a Mr. Quarles. Mr. Quarles was the principal at one time. I don’t know why he left some say he may have gone to the Army. I don’t know. Anyway, Mrs. Elsie B. Godwin became the principal. I remember Mr. Quarles, Mrs. Long and Mrs. Godwin.
Q: Do you know any of the history of the schools that were built perhaps, or the times that the rooms changed, anything at all?
A: I can remember passing by I saw up in the eaves of the top I could see a 1915 up there. My brother thought 1915 was when the school was built. I don’t know, but I do remember seeing a 1915 on the school up near the top of the building. And Trinity, according to the Courthouse according to some history that we had secured from the Church, Trinity was called the Colored Elementary School by the County. It was purchased from the County December 1961 by Emmanuel Baptist Church. Also, they bought 2 acres of land for $1000. That’s about all I can remember about that.
Q: When you started school and attended those first few grades, how did you get to and from school?
A: I walked to and from school.
Q: What do recall about those days of walking?
A: It was fun. It was fun because I was one of those students who was kind of lived strict by my Aunt. Another person, but she, you know, you know I was glad to get out (laughs). After I left home I was kind of glad to get away from home. I had fun just walking with the other children and it was fun to me. And then I knew that I had to learn because I had to behave myself. I got that message before I left home. And she knew and the teachers knew I couldn’t do nothing wrong without her knowing anything about it, so that was what I had to do. I tried to hold my little self together and had fun, too.
Q: Did you have any jobs that had to be done before and after school?
A: Oh, my Lord. Before I had to make my bed. I could not leave out that house without making my bed. And at that time I brought in some wood, fed chickens and I helped bring in some water and we lived on the farm By living on the farm I did a little bit of everything from A to Z. Even churned butter. Sometimes now I wonder if my legs are hurting because of taking that jar _______. I did all of that before, if it wasn’t before school, it was after school.
Q: Were there chores that had to be done at school?
A: Yes, there were some chores. I helped dust the erasers. I helped wash desks. When told to wash the blackboard, I would wash the blackboard. I didn’t get chance to wash the blackboard too much, but I did wash it some.
Q: How did your school day start?
A: We had devotion and we had the pledge to the flag. And we also sang songs. Sometimes we had Bible verses, too.
Q: What were some of the subjects that you recall?
A: Reading, writing, at that time arithmetic, English. I think I can remember a hygiene book, and. Spelling and English. Did I call English? Reading, writing, arithmetic, English and hygiene.
Q: Where were your books kept?
A: On the desks. We had no desks. There was a place under the desk wherever the seat part was under there. And the pencils were on top of the desk in a little pencil slot.
Q: How long was the school day?
A: Now that’s what I don’t remember. I don’t know whether it was from nine to three or what. But maybe it was from 9 to 3. I don’t remember, but I think that’s what it was.
Q: How long was the school year at that time?
A: That’s something else I don’t remember. I don’t know if it was 8 months or 9 months. I really don’t.
Q: Was there a break in between or did you go straight through the 8 or 9 months?
A: You know, I believe we went right on through. I don’t think we had no vacation like they do in schools now.
Q: Where did you eat lunch, and anything you recall about the lunch period?
A: Well, we ate lunch in the classroom. And we had the little brown paper bags and real cold, cold days I can remember they served soup and cocoa and it was a little building right over near the church and we would line up and go to that building. All the children didn’t go. I wonder why some went and some didn’t go, but I was one of the ones that went and_____ So I had to serve soup ______________________ Other than going over there eating soup we just had our little brown paper bags that we had a sandwich or something in and stayed at our desks.
Q: Do you recall how often you had the soup, if that was a special occasion?
A: I believe it was when it was real cold, I think. I can’t remember too much about how often it was, but I do remember that we ate and I do remember that all of the children didn’t eat. I don’t know whether it was because I was sort of small at the time or what. ____________
Q: Do you know how it was provided; who provided the food for you?
A: Well, Mr. Hutchins, Bill Hutchins was over there. I don’t know whether he or the county or….
Q: Or the church?
A: It wasn’t the church. It wasn’t the church. I don’t know who did that. I rather think __________
Q: What can you tell us about the recess periods; what did you do and what did you have?
A: We had recess after lunch and we played games. Hide, go and seek, London Bridge, Little Sally Ann, dodge ball, jump rope and I don’t know games that went loop de loop. You know games like that—ring games. Dodge ball. Then we had uh, just before we went home we had a 10-minute recess was called. I can’t remember what we did, just went out there and run wild, I guess (laughs) we just went out exercising, I guess. You know. Just was glad to get out of the classroom for a little while. That was just before we went home.
Q: What about the inside of the building? How would you describe your school classroom?
A: The classrooms were spacey, they were real spacey. Look like to me there were about 4 windows. There were a lot of windows. Had 4 windows on each side of the school of each room. Each room had about 8 windows. They had a lot of windows and they had the long curtains to cover the windows, in each room.
Q: What did the students’ desks look like? You had mentioned that earlier.
A: The students’ desks were made of wood and kind of medium set and you could sit and there was a place where you could put your books under and a place where you could put your pencils up in the slot on top.
Q: Were there metal parts on the desks?
A: Yes, there were metal parts on the desks. _________. They were made of wood.
Q: The metal parts, what was that the legs?
A: Yeah, the legs and the little decorations between the leg and the top. You know how they were put together.
Q: Chalkboards?
A: Yes, there were chalkboards. They were laid in __________.
Q: When you came into the building, do you know what side the chalkboards were on?
A: Now coming in on one side the chalkboard in Mrs. Godwin’s room was on the right hand side coming in. I can remember that. Now where it was in the other rooms, I don’t remember.
Q: In her room what grade would that have been?
A: Probably the fourth and fifth grades.
Q: How was that room or building heated during the winter?
A: It was a big stove that sat in each room—big iron stove. The older people might would have called it a potbelly stove, you know. They burnt coal and wood.
Q: How was the wood and coal supplied or taken care of then?
A: That was kept in a little house in the back of the school behind _________.
Q: Did the boys take care of that?
A: Yeah, they would go out there with scuttle _____ and get the coal. Some of them even had lightwood where you would, you know, get the fire started. And seems like to me I remember a long pipe, long pipes running from one room to the other.
Q: Do you know what those pipes were for?
A: To heat the other classroom. You know instead of the pipe coming right out of the chimney it was running—they were up high, up high—and they ran over the ceiling to the other.
Q: What was your water supply, and were there rest rooms?
A: Yes, there were. The rest rooms were on the outside of the building, one for the boys and one for the girls. The water supply I just can remember a hand pump. Now whether that hand pump was inside or outside. But I do know they had a cooler. They had a cooler and we would just go there and get water at that cooler to drink. My auntie always would give me a glass to bring from home to get my water. Now whether the others had their water or not, I don’t know.
Q: Do you recall any school supplies that were used, what they were, whether your parents supplied them or the county?
A: Now the school supplies were the pencils and paper, I guess. I don’t know whether this would come in this line or not, but we had a Mothers’ League—something like a PTA now—and they got together with several mothers (I have the names—some of the Mothers’ League are Sister Esther Gray, Sister Sarah A. Winnegan, Sister Bertha Key, my auntie Sister Pearl Williamson, Sister Mary Pugh, Sister Dottie Parker, Eloise Hill, Sister Frances Major, ________. They were so faithful in having—Sister Odell Green was one of them, too, and there may be some more that I don’t remember right now. And they would sell ice cream and cookies or whatever to make money to supply some of the needs for the children that the county didn’t do. And that was when those days came. One of the main days was wrapping the Maypole. We had a May Day and that day we had refreshments. I don’t know whether or not we sold the refreshments. I think they just fixed those refreshments for the children. And we wrapped the Maypole. That was a big highlight of my school, (laughs) attending school because we every year we would have May Day and we would wrap the Maypole. I remember my last year I had on a little pink dress and I thought I was “somebody” (laughs).
Q: You called it the Mothers…
A: At that time it was the Mothers’ League. I think it took the place of what a PTA is now, I guess.
Q: But it wasn’t done by those people for Trinity School and I would imagine other schools had something similar.
A: I don’t know, but this was for Trinity. They had children coming here. Most of them had children coming here and they were just so faithful, you know. Some of these same mothers if they would see me or other children doing something that they didn’t have any business doing, they could correct us. They didn’t hesitate to correct us. _________________ (Laughs) it was just a big family.
Q: What other impression about your classroom; did your teacher have any additional teaching aids that they would hang up on the walls?
A: They had the ABCs on the wall and the numbers from 0 to 9 on the wall. What other teaching aids did they have, I can’t remember. They had something about hygiene. They would have different little books or whatever to tell us about our hygiene health. I remember I don’t know if she was called the county supervisor or what, Mrs. Georgie Tyler would come around once in a while and when she came she would bring Life Buoy Soap and toothpaste. And each student got that Life Buoy Soap and toothpaste and a little Red Cross pin. And that was hygiene, and that was nice because we looked forward to that. She had a chart and she put it on the board and everyone that got one would get a red star on that chart. I can remember that because I got a red star.
Q: Do you have any information about where she received the funding for that or was that from the county?
A: I really don’t know. I don’t know because there was another lady that I may be getting this lady mixed up with _______ --Mrs. Ruth Haverty
Q: I remember that name.
A: Mrs. Ruth Haverty, I don’t know whether she and Mrs. Georgie Tyler were doing the same thing. Visiting teacher she was called. But seem like to me Mrs. Tyler was a county supervisor, but I don’t know for sure.
Q: Did your building have a cloakroom?
A: Yes, it did.
Q: And you had adequate space to hang your coat?
A: Adequate space in the cloakroom and little hangers where you could hang your coat. I don’t remember coat hangers. Now they may have had coat hangers, but I know w had the little hooks where you put your coat on.
Q: What can you tell us about the discipline in your classroom during that time?
A: Now, if we did something real, real, real bad you would hold your hand out and they would hit 3 or 4 licks in your hand by rule. We used to get those licks in your hand and then they would sit you in a corner with your back toward the other students and your face toward the wall. And me personally, something I can remember one day someone took my pencil and I jerked it out of his hand and when I jerked it out of his hand it kind of hurt his hand, but I got punished for doing that and I had to stand in the corner on one leg. Just did that I had to stand there for… I don’t know if it was 1 or 2 minutes or what, but I had to stand on one leg. I remember Mrs. Godwin looked around and she said “stand there, stand there, the time isn’t up yet.” And I said, “I’m tired.” She said, “Another minute.” (Laughs) Yes, I remember that when I stood in the corner.
Q: Do you recall any other school experiences that you want to tell us about?
A: It was just enjoyable. School was just enjoyable to me. I enjoyed one of my experiences with Miss Long. My first teacher stayed with my auntie. One of those years when I was in school and I can’t remember whether I was sick or what, but she did a lot of teaching to me at school. My most memorable experience of that was that I knew how to say my ABCs backward and forward when I came to school and I knew my numbers from 1 to 100 when I started to school and I thought that was real nice and I used to write poetry. I used to set down and write. All of that was the beginning to me. And I feel like what I learned then is still part of me now.
Q: Were there any negative impressions that you have about growing up in that period of time, the schoolhouse that you were in, teachers, or students? Do you have any negatives about those?A: No, I don’t have any. As I told you, I was reared kind of strict and I was one that had to behave. Although I tried to do what I saw some the other children do, but I knew what I was going to get when I got home so I tried real hard to ______. The teachers, to me, were nice, very nice,
Q: You’ve given me the answers to the positives and the negatives. Very Good. Are there any other childhood memories that you recall that didn’t happen at school? Any other experiences?
A: Like I said, we walked to school and just being with the other children. We wouldn’t come around the road we would cut through ___________. And we would get a shorter cut. Some of the children would laugh at us and we would come through the woods. We had fun doing that. I always felt that they looked out for me. I don’t know why they looked out for me so. I was real __________. They looked out for me. That’s it. I just enjoyed school. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it because I love people, I think, and children.
Q: After attending school, what types of jobs did you have and what changes do you recall in the county?
A: Can I back up again? I had one son that came here. He attended first and second grade here.
Q: At Trinity?
A: Uh huh. Then he went to…but I think he said his teacher was Mrs. Quarles. Then he went to Isle of Wight. Was it Isle of Wight? Yes, he went to Isle of Wight in the third grade. From here he just attended the first and second grade here. Okay, you asked me what?
Q: Some of the jobs that you had and different experiences you remember in the county.
A: Trying to think. _________. As I said I was reared by my auntie, a beautiful person, and I don’t have to say when I got married or nothing like that.
Q: Only tell us what you want to.
A: Okay. At the age of 8 I joined church. I was in all of the church auxiliaries and everything. I graduated from high school with honors in 1950, IWT. And when I became 20 years of age I married a nice devoted man and God blessed us with 2 sons, Nathan and Devine. They completed college—One graduated from Virginia State University. The other one graduated from Howard University. (Tape changed to side B) You asked me some of the accomplishments that I had a desire to achieve in my lifetime. Some of my experiences were I served as a substitute teacher in Surry County. I became an insurance agent. I took courses from Paul D. Camp College and John Tyler Community College. All of this was with honors. I worked in the school system. When I graduated from John Tyler Community College in 1979, I received my Teacher’s Aid Certificate and I worked as a teacher’s assistant for 21 years in Isle of Wight County and Surry County combined. And that also gave me a little instinct to write poetry. And I found I had a lot of self-esteem. And I retired from Isle of Wight County School System in 1996. And it was rewarding. And that’s about all I can think about. They were highlights to me because I thought I accomplished some of the things that I desired to do. And life has been an inspiration to me as well as rewarding. You know there’s a Bible verse I always like, “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” and I thank God that He has given me that strength because it is His grace and His mercy that keep me pressing onward and upward.
Q: Thank you. Did you have anything else you want to add as we conclude our interview?
A: I could just add this little bit, too. I think I close it out with because God is keeping me going on my upward way. As I attended school during my early years of life God has brought me this far because maybe I could have run out here and didn’t go to school at all. What the Lord had for me he had for me. All of this has given me the foundation. Gave me good strong hope to build on the rest of my life and I do appreciate everything, all of the teachers, everybody.
Q: Thank you very much. Mrs. Otelia Tynes we appreciate your coming out today. Thank you for helping us to get our histories on tape. Thank you.