Q: I'm Jean Uzzle and I’m interviewing Mr. Eddie Walker. Mr. Walker, what part of Isle of Wight did you grow up in?
A: Central Hill.
Q: How many brothers and sisters did you have?
A: Two sisters and three brothers.
Q: Did they attend the same school you attended or what school did they attend?
A: Same school.
Q: What was that school?
A: I’d call it Central Hill Elementary School.
Q: What grades were taught there?
A: From one through seven.
Q: How many classrooms?
A: I remember two, could have been three though, but I remember two.
Q: All right and you had how many teachers?
A: Two, could have been three, but I remember two.
Q: What were the teacher’s names? Do you remember any of them?
A: Mrs. White and Mrs. Gracie Davis; you know Mrs. Gracie Davis, she live...
Q: Right down the block. Yea, I remember her. Right, I remember. What grades did you attend at: Central Hill?
A: One through six.
Q: Now, can you tell me how you got to school?
A: Walked.
Q: How many miles do you think that was? How far?
A: Was less than ½ mile. I’m guessing maybe between a ¼ and a ½ maybe, not that far.
Q: You were fortunate not to have to walk that far.
A: Well, it was a community then and the school was right in the community.
Q: Before you went to school do you remember if you had some chores to do at home or after you got home from school?
A: During that time, everybody had chores. We used to cut wood and coal ‘cause they had wood stoves and coal stoves during that time. Water, we use to carry water to wash clothes because we had pumps, you know, and we had to get all the water in the tubs so my mother could wash the clothes and stuff like that, so we had quite a few things to do. Other than help my father, I had to help him, too, with everything that he needed to do. He had buses, later on in my life, he had buses and things like that, so I had to help him with the buses and stuff like that.
Q: So you had a full day?
A: Sure.
Q: Did you have chores to do at school, once you got to school?
A: Well, we used to help keep the fire going in the wintertime. In the summer time, maybe we helped the teacher keep the blackboards clean, chalk and stuff like that on the blackboard.
Q: Can you tell me how your day began at school? Once you were at school.
A: Well, I think we started with the Allegiance and I think that was 8:00. I think we started school about eight or 9:00, somewhere in that vicinity; then until 3:00 or 3:15 in the evening.
Q: Now what subjects did you have?
A: Well, all the basics, reading, writing, arithmetic and later on more. I guess some literature and English and some advanced math maybe later on in the sixth grade, maybe.
Q: Now, were there any textbooks that you liked, that you remember, above all the books you had? Was there a textbook or some book you had while you was at school that you remember?
A: Math.
Q: Math was your favorite, uh?
A: Yes, math, maybe later on science.
Q: Now, where were your books kept?
A: At home.
Q: No, at school where did you keep your books?
A: We carried our books back and forth everyday. You had to buy your books during that time; we did anyway. The kids that didn’t have the money to buy, the parents that didn’t have the money to buy the books, they didn’t have books so they had to use other peoples books. Luckily, my parents had the money to buy all our books.
Q: All right and you told me that school began between eight or nine and got out at three?
A: Somewhere around three, uh uh.
Q: Can you remember how long your school year was?
A: Think from September to May, end of May. Didn’t go into June like they do now. I think we would always have that May Day type of affair and then after that school would close and that was in May.
Q: Lunchtime, tell me about lunchtime? Where did you eat your lunch, how long was your lunchtime?
A: I think lunch was about thirty minutes and we ate lunch right in the schoolrooms. We carried our lunch; we brought our lunch to school with us. We had the little lunch pails and we ate right in school.
Q: What about recess? Did you have recess?
A: I think we got breaks in between. Like one in the morning and one after lunch in the evening, and the time you didn’t spend eating lunch.
Q: Mr. Walker, we were talking about recess at school and we wanted to know what you do during the recess time?
A: We’d play different games, you know, like softball. There wasn’t any softball, I guess baseball, we’d call it stickball; and tussle and wrestle the boys did a lot. I think the girls played these games you play on the ground, hopscotch, what you want to call it. I don’t know, I guess that all I can remember.
Q: Can you describe your classroom? What was the classroom like, can you remember what it was like or what you had on the walls, what the teacher’s had?
A: Blackboard, that was behind the teacher and two or three classes in each room. There wasn’t a whole lot on the walls, I guess. We had the regular desks you would find in school, and they used to put linseed oil on the floor every so often, don’t ask me why they did it. I had my own opinions about it, I guess, trying to preserve the floors, I guess, make them last as long as possible and that’s all I can remember.
Q: How was the school heated in the winter?
A: Coal, coal heat, potbelly stoves. Coal heat either coal or either wood. They used both, depending what they had.
Q: What about your restrooms?
A: That was outside restrooms. It would have been too comfortable having them inside.
Q: Would have been nice, wouldn’t it?
A: Yes.
Q: Where did you all get water?
A: We had pumps right there in school. No such thing as running water. Spring water, we didn’t have that, we had pumps.
Q: The only running water you had to run with it.
A: Yea.
Q: How would you describe your teacher’s desk?
A: You asked me a question that I probably can’t answer. Some things you can just vaguely remember. I remember both my teachers; two teachers that I had I got along with them very well.
Q: How was your desk, can you describe your desk?
A: Just kept a lot of papers and books on them ‘cause that’s where we had to keep our books once we bring them to school, you kept them on the desk.
Q: You told me that you did have blackboards?
A: Yes.
Q: Your school supplies that you used for school, did you have to furnish your own school supplies?
A: If you got any, you had to do it ‘cause the county didn’t do it. We were lucky we had a school, I guess.
Q: Now about your lighting in the school. Did you use or have electricity or was there lamps or lanterns, or was it natural light through the windows?
A: It was, I think, it was probably more natural light but we did have some electricity in there, but I’m not sure. It seems like but I can vaguely remember, maybe a couple of light bulbs, you know, hanging from the ceiling, but mostly just natural light, you know because daytime is when you was in school most time anyway. Was a lot of windows.
Q: I notice a lot of schools had big windows in there.
A: Yea.
Q: Did you have a cloakroom to put your coats and things in while you were at school?
A: Yea, they did have a coatroom that you could leave your coats and goulashes, if you wore them.
Q: Did you bring your water inside the school or did you just go outside to the pump to get water when you wanted it?
A: You had to go outside to get water.
Q: Now to the good part. What was punishment like, discipline and punishment like in school?
A: Well, they did have paddles but I don’t ever remember getting paddled myself at all. You know, I always had pretty good rapport with my teacher’s and they all liked me and I liked them, I guess. So I never had to have to be spanked at school, but if I did something wrong they called my parents; I got spanked at home. It was just as bad.
Q: Do you have any other school experience that you had while you were at Trinity that you’d like to tell us about? You know, as you go along there’s always something that you did or something that happened at school that always stick in your mind that you can remember? So do you have anything that you would like to tell us?
A: Well, I remember my school director, county director, Georgia Tyler. She was a very nice person and as matter of fact, I liked her too. I use to visit her a lot and I use to visit, what you would call my main teacher, Mrs. Gracie Davis. I used to visit her a lot down here in Smithfield. What they call the white bottom. She wanted me to stay with her when I was small, but I was against that.
Q: I apologize for calling your school Trinity, you went to Central Hill.
A: Yes, Central Hill.
Q: Do you have any more childhood memories that you would like to tell us about?
A: We used to fight a lot at school. You always had that, you know, in neighborhoods. You had a lot of people that walked to school outside the neighborhood, like I would get two or three wars, you know, and it was always those little fights or wars between the groups and that lasted as long as we went to school there, and I guess afterwards when my brothers and sisters went also. Other than that, you know, it wasn’t so bad, I guess. Bad compared to today.
Q: So how would you compare times then, to when you since attended school; job changes and all? How would you compare that back when you were in Central Hill at that time, compared to today time?
A: Well, the schools, I think, the teachers were more concerned about the kids than they are now, and most teachers’ say they and knew the parents, and they communicated with the parents, you know, when they could find them. Parents were more responsive, I guess to the teacher’s, you know. Now you got different cultures and schools all together, you know. You got, I guess some of the parents are very responsive and some are not and a lot of the teacher’s live in different areas outside the community, so a lot of them could care less. I got an eight hour job, you know, this is it. That’s just my opinion.
Q: In your opinion, how would you feel about that?
A: Well and, there again, I don’t think with a two-room school you didn’t have an administrative department. School, today, you have administrative, which is you have supervisors and things and I don’t think the supervisors today is responsible as they should be because a lot of the things that happen in school could be headed off; could be stopped if the administration would support the teacher’s and support the staff and young people that are involved.
Q: Do you think because of the number of students in a school? We were talking about differences from now and then.
A: Maybe that, maybe some of the things that you were saying could be part of the problem, but I don’t think it’s all of the problem; it may add to it, but when you get multiple problems, what you have to do is concentrate on solving them one at the time –if you try to solve them all sometime you do a poor job solving any of them. I found that out in my job, and this happens when people try to do too many things and do them half way. Nothing well, and that’s when you get a poor rating for doing things that way. So I concentrate, you prioritize your problems, work on them with some kind of pride.
Q: So what advice would you give the children of use of the school?
A: Stay in school, pay attention, obey your teacher’s, obey your parents and make sure that you get the maximum from your education, because you will need it later on. We live in a society today that people that don’t get an education, don’t make it in our society that well, and we live in another system that people don’t care whether you get an education or not. If you don’t get one, if you don’t get an education, they can eliminate you all together; they don’t even worry about you. If you want to be a part of the system, get an education.
Q: Alright, I have enjoyed the interview with you, Mr. Walker and we wish to thank you for it and anytime you’re back in town, once the museum is there, we’ll come and listen to your stories.
A: Okay, I’m going to send them a little donation. I gave them a donation before, I’m going to send them another one.
Q: I think they would appreciate that. Thank you.