"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of
prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert uswhen troubles thicken around us, still will she cling
to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return
to our hearts."

--Washington Irving

Helen's Story (as told by Helen Damron)

I was born June 25, 1929 and given the name of Helen Virginia Wilson, daughter of Russell and Wilma (Wright) Wilson. I was born at 9 PM; I was named after a neighbor: Helen Smallridge.
My birthplace was Gimbel Hollow, Huntington, West Virginia. The doctor that delivered me was O. E. Reynolds. My mother was a homemaker and my father worked in a picture frame factory. Later years my mother worked at a preserve factory in Huntington along with some of her family.
The first school I remember was in Buffalo, West Virginia. I remember a few things while I lived there. We had a house that had an upstairs with a bed my uncle made of willow wood. The house had a chimney. I remember being sick a lot and I also cried a lot. My uncle Chester would put me in a little wagon and push me back and forth and I would stop crying. I also remember sleeping at the foot of my mom and dad's bed at night.:

GRANNY ROWE’S SNOW CRÈME RECIPE
While living at Buffalo, mom would make snow cream in the winter time. She would put the left-over snow crème in a pan on top of the rain barrel which had frozen water in it. I still remember the recipe: one large scoop of freshly fallen snow (enough to fill up a 2 quart bowl: Sandra has the bowl today that we used). Add sugar to one can of carnation crème (add sugar to taste ~ 2 cups) and stir to mix making certain the mixture is not grainy, add 1 teaspoon vanilla, and fold crème mixture into the snow. Add more snow if needed. Add fresh fruit if available. Good to eat immediately.

FUNNY JOKES I PULLED
Daddy had a lettuce bed and on April Fools day, I ran to the house and told him a rabbit was eating up his lettuce. He came running and, of course, I had to say April Fools. Oh well, you know what he did--he laughed and laughed. I did not get in trouble. The next year, I got him again on April Fools day. At that time we were living on Barger Hill. He had been around the road to Runyon's house and had returned home telling us that they had a little fire and wanted me to walk back a little piece around the road and see if everything was OK. Well, it was April Fools morning and I came back real fast and said "Oh daddy, I see a lot of smoke coming out of their house." You know the rest of the story. I guess I just did things for a laugh. Another year, mom was expecting a baby (Bockie). We were eating at the table. She got up to get something and when she started to sit down, I pulled the chair out from under her. Oh well, you know the rest of that story--it did not end as funny as I thought it would.
I don't remember getting spankings so I must have been a good little girl. One time, my mom switched the bottom of my dress tail. You know, we didn't wear jeans or slacks or even shorts back then. Mom made our dresses and we wore tan socks. The old canning jars had round rubber rings to seal the lid on the jars. We put the rings at the top of our socks and roll them down below our knees. Oh boy! Sometimes it hurt even up as far as our neck. For winter, she even made us snow suits out of old adult coats that were given to her. We did not want for anything.
We didn't wear tennis shoes because we couldn't afford them. Just the poor, in those days, wore tennis shoes and we were poorer than the poor. We just had "hand me down" slippers and when a hole came in the bottom of our shoes, we took a piece of cardboard, folded it and put it in the bottom. The reason we doubled it was for double protection. When one side of the cardboard wore a little, we would turn it over and use the other side. You didn't know how far you might be from home and didn't have an extra piece of cardboard. You know, you had to keep a head on you in those days.

 

SCHOOL DAYS
My sister Betty and I went to Ferndale Grade School in Kenova and we lived at 1289 Barger Hill. In the winter time, we wore white toboggans pulling them down over our nose and face to stay warm. We took turns leading one another. We had to walk about a mile and a half to school. Sometimes mom had us pick up a loaf of bread to bring home after school. We were supposed to take turns carrying the bread. After I carried the bread so far, Betty would not take her turn. I would lay the bread down in the road and walk ahead. After going some distance, Betty finally went back and took her turn carrying the bread. Not too many people had cars in our neighborhood back then, so we were lucky the bread didn't get run over. Somehow we made it home with the bread.
At lunchtime at Ferndale school, we had a bag lunch that mom fixed for us and we ate our lunch on a big rock in the school's play yard near the road. It was all I could do to climb on it. Something happened to that rock now. It doesn't look as big as I remember it.
Walking home from school in the winter time we would break off a big piece of an ice cycle from the rock cliff and suck on it. It was cold but good.
A lot of my memories are from Ferndale school. I will tell you this one and I will go on to something else. The winters were cold and we had to walk to school. My feet would get so cold and get so numb. Oh, I would cry! My teacher, Mrs. Pyles, would take my shoes off, put me on her lap, rub my feet, and hold them close to the big pot belly stove. That was more than a teacher's job. That was a teacher that loved her kids.
After the fourth grade, we had to go to grade school in Kenova. There, we got a free lunch. Everything was good except that sour grapefruit juice which we were told was good for us and we had to drink it.
When I was ten years old, my baby sister, Bessie June, was born. One look at her and I asked Mom to take her back—my, how times change: today’s she’s one of my best friends.

EARLY CHRISTMAS MEMORIES
It was Christmas Eve, 1938, Mom took us with her to the store to get some of our needs. We had no Christmas tree so when we got home she went out in the yard and got one of those little wild sticky pine trees and decorated it for Christmas—it was the most beautiful tree!
Most of our Christmas gifts were treats of candy and oranges. However, I remember a special Christmas when I was four years old and we lived in Huntington on Jackson Ave. My oldest sister, Betty, and I were snooping around and found two big dolls in a cedar chest. We were so excited but we just closed the lid on the chest and told no one until we got them on Christmas morning. We always had plenty of love in our family but we did not have a lot of material things—just things we needed.

THE DIVORCE
I never heard my parents say a dirty word. Both were good to us. I don't remember my daddy every speaking ill to us or raising his voice to us or our mother. However, when Bockie was six months old Mom and Daddy got a divorce. My daddy remarried but soon thereafter was shot dead in his sleep. I remember going to the trial. The person who shot him was found guilty and went to prison. This was a very unhappy time in our lives but through it all, my mom was strong and taught us how to survive and deal with lives’ problems: our family bond grew deeper.

 

GRANNY MARRIES CECIL ROWE
A few years later, Mom married Cecil Rowe—we called him Pa. Life was much better—we got things we never had before. Pa bought us new coats—the first new coats we ever had: mine was fuchsia. I was in the 6th grade and we moved to Pennsylvania. Pa was great.

MEETING CHARLES
After we moved back from PA, I went to Ceredo Kenova High School. It covered grades 7-12. This is about the time I met the guy who I ended up marrying. We didn't really have many dates. We just met at the movie and he would walk me home. I guess we began liking each other when I was 13 years old. He would walk me home from the movies and I would see him at school. One night he got courage enough to kiss me—my first kiss ever! I didn’t know what a kiss was suppose to be like—as time went on I found out! We broke up once, but not for long. He decided he couldn't do without me and I guess I felt the same way too. I was about 17 when we began talking about marriage. He was in California at that time in the service. During those days, I worked at Sylvania and got a nice certificate for my wartime contributions.
Charles sent me a letter asking me to marry him. He wanted me to come to California but was able to get a leave and we got married in Catlettsburg, Kentucky at the First Christian Church. Aunt Ruby and Uncle Charley took us along with Mom to Catlettsburg, KY and we got married. That was June 3, 1947. Shortly after the wedding Charles had to go back to the Navy; that was hard.

CHILDREN
We lived in Seattle, then Bellingham, Washington for the year following our wedding. The next September I returned home and our first child, Charles Roy Damron Jr. (Snub) was born. Soon afterwards, we moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Charles had surgery on his appendix and I returned home. Pa built us a little house from what use to be a chicken coup. It was in back of their home. Not too long after that a second baby came along: Sandra Louise. She was a doll! Then the sailor boy was home for good. We bought a house with the GI Bill on Chase Street in Huntington, West Virginia. We didn't stay there long. We moved back to Barger Hill to the little house my step father built for us and by 1951 our third baby, David Alan was born; he was as precious as all the rest. Our children are the best any parents could possibly dream about. From day one until this present day they gave us no trouble. I mean that from the bottom of my heart and Charles thinks so too! Maybe we gave you more trouble than you gave us.
We really enjoyed the years we had raising our children. We didn’t have to worry where they were. We always knew—moms have eyes in the back of their heads you know. We did our best to provide a happy home. If we were a little too hard, let me take this time to say I am sorry.

THE BIG MOVE
After Charles came home from the service, my darling husband went to work on the C&O Railroad and we moved with our three beautiful children to South Charleston, West Virginia. I had never been there before. I thought Charleston was miles and miles away from Kenova.
We took many trips from South Charleston to Kenova to visit both sets of parents. On the way we had to pass Camden Park. Snub, Sandra, and David always wanted to stop and Charles always had a pat answer. He would tell the kids in the summer time that Camden Park has a rule that all children must have a coat on to get into the park and of course, we were not wearing a coat, and of course, the park was closed in the winter. This excuse worked for a couple of years until the kids got smart enough to figure out the joke. In the meantime, my oldest sister Betty would always take them as a treat—to this day they think Aunt BB is GREAT!

VACATIONS
We didn’t take many trips. Charles and I went to NY one time while Betty and Mom took care of the kids. On another vacation we went out West. A couple of years later we went to the beach and Grandpa Damron went with us.
Charles was a good provider not only for our immediate family but also for his whole family. He always did good for everybody. He helped a lot of people in need. He always paid his bills and gave generously to his church and community. I knew he was different from all the other boys—that’s why I married him.

BLESSINGS
We have been blessed with three children along with their husbands/wives and families: Charles Jr. and Janie; Sandra and Steve, and David and Cheri;
We have been blessed with nine grandchildren and three step grandchildren along with their husbands/ wives and families: Tammy and Joe; Katie and Chris; CR and Amy; Mark; Amie and David; Matthew and Samatha; Brian and Janneke; April and Chad; Heather; Kim; Kelly and Steve, and Kevin and Brooksanna.
We have been blessed with nineteen great-grandchildren along with their husbands/ wives and families:
Tammy’s children: Amanda, Emily
Katie’s children: Samantha, Reagan
Charles III’s children: Katlyn, Shelby, Charles IV, Carley (now an angel)
Amie’s children: Brandon, Cameron
Matthew’s children: Sierra, Sydney
Brian’s children: Parker, Alexander, Jacob
April’s children: Alexander, Corey, Cody
Heather’s child: Caleb
We have been blessed with nine step-great-grandchildren along with their husbands/ wives and families:
Kelly’s children: Hayley, Lukas, Peyton, and Cole
Kim’s children: Chelsie, and Collin
Kevin’s children: Gavin, Sydnee and Tatum
We have also been blessed with 17 brothers, sisters, their husbands/wives and families:
My sisters and family: Bockie and Bob; Betty and Roland Clay (deceased);
Charles’ 15 brothers and sisters and their families: Youngy Bennett and Frankie (deceased); Earl and Betty, and many others who have gone on before us: the families of Orpha, Cora, Sylvia, Susan, Polly Mary, Spicie, Icie (twins), Emogene, and William (twins), Irene, Walter, Bruce, and Joan Bennett.
We have been blessed with numerous friends throughout the years and would like to thank them for their friendship. Several of them are watching over us today:
Charley (deceased) and Betty Hall; Maywood (deceased) and Jean Williams; Noland and Oleta Karnes; Eddie and Mary Ellen Walker; Katie and Mack Williams; Rev. Kenneth and Flora Foust; and Rev Mann and Lou.
We have been blessed with business associates throughout Charles’ career:
Dick and Katie Thomas; Bob and Lois Knight; State Electric Company and their associates, Mr. and Mrs. Goldfarb at Goldfarb Electric and their associates; Mr. Browder with River Lake Estates Management Company (gave Charles his first residential job in 1954); a host of electricians that worked for Charles throughout the years including Doug Ellis his Estimator.
A blessing, according to Wikipedia is the infusion of one's hopes.
I would like to leave you with an old Aaronic Blessing that states Charles and my hopes for all of us.

"May the Lord bless you and keep you: May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."
~An old Aaronic Blessing ~

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