Mrs. Clarissa Pearl de Groot

(Born 1936)

Parents: Alice Louise Ham Caulkins and Lloyd Edward Caulkins

Siblings: Cecil Lloyd Caulkins

Husband: John Marion de Groot

Children: Randall Lee de Groot, Allyson Jo Ihms Brooks, & Ryndert Derek de Groot

  

I was born February 23, 1936 at Black Hills General Hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota. Because it had been a cold and snowy winter (3 feet of snow on the level) and one blizzard after another, my mother was taken to stay with her in-laws until after I was born. My other grandparents lived on a ranch too far from town. After I was born, my father came to town on a bobsled to see me.  It was a very long cold ride as the sled had to horse drawn.

My mother’s name is Alice Louise Ham Caulkins. My father is Lloyd Edward Caulkins. My brother is Cecil Lloyd Caulkins. My husband’s name is John Marion de Groot. I have three children: Randall Lee de Groot, Allyson Jo Ihms Brooks, and Ryndert Derek de Groot. Our daughter’s first husband died suddenly three and a half years ago, and she remarried. Our son-in-law’s death was a traumatic event for both the close and extended family.

I grew up in many places: Rapid City, SD, Custer, SD, Summerville, SC, Rapid City, SD, Hot Springs, SD, Igloo, SD, Oak Ridge, TN, Billings, MT (three different places there), Huron, SD, Madison, SD, and Le Mars, IA.

Life was quite simple in many ways. My maternal grandparents lived on a farm outside Rapid City, and my grandfather was a brand inspector at the stockyards in Rapid City. My Grandmother and Grandfather Ham had left the ranch and moved into Rapid City during the years of my Elementary schooling. My paternal grandparents lived in Rapid City and had a log cabin in the Black Hills. My cousins and I spent many summers there. It was during WWII when rationing was strictly enforced. Soft drinks and candy were restricted by coupons. My grandparents would save the coupons and let us have a Hershey bar and a Coke when we went to the cabin.

Igloo was an Ordinance Depot and an Italian Prisoner of War Army Facility. There was one gate allowing you to go in or out. As to fashion, it was blue jeans and a shirt for play and three cotton dresses for school, and in the winter, we had to wear snow pants and a coat that was full length, when outside playing or when walking to school. What I remember of adult dressing was pretty much as the movies and television show it now. We had a two-door 38 Ford, and it lasted from my earliest memory to my time in high school. Vacations were usually someplace in the hills that had a good fishing stream for dad or else we went to the cabin in the Black Hills.

There was little place to play in Igloo. There was only one merry-go-round, one slide, and two swings. To get to the playground, we had to go through a field of long prairie grass and hear the rattlesnakes rattling as we went through. I don’t remember how I acquired books, but I loved Nancy Drew mysteries, Lassie books, and the book My Friend Flicka. At some point, I had a book about Clara Barton. I was in the second or third grade, and after reading it, I knew I would be a nurse. I never ever thought of being anything else. Books were my prized possessions as they took me everywhere the imagination could go. They still are my prized possessions.

One of my jobs as a child was to help prepare meals, and to help my mom with dishes. I hated it. The duplexes were all alike on the depot: a small kitchen with a wood-burning range, small counter area with a sink, and a small refrigerator. The living room was tiny and had a wood-burning pot-bellied stove for heat in the winter. There were two bedrooms and a very small bathroom. Dad made bunk beds for my brother and me. My best friend had her bedroom on the other side of the fiberboard wall that divided our duplex. She also had the top bunk. We would lie in bed and talk for the longest time until her mom or my mom would make us stop. Her dad was overseas in the war. I had an uncle who was killed in the Battle of the Bulge, and my aunt (my mother’s sister) would come and stay with us in that very small house. She became a widow with a small baby when she was twenty or twenty-one. Accepting this situation was difficult both emotionally and physically. When recovered, she became a secretary at the Air Force Base in Rapid City and was able to care for herself and her child.

High school was very difficult but fun. We moved over Christmas break from Huron to Madison, SD. I was one-hundred-fifty pages behind in Latin, but my new school used the same textbook. I was able to work hard and catch up. I always did well in language and English classes. It was the one hundred pages of algebra that got to me. I was just beginning to understand it when we moved. I have always been able to convince people to do things my way, just by talking. I told my teacher I needed a B average to get into Nurse Training. I didn’t understand any of the subject and wondered if I should drop the class. He said that I wouldn’t use the information in nursing, so I should just come to class and take the tests, and he would be sure I got a B. I failed every test miserably and got a B. The same thing applied in geometry, and I got a B. No one offered tutoring; they said to just come to class and take the tests.

The fun parts of high school were band, journalism, debate, class plays, and English class. I took biology as required for nursing but couldn’t stand to touch the frog. So, my desk mate, a guy who was dumb as a board in English class, but a great artist, did the dissecting. He couldn’t pass a test in grammar to save his life. His desk was just across from mine, and I would write fairly large and slowly so that he could copy. He ended up passing English, and I did well on my drawings and dissections in biology. It was my first experience in co-operation to benefit one another.

In concert band, I played tympani, cymbals in marching band and bassoon in orchestra. Our band director was beloved by all, and his name was Bill Ireland. We went to contests all summer to win cash prizes, and the prizes paid for more trips and more contests and more opportunities to demonstrate our skill. At the 50^th high school anniversary, the band members had our own separate reunion. We were that close.

My dad moved to Le Mars, Iowa the summer before my senior year in school. I felt that life was over, and I didn’t want to go to school there. The college president told my dad that if I took an entrance exam and passed, I could start college. I took the test, passed, and had a good year in the band at college and in my classes. Some classes I took were anatomy, physiology, chemistry, American government, costume design, and American and English literature.

Then, I went to Sioux City, Iowa, one afternoon and enrolled in Nurses Training at Methodist Hospital. I was unaware at the time of how excellent the school was. I had to have a high school diploma to become officially enrolled, so I had to transfer all my college credits back to high school and graduate from there. It was as though the year of college didn’t exist. Nurses Training was a wonderful adventure, and I do not have words to tell what I learned or how it molded and changed my life.

As a child, I loved cats and dogs, competitive games, and especially books. Things that bring me pleasure now are gardening, sewing, reading, baking, refinishing furniture, and teaching classes at church. I love working with our dogs, and obedience training with our first Boston Terrier was a pure delight. As a younger adult, I was learning to do all the things I enjoy now, except I sewed clothing for our children and made sooo many stuffed dolls and animals for them that I would lose track telling you about them. Taking the kids for small explorations in the community and reading to them was a joy. I took them to the library to let them pick out books they wanted to read, and all of them are avid readers now.

Subjects I enjoy are learning sciences, updating all changes in the nursing field, learning all sorts of needlework, improving my sewing skills, learning new ways to cook and bake, studying landscaping and horticulture, and training animals.

I was hired for my first job the spring that I was fifteen years old. I worked as a clerk in Galloway’s Department Store. I literally ran the two blocks from school to the store at 2:30 pm and worked until 6 or 7 pm. I loved it. My boss was Nellie Thomas, and she taught me more than I can ever describe. I sold hosiery, lingerie, fabric, and patterns. I arranged displays and printed price tags and a multitude of other jobs.

My mother’s family is English and German for the most part. I think some of the early residents of the US were from England and were brought here from debtors’ prison.

My father’s family is from Wales and France. I don’t think any of our traditions are from any country except the US.

My maternal grandfather came here from Canada when he was a young boy. In the summer, he had to stay in a cabin by himself in the Badland mesa’s and ride herd on the cattle. His folks brought him food on weekends. He told of a big bull snake that stayed above the door and (as far as he was concerned) kept rattlesnakes away. His stories of what happened in the Badlands of South Dakota are legendary and some very funny.

I cherished the opportunity to raise children until I realized how inadequate I felt. Each child was so different and needed special training and guidance. Our daughter had a life-threatening illness that lasted until she was five. It was called hypogammaglobulinemia. She had less than half of the gamma globulin she needed, and thus, she received 4 ccs of gamma globulin every twenty-one days. As the shots were wearing off, she was subject to every illness in the area. The best part of raising a family was seeing my children grow into great adults. The hardest part was getting them there and then saying goodbye as they started their new families. You have to go through this to understand the changes this brings. One must back off and allow the new family to develop and not interfere. I have been blessed with wonderful relationships with my daughter-in-laws and our former son-in-law.

I have mentioned how and why I became a nurse, and I can’t think of anything I would rather have been. I only regret how Multiple Sclerosis caused me to stop nursing, as the disabling was so severe.

The greatest turning point was the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and the forced changes in my life. I have learned much from this, but it has been very painful. I hate the paralysis that comes and goes.

Aging is another turning point. It is not pleasant at all as far as I am concerned. I seek to do something positive each day because the days to come will be taking more from me. Living in the moment is important because the moments get more difficult as time goes by.

Oh my, problems of today… We have become a demanding society. So many people have their hand out wanting everything given to them. I was taught to work for what I wanted, not ask the government or any organization or institution to give it to me. The changes in moral values (and not just sexual values) have a serious deleterious effect on humanity. It bothers me that some women today don’t want to be bothered to care for the children they have. Children need as much loving attention as a person can give. I am uneasy about the desire to have more and more and more and not be satisfied with what one has. It is good to appreciate life and humanity and be happy.

A successful life is one lived well emotionally and financially and by living one’s faith. Self denial is important because if all one does is get what you think you want, you can never find fulfillment or happiness. Work at not being selfish in any way. Live generously and with gusto. Be willing to learn something new as often as possible. Cherish friends; they know you and still like you—what a blessing!

For younger generations: don’t be afraid of love, commitment, education, and stretching oneself to try something new. Work at living generously. Don’t let the government care for you, or you will lose everything and be controlled by restrictions you never considered possible. Learn to love yourself because you will spend all of your life with this person. Liking yourself is critical.

Mr. John Marion de Groot

 

(Born 1933)

Parents: Ryndert de Groot and Johanna Muilenburg

Siblings: Ryndert Allen de Groot

Wife: Clarissa Pearl Caulkins de Groot

Children: Randall Lee de Groot, Allyson Jo Ihms Brooks, & Ryndert Derek de Groot

 

I was born on April 11, 1933 in Orange City, Iowa at the de Bay Hospital. My parents were living in a small rental home on the edge of town. My father was Ryndert de Groot, and my mother was Johanna Muilenburg. I have a younger brother, Ryndert Allen de Groot. A stillborn sister was between us. My father died six weeks before my brother was born. Then, our mother died when we were ten and eight respectively.

Our mother moved in with her father and sister at the death of my father. This was a small farmhouse near Hull, Iowa. Three years later, a small house was purchased and moved on the farm next to the farmhouse. We lived in the small house until my mother became very ill and passed away. My brother and I were then raised by my aunt and grandfather, who was sixty-nine when I was born.

It was during the depression that my father came from Michigan to seek work and became a day laborer at a certain house. That is how he met my mother; she was the youngest in the family and contracted Infantile Paralysis (Polio), which paralyzed her from the waist up. Her organs were damaged, and this damage led to her early death.

The farmhouse did not have electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. I began feeding chickens, pigs, sheep, and cows. Gathering eggs, running the cream separator, churning butter, and milking were everyday chores. We did not have a tractor, so we did all the fieldwork with horses. My first fieldwork was cultivating corn with a single row cultivator and a team of horses when I was five years old. Eventually, I “graduated” to being able to drive a four-horse hitch.

The one-room school I attended from first through sixth grade did not have electricity or indoor plumbing. All eight grades were in the same room, so we were exposed to everything the older students were studying, even in the first grade. It was two miles to school, so we had a pony and buggy with which to ride to school and pick up two other children along the way.

When WWII ended, my grandfather, aunt, my brother, and I moved into a house in Hull. Here, I met a neighbor, who was the junior high principal in a neighboring town and who had a small dairy and raised show horses. At his dairy, I began milking, bottling milk, and delivering milk about town. My neighbor had a great influence on my life by teaching me how to train show and harness-racing horses. Additionally, he taught me how to hunt and fish. His constant insistence on doing things the right way and on the importance of education encouraged me to attend college.

My high school basketball coach (also the physics and industrial arts teacher) led me to an opportunity to do engineering drawings for a power company while in college. The manager eventually became my father-in-law. In high school, my only math classes consisted of algebra, geometry, and advanced algebra, but my math teacher was great. At my 45^th class reunion, I was able to relate to my math teacher that I had received a MSEE and PhD without any additional math classes. She began sobbing with pride. The same was true for our “coach” as he wanted to chat about going to the State Tournament, and we all wanted to visit about what he had taught us.

Hull High School had about eighty students. My class had twelve boys and twelve girls. We were not the best-behaved group, but the percentage of students in that class who received degrees was the largest in the history of the school.

My college courses changed a good bit. I began with a major in accounting but later added a major in history because of the great history department. I worked every summer running a hay bailer as I had during grade school and high school. My junior year, I drove a truck. When I received my B.A., I had paid my own way with no debt.

I began to drive when I was in the sixth grade delivering milk about the small town of Hull in a Model A Ford pickup. Everyone knew the milk deliverers as “the boys” since we did not have parents. We were careful, and no one questioned us concerning drivers’ licenses. An aside: when I returned fifty years later for a funeral, a shop keeper came out to my parked car and said, “Aren’t you one of ‘the boys?’” Small towns have some advantages.

My father was born aboarda ship from coming from the Netherlands enroute to the United States. My grandfather was born in Pella, Iowa and came to Orange City in a covered wagon. His parents had emigrated from the Netherlands to Pella. My grandmother’s family was among the founders of Pella. The first baby born in the settlement was born in their house since most of the others were sod houses.

Being raised by an elderly grandfather had many benefits such as listening to his friends visiting about the early days. Years later, it was a great asset in genealogy, as well as in history. He spoke English very well but preferred speaking Dutch. I learned most of my English in grade school as I learned to read Dutch from the Bible. (I still have the ability of speaking and reading Dutch.)

A funny story was when I brought my fiancée to meet my family. We were driving back to her home when I asked her what she thought of the family since my aunts and uncle were there. She said, “I didn’t understand much.” I asked, “Why?” and she said, “Because no one spoke English!”

My first job after college was as an accountant in the mortgage business. I then became a project business manager for a worldwide construction company. My first project was on the St. Lawrence Seaway to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. I was transferred to Cape Canaveral and was able to drive to my wife’s parents’ place in Le Mars, Iowa, be home for three days while our daughter was born, and then drive on to Florida. My wife, son, and daughter flew down four weeks later to join me. The project was the Saturn Missile Launch site, and I managed two more projects in Florida followed by a dredging project in Louisiana.

The children were ill and also near school age when I became an assistant auditor with a phone company in North Missouri. The company had just leased some equipment from IBM, which was one of my departments. Board wiring was required, and I was selected to attend classes. Eventually, the equipment was upgraded to card reading computers.

My wife was having some health problems, and a hysterectomy was required. It was 180 miles to the University of Missouri Medical Center, so I drove her to the   hospital and returned to the children. Then, the call came for me to return; no surgery would be done as she was pregnant. The OB/GYN physician became a lifelong friend, as he delivered a boy eight months later. While Clarissa was in labor, Dr. Bill insisted I visit with Dr. Lindberg who was developing medical computer systems at the medical center. I had an interview, saw our son being born, and returned to be with the children. Mid-week, I received an offer from the University. I returned with our other two children, picked up Clarissa, house hunted, returned to pick up the newborn, and returned to North Missouri. We moved in two weeks later since IBM was having on-campus classes for the new computer systems just being installed.

Medicare had just come into being, so I was charged with developing a system to cope with this new reimbursement system. When registration began for the spring semester, I was asked which classes I would be taking. I hesitated, but Dr. Lindberg told me that I had said that I would like to pursue an additional degree. This led to a scramble for acceptance into graduate school and the history department. Eventually, I was able to do a good deal of research into the immigration and migration of my family and use it in my degree program. After receiving the M.A. in History with emphasis on the West in American History, I was prepared to rest.

Wrong. I had begun to use my computing experience in the writing of the kidney transplant system for the Midwest, EKG readings, and early processing programs as part of the “computers in medicine” group. I was recruited to pursue a Bio-Medical degree, which was just being defined. My Ph.D. thesis was in image processing using the computer to determine carcinomas in the chest cavity. Along the way, I was awarded a MSEE degree. Several articles were published and resulted in a presentation at the University of Rome and its associated hospital. An aside: I was invited to dinner with a professor at his sister and brother-in-law’s apartment. They had marvelous works of art displayed there. The previous day, I had been given a full-day tour of the Vatican and other historical sites by a medical student, who was also an art history major. I inquired about the paintings being in a home, not a museum. Then, I discovered that the brother-in-law was the Pope’s personal dentist!

Later, I was assigned by the university to work with the state government to develop systems for regulators such as banks, savings and loans, credit unions, insurance companies, licenses, etc. It was truly an eye-opening experience as to how the government really works.

My career path took another turn when I began to manage medical installations at Vanderbilt University followed by management of technology services in Cleveland, Ohio, Phoenix, Arizona, and San Antonio, Texas where we integrated five hospitals into a single financial, medical, and telecommunication system. Then, I retired and moved to Peachtree City, Georgia.

We chose Peachtree City since we had been visiting our oldest son and his family since 1985. From time to time, we had viewed possible homes and liked what we observed.

Once we had retired and moved to Peachtree City, we purchased a travel trailer and visited forty-two states. We spent several summers in North Carolina where I was introduced to woodcarving. I have created many carvings and given all as gifts to friends and family members. Woodworking and furniture making has been a great joy and goes back to my high school industrial arts teacher and his wonderful instruction.

We have traveled to the Netherlands to meet cousins and they showed us where my grandparents had lived and had his shoe shops. Thanks to our eldest, we were able to take my brother and sister-in-law with us on one trip to the Netherlands. Family members from the Netherlands have been able to visit us on several occasions, as well, including our 50^th wedding anniversary.

My family is very involved in scouting. Our granddaughter has earned her Gold Award, and her two brothers have their Eagles. Our oldest son earned his Eagle when he was thirteen years old and also earned his two silver palms. Our second son was not able to complete his Eagle as it was during the period of Clarissa’s major exacerbation with MS. His two sons are now working on their Eagle projects. I have registered for my 56^th year in Boy Scouting.

My first military experience was in the Naval Reserves during the Korean War. Basic training was at the Great Lake Naval Training Center; sea duty was primarily on smaller vessels on the Great Lakes. Later, Dr. Bill, the OB/GYN physician, asked me to join his Army Reserve Hospital Unit. I did so and served in hospitals in Alaska, Texas, Colorado, and Wisconsin and also at NASA in Cleveland. I left with a Chief Warrant Officer IV rank.

Years ­­­­later, our daughter asked me to join her in the MS 150 bicycle ride, which she had done a year earlier. While she was growing up, it was difficult for dads to do many activities with their daughters, so I agreed to try the following year. After the first attempt to do a mile ride, I knew it would require a much better bike and a good deal of training. I did both, and I was able to ride with her the next year. Since then, I have completed two MS 150s in Missouri and four in Texas. I truly enjoyed the training rides through the Texas Hill Country. Each year, I rode for more than four thousand miles and continued to do so in Georgia. One ride was completed with both my older two children and my wife meeting us at the finish line.

Mrs. Peggy Baker (Part IV)

(Born 1927) 

Parents: Eva Jane Norris and Fletcher Ellington Maffett

Siblings: Phillip Wayne Maffett, and Norris and Jane, deceased

Husband: Lovic Pierce Baker (Married on February 26, 1949)

Children: Jane Norris, “Buck” (Leonard Pierce), and Julie Mani, deceased

 (Continued from Part III…)

Your daughter had horses?

Yeah, it was like living in the country, and it was right there in Hapeville, Georgia, even when I-85 came by. That’s why we put up the sign because it was going to face right on I-85. This was right before the Olympics, and we figured we were going to make a lot of money.

Were you selling something [during the Olympics]?

No, we had a signboard. A company took it and ran it for us; they leased it out. I’ve still got it. When we sold our property to Hertz, the four sisters sold theirs, too. We took a little bit less for ours on condition that we could have the right of way to have that sign. We didn’t have to pay anything; it was our sign. The people that took it over were going to pay us a $1,000 a month for it whether there was anything on it or not. Then, we would get 10% interest on whatever revenue came from the boards.

So, everybody else now is gone, and I still have the signboard. I’m still getting some money, but not as much money as they used to because sign boards—they’re on an expressway that can’t move any closer than 500 yards together. They can’t be any closer than so far beyond the right of way. The right of way is probably 50 feet.

The outdoor sign association has been fighting to get permission to go in and cut trees up to the right of way because so many of them (particularly when it rains so much) have grown up so tall that a lot of signs can’t be seen. Something that was worth $2,000 a month now is worth about $200. Now they want to take a quarter of my base of a $1,000, and I’m probably going to have to agree to it.

My friend that put up the first sign moved in and got with Hertz. I guess it’s going to work out okay; it’s about the best I can do. If it hadn’t been for a lot of my friends in advertising including Ted Turner’s company… His father started an outdoor company, and they were the first ones that got contracts on my brother-in-law here, us, and a neighbor down the way. But the neighbor down the way never did get a sign. When we sold it all to Hertz, my brother-in-law just threw in the signboard. He didn’t care, but we did, and we kept it. They’re money is gone, and they’re gone, and I’ve still got my signboard. That was smart. My husband was a pretty smart cookie.

Can I ask about your traveling a little bit?  You said that you’ve been to Normandy.

I had and still have the best CPA. The CPA’s name is Jim Roy. A CPA is a certified accountant. So, he came in one day and said, “You know what? I have been taking out pay roll tax on you, and because you’re married to the owner of the business, you don’t have to pay that.” He said, “I’m going to start filing one week at a time to get the money back for you.” I had already decided that at I was going to take mine at sixty-two; I wasn’t going to wait till sixty-five because I wanted to travel.

He started [getting the money back], and there were three girls that worked for us. Every week, when I’d go and get the mail, I’d come back, and there would be an envelope and a check for three or four hundred dollars or something. It got be just ridiculous. Everybody would say, “How much do you have, now?”  “Oh, I don’t know… about $2,000.” So, what did I do? I went to Paris all by myself. Then, I went south of France and saw them, and then I went north of France and saw our French relatives.

Was most of your travel after you retired?

No, before. We still had the agency in the beginning, but I had been back to Paris and all over France. Then, after we had retired, I said, “Buddy, you have got some cousins that you don’t even know, so let’s go and do a little roaming around.” We got some Euro passes, and then, I said, “Do you want me to get a travel agent to plan it?” He said, “No you can do it. You can figure it out yourself.” We went and spent a lot of time in France, and then we went over to Waterloo because I had a niece and nephew that were living over there. Then, we started using our Euro passes and went all over Switzerland. We got kidnapped and taken to a golf course up on top of a glacier, which was very exciting. Wait, what?!

You just have to open up. These two ladies were on the train, and they heard Buddy saying, “I’ll be kind of glad when I get home. I want to play some golf.” This woman leaned over and said, “I know where there’s a golf course.” She said, “Get off at the next stop with us.” So we stopped, and we went into this wonderful apartment that they had. Then, we got on this lift that went up all the way. It was on the backside of the Jungfrau. Her husband was an architect, and he had designed this golf course. My husband was over there with them, and they gave him a golf club and some balls. He was hitting balls, and they would just *whooshing imitation* disappear.

I don’t know where they putted, so I went off with the lady. There were a lot of nice shops there, but of course, all of that closed down in the wintertime, and [the shop owners] were skiing instead. When we got back, that was Buddy’s favorite story. He said, “You’re not going to believe this, but we got kidnapped and taken up on the top of a glacier and saw a golf course.” That’s a really cool story—so spontaneous!

Well, I’m going to tell you just very briefly the things in my career that were most important as it worked out. After I retired from Ivan Allen Company, I ended up going back for him when he was mayor, and I did a lot of speech writing for him. He went into office in 1961, and a guy named Carl Sanders from Augusta ran for governor, and he was elected. It was the first time Atlanta had had a progressive mayor and a progressive governor at the same time.

He called me one day, and he said, “You have to go down to the Ansley Hotel and meet this lawyer named Carl Sanders because he’s going to run for governor against so-and-so. We have to get rid of him. The guy that’s going to be doing a lot of the speeches is editor of the paper in Gainesville, but he needs somebody/ his alter ego…”

The next thing I know is that I have a reformed drunk and another guy and a gal, and we were up there just turning out speeches like you wouldn’t believe it, and darn if he didn’t get elected! That went on and on and on, and then, I got a part-time job working for Ivan Allen at City Hall. I did a lot of speech writing. When he was ready to retire after his second term was over, guess who got to write his last speech? Did you? (Nods her head…) Wow.  

I think he’s crazy. He called me one day, and he said, “The truck’s going to be out there,” and I said, “What? What truck?” He said, “I’m sending you a desk and a typewriter and a chair and some paper. I want you to write my last speech.” He said, “You can call on anybody in City Hall. They’ll give you all the information you want.” I still have a copy of it. Wow, what an accomplishment! That is so cool.

People would say [to him], “What about that woman that used to work for you? What’s she doing?” One day, he said to me, “I want you to meet the guy that’s the head of Fulton County Medical Society.” I said, “What for?” He said, “There is a pharmaceutical company who has a vaccine for polio.” There was one [vaccine] that you had to have an injection, and nobody wanted to take [a vaccine] with that. This was one, though, they would pour little bit on a little salt cube, and you would take it. Then, six months later you would come back and get another one. Then, you were immune from polio for your life. Fifteen counties were going to be involved, and we had the fire departments; we had everybody. [Ivan Allen] said, “You’ve got to put together a group that can get enough volunteers—people out of Georgia Tech, high schools, and this, that, and the other.” And it worked; it worked like a dog for a while. Then, we had to put it all to bed, and then, six months later, we had to do it again.

Did you spread the word to get people to come and take the vaccine?

Yes, and then, there was absolutely no polio. There were other cities around the country that were doing the same thing. I guess ours was kind of a model. Fifteen counties [in Georgia].

Anyway, my old doctor went to Emory, and after he graduated, he was teaching out there. He had a class. There was a young couple in there; they weren’t married yet, named Sam Bo and Helen. When they were still in medical school, it was Sam Bo and Helen Sams who started medicals in Fayette County. When Frank Harris (he was our old doctor) retired, he said, “When you get down there to Fayette County, you just look up Sam Bo and Helen. Let them be your doctors.” Both of them passed away this year, but then, Jim Sams, one of the sons of Helen, became our doctor and our dear friend.

His wife and two other women all had little Down syndrome boys, like I had a little girl with Down syndrome. They had gotten a state grant to start a little school, and they did across from where the Sams lived. They loaned them this little house. They were going to start a school for little boys or little girls that were disabled.

Sarah Goza was Sam Bo’s sister. My daughter moved to Woodward Academy for her last four years in high school. She and Sally Goza, Sarah’s daughter, got be good friends, and then, we moved down here and got to know all of them. Anyway, the school started, and it got so big. Sarah Goza called me one day, and she said, “Come over to Helen’s house at ten o’clock Tuesday morning.” I said, “What for?” She said, “She’s going to have a breakfast, and we’re going to try to get some publicity to get some money for the school because it needs to grow.” So we did, and then, we ended up moving to a place over near the courthouse that was almost as crowded as that little house.

I thought, “Well I can write, and I know something about publicity. I’ll just start doing stuff for the little newspapers and whatever.” So that worked pretty well. Then, when the high school got a new high school in Fayette County, we moved into the old high school.

When little Joe, who was their boy, was fourteen, he got Leukemia, which is not unusual for Downs boys when they get to puberty. He died. The funeral was down in Inman, Georgia by the old Baptist Church. We were all sitting around the table afterwards, and somebody said, “We have got to build our own school and name it after Joe,” and that’s what happened. One sunny day, there were three hundred people that came and there was all this stuff and food and everything. Everybody got a 2×4 and you’d write your name on it; you didn’t know where it was going, but you’d know it was in that building. That’s so sweet; I’ve never heard that story.

We didn’t really have much money, but we had a lot of people in the construction business. The guys all got together, and they got [the school] up. Then, years went by, and we had to figure out how to raise money. So, we just really got into it.

My husband and Jim Sams started having this dinner dance and auction. We didn’t have this auction to begin with; now, we have it every year in the spring out in front of the Sam’s house down there on Antioch. It’s third generation, and they lived there. My husband and Jim Sams would get down there by the barn, and they would cook. They would rent a cooker, and they would cook a lot of backbone. They called it “Buddy’s Backbone.” Then, we would have this wonderful dinner, and we would cook all the food. Now, the wives—we’d get together and decide what we were going to have, and we’d cook it.

I remember one year, my daughter Jane was up in the house folding napkins, and she said, “I think I’ll go down the barn and see if my daddy’s backbone is ready.” So she started down there, and Jim Sams yells out, “Don’t come down here, Jane; this is a man thing. Don’t come down here; just go back to house.” And she said, “You crazy old man! Don’t you know that I went to the University of Georgia, and I’ve heard it all!” (Laughs…)

So, I was on the Board of Directors for eleven years, and I’ve got a plaque to prove it. We began to get grants from the Coca-Cola Company and here there and beyond. We got to be pretty well known. We got kids there from probably six or seven counties around.

But, after my husband passed away in September 2010—he had renal failure… Not too long after that (they had already planned to do this), they had cocktails and cupcakes down at somebody’s home, a nice home. They came to get me and took me down there. I was initiated to be an Honorary Board Member of the Joseph Sams School. I have one of those gold things; it’s a circle of hope. I wear it on something a lot of times. We had 23 years that Buddy and I were involved with that little school, and we had fun. But then, Buddy yelled one day, when they were putting up the sides of the house, and he said, “I am so glad that we don’t have to move anymore. I am so damn glad because I am just worn out.” (Laughs…) We never moved again. That’s the end of my story. I had a Down’s baby, so I got to work for a whole lot of other little babies.

What advice do you have for younger people?

Well, if there’s something that you’re interested in, but you don’t think [that you can do it] either because you’re a woman or because you don’t have the money to go to the college you might like to go to [that is] far away from home or because you’re not sure that you’d get accepted in the first place, don’t give up. Point it in another direction that might take you out even in a better place, and go to even a better school. You just don’t know. If you go somewhere and that ain’t right, you can always change. If you have to work, and go to school, it’s not going to kill you.

Just take advantage of everybody that you meet. You’d be surprised how handy they come in. I mean, really, not just boyfriends or husbands, but everything. Jim and Marie Sams are probably the dearest things in my life. When Buddy was on dialysis and he was just going down really, Jim came over one night. He said, “Buddy, Peggy can’t keep running the show and taking you to dialysis and back everyday, and you’ve got to go somewhere. I think you ought to go out to Wesley Woods because you’re Methodist, and that’s the best place to go.” (That’s over near Newnan.) So that’s what he decided to do. That’s where he lived until he just got sick and tired of dialysis; he was taking it over there instead of over by the hospital.

One day, we had been to see our last new doctor, and we were outside waiting on the bus to take us back to Wesley Woods. He said, “You know what? I think I’ve shot more quail than any man in the world, and I’ve probably caught more big fish, and I know I’ve played more good golf games than anybody in the world.” He was like his father; he wasn’t too modest. Then he looked at me, and he said, “and I’ve had the best wife in the world for about sixty-two years.” I said, “What does that mean?” He said, “I’m going to tell the nurse, ‘don’t wake me up in the morning; I’m not going to get on that trolley to go to that damn dialysis place. I’m not going anymore. That’s it.’”

So, Jim Sams came out there, and he brought his brother Ferrol, who is head of a new hospice company called Advantage. The next day, they brought all their people and everything, and they said, “You can eat anything you want; you can have all the company you want; you can’t have any liquor to drink.” (Like he cared one way or the other.) He lived for three weeks, and then, he died at Wesley Woods.

We belonged to North Fayette Methodist, but it was too small, so we just had [the funeral] at Morehouse, and there were two hundred people. We looked out in the crowd, and my son looked out there and saw his old scoutmaster. He was going to tell one story, and then he decided to tell one about camping because my husband never had an official role in the scout troop, but he went on every single camping trip every month for all those years. He went to the Boy Scout camp and stayed as much of a week as he could leave his business.

He told them one time—he had this little bunk, and he had a mattress on it. He said, “Boys, I told you I would go with you on those ten mile walks, but I didn’t tell you I was going to sleep on the ground.” So one time, Tech was playing a really important game, and [my husband] had a little radio or a little TV or something. He said, “Alright boys, somebody else is going to take you for a walk; I’ve got a ball game I got to watch or listen to or whatever.” Buck said that he had a little cooler, and I mean he’s talking to two hundred people [at the funeral]! He said, “I think my dad had a couple beers in there, but that’s not against the Boy Scouts as long as the Boy Scouts aren’t there drinking beer.” (Laughs…) Of course, by the time Buck got to the end of that story, tears were just falling down his face, but there were a lot of Boy Scouts in the audience, and they were just clapping. He never slept on the ground! (Laughs…)

But he loved the Boy Scouts… I have Buck’s Eagle Scout thing and all that stuff hanging in my apartment. I said, “Buck, don’t you want to take it?” He’s funny because once he has done something, he leaves it behind and moves onto something else. He said, “Mom, you and dad worked harder than I did.” Guess one thing that he did? He had a badge that you had to go all the way out in Decatur to some church to go on Saturday for more than one Saturday. Buck and his best friend wanted to go to it, and who was one of the speakers? Governor Carl Sanders. He remembered Buck; he remembered the name because I took him up there and introduced Buck to him one time when he was running.

So see? Everything happens. It all goes around. You just never know where it’s going to take you—Scouts or Georgia State or mechanical drawing or whatever. I don’t know what happened to my drawing board; I probably gave it away to some other kid. I hope they do well with it. Also, now, the Ivan Allen Company is gone. [My family] all got into baseball. We had great tickets; we took our kids; and we lived at the stadium. I mean we had a ball! People would say, “Oh, I’ve heard about when Henry Aaron right socked that home run,” and Buck says, “Yeah, I was there. I saw it.” He just loved to do that. He was kind of immodest like his father and his grandfather. As mayor for eight years, my old boss, Ivan Allen, was the force that brought the Braves and the Falcons to the new Stadium.