Geneva (LeMaster)Reed, Resident 1928-1934
Where do I start!? I am 88 and my sister, Freda, is 93. My brother, Kenneth, is gone but he was there also. We had special dresses to go to First Baptist Church every Sunday. All boys and girls rode together on a large city bus. This was a special thing for us. I didn't have to work, but you were considered one of the bigger kids if you did. I volunteered to wax the long hall that wen through the center of the building, about 50 to 60 feet, on my hands and knees because Mrs. Billingsly, the head Matron wanted it done. There was a large dining room with long tables with chairs. Boys sat at one side of the room and girls on the other side of the room. The young teenage girls washed the dishes. Each of us had 1 large table to wash & dry and sweep teh floor under it. There were about 40 kids at each table. We all took turns for 1 week. We would try to be the first one done. Usually there were 50-60 children living there at that time. During the Great Depression there were as many as 82-84. They put beds in the hall, washrooms and setting rooms. The dormatory was packed full of beds with children sleeping two to a bed.
I remember one time everyone including the Matrons went to Moxahala Park and stayed for 5 hours. We all got to ride for free. All the children were very excited.
