Edited interview with Nola Blankenship (NB), daughter of Luther Watson. Interview conducted by Joe Manning (JM) on July 22, 1908.

JM: When were you born?

NB: 1927.

JM: When you were growing up, where were you living?

NB: We lived in Erlanger, Kentucky, but we moved to Covington (KY) in about 1935.

JM: What was your father's job at that time?

NB: He was a railroader. He worked for all lines out of Cincinnati. He was a switch tender. He would pull the switches.

JM: So he must have needed only one arm to pull the switches?

NB: Yes.

JM: How many years did he work for the railroad?

NB: Almost all his life, after he got his arm messed up. Because he worked for the railroad, we got passes. Mom and my sister Della and I took free trips. We went to Florida. And we went to the New York World's Fair in 1939. I was nine years old.

JM: Did he do any other jobs with the railroad besides a switch tender?

NB: He worked the extra boards (extra shifts) during the Depression. My mother baked then and had a baking route. We delivered all the baked goods to her customers. She worked out of the home.

JM: How many children did your parents have?

NB: There were four of us, all girls. I'm the last one left.

JM: Did your father tell you about his arm injury?

NB: Yes. He worked in the bung factory. He walked past one of the machines, and it got switched on somehow and his arm got twisted up in it. It was terrible.

JM: What was the name of the company?

NB: I don't know.

JM: Did he go back to work at the same company?

NB: Oh, no.

JM: When your father was injured, how was his family able to pay for his medical bills?

NB: I don't' know.

JM: What did his father do for a living?

NB: I don't know. He wasn't alive when I was born, and his mother wasn't alive either. His parents were dead when he had the injury.

JM: Who was he living with?

NB: I have no idea.

JM: He sure had a tough life.

NB: Yes, until he met my mom. They had a beautiful life together.

JM: What was your mother's name?

NB: Mabel Freeman. She had 11 brothers and sisters. Dad had only one brother. His name was Frank. He worked for the railroad, too.

JM: How old was he when he retired?

NB: Probably about 65. He got a pension. He died in 1961. My mom died in 1972. After my father died, she came to California to live with me, because my husband was ill. I had left Kentucky when I was 23, and moved to California.

JM: Did that make it difficult to see your father often?

NB: I saw him only three times after that. He came out to see us.

JM: How did your father cope with having one arm?

NB: Oh, he could do anything he wanted to. He had all his strength in that one arm. He could write, he could eat, and he could drive. He was wonderful, such a good papa. When I got married, he built a whole room underneath the house so we could live in it.

JM: Did he finish school?

NB: He finished the eighth grade, Mom and him both.

JM: How many of his children finished high school?

NB: All of us. Two went to college, Eloise and Della. They completed two years.

JM: Did you work?

NB: Yes. I worked until I was 72. I worked in Cincinnati at a jewelry place. I also worked for McAlpin's Department Store and managed the yardage department. In California, I was a shoe person the rest of the time. I worked in shoe stores.

JM: What was your mother like?

NB: She was beautiful. She was real sweet and kind, but very stern with us girls.

JM: Did she ever work outside of the home?

NB: Yes, she did, for a little bit. She worked in a candy factory.

JM: What are some of the things your father loved to do?

NB: After we moved to Covington, he started a garden. He had a beautiful garden every year. He had cherry trees and all kinds of vegetables. He had a very good sense of humor. He loved baseball. He went to see the Cincinnati Reds play at Crosley Field. We all did. His favorite saying was ‘LEW: Leave early and walk.' And that's what he did. He went to work that way, over the river, across the trestle from Kentucky to Cincinnati, where he worked in the rail yards.

JM: When you worked in Cincinnati, did you also walk across the trestle?

NB: No, I'm afraid I didn't.