Matewan Oral History Project Collection
Sc2003-135

Aileen Phillips Interview

Becky Bailey: Aileen Phillips on June the fifteenth at a quarter after five. I guess the first question I'd like to ask you uh... Mrs. Phillips is, when and where you were born and your...your maiden name and your family information?

Aileen Phillips: Uh...Rebecca I was born in uh...Pike County, Kentucky. You want the date? May..

B: If you...

AP: Five-five-twenty-two.

B: Okay.

AP: Five-five-twenty-two.

B: Okay.

AP: My mothers maiden name was Myrtle Coburn. C.O.B.U.R.N

B: Okay.

AP: My fathers name was Francis Marian Ball.

B: And do you know where they were from originally?

AP: They were both from Pike County.

B: Okay. Do you know when they were born?

AP: My mother was born April eighteenth, nineteen hundred. My father was born in uh...in eighteen and ninety-three.

B: Okay. What size families did they come from? Do you know?

AP: Uh...my mothers family was uh...my mother was uh...my mother didn't have any full brothers and sisters.

B: Okay.

AP: Her father died from a...he was in timbering. And he died uh...several months prior to her birth. Her mother who was Ona (?) Coburn. Remarried and uh...remarried a fellow by the...remarried a Sansom. He his was uh...Silvester Sansom. S.A.N.S.O.M. I believe they spell it. Uh...Then they had right off six...six sons and daughters.

B: Okay. Okay.

AP: My fathers parents...my father was born in Pike County and uh...his family had uh...uh...one daughter and four sons. Made up in his family. And of course uh...lets see that's basically their family unless you want me to go further back. Do you want to me to go further back in their family?...

B: Well as far back as you can go.

AP: As far as I can go?

B: Um-hum.

AP: I would have to look at my...what I have information. And I'm not certain...do you want me to get my Bible or to give it to you from the Bible would be the only way I could do it.

B: We can...

AP: They were Gooslins.

B: Okay...

AP: My uh...mothers grandparents were Gooslins.

B: Okay. If you'd like to I can...Tape cuts off

AP: You don't want that.

B: Um...your father's side.

AP: Uh-huh on my father's side Francis Marian Ball. Uh...his uh...dad's name was Martin. And his mother's name was Margaret Blackburn.

B: Okay.

AP: And my dad had two brothers and two sisters.

B: Okay.

AP: (laughs) I got to tell you this.

B: Okay.

AP: This is...I just now spotted this. Uh...now my dad's...dad...my dad...my father's grandfather's name was Reverend Billy Ball and uh...on his dads side and Susan Hensley. My grandmother...uh...my dad's mother Margaret Blackburn's father was Henry Blackburn and Lucinda Bevins. Reverend Billy Ball served in the Civil War. And he was one of twenty-four children.

B: Uh...one man and one wife and they had twenty...and did all twenty-four live to adult hood?

AP: I don't know I don't have that information. But the interesting thing I've made here says that he served in the Civil War and then he was shot and killed accidentally in the mountains of Kentucky.

B: Oh my goodness.

AP: That's kind of interesting. I haven't seen it in so long.

B: Did any family stories pass down from him about the Civil War?

AP: I...I do not have that available. I don't remember.

B: Did he become a...he probably became a minister after the war?

AP: I would say he must have. And most likely he was a primitive Baptist minister. I just...I'm saying primitive Baptist because primitive Baptist has been very prominent in the Ball family. I have a brother that's a primitive Baptist minister now.

B: What does uh...the primitive Baptist mean? What...

AP: My brother calls them...it's uh...from based on what my brother has told me that it's uh...must be the oldest Baptist organization and then the other...all the other Baptist extend from it.

B: Okay.

AP: That's the way it seems to me. I don't know that much about them. But my brother has been a minister for with them for oh...all his life just about.

B: Okay. Um...lets see how much education did your parents have?

AP: Uh...my dad had some college. Uh...he went to uh...my dad attended Bowling Green Business School.

B: Okay.

AP: And he served...he worked in Red Jacket as payroll clerk. He was also a banker in Williamson. Not one of the existing banks but he was a banker.

B: What was the name of the bank he worked for? Do you know?

AP: Uh...it was uh...Day and Night National Bank at that time. It's not...it went broke during the great depression.

B: Okay.

AP: And he was a school teacher also. So I guess it's alright to have more than one career.

B: Seems typical for the area. How about your mother?

AP: My mother finished high school and she uh...was working in...she worked in uh...in a...in depart...in...mother was working in a department store when she met dad and they later married. And uh...I guess that's about all she did outside...after school until uh...she was left a widow. Three children.

B: Was that how many brothers and sister you had?

AP: I have...I have uh...Rebecca my mother...my daddy was killed. He was shot in...he was shot and killed up Blackberry here. Had nothing to do with the Hatfield and McCoy feud or anything.

B: Okay.

AP: But he was shot and killed. And uh...what we call Blackberry Creek. In nineteen, and twenty-seven left my mom with three children, five, four, and eighteen months. And she was then twenty...lets see she was...she was twenty-seven because she was born in nineteen hundred. Age twenty-seven.

B: Do you know anything about the events surrounding his death?

AP: Uh...I re...I vaguely remember the day that uh...we got word that he had been shot and killed. We were living in Pike County at that time. My grandmother, my mother's mother. My stepfather had just built a new home here in North Matewan. And uh...my dad had just bought a new Oldsmobile at that time. And he was...I think he wanted to show his car off. So he brought us over to uh...my grandmother...to my grandmothers and let us out there and he went on up Blackberry Creek because that's where the Ball's... they were front he Pike County area including Blackberry Creek. So he went up there. He was on his way up there. I guess just to see friends because he had cousins that were living that area. And this man snuck up behind him shot him...shot him in the left arm and it went all the way through him and into this arm here. And uh...he was uh...killed outright. I'm not sure he shot more than a one time I'm certain but I do know he was shot and killed...I mean he died that very...just in a matter...gee maybe a half hour...as I remember. And I can remember that when they came and brought the news to us uh...it was very shattering even though I was only five years old. I can remember it very distinctly. And that uh...some of our friends took us after they had....well the time we saw him they had already embalmed him. And I can remember they had a sheet over him. And they...when we got to him that's the condition he was in. He had just brought us that morning to North Matewan and he was dead in I guess less than an hour after he left us.

B: Did they ever catch the man that?...

AP: Yes they caught the man. I don't know uh...Rebecca it seems that there may have...the cause that we have heard or that was brought out in the trial in his trial that uh...there was a lot of moonshining going on in those days. And uh...my dads uh...had some cousins who were a part of the law enforcement county...county... and it seems that this mans families Steels had been upset by the federal men and uh...he blamed his stood my dad had reported them. So I don't...that was uh...that was brought out in the trial. He was tried and convicted. And sent to prison and I think he served like less than two years and set free. He...he maybe...I guess he's living in the area now. I...and I may have seen him but I'm not sure. I've never have felt that I really wanted to see him you know.

B: Would you care to give his name?

AP: His name is Blain...Blain uh...Bowling. B.O.W.L.I.N.G.

B: Okay. While we're on the subject uh...how was moonshining as an activity looked on in this area? How widespread was it? Do you know?

AP: Really I have not done a lot of reading and research on it. Just what I've heard uh...from handed down through stories that were told. But I don't...it seems like it was a pretty big business. That was during the time we were trying to get probition (prohibition) passed in those days. And uh...I think it was just sort of a way of life in those days. I believe just about anybody had a steel out behind the house. And I was just a child...I can remember...I can remember we had uh...some liquor around us. I remember that my dad would get dip off uh...what they call the mash. And I think it foamed or something. And I can remember he would give us a taste of it.

B: Really?

AP: Um-hum. So I think it was pretty common.

B: Okay.

AP: Just human...just kind of like soaking some extra spirits evidently don't they?

B: Um-hum. What did your mother do after your fathers death?

AP: I have to tell you this just to uh...    _______ my mother was left a widow at twenty-seven and she remarried at the age of twenty-nine...married a uh...I had a good stepfather his name was Morgan Lankford. L.A.N.K.F.O.R.D. And he just...at to their    _______ union were born uh...uh...three, four...three daughter and one son. And uh...my mother was strong physically. We had no...we had no money. We didn't even have a home to live in at that time. And that was in nineteen, twenty-seven. And uh...I can remember that my mother...at...mother...mother told us this. I didn't remember it but mother said that they...they buried my father there was some of my cousins...my dads cousins says Myrtle uh...why don't you give the children to one of...to one of us and one to another and...and one to someone else and uh...because your not gonna be able to keep them. And my mother being so strong willed she looked them square in the face and she says I'll take my children and live under a rock cliff before I will part with them. I had appreciated it so much way back uh...and uh...she has uh...uh...she...my stepfather then died when uh...he died in forty...lets see in nineteen and forty he died. He left her with seven children. There were all seven of us home. And we still didn't have anything fully we were renting at that time. And uh...that's the time...that was in nineteen, forty and then she uh...but before that time...let me back. Before she...before that my stepfather died my dad had just passed away and here she is with the three of us and uh...my uh...uh...there's a uncle of mine that was working for...it was then Fordson Coal Company on Pond Creek. Fordson. One word Fordson Coal. And on McVeigh, Kentucky. And he was single and mother got the idea that that she could...if she could get the boarding house see cause men in those days often times they would come in the coal camp when they'd come to the coal mines and work they would board in a boarding house. And then go home on the weekends. So mother had uh...got heard that this boarding house was available on Pond Creek and uh...she had no one working for the company she had no connections and being a widow uh...in those days was terrible you know she just didn't have any assets any wealth at all. So uh...she got my uncle to sign up since he was working for Fordson and he uh...uh...signed up he rented the boarding house in his name and my mother kept boarders. And she get up wee hours in the morning get those boarders off. Pack their buckets you know and send them off to work. She did that until uh...until she met Mr. Lankford and married him. And he was a coal miner also. Then she was left a widow again like I said at the age of forty. With seven children and then she had to get those children up and on their feet. And she did everything on honorable. Anything honorable to make a living. We had no...we didn't have welfare, we didn't have social security, we didn't have insurance of income. And she uh...would uh...I can remember during World War II that there was a shortage a milk and some of the uh...prominent people in this area bought cows. They had a couple or three cows...two or three families went together and bought two or three cows and my mother would milk...go every morning and milk those cows and she'd milk them in the evening. Milked them twice a day. Hand milked them for a part of her milk as her wages. As her compensation. And that kept us in butter and milk which was just tremendous for us cause we all grew up loving milk and butter. And she'd always raise chickens. And uh...mother always uh...she would do house keeping or helping the sick for just...things of that nature just to...any kind of living that she could keep us together. And of course by that time I had...by the uh...by forty-two I went to work at Matewan National. And uh...then that gave us a break in finances that we were able to have a few...have a little more than what we'd been accustomed to having.

B: For her jobs would people pay her in cash?

AP: They paid her in cash.    _______ Rebecca.

B: We're talking...we had just gotten you into the Matewan National Bank but...but before we pick up with that I...I want to ask you did your mother have any one come in and help when the babies would be born?

AP: Uh...mother oh mother always had her babies at home. And uh...the doctor would come in and make the deliveries. Her babies were all delivered by a doctor.

B: Was he a private doctor here in town or would one of the coal camp doctors come?

AP: Uh...

B: Do you know?

AP: They were all coal camp doctors that uh...because she didn't have any children after we moved into West Virginia. We came into West Virginia there in the early forties. Must have been about thirty-nine or forty.

B: Okay. Did you quit school to go into to work at the bank? Had you been in school?

AP: I had uh...because of the financial conditions that my family was in and I was a person that always had to have supplies. I couldn't go to school or I just...I just couldn't if i didn't have the paper and pencil primarily that was what it consist of in those days plus a book or two, or three or four. So I dropped out of school and when I was a sophomore and then lets see I dropped out I can't remember...the year is a little I must have dropped out of school in thirty-eight or...it must have been about thirty-eight. And uh...I uh...because I didn't have money to buy my supplies my books and supplies and I did not...I went to work uh...it    _______ to make a little bit of money and to help the family too. And because my stepfather was already sick and unable to work at that time. And I uh...wasn't content to be out of school so I returned to school and uh...if I dropped out thirty-eight I went back to school in forty...no I was in school...I went back to school in forty-one. I dropped out in thirty-nine and went back to school in forty-one and graduated in forty-three. I started in banking in forty-two. So I uh...working with Matewan National Bank on a part-time basis. And going to school an hour in the evening and then my one of my teachers tutorhood me in my art class to help me get through and get my uh...diploma in the spring of forty-three.

B: How...were you the only person that had come back to school like that when you were in school?

AP: As far as I remember it was not easy to do. Because I went back the year that my class was graduating that was tough. But I knew in my heart that I wanted my education. I...because I really wanted to become a teacher. I knew...didn't know how I was ever gonna get to go to college because I had no money. And I would uh...I love school today. I still love learning today. And I just uh...made my mind up and I knew in my heart it was gonna be hard to do it. My classmates were graduating that year but I said I'll do it. And I did it. So I went one full year. That was my uh...I had enough credits that I could go on uh...and get in...start my junior year and then I started working at the bank my senior year. And uh...the time that they got...they uh...well I had enough credits because I loved school and I took business classes all the time. Anything pertaining to business, typing, shorthand, bookkeeping. That's what I would take. And then of course I took classes in banking after I went with the bank and then uh...I took a class in public speaking I guess in Beckley College when I was up there later...later in life. So uh...I...I was with Matewan National from nineteen and forty-two until uh...seventy-two. You now how I got...how I got started in banking?

B: How?

AP: I was working as uh...I was going to school, high school and I was working for Hope's Department store just located down Main Street in Matewan. I was working there on Saturday's making some money to uh...pay my supplies for school. And I also...another thing I did at school I washed dishes....excuse me I washed dishes at noon in the cafeteria and got my lunch for free. And I uh...the fellows were...that was uh...right soon after the uh...World War III had begun and they were shipping the fellows out to service and uh...they were taking one of the fellows that had been with the bank had to go in service. So uh...Dan Chambers who was...Dan Chambers who was president of the bank at that time went to a school...went to the high school and ask uh...my principal if he had anybody in the school that he thought would be interested in...that would be...that would want to go to work at the bank. And so my teachers and I got along beautifully. They knew I wanted to get ahead. And uh...that I was ambitious and I...and uh...I studied and made good marks. So uh...they uh...my principal got with the typing teacher and they together got me the job at Matewan National. I...I started on October the fifth, but I interviewed with Mr. Chambers at his home on Sunday after Sunday school. Then and I went to work on Monday morning. I remember I was wearing the pretties dress I owned. It was pink. Had a ruffle...white...a little white...had a white collar on it. And uh...he told me that he wanted me to go ahead and get my schooling in that I could work some hours. Work as many hours a day that I could. And he said and I'll start you out at forty-five dollars a month. Now Rebecca I had never owned a twenty dollar bill up until that time. And I was then...I was about twenty years old. And I started to work on October the fifth pay day was on October the fifteenth. He always paid the people in the middle of the month. For the full month. Can you imagine what a wonderful experience that was. I had worked at the bank ten days then they give me a full months pay and in addition to that he gave me fifty-five dollars instead of forty-five.

B: Oh my goodness. Why was that?

AP: Well I hope I made a good impression. I guess I felt like he said well that girl is eager to learn, I hope that was the reason.

B: What did you do with that money?

AP: Well I had...I helped the family some. And of course I uh...I had to manage to by myself a few clothes along. Of course my slippers in those days just cost five dollars a pair. But it was great.

B: How about your younger brothers and sister did they get to go on in school....

AP: I was the oldest of the seven. And I was the only one that finished my high school. The others it was during World War II the other went away to work...to find work. Some went to uh...they uh...migrated into uh...Michigan, into Detroit. And they were able to find employment and then I'd say they got some education but I don't know what it was. But they have uh...always worked and had uh...they've been reasonable successful. And uh...some of them...we were all over the country today. We're all living out of seven. I have a sister...lets see my oldest sister lives in Chicago. My oldest brother lives in Florida. I have a sister in Louisiana and New Orleans. And I have a sister and a brother in Oklahoma City and uh...lets see and a sister in Chicago. I have two sisters in Chicago. Sometimes I can't count.

B: Well before we go on with your life let me back track and ask you chronological questions okay? Uh...did anybody that you know or your family uh...fight in World War I?

AP: As far as I know no.

B: Okay. Did anyone tell you...

AP: Oh let...let me back track.

B: Go ahead.

AP: My father...my father enlisted in service but the time he enlisted the war ended. World War I. My father just enlisted but he didn't...and the war ended at that time.

B: Okay. How about the flu epidemic? Did you ever hear any stories about that?

AP: I have uh...I've heard stories about it but as far as my family...as far back as I can remember I do not remember that we had anybody that died over the flu.

B: Okay. Um...how about anything about the uh...Matewan Massacre the coal mining wars or the Hatfield McCoy feud?

AP: Well uh...we were living over in Pike County over on what they call Pond Creek which is a little uh...it would be uh...let me think. It would be west...would be west of Matewan. And uh...and of course that took place...as far as...all the...all the information I ever heard was after we uh...we came into this area...moved into Matewan area. I didn't know...ever heard of it until then. And I was a teenager at that time.

B: Okay. You said stepfather was a coal miner.

AP: Uh-huh.

B: Right. Do you know where he worked?

AP: Well he worked over uh...in Kentucky at Fordson Coal and then he worked uh...we moved form there to Aflex and he worked for Leckie Colaries in Aflex. That's A.F.L.E.X. Kentucky.

B: Okay.

AP: And from there we came up to Lobata. You know where Lobata is now don't you?

B: Yes mam.

AP: We worked...he worked there. That's the last work he did. And he...after he quit working for the coal company became disabled. From I guess black lung you'd say. Based on the way thing are stated today must have been black lung. And he uh...became disabled to work we couldn't live in the coal camp then. If you didn't work in the coal company then you couldn't live in the coal camp.

B: What did you do?

AP: We had to move. And uh...we're still poor. We still didn't have anything you know. So we moved here into Matewan from Lobata. And uh...that's when my mother started work you know she would uh...milk the cows and uh...she would do...take in washings and iron. She'd wash and iron for people. As I said the things she did...she...everything she did was honorable I just...she went onto Heaven at uh...in eight-six at the age of eighty-six. And uh...that girls reputation I'll tell ya...and character were just Tape cuts off

B: So no one ever said anything to your mother about working or taking in work? Did...was anything ever said?

AP: Well she always uh...she got it...she found work on her own. Uh...I'm just trying to think uh...for the time we came to Matewan I believe welfare was in existence. We I don't remember that we ever got welfare checks but they were taking uh...they were doing some service for people that were disabled. Were down...that were home bound and it's seems to me...I think she helped oh...and she did...she took some uh...training in taking care of people in their home. And uh...she started making a little bit of money like that. And I guess that was about the time that I started in the bank when she was doing that. So that was through the welfare agent.

B: Okay. What do you remember at the time that you were a child? Did the idea that the great depression was on? Did that make an impression at the time? What were your memories of people talking about the depression?

AP: I have thought about it uh...a lot but we were just so poor that I...I couldn't tell very much difference in our living standards. We were as poor as we could be any how. And uh...I can remember I do remember one thing. I was skinny as a rail like a bean pole. I had all this height...I was tall and lanky. And uh...the first thing I remember about help at all was they would come some branch of welfare I guess would come to the schools and they started weighing the children and tabulating that how much we weight and how tall we are and trying to make an assessment of our physical health. And uh...they started a soup kitchen in the school. And uh...they made uh...all...they called it the soup kitchen one day we'd have soup one day I can remember that we'd have graham crackers with peanut butter on it and I though I have died an reached heaven when I got that. Peanut butter and graham crackers that was the best food I'd ever had at that point. And uh...they served us oak meal with raisins cooked in it. Now that was for the children who were under weight and I was always about twenty pounds underweight based on my height you see. And I...I guess I was the only one in my family that got to eat in the soup kitchen because my sister was a little heavier than I...her cheeks were rosier. And uh...as far as I know my brother didn't eat there. But oh that was the best food. That's the way it started but of course that's the way it took in the other kids too. And I can remember they even gave us Cod Liver Oil (?). To this day I don't like Cod Liver Oil (?). They would give the Cod Liver Oil (?) to the teachers and the teachers would line us up and give us a dose of Cod Liver Oil (?) once...once a day I guess.

B: Oh goodness.

AP: To improve on our health.

B: Did you...what was your imagine of Franklin Roosevelt at that time? What did you remember thinking of him as a child?

AP: Lets see when was he...when was he first elected?

B: Nineteen, thirty-two.

AP: Thirty-two alright I was then ten years old. Well basically the new deal. The new deal. We had radio going at that time. Anytime you heard anything in the news it was president Roosevelt and the new deal. And uh...he was highly though of because lets face it we did go through a good revolution after he started in office. It was time for something wasn't it? I think it was time for something good to happen. And uh...I can still remember seeing him. And he was in a wheel chair wasn't he? He served his country in a wheel chair.

B: When did you...

AP: He was a great man.

B: Did you see a picture or did you see him?

AP: Uh...just the pictures you know. In the newspaper or we didn't have television then so it had to be in the newspaper.

B: Where was the radio you said you remember hearing about him.

AP: On the radio? Well about the first little radio I can remember...I must have been about he was uh...I'm trying to think back when we got our first washing machine. My mother washed on a board you know. Scrub board. And I suppose I think it was sometime after she had married the second time. My stepfather was working at the mines doing pretty good at that time for that era. And I supposed we must of had a little radio and it would have been along about that time because I was five, seven, eight might have been...I might have been eight or nine years old when we got out first radio.

B: What did it run off of? Did it run off of electricity?

AP: Power.

B: What kind of trading did your mother do at the company store when her husband...second husband was still alive?

AP: Uh...she bought all of her food and our clothing. All of our shopping she did at the grocery...commissary. The coal company store. And uh...of course it was of course they would just charge it to the mans uh...deducted for the man wages and pay him in script. They had their own money in those days you know. And they paid uh...the balance of what he had left in script.

B: How much after that do you think he got paid? I've heard the stories that there were times that the men didn't draw pay checks at all because they owed so much to the company store.

AP: Well Rebecca my mother was a good money manger. Even though we had uh...we had...we didn't have very much to live on. But she would...she always felt that it would be very discouraging for him to be on the overdraft. As they call it then. And not to be able to get something for his days going in there and working so hard. In like uh...I've heard him talk about working in twenty-four inch coal honey. And look here I could see him yet he's say he leaned on one elbow and he load coal with that shovel onto that coal car in that black mines. Dark...can you imagine...and with a little old...in those days a little carbide lamp on their head. And I don't know he probably...I don't know what he would have made three or four dollars a day. But she uh...my mother like I said was a good money manager. And uh...she would so...well she would sew and I'll tell you something else she did. I learned to make flowers when I was a girl. We made...that time for memorial day my mother would take orders from her neighbors around her and we would crate paper flowers. You know what crate paper is?

B: Um-hum.

AP: We would make...we'd cut...mother would cut them out and we would...I'd stay up into the night with her even though I was just a child and she uh...I learned to make flowers from her. And I right now with my husbands business when I put a flower together I think about mother and me working putting those flowers together. And she    _______ sell them for twenty-five cents an arrangement or fifty cents what we called a wreath. And she made crosses. And uh...she'd make enough money for us to uh...have new dress I mean not a new dress she would buy the material and make our dresses. She always made our dresses 'til we got big enough to buy our own. She was a good manager though. And she'd always try that my dad maybe he didn't draw as much as ten dollars or not I don't remember. But she always liked for him to draw a little bit of money.

B: Bless her heart.

AP: That's not my daddy. I called him dad he was a daddy to me.

B: Do you know how long his shifts would be? Do you remember anything about him working?

AP: By the time we moved to Lobata the union was pretty strong then. And as far back as I can really remember the union has been see. So I uh...he would leave before day light, but I don't think he worked into the night unless he doubled back for something. Primarily he would leave before day light and get back before dark. I would say.

B: Okay. Um...you say that the union was strong by then, did he belong to the union?

AP: Oh yes.

B: Did he ever say anything to you or did you overhear him say anything about the union?

AP: Uh...not...it was just a way of life for him with us by that time see cause that was in near thirties, near nineteen thirties. So it had...it was...everything was already union here.

B: Okay. Do you remember hearing about how World War II started? Do you remember when...

AP: How World War II started?

B: Um-hum.

AP: I remembered when they announced it on the radio. It happened on Sunday. And I went to work on Monday and I was working in that's when I was going to school. Lets see was I going to school then? I was going to school yeah. And uh...that's was before I went with the bank see. It started in December and the following October, I got the bank. I was trying to get my things right there. And I remember it on Monday going to work for Mrs. Allara. Frank Allara you've heard the name Allara. Frank's...I was doing house worked for them at that time. And uh...she was telling us that...she told me as I went in that morning on Monday morning to work she says well we're going into...we're in World War II now. And uh...I can remember that very well and how the fellows would go off...see we had the train would stop here pick the boys up that they were taken away. As a matter of fact my oldest sister's husband uh...went away. They may have married by the time the war begun. The war began. But I would say that uh...I think they must have married at the time the war began. Uh...he uh...she left...he went away to...he was stationed in the uh...seems to me he was stationed in somewhere like New York and uh...she after their baby was born then she went to live with him a while. And uh...the things it seemed it would never end. I had a uncle that was my age and he was killed in the service. He was killed the day after...he was killed in... on an Army Beach Head the day after they uh...moved into.

B: When you say that the troop trains came to town, do you remember seeing them come through town?

AP: Uh-huh.

B: What would the people in town do when the troop trains came through?

AP: Oh we'd gather along the side of the railroad to...we always wave at them. Tried to make try to help them feel better about the situation.

B: What...what...what did people talk about during the war? Did...did rationing go on here?

AP: Yes. Uh-huh. We couldn't buy hose and we had to have stamps to buy lets see sugar, coffee,...sugar and coffee I remember. What else? Flower? Was flower....flower might have been rationed. I remember the food stamps. But I do remember the hose were hard to come buy. I can't remember all the items that were. I suppose gas was rationed too but that didn't make any difference we all walked in those days. It didn't bother us too much.

B: Do you remember uh...any of the stores downtown? What...what stores do you remember being downtown as you were growing up?

AP: Uh...Nenni's, Schaeffer's, we had restaurants...I'm coming down the other side over there. Restaurants we had one, two and we almost had two I believe. And then we had I can barely for some reason...I barely remember we had uh...a grocery store there it was a chain and I can't remember the name of it.

B: Was it Krogers?

AP: I think...I don't remember Krogers. It might have been a Krogers in here. I can't not remember. I remember going there and buying groceries. We'd go there and buy groceries but I can't remember the name of it. And of course the bank was over on that side and the post office.

B: Do you remember the names of...of well the brand names of any of the groceries that you bought? There are interested in finding that out you know to try to get some of the old adds and things like that.

AP: Well uh...there was tobacco that Prince Albert in red cans. And the people would buy their uh...packs of uh...tissue to roll them. Roll their own cigarettes. Uh...Hershey's have been around. Hershey Kisses have been around as long as I can remember.

B: Do you ever...do you remember have much you paid for them back then? AP: I think we must have gotten...seems to me we got five for a penny. And we could always buy...eat lolly pop a good size lolly pop for a penny. And we had what we called a milk cow. Milk cow they called it. It was a caramel. It was a square of a rectangular shape. Uh...piece of caramel, chewy caramel on a stick. And of course Knee-high [sic] pop. I remember that about all my life. Knee-high [sic]. Uh...Armours have been around all the years.

B: Armours as in Armour meat?

AP: Uh-huh. I was trying to think of flower. We had...it seemed to me like we had a brand Mayflower. For some reason, I know that's the boat but I...I...I'm sure we had Mayflower in those days. And I was trying to...we must have bought Armour uh...lard. We used lard to cook in. Baloney uh...who's baloney...I don't remember who's baloney but uh...Carnation milks has been around for ever. It always been on standing. Trying to think of the items I eat now what...what...

B: Have you kept the same items through the years that...that...

AP: Delmonti...all of my married years. And my husband and I have been married forty-five years. So we've pretty well kept the same brands.

B: Well lets see. Lets get started with that when did you get married?

AP: We got married in...we started courting in forty and we got married in forty-four. And we did not uh...we got married in forty-four on May...on February the nineteenth, nineteen forty-four. We just had our forty-fifth anniversary. I guess it's pretty permanent don't you?

B: I think so. Uh...how many other people had you all dated? Do you know?

AP: Oh, we had sweethearts and uh...not...not a lot of people we had our contacts from    _______ church and school. And uh...we had sweethearts at school. But as far as dating see my mother was firm and she says you don't get to date, you don't get to have a date until you become sixteen. No dating. And uh...so from sixteen to twenty, Hiram and I started courting at lets see what time. Uh... eighteen when I started courting him so sixteen to eighteen I only had a couple of years in there. So I was...I wasn't real popular.

B: How did you all meet?

AP: Uh...it's...it's odd. As I told you we worked in homes doing house keep...house keeping...house cleaning uh...to help make the living. And uh...my sister...well my husband's sister and her husband had a Kirk's Department Store in town. Kirk's Department Store. And of course she had...my sister was working for her in her home. And uh...I suppose I must have gone by there. My sister arranged that I would come by there and my husband who is her...is Mrs. Kirk's brother was there and uh...she introduced him...introduced me to him. And uh...we...it just sort of grew from there. And uh...lower than no time we started seeing each other. And we led...we had a real romantic life.

B: What did you all do when you were courting?

AP: Uh...we could only...lets see mother let us have a date on Wednesday night and on Saturday and Sunday okay. And on Sunday afternoons I can remember very well that we would walk and we were at Blackberry City which was about a mile uh...south of here. And we would walk the railroad that railroad out there and uh...we just walked on the railroad and talked to each other. Hold hands. So he was nice to me he was a good lover and...and he respected my morals and we just made a hit. We just...but we...we couldn't get married because we were...both of us were very poor. We had no money. So we both had to work a while in order to get some money together so we could feel reasonable safe to marry.

B: Did he serve in the war?

AP: No he didn't pass the physical. He had rheumatic fever when he was a child. And so he didn't pass the physical to go to war. We thought...he went away but he didn't pass so he came back home.

B: What did...what did feeling safe before getting married? What did...financially what did that mean to you all? To feel safe before you could get married?

AP: Uh...well we were both very uh...we were both from a poor family we didn't have uh...our parents didn't have money to help us get started and if we made it we had to make it on our own. So he had to have a job. He knew in his heart that he had to have a job that we could rely on. And then of course he started working at the coal mines. Now he didn't work in the coal mines he worked on the tipple. So he got a job at the tipple and uh...he began uh...of course he now...I mean he began at once to save money. He was living with his mom. And uh...of course he would give her some money. And uh...he uh...would save his money for our...for our benefit. And uh...I started in a bank. We had uh...lets see I...we started courting in forty and I started working in the bank in forty-two so we worked from...see I worked two years there and he worked two to three years before we got married. We had to...we knew if we made it that we had to do it on our own. And uh...so we saved our money got reasonable sure that we could uh...that we could become successful...hoping we could come...become successful together. So we started out...you want to know how we started out house keeping? We first uh...uh...his mom had a little old out building. I don't know what it had originally had been possibly just a little...maybe it was just a storage building of some kind. Any how we went in and renovated that. Cleaned it up and put floor covering down and we started in two rooms. We had a kitchen with the...we had a coal range. Had the old fashion kitchen cabinet and a breakfast set. And then we bought out uh...I still have my bedroom furniture. Still got...that's the only thing that we've got with now...still uses is bedroom furniture. We start out house keeping with about uh...I believe we had...

B: June sixteenth, nineteen, eighty-nine. Four o'clock I'm in the Phillips Garden Center talking to Mrs. Aileen Phillips and this is tape two of interview one. Uh...Mrs. Phillips where we left off yesterday we were discussing you and your husband just setting up house keeping. Would you like to talk a little bit more about that?

AP: Well as I pointed out I mentioned that we started out living in a two room house that we had uh...a building we rented. Started with two rooms of furniture that costs us six hundred dollars. And we lived uh...there for like possibly one year. When we uh...experienced a fire which burned uh...his mother's home was there close by. It uh...her house was destroyed by the fire and so was our property destroyed by fire. And uh...my husband at that time was working for Red Jacket Coal Corporation. On the tipple on the coal tipple as a slate picker was his classification and of course he had to build her...he felt obligated to build her a home back to replace the one that had just burned then after that we purchased our first property in the same area. I believe we probably paid two thousand dollars for our first home. And of course we worked hard day...we worked out jobs the day time and we worked at night renovating the property. Uh...doing all our work ourselves. We were married like uh...and we lived in this first home which we had purchased until our son was born. And we'd been married approximately eight years when he arrived. His name is Paul David Phillips. Born October the twentieth, nineteen, fifty-one.

B: Okay.

AP: Of course this was uh...a great eventful time for us his birth. And uh...after that...before he was a year old we had begun to build a new house which we again we did all this work ourselves. We did the carpentry. We cut it...my husband cut it out and I helped...I'd hold the boards and and he had built it you know nail them in place. And we built our first new home ourselves. It was four room house, twenty-four by twenty-four then uh...in...we lived there until nineteen, sixty. And we moved we bought the home that we live in next door to our business. We bought it and moved to town. And uh...I'm continuing with Matewan National until nineteen seventy-two. And uh...we have uh...oh and my son graduated from Magnolia High School in Matewan. That's Magnolia High School. And he graduated in sixty-eight.

B: Well to go back and ask a couple of questions uh...was your son born at home?

AP: My son was born in the uh...Williamson Memorial Hospital.

B: How much...do you remember about how much at that time to go into the hospital and have a baby? Did it cost much?

AP: Uh...I was apart of the group in hospital and doctor plan through the bank. In my opinion it didn't cost us anything, personally. I think it was all covered by insurance. But I would guess it would cost about six hundred at that time to go in the hospital for the doctors services in all.

B: Okay.

AP: And in retrospect Rebecca thinking back on my mother she had her babies at home and the uh...company doctor...the coal company doctor delivered them. It cost twenty-five dollars a baby.

B: Um-hum. Now when he was born uh...did you have any medication? Or did..was it

AP: Natural?

B: what they call a natural child birth now?

AP: You know I was near thirty. And uh...in those days a woman was considered to be kind of old to be having her first baby at thirty. And uh...do you know I did not experience any sickness during pregnancy. I worked at Matewan National everyday. And I saved my vacation...he was born in October...I save my vacation and I worked up until September the fifteenth.

B: Was that...did anyone in the community...was that typical for a women to work if a woman was working to work up a....

AP: Well it uh...that far back...there were not very many...only professional women we had in the area were the school teaching were a part of the school teaching profession. Uh...I have come up through the ranks being a woman uh...living...I mean wearing several hats such as being a wife, mother, and uh...a career women. Uh...and of course one time I was uh...I started in Matewan National down in...right down in bookkeeping doing bookkeeping and doing teller work. I trained in those areas immediately. And by the year of nineteen and sixty I was promoted to Vice President of the Matewan National Bank. And I was one of the...I was one of two women in the state of West Virginia to be...first to be a Vice President of the bank. In the banking industry.

B: In that time?

AP: Uh-huh. At that time. And that was about...that was in nineteen sixty.

B: How did you find that out?

AP: Uh...because of my uh...uh...association of...or my membership with uh...The National Association of Bank Women and we had uh...a chapter an active chapter in West Virginia. And I...I served as uh...a state chairman of that group.

B: Okay. So no one said much to you about working while you were pregnant then?

AP: No...I...no one...I had no sickness I had no reason to stay home being...and we were a small bank with like uh...oh less than ...I'd say less than ten employee's including officers. And uh...I was...I worked all the time I had no reason...they had no reason to let me...to ask to take a leave of absence. And uh...even though I took my vacation September the fifteenth to the end of the month they called me to come back and help then get out the uh...statements at the end of the month.

B: Oh my goodness.

AP: And then my baby was born less than three weeks after that.

B: How soon after Paul's birth did you go back to work?

AP: I went back uh...by the time he was uh...two months old. I returned to work. And uh...I worked from there on and have been busy in banking until ten years ago. Then after that I retired from banking. Uh...you ask something and I didn't...I by-passed it...oh you ask about the medication...

B: Right.

AP: I had during delivery?

B: Right.

AP: I gave natural birth. I don't...I don't remember even having any stitches.

B: Really?

AP: Of course I'm a tall lady. I was not way overweight. I think by keeping on...continuing my job uh...in able me to keep my weight down. And uh...I had uh...all they did was to give me some Demerol (pain shot) I believe it was. And I was in labor from like uh...I entered a hospital by eight o'clock the morning he was born. And he was born at 8:12 that night.

B: Who cared for Paul after you went back to work? AP: I had a neighbor that took care...she had a little girl at that time uh...two years of age. So she wanted and she was home with hers and she wanted to keep him was the next door neighbor. So she took real good care of him. Then after she uh...for some reason I...she and her husband moved away and then his grandmother Phillips lived close by us and she wanted to keep him. And uh...by then he was walking and uh...she kept him for uh...until her death. He was three years old when she died so she kept him for two years. And then he stayed with an aunt from the age of three 'til he started school.

B: Did you pay your neighbor anything for taking care of him?

AP: Yes. Uh...we paid her and we paid his mom also. I would think that we must have paid...I'd say about fifteen dollars a week for keeping him.

B: The other question I had from what you just said a little bit earlier was, you say you and Mr. Phillips built your own house the first time. How many other couples did that in this area when you were...

AP: I am really not aware and do not remember others but uh...my husband seemed to have a natural ability to build and uh...he was a reader he had his...he only had the eight...I mean the uh...high school education. But he was a reader and he would read material just like electrical as an example. But he begun he had begun to think about doing those things. And he would educate himself through reading the material that gave him...that helped him to uh...know what to do. And read diagrams so he really...he's been a great reader.

B: How far did he travel from day to day? You said he worked at Red Jacket. How far of a trip was that every day when he worked?

AP: Uh...I would say it's about...oh about four miles one way. Round trip about eight miles. He would ride uh...with a some local person. A fellow employee. He would ride with them until we bought our first car. And we bought our first car in August of forty-eight which was the new forty-nines that just come out. Our first car was a forty-nine. Ford.

B: Do you remember how much you paid for it?

AP: Sure. Thirteen hundred dollars. Our first car was thirteen hundred dollars.

B: What kind of equipment did it have on it? Do you remember about it?

AP: Well it was standard transmission. And it was the most...it was one of the high lights of our marriage was to buy the first car and to take our first...to go on vacation first. We went on our first vacation a year later. Uh...primarily I remember learning...neither of us could drive and we bought us a new car. Neither one of us could drive. So the salesman that sold the car to us gave me my first driving lesson. In the deal. Then uh...my husbands niece took me out a few times. And uh...that's how I learned to drive. And of course after she had taken me two or three time ...this has always been one of my ambitions since I was a kid I wanted to learn to...I wanted to own and drive an automobile. And it didn't take a lot of training for me. Course I think back on it and some of the places the narrow roads and narrow very narrow bridges I went over. I said oh my God was a good God to keep me in his care. But it was a great...

B: How long did you all go without getting a license? When did you get your license?

AP: Uh...I would uh...I'd say I got my license...we got a license to drive...we bought the car in August and I'd say with in sixty days we had our license. We didn't waste any time.

B: Okay. When did Mr. Phillips learn to drive?

AP: He learned at the same time. And I suppose the salesman also gave him a lesson. And he had some...I believe his brother went out with him. A brother took him to show him.

B: When uh...excuse me where did you buy the car? Do you remember?

AP: Uh-huh. The name of the company was Magnolia Ford Motor in Matewan.

B: Where was it situated? Do you remember?

AP: Downtown. Uh-huh right here in town, downtown Matewan. It was out your know where you office is up there it's uh...the uh... it's behind where the town is now. It's up there where the uh... you know the corner. It's right directly behind that. What is it NAPA?

B: Uh-huh.

AP: Behind that parts. The building still exists partially I should say. The building still partially still exists.

B: Okay. Um...

AP: I'd like to tell you where we went on our first vacation...

B: Yes I was gonna ask you...

AP: Our first vacation was a year later and it would have been in uh...July first part of...the first two weeks in July. And uh... we drove from West Virginia to Savanna, Georgia for our first vacation.

B: Why Savanna?

AP: Because he had nieces that lived there and we wanted...we wanted to go show them our car. We wanted to flaunt our progress you know.

B: How much did gas cost back then?

AP: Uh...well the first vacation that we took...the reason for driving to Savanna like I said was to visit with relatives. And uh...we probably I...I don't not remember us doing any site seeing. Uh...we were like...I was twenty-seven. I was about twenty-seven. But it was the uh...it was just the experience of getting on road and getting there and coming back. That was what was worth the trip for us.

B: How did you all travel at that time? What highways were...were in existence?

AP: Uh...well I'm sure that there were all small highways state I doubt that there were any federal highways in those days. I'm not sure and uh...we wanted...we knew during the day the cities that we'd have to go through would be busy so we started out from Matewan and we drove all night, because we wanted to get through Columbia before...during the night we didn't want to go through that...that was one of the biggest we'd have to go through. And we wanted...we traveled at night. And uh...we made it safely. And then of course coming back was a little easier. And then of course we done a lot of traveling. But that was a good...that was a beginning for us in traveling.

B: Where else have you all traveled?

AP: We uh...traveled to Florida. Uh...To Detroit. We had family in Detroit, Chicago we've driven to those places. And uh...to drive of course we've flown. Now we do a lot of flying too. So commercial planes.

B: What do you remember about your first air plane flight?

AP: Really you want to hear it?

B: Um-hum.

AP: Alright I was with Matewan National then and one...the wife uh...the wife of one of our directors had died and uh...one of our directors owned a plane. He sent the plane to pick us up to go to Sutton, West Virginia for the funeral. That was the first I'd ever been on. That would have been about uh...in nineteen, possibly in the middle...in about nineteen, sixty-five something like that. About nineteen, sixty-five.

B: Have you flown on larger planes since then?

AP: Yes I've been...

B: What do you think about flying?

AP: I love flying Rebecca. If I were your age I'd learn to be a pilot.

B: Really?

AP: I really would. I have been overseas. I've been to uh...the Holly Land which included Rome, uh...Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Palestine and uh...London back to London.

B: What were your impression of those places? Because I know this...I...I've been overseas and I never felt something until I came down here. I felt the terrain just close around you and no wonder people said you know the society down here has always been close. Because it felt like the mountains did overwhelm you. How did you feel coming from this kind of area going overseas?

AP: Uh...well the terrain is different anywhere we go to get out of the mountains. We have such narrow valley's here. And you get out...wide open spaces you just feel like your looking around and on you think well gee how different. Over there you can see the water faucet leek. And uh...this great creation of ours is just... it has so much variety and I just...I'm just get off when I go to other areas. And of course to go overseas and see the uh...conditions that people live in and their uh...standard of living is so far below ours in so many areas and it makes you glad to come back home to soup beans, and cornbread, and milk and to uh...settle down at home. In such a wonderful country as ours because even though we have a problem we're the greatest country in the world in my opinion.

B: Your mother was still alive when you did that traveling wasn't she?

AP: Yes.

B: What did she say when you would show here pictures or tell her about where you traveled what would she say?

AP: Well uh...it was exciting to her my mother liked to travel to. She would have gone with me and as a matter of fact my mother did do some flying. My brother uh...I hadn't uh...my youngest brother was in...served int he Air Force and uh...he was stationed a long...for several years in Hawaii. And he married a Philippino [sic] girl there. And my mother moved to Hawaii two or three while he was...while they were living there. She loved to fly and travel as much as I did. B: What kind of things would she say? Do you remember about flying or about going different places?

AP: Uh...I suppose I have a lot of my mother in me okay? Should have shouldn't I? And my mother was a very out going person and she always loved to travel come in contact with new people and to uh...my mother was very...a good christian she was. And of course anytime she was going away she finds herself a good church to attend and a family that's she gonna be visiting. Always finds a place to go worship. And uh...I think in her doing this you see if you attend churches you come in contact with people with faith and that's exciting too yes and expiring plus the family and the grandchildren uh...she's just be overwhelmed with her trip come back talking about it. She liked flying too. She...

B: That was a great opportunity for her...

AP: It was cause she was now...see she would have been maybe seventy-years old at the time. Most likely about seventy when she possible made her first trip in air.

B: If we could talk some more about uh...your work experience in the bank kind of go forward through the years and what kind of work you did and...

AP: Uh...I started with Matewan National when I was still going to school. And I worked uh...started bookkeeping and learned to do teller work. And uh....I couldn't tell you...that was in nineteen forty-two. And uh...I uh...was promoted...I was promoted to assistance cashier and uh...by nineteen and fifty...lets see by nineteen fifty-one I was promoted to assistant cashier. And by nineteen and fifty-five I would have been promoted to cashier and then from cashier from no time in just a matter of years uh...I was promoted to vice president. At which time...and I was in charge of uh...I was vice president in charge of commercial loans and the banks investment portfolio were my main responsibilities. So at the uh...in nineteen and forty...I mean nineteen and seventy-two I had an opportunity presented to me to leave Matewan National and go with an bank that was an organization at the time to serve as it's chief executive officer. And that was uh...the Gilbert Bank and Trust.

B: June fifteenth, Friday afternoon. Sound check...sound check, sound check. This is Becky Bailey for the Matewan Development Center. It's June 20th, 9:45 AM, 1989. I'm on the third stage of my first interview with Mrs. Aileen Phillips. This is tape two of two.

B: Well Mrs. Phillips uh...the last time we talked we were talking about your uh...banking experience. Do you think that you would care to go through your chronology of your bank experience for me?

AP: Uh...Rebecca I started in banking in nineteen forty-two in Matewan National Bank. And my career began in the bookkeeping department. And uh...at that time the fellows were being shipped away. They were going into uh...training for uh...World War II and uh...I was promoted to teller soon and then in nineteen and fifty I was made assistant cashier of the Matewan National Bank. By nineteen fifty-five I received a promotion to cashier and only remained the cashier for less than a year and was trans...was promoted to vice president in nineteen fifty-six. Uh...at that time I was one of two women in the state of West Virginia holding this higher office this in the bank.

B: And uh...I guess a question that leads from that is how were women viewed in the banking business say in the forties, fifties, and sixties?

AP: Women viewed in banking at that time was almost unheard of. But when they were shipping...when they were drafting the uh... uh...men and they were taking younger men that were just in had already started their careers in banking. Then they uh...in a small community as ours uh...the uh...president of the bank turned to our high school and ask for uh...if there were any people that they would recommend to train in banking. And my principal referred the president of the bank to my uh...uh...instructor in business courses in high school and he uh...recommended me my uh...business instructor recommended me for the job and I'll never forget it because I interviewed for the job on Sunday, October the fourth, nineteen, forty-two and uh...Mr. Dan Chambers president of the bank told me that to come in and start work on the following Monday. And that was the beginning of a great career in banking. And of course over the years now present to present a lot of women are in uh...senior management but it still...women still are being held back. I think women primarily are uh...their own worst enemy cause they don't want to help other women to get ahead. They don't want to get ahead themselves. To many women want to play the traditional role of uh...wife, mother, uh...homemaker in our area I think that's true. And therefore if they have a job...if they want to do any career they'll just they want to be just nine to five people that's it. And if your going on to advance in banking or any other in banking where I'm...all I know about. Then you've got to spend more time education and also in training and to service the area.

B: Did you take any course after you started in the bank...when you say advanced training what did that mean?

AP: Uh...I have had uh...the courses in uh...from American Institute of Banking the ABI courses we took at night. And then I had some uh...education in public speaking uh...this would be night courses. And of course the bank would pay the expenses for the extra training.

B: How long were you with the Matewan National Bank?

AP: I was with the Matewan National for thirty years. And uh...an opportunity came for me to uh...go with a new bank that was in organization and titled the Gilbert Bank and Trust.

B: Okay.

AP: We opened the new bank in uh...nineteen and seventy-four. And uh...in those days normally a new organization would have been in operation for five years before they even thought about showing a profit and the very first nine months of operation at the Bank of Gilbert we showed a thirty-thousand dollar profit which was almost unheard of.

B: Goodness.

AP: Uh...I uh...resigned the uh...bank of Gilbert after uh...three year extent with them. And uh...went with the uh...new organization of the First National Bank in Beckley, West Virginia. I was uh...in the mean time we opened there and uh...we opened in spring of seventy-five...nineteen seventy-five.

B: Okay.

AP: And I worked the new bank excuse me (tape cuts off for the phone) In leaving Matewan National and excepting the position as uh...vice president the chief executive officer of the Bank of Gilbert they had uh...they had promised to give me a promotion to after the first year to uh...president of the bank and they uh... the board failed to do so therefore this was upsetting to me and I just decided to resign and uh...left them and went uh...in the mean time a friend of mine who was working with a new bank in Beckley got in touch with me and wanted me to come and see the... meet with the board to see if I would be interested in going with them helping them get the new bank opened and in operation. And I preceded to do so and in the mean time while we were working on the uh...doing business in the day time in uh...Beckley I knew there was a good place for a new bank in Mingo County. At the time we only had uh...the two banks of Williamson Tape cuts off

B: Mrs. Phillips we were talking this morning about uh...you just leaving the Gilbert National Bank and starting the First National Bank in Beckley and you were looking at land down here is that when you started the First Bank of Mingo is that the name of it or...?

AP: The Bank of Mingo.

B: Bank of Mingo.

AP: Bank of Mingo, Rebecca.

B: Okay.

AP: Uh...we began to organize in uh...October and that would have been seventy-five....seventy-four I guess it was. I think it was seventy-five year...ok we began to organize in seventy-five right here.

B: Okay.

AP: I would work during the day...work the new bank...the bank of...the First National in Beckley and then at night I did my paper work. I worked into the night. And uh...we...I got all the paper work finished with the help of our attorney. And uh...in February of seventy-six...February I got my dates mixed up here I'm gonna have to clear those dates.

B: Okay.

AP: In February of seventy-five we uh...went to Charleston Port Hearing for the new bank charter and uh...we received it that day. I had been working on it...the charter doing the paper work at night less than six months we got the charter. And that was an exciting day for me to think that we had covered anything and uh...we were granted a charter for the bank and of course for a women to be the chairman of the board and uh...president and the chief executive officer was very uncommon. Even today in today's world. And uh...so we went to uh...I left the bank of uh...the bank in Beckley shortly there after and came back to Mingo County full time to get uh...to get the plans in...to get uh...the construction started in the bank because we had to have the architectural drawing of the new bank see to even get approval. So we got started on that and then and uh...we opened the bank of May of '76 '77...no May of '76...May of '76 we opened the bank. And we'd been in operation a year when the great flood of Mingo County came in April of '77.

B: It's been said that your bank was one of the first banks to open back up after the flood. Do you remember?

AP: That's right the flood came in uh...uh...on Monday uh... nineteen...April the 7th 1977 and uh...we and we were the water reached us on Tuesday which would have been the eighth down there and we got open for business on Monday the following week of that week. That was one week we were down. And uh...because we wanted to get back into operation to service our customers. For them to be able to write checks to buy food primarily.

B: Where...

AP: So... B

: I'm sorry go ahead.

AP: So it was uh...we were in a hurry to get open and we got right in business we worked on the week end and got opened on Monday .

B: Where is your...where is this building? Where is the bank?

AP: The bank is in Naugatuck and it is at the triangle of uh...uh ...state route 65 intersecting with uh...U.S. route 52. And the is north of Williamson uh...twenty miles.

B: Okay. Can you tell me how this bank was organized uh...did people put up money for it where there individual stock holders?

AP: Well to organize the bank we had to have...we started with five organizers and this comprised the board of uh...the Board of Directors. And we each had to put up some money of our own. And of course we were the major stock holders the five of us. And then the balance lets see we put up I'd say uh...I think we put up...we put up two hundred thousand and we started with a capitol of five hundred thousand. So we sold off the stock of three hundred thousand to the uh...public. To friends, family people that all of us as organizers knew. So we sold it all and we uh...in a short time and there was people still wanting...stocking when we sold out. And the...I'm not sure have you seen the bank?

B: I think I have actually...

AP: Rebecca it's a...it's Williamsburg architecture and the color inside is blue. Blue as you know by now Rebecca blue is my favorite color.

B: How long did you stay at the head of the bank?

AP: Until the flood of seventy-seven. And then...the uh...I was uh...I owned thirty-three and a third percent of the Hatfield and McCoy Ford and Mercury dealership. And it was flooded and our home was flooded into the second story of this home. And with all this the new bank in operation our home flooded our businesses flooded Hiram's the seed store under water. That I uh...I decided that I would just sell out I thought that I would retire. But I can't retire Rebecca that's not in...that is not in my vocabulary retirement. I don't want to...I want to die with my boots on. That's what Gene Autry says.

B: So...

AP: So I sold my interest in the bank and uh...I had no problem I sold it to the other stock. To the other Board of Directors. And I left the bank then in uh...May of '77.

B: What have you done since then as far as your...your business work has gone?

AP: Uh...I became...well I have invested in real estate. I have...I have invested uh...I got my in...in real estate. And I also had gone into a coal business that had not successful. And I lost a sum of money there. And uh...also uh...went into uh... bought the Akers, Hatfield Lumber. Akers, Hatfield Lumber in North Matewan and operated it for like four or five...about five years. And uh...you know it burned and I didn't get back in...I didn't get back into the business. I didn't rebuild it so I still own the property there in North Matewan. I have it rented.

B: Okay, so these business decisions that you've made in your life time have they been a partnership with your husband or do you two work independently with your business investments and deals?

AP: My husband has always uh...shared in the decision making but he is not...but he is ultra conservative. And he won't invest and as much as I do. And of course I've lost some money but I've made money too. And uh...he's always been my good backing. He always encourages me. You can do it you go ahead. But uh...he's always operated...he's had the seed store the garden I think...Phillips Garden Center for the last twenty-five years. And he's just basically worked it. It's seasonal but I uh...busy all the year. The years are...they get shorter. They go by faster or something...I have...

B: When you first married did...did people that your husband worked with did his fellow coal miners did...and I know you said he worked on the tipple but did they ever say anything to him about you working? What was his opinion of early on of both of you working?

AP: Well Uh...as far as I remember there was nothing derogatory set up. I think that it was mostly...people were mostly commended us for both of us working. He didn't make very much money at coal mining and I didn't make very much in like I mentioned our ambitions were so high and it took and we had to work to make it if we got ahead and which we have done over the years. And uh...as far as the public is concerned I...I think that we had no problems. Of course we've had a good marriage. We've been successful together as husband and wife and mother and daddy but not I mentioned some where in our conversation that women don't really want to get ahead basically. You see a...I don't know what uh...what the statistics would tell us today but still pretty low for us to get ahead.

B: Right.

AP: Even though women control most the money in the world. But they've...they have either inherited it. It's been passed down my husband to the wife because uh...husbands don't live as long as the wives.

B: Okay. Mrs. Phillips have you ever faced any kind of discrimination either from your fellow male workers or from female workers?

AP: Uh...Rebecca I had uh...my uh...boss when I first started in banking was very generous with his experience and he wanted me...he recognized that I...I was eager to learn. If it meant working over time I didn't want your clock to see that it's four o'clock and I was suppose to leave here. If there was something to do and it was five o'clock that was alright with me. And I wasn't clock watcher. And he was...he would teach me anything I wanted to know about banking he would just help me tremendously. And I've always gotten along beautifully with men. With my male colleagues working with them. But uh...with the women uh...women are their own worst enemy because so many of them want to be nine to five people. If they had a career to do. And uh...they don't want additional...they want their responsibility to a minimum. And uh...therefore I've had a lot of...I use to melt. There wasn't anything directly said to me but you know feelings speak louder than words and uh...but I knew ...I knew what I wanted out of life. If it meant being a loaner that was alright to me. It wasn't that I was ostracized that wasn't the thing. I was just uh...but uh...I was never really a part of the uh...women. Part of the inter circle of women. I was always with the men primarily. Because my interest was higher. My interest was higher than just counting money, balancing and went home at the end of the day. But I have uh...been responsible for uh... real estate loans. The real estate loans, business loans, and uh.. ...the port folio. The uh...investment portfolio of the banks that I was part of.

B: You started that rather early back in the fifties right when you was...

AP: Yes uh-huh.

B: Did you ever have any difficulty in dealing with customers because even in the fifties it was difficult for men to come in and handle business deals like that along without their wives.

AP: Uh...Rebecca it's true that uh...there was that feeling that men would rather talk business primarily with the men. Because they basically were in control of the business. But now remember that was back in forty-two.

B: Okay.

AP: Okay. But here from forty-two up until forty-two into say the...to sixty things had begun to change after World War II had ended. And uh...so uh...I worked just as freely with the men in business loans, real estate loans, uh...as they uh...as the    _______ then.

B: When you would work overtime in order to learn things uh...if this was after your marriage how did your husband feel about you being so career oriented? Did you ever have any difficulty the two of you over that?

AP: Well I always my husband has always been generous. Uh...with me...we have not been in competition with each other. Which is highly unusual for a husband and wife. And uh...he knew I wanted to learn all the banking and I wanted to go to the top in banking and he was always supportive. You can do it you go ahead and do it. And he said that to me so many time Rebecca. But I always managed my family. Tape cuts off

B: So your husband has always been supportive?

AP: Right.

B: That's...that's wonderful.

AP: He's always been very unselfish. And I have been a busy lady. Not only with my business with my family, the banking business. But I've been busy in the town, town functions and been active in the Matewan womens club, and my church, the Matewan United Methodists Church. And uh...he has always uh...well he's just never he's always say go ahead and uh...but I've always managed my family. I don't forget my family. I would get up if I uh...uh...I would get up a little bit early in the morning time and get myself started in the day I'd have my plans. Alright, if I was gonna wash clothes I'd wash my clothes that morning. And I always washed my dishes. I always did that before I went to work. I'd wash clothes and dishes and uh...uh...most the time I'd have my food...I'd have in mind the food we're gonna have when I got home. Either I cooked it in the morning before I went to work or I cooked it that evening and I fixed quick meals. I didn't uh...for us most of the time but uh...we've always eaten pretty nutritious...pretty well balanced diet. And uh...so it's a matter of management. All of us had...all of us have the same amount of time.

B: Right. How did your mother feel it seems like you had such a different life from your mother. How did she feel as she grew older about your successes.

AP: Mother was one unselfish proud mamma. She always let me know that. And she'd always tell me. She says Aileen you don't look your age honey. I was always real    _______ and she said you don't look your age. She says my friends will ask me how old you are and I tell them you...Aileen doesn't want me to tell her age. She was adorable.

B: Okay. Um...this is a sensitive subject for some people but I thought I might talk to you some about the politics here in Mingo County. I'm sure you saw a lot as uh...a person in the bank. Um... I might mention some names and then you can give me responses. And then if you feel like talking then we can go on from there.

B: Tape two stops....tape two stops here will pick it up the discussion of politics on tape three.

B: Twentieth nineteen, eighty-nine. This is Becky Bailey from the Matewan Development Center. Mrs. Phillips to pick up where we left off I excuse me (clears throat) I had just ask you about some of the politics because as a member of the bank I'm sure you saw quit a lot. Uh...some of the names I'd like to ask you about I guess the one I'd start with would be Noah Floyd. What do you know about Noah Floyd?

AP: Uh...Rebecca my uh...closer contact...or closest contact in politics went way back in the forties.

B: Okay.

AP: Okay. Has anybody mentioned William Billy Adair to you?

B: One person.

AP: William Billy...William and we called him Billy Adder he was blind.

B: Okay.

AP: And Dan Chambers Senior was president of the Matewan National Bank and they were real good friends.

B: Okay.

AP: And in those days the Chambers were the leading people in politics.

B: Okay.

AP: And Mingo County. Did I leave that on or off. Tape cuts off

B: Did you say...the Chambers were the leading political family?

AP: Uh-huh in Mingo County in those days and uh...Thurmond Broggs Chambers. Have you heard his name?

B: Briefly.

AP: Broggs that was his uh...we call...that was his uh...nickname Rebecca.

B: Okay.

AP: He served...he was elected sheriff two or three times. And uh...in those days the sheriff could not succeed himself. He couldn't succeed...could not succeed himself. And Dan Chambers Senior my boss uh...and president of the bank got involved in politics and became very interesting and he went to...he was elected sheriff of Mingo County. Then he resigned to his uncle who was Thurmond Broggs.

B: Okay, Okay.

AP: And then he had son Howard Chambers. Have you heard the name Howard Chambers?

B: Yes mam.

AP: Later Howard Chambers his son served as uh...sheriff in Mingo County. And was elected. And then Tom Varney. Have you heard the name Tom Varney? T. B....Tom B. Varney I think he served there he served an unexpired term I can't remember the details and uh...then about that time is when Noah Floyd came on the scene. Noah Floyd was the nephew of William Billy Adder. Have you heard that?

B: Um-hum.

AP: Okay. And of course these are democrat and democrats have uh...been in the league in Mingo County all the years that I can remember.

B: Um-hum.

AP: I once heard Frank Allara. You've heard his name?

B: Um-hum.

AP: Frank Allara he was running for a political office. But he said this, he said if the Lord Jesus was running in Mingo County on a republican ticket he could not get elected. That's what he... I never forgot that statement he made. Of course Frank had lost the election you see.

B: Uh-huh. What uh...what kind of person was Noah Floyd? I mean what...was he part of a political machine?

AP: Seemingly he was. I was not in that position uh...even though I'd been in banking all the years and we had uh...we had the three Mingo County banks in the county money's were always...they would deposited in one bank one year and one bank another year. And so on. So we all...and we all had a good working relationship with the other banks. And as far as the machine is just what was printed on paper. I wasn't...I just knew him as a person. Customer of ours. And uh...

B: One of the...the scandals that has seemed to follow Mingo County politics though the years vote buying. Did you ever remember people talking about vote buying on certain elections?

AP: Rebecca I have not been that close to voters. I have been an independent democrat. I've been a democrat primarily. I vote for the...I mean I vote for the individual. But I'm a registered democrat. My husband and I vote both are. But I have never been that close to the voter...the voting public just what I see published in the paper that's all I can tell you.

B: Oh okay. Why uh...why are you and your husband democrats? What does being a democrat...

AP: Well it's just uh...sort of a tradition in the family. We...we're just carrying on the family tradition I guess primarily. But we always uh...vote for the candidate.

B: Okay. Was there much political training in either or you or your husbands families what did...or did you just do...

AP: This is just a hand me down. Just because mom was a democrat then I became a democrat that's basic.

B: Okay.

AP: And of course you know in our day President Roosevelt was... had just been elected in the forties and he was doing a...seemingly doing a great job. And we just came through the great depression. People were just hailing him. And it was just uh...and things just began to pick up. I can remember when work began plenteous and when people were just going to and from just buying how that uh... people began to have money to buy the things they wanted. Then we went into consumer credit and that gave the uh...consumers an additional way of owning the things that...the things the items...the big items they wanted such as automobiles, home, and uh...really and even furniture get it financed through the bank. And we...they were able to borrow the money do finance and pay it. Uh...pay back installments and uh...so it just helped this area tremendously. Just like uh...it improved from like as much as say from dark to daylight. It was a tremendous improvement for the people.

B: That's...that's great. Um...What uh...what uh...I'm trying to think of how to phrase this. Tape cuts off

B: Sorry for the brief interruption. The...a question I was going to ask you was what political figures have stood out in your mind though through your life that you particularly admired or disliked? What...what kind of...how does politics strike you as your looking back now?

AP: We hear a lot of uh...doubt on politics and I guess there's a lot of game involved. But uh...basically I uh...I believe in our country. I believe in our government. It has it's problems it has it's weaknesses but when you consider all the world uh...we still are part of the greatest country in the world. I had traveled abroad in the Holly Land and I saw those little kids and even the old Mexican and when you get out of our country and you see these people hardly have enough to live on and the uh...surroundings that they live in and you can come back home feeling good about... feeling better the United State of America.

B: Okay. I guess a question that comes down from there comes back to West Virginia as uh...a member of the banking establishment have you noticed a difference say between Northern West Virginia and the Southern part of West Virginia? What have you seen across the years had there been a division say in the prosperity between Northern West Virginia and Southern West Virginia?

AP: I uh...I think it's very evident Rebecca and uh...it's uh...I have made the statement based on the condition of our roads that's the number one failure of our in our area because out politicians that we have elected in Mingo and...Mingo, Wyoming, McDowell, Wayne County they have not really served us properly. I don't know if it's the uh...I...what has happened they have been elected and I'm afraid they've gone to Charleston and begin to rub shoulders with other people and uh...they..I...I more or less feel like they've forgotten us down here. They're in Charleston a lot and you think well they would come back to the roads and they would say hey we've got to do something down there while we're here we can get some uh...money appropriated for the roads. And I they have not really done efficient job for us in representation. That's the way I'd tell them.

B: Have you noticed uh...say prejudices say across the years against West Virginia?

AP: Well yes, it's been published and lots of leading magazines and papers and uh...Charleston Gazette. And uh...they always put us down.

B: I suppose the best wrap up question i could ask you and then just let you answer how you will would be Mrs. Phillips what would you like to see happen for Matewan in Mingo County? What do you see that is good and bad about this area? What would you like people to know Matewan for?

AP: Working on the as a part of the task force with the uh... Development Center has...is starting out to be very interesting. And uh...we had a good group of people. Our local people plus outside people or out of the area people that are helping with this. Some of them are with...in government, and some of them are with uh...dif...in different walks of life. Primarily I guess business and professional people that we're talking about. And uh...what we have been talking...we've been doing a lot of talking Rebecca and uh...we're getting to the point where we're gonna have to nail down something. We're gonna have to start with something. I would like to see the uh...Main Street of Matewan uh...restored and uh... made it to become a historical district. It's highly probable that we can even get a uh...a park. Get the uh...get an area of Matewan designate as a park. I think that's on the national level I believe and uh...like to see us develop the coal ways that uh...uh...Senator Rockefeller has been talking about for so Southern West Virginia. The uh...coal industry is uh...has been the main stream of our economy. And it's uh...being mined so rapidly. That uh...I think it's uh...at this point in time it is important that we began to develop some other industry. It may be uh...in small...we're limited because we don't have level property around to develop. But uh...I would like...we could have wood working more wood working industry in this area. Uh...services...service uh...business all types of services. Because older people are vast outnumbering the younger people and we need...the older people need more services. So the service businesses and all things as services such as uh...lawn work, cleaning automobiles, domestic cleaning, home cleaning or not Uh... I can see...I'd like to see more people get into that. An uh...another thing a growing need in this area is because of the fact...as I said the older people are out numbering the younger ones we need retirement homes in this area. Our people to this time...to this point in time are when they reach retirement they move...they have to move where they can get medical services where it's convenient for them. Or they got to move where the family is located. And so many of us our families have had to leave to go miles away or other parts of our country to live. Because to go with their job. Their profession. And we need retire...we need uh...retirement complex even if it's in the form of condominiums or that's what I'd like to see. We really...that's an in creasing need. And our...our older...our Rebecca I don't like to say senior citizens. I don't really...since I'm a senior citizen I don't really like that title. Uh...doctor Vincent Peal says my friends that are past forty.

B: Okay.

AP: My friends are past forty are needing more services. And uh.. ...of course as long as the coal mining is going good we can still use coal related businesses. And uh...in with the uh... another thing with the flood proofing uh...construction that is due to begin in the next three or four years and down town Matewan will uh.. ...uh...will cause or will make uh...more uh...construction available in the way of housing, and all up ...all down or through out the Tug Valley which is really the Tug River is a hundred miles long. We're talking about there should be construction available uh...in this valley for the next uh...ten or fifteen years because it's already begun. Because of the uh...you...the United States Army Corps of Engineers are...is in the process of flood proofing certain homes that are not gonna be in the protected areas. And uh..that's gonna be...that's gonna cause construction to be strong for...I'm saying...estimating about fifteen years. Of course the coal industry is gonna be good for the next...for a long time. It's not...we still have plenty of coal in the mountains according to the reports.

B: I...I read one thing that said there was something like twenty-five hundred years worth of coal still left in North America. If you don't...if...well I guess I should ask before I say if you don't...um...is there anything that you can think of that we haven't covered in our conversations that you'd like to talk about?

AP: Rebecca I'm not real good at speaking extemporaneously which you've already...which you have already discovered. Uh...you've been here in our little town and we're friendly people.

B: Right.

AP: We are warm. And uh...as my husband and I have...are...have reached retirement age. Although we're not gonna retire as long as we're able to work he nor I neither one but we walk up the streets in Matewan and I look at him and say honey we live right here on Main Street it's not...it's Mate Street really we can go onto our porch and sit down and see the coal trucks going and we can see friend passing by and they'll speak to us and we go walk up the street and come in contact with friends and for our years our twilight years it's nice to be able to have...to be able to converse with friends and to be...still have...feel like you have there's a family atmosphere that prevails in Matewan. We're a small town but we have a family like uh...relationship among our neighbors, or with our neighbors. To me that's worth so much in this time in life. But we know there's gonna...there's lots of things coming from Matewan after they get the construction...flood proofing done. It's gonna be a whole new Matewan. And I just hope to see it. I hope to live to see it.

B: I guess my final question would be then did you see the movie Matewan and if you did what did you think about?

AP: Uh...Rebecca the movie Matewan, we saw it my husband and I of course he was sheer in this area in those days and as you know he showed you a picture of how they lived in the tents during that time. The families had tents. And based on the stories I've heard the talk of...from people that are native...nativious of this area. I uh...thought it was...it sounded pretty much in line with what I had heard. Although it was too bloody and gory for me. I don't uh...I would go see it again with some friends or some family. But uh...it's sounds, oh it's sad...it's sad that people went uh...they took the route they did. And uh...I don't...it's always been said that mountain people are tough. And I do know from my own uh... life how my stepfather had gone to work early in the morning and how he'd worked and load coal for about three dollars and for about three dollars a day and he came in script or we'd buy it food you know the store groceries and clothing whatever we were used in those days and uh...it's uh...you could call it a matter of progress. It is it's been progress for the coal miners. And of course in those days they were not uh...considered sophisticated people either you know that?

B: Um-hum.

AP: And now they are the educated people. They have to be educated to operate equipment. And uh...so it's just uh...I still...I think really I'm not pro-union one hundred percent and I'm not totally against them. But having been a business person. All the years every uh...if you have invested our money and anytime you invest your money you want to make a profit. There's been a lot invested and a lot of money has been lost in coal business. It is a big... either you make it good or you lose. But it's been our way of life in this area. And uh...I just uh...would like even right not with the strike on as it is I'd like to see them get it settled. Reach some agreement. It seems that uh...with educated people that we ought to be able to sit down and be reasonable with one another. And I really...I think that we ought to have the right to work law in West Virginia. You've got it in Virginia. And I think that it's been talked about by legislatures some and I think it is future yet. And I don't know how far future. But if you have uh...most of us have to work for a living. And I just...I don't think that you ought to be controlled by just a very small group of people because they have a their just scrundle for some reason or another or they uh...think they ought to always have...that the contract should always go their way. And uh...and their fringes...their fringe benefits...coal miners fringe benefits excel or exceeds everybodys that I know of. Any industry that I know of.

B: What kind of benefits do they get do you know?

AP: They have uh...well all of us get vacations. Paid vacation that's swell and good. Then we have a certain number of paid uh... holidays and uh...the coal miners if they work on their birthday here to four I don't know what it is now they get double pay for that day of working. Double pay if they work their birthday. And the thing about it's in coal industry it's always been up and down. The strikes have taken so much of their time and money and they never...they lose money. They don't give a consideration they lost all that time...what is it two months now that their on strike Pittston been on strike about sixty days? I think of all the money that they could have worked and made it's gone. And they can't ever...they can't ever recover it. Seems to me with families with responsibilities of paying for homes, automobiles and uh...providing uh...saving some money for to educated the children in the future. I don't see how they can afford to do it. It's...it's a real bad situation I think.

B: Do you think the uh...the younger people today appreciate what went on especially in places like Matewan say when your husband was a child do you think that the younger people today in the coal mining areas appreciate what went on to bring about the union?

AP: Rebecca time changes everything. I think uh...by the time see this is about the uh...a generation or two later than in the nineteen...early nineteen hundreds and uh...so we've got like my daddy then I then my children. My son my family. They don't know anything about what took place in those days except to read it in the books. They have no real concern. Now the people that have followed the coal industry they...I'd say there would be a very few of them that would be really appreciative of what father or grandfather did in helping to get the union in here. You may have I'd say the number would be very small.

B: Well I thank you for spending all the time that we've spent together over the last few days with me and uh...I hope you'll let me come we either one of us think of things that we still haven't discussed.

SP [sic]: Okay Rebecca, I didn't uh...elaborate any on Billy Adder. Let me give you just a little bit of...before we go...I know this is really not in chronological order but...Billy Adder. They called him Blind Billy and uh...he was uh...he made his name by loaning teachers money and uh...he would except notes and I remember the notes he would bring them to the bank and in those days we would get uh...the teacher would sign a letter signing the uh...authorizing...authorizing the Board of Education to send their check... pay roll check to the Matewan National Bank and we would take the payment out each month for those notes and then by the end of the school term the nine months. This note would be paid off and then Blind Billy would take another note and get...he would have them sign another one because they would have to have money to live on during the summer months which would have made three months see. And they'd borrow thousand fifteen hundred, maybe two thousand dollars in those days. And he made his money he was rich...he became...well he was considered rich in those days. And I heard him make a statement more than once. He says I've educated every teach in Mingo County. I liked him...he was a good person...to me he was. And I guess he wanted some people think that he loaned the money to or made...he made uh...came to the bank and discount the notes with us you see and we gave him his money back.

B: Okay. Uh...so was he a Board of Education member?

AP: Right. I guess he was president. He was...

B: Number one to Aileen Phillips interview and as we were getting ready to cut off the tape we started talking about the great depression and the Matewan National Bank experience with that and Jim McCoy. What did you have to say about Jim McCoy Mrs. Phillips?

AP: Jim McCoy uh...is...was one of our depositors in those days. And the bank during the bank holidays the banks in the county closed their doors. Not only in our county but nation wide. But Matewan National Bank remained open which was very unusual. And Jim McCoy being one of our depositors came to the bank and he stood I've heard him tell this story. He said I stood outside the door of the bank I thought a little bit and I decided I wasn't going to go into withdraw my money. I just simply left it and walked away. And he stayed a depositer as far as I know at the Matewan National 'til his death less than five years ago. But, we always honored him for that. Not that we didn't do a...we should have honored him more than what we did but we always was friendly with him and uh... I don't know if they did anything special for him in later years or not after I left there. But uh...we always loved him for that.

B: One more question that comes out of that is we've heard stories that the bank issued it's own money during the depression. Uh...can you enlighten me as to what you think might have happened in that case?

AP: Uh...Rebecca I'm not sure of the detail I do remember that the Matewan National had issued it's own currency talk about currency and I assumed I do not have...I have not checked with the or...I have not done any research through federal reserve on it. But in my opinion it's just about like a federal reserve notes today. Our currency today is consists of federal reserve notes. And the Matewan National Bank would have issued money through uh...the permission of the federal government. I would think. I'm confident that if you would contact the federal reserve in Richmond that uh...they would be able to find some of this information in their history. Or the...some branch of government would have it.

B: Okay. Well thank you for this additional conversation Mrs. Phillips.

Matewan Oral History Project Collection