This is an interview with Mr. Kenneth Harris. How are you doing today Mr. Harris?

Good. Or about as good as God lets me get.

O.K. Let's get started. Where were you born?

I was born in Cherokee County around Maydelle.

When were you born?

I was born February 6, 1932.

Were you born in a home or a hospital?

In a home.

How many brothers and sisters were in your family?

I had 2 sisters and 2 brothers.

Where did you rank in that? Were you youngest or oldest?

I was second to youngest.

Were your parents born in Cherokee County?

Yes.

Were your grandparents born in Cherokee County?

Yes.

What was your earliest memory?

My earliest memory was of my brother pulling me in a wagon and he turned me over, and I fell over into a puddle of water. I remember it real well.

How old were you then?

I was real little then.

Where did you go to school?

The first year I went to school at Rusk, and the rest of the time I went to school in Maydelle.

How did you get to school?

I walked.

What kind of subjects did you have to take in school?

We had to take arithmetic, reading, and things like that. When we got up into high school we had more subjects, but that was about it.

What did you wear to school?

Overalls, a shirt, and shoes in the winter time. But we didn't wear shoes in the summertime because I lived in a poor family.

What did your classrooms look like?

Well, I went to Maydelle school, and it was newly built so it was a real nice school. Very clean. In general our classes were real small. There was about 6 or 7 that graduated and 1 of them was a girl.

I guess that tells you about the girls back then!

Yeah. It really didn’t matter if they didn’t get an education. Most of them didn’t work.

Was your school air-conditioned?

No!

How was it heated in the winter time?

There was a big ol' heater in the corner that would heat up the place. It was a big wood stove, with a tin going around it to keep you away from the actual heat of the fire.

What did students do for lunch?

In the earlier school time we carried it in a package to school, sometimes in a paper sack if you could find one, but most of the time we didn't have any.

Where did you keep your lunch at school?

There was a shelf on the wall that we put our lunches on.

What kind of games did you play at recess?

Chase, baseball. We had running races.

What was your favorite subject in school?

Recess.

Yeah, that's my favorite too. What else?

The teacher use to have a study period and she'd read to us if none of had anything in particular to do. I remember her reading "Heidi".

What were the roads like since I already know you live in the country?

Mostly dirt roads. I remember when I've been on a school bus before, and when it would rain, the roads would get slick and the bus would get stuck.

Did everyone have to get out and push?

But we'd slip and got stuck in the ditch. And we had to wait until someone came out there and carried you home.

What did the first house that you remember living in look like?

Small. You probably don't know what box houses are? They're made out of old boxing planks, which were rough 1x12s.

Did you have electricity?

Yes.

What kind of chores did you have?

Taking out the trash, feeding the animals, things like that.

When did you do these chores?

In the morning before I went to school, and in the evening after homework.

Where did you go to shop for groceries and clothes?

Well, we shopped in the stores in Maydelle. There was more then than there is now.

What stores do you remember shopping in as a child?

Well, Betha Watson had a store close to the school, J.C. Sherman and Holsome had a grocery store…there was a post office; Henry Glenden had a store, and Pig Fondren had a store. All of them was close to the school.

What is the earliest car you remember?

Well, my parents had a Model-T when I was a kid.

What did you do for entertainment?

Riding bicycles and that was about it. There really wasn’t much to do in Maydelle. They use to have tent theaters that would come through about once a year, and there was bear wrestling that would come around to entertain us.

What did you do during the summers?

Walked everywhere, played games, played in the creek bottoms…

What was your first job and how much did it pay?

It was in a field picking cotton when I was about 15 or 16. And it paid about 60 cents a day.

Was that a lot back then? I mean for a teenager?

No. But it was something, and I could go around saying I had a job, I didn’t have to say what it was.

Did you go to the movies?

Not until I was about 17 or 18, then I’d take girls on dates there. But most of the time I didn’t have enough money to pay to get in.

Was it a drive-in or a theater?

A drive-in.

What did it cost to get into the movies?

I don’t really remember, but I think it was about 25 cents to get in. And popcorn and sodapops were about 5 or 10 cents.

What movies were popular when you were a kid?

I liked western movies the best. And I loved cartoons.

Who was your favorite movie star?

It was probably Gene Autry or Roy Rogers, but I don’t know. You didn’t see anybody that you didn’t like.

What was your favorite television or radio show when you were a kid?

Well, we listened to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio a lot of times. That was the trend back then. To all gather at somebody’s house and listen to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio.

What kind of music did you listen to when you were young?

Mostly country. I listened to some gospel music, but mostly country.

Who was your favorite singer or musical group?

George Jones was one of my favorites and Elvis Presley. But I kinda got away from Elvis because the way the people acted disgusted me; the way the girls fainted and stuff.

What did teenagers do for entertainment when you were their age?

We would ride around if one of us was lucky enough to have a car, get into trouble, things like that.

When did you first start dating?

Well, our dating isn’t what y'all's dating is today. I started when I was about 15, but dating was walking the girl home from church. But I actually started dating, like taking the girl out to the movies or something, when I was about 18, and I would borrow my brother's car.

Where did you go on dates?

We went to the movies, to the pizza parlor, out for an ice cream, things like that.

What do you remember about the 50’s?

I had a car wreck in the 50’s. But I remember that’s when I got my first real job, my first car, and my girlfriend went with someone else.

You remember that?

Yep, I do. I got a job in Houston in the 50’s and moved to Houston.

If you could give me one piece of advice before I leave high school, what would it be?

It would be to get a good education and to study computers in college. Because that is what the future holds--everything is going to be on computers.