Carnie and Madge

When Ida May Spessard's mother died, a friend encouraged her to write down what she remembered about her parents for her daughters. Madge and Carnie Williams were born in the early 1900's when life was a lot different than it is today. Ida May wanted her daughters to know what it was like to live in the mountains of West Virginia during the lifetime of their grandparents. Madge was a city girl who met and married a country boy. She grew up as an only child in a home with modern...
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When Ida May Spessard's mother died, a friend encouraged her to write down what she remembered about her parents for her daughters. Madge and Carnie Williams were born in the early 1900's when life was a lot different than it is today. Ida May wanted her daughters to know what it was like to live in the mountains of West Virginia during the lifetime of their grandparents. Madge was a city girl who met and married a country boy. She grew up as an only child in a home with modern conveniences, such as electricity and running water. She finished high school and after taking a secretarial course worked as a court clerk. Carnie grew up in a family with four sisters and a brother. His mother died when he was eleven years old. He learned to work hard at a young age. He had to leave school when he finished the 8th grade to help his father on the farm. It was understood that when he was old enough he and his brother would work in the coal mines. He and his brother discovered a natural musical ability which would lead to a period of time when they performed on radio and stage shows. It was through this that he met Madge. She enjoyed listening to his radio show on her lunch break at work. Ida May uses information written by family members, old letters, newspaper clippings, an autobiography written by her father and a journal kept by her mother to follow her parents down through the years. She also draws extensively on her memories of growing up in a family lacking in material possessions but full of love. She writes about her mother's adjustment to being a housewife in the 1940's when modern conveniences were only available if you had money to buy them. They did not go into debt for anything including the stone house they were building. She tells of the many jobs her father had in order to support his growing family. As she, her two sisters and brother grow up, Ida May follows their adventures of childhood, attending a one room school, moving on to the local high school to college and, then falling in love and marrying. Now with an empty nest, Ida May writes of the retirement years of her parents. They have time to travel to visit their children, build a new house, serve their community and church, and pursue other interests. This is a story of an ordinary family that lived an ordinary life, but they lived it with humor, a concern for each other, a faith in God that was evident in their everyday activities and an abiding love of family.