is a living history interview with Lewis Lindley Jones, Jr., class of 1935, conducted by Marilyn Summers on July the 27th, the year 2004. We are at his home in Canton, Georgia. The subject of our interview today, his life in general, his experiences at Georgia Tech. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jones. Thank you so much for letting us come to your lovely home today to talk to you. I want to start at the very beginning, so tell me where you were born and when. 

Well, when I was born, I was with my mother to begin with. 

Well, good. 

And where was that at? 

And it so happened that I came on Thanksgiving Day, which was exactly one year after she and my father were married. And what year was that? 

They had married on Thanksgiving Day the previous year. And what year were you born? 1913. 

So you arrived on Thanksgiving of 1913. That's right. And where was it? 

Where was the great birth? 

Well, it was here in Canton, Georgia. Canton, Georgia. 

Now, were your mother and father from Canton also? 

Well, my father lived here. He was born here. 

Well, yes, he was born here. And my mother was born in Dawson, Georgia, Terrell County. Terrell County, okay. How did she and your dad... He went way south to get her. 

I was going to say, how did they meet? 

Well, the best that I can remember having heard, she came up to visit a friend of hers, a relative of a friend, who was over at Reinhardt College here for some purpose, and they had some assembly. 

And my father saw my mother go into the meeting, into the auditorium where they were having some gathering, and he was sitting in the windowsill, I think, he told me. Some man was sitting with him, and I recall. He turned to that man and says, I'm going to marry that girl. Isn't that amazing? 

So he had love at first sight then? 

That's what you call first sight. He didn't even know her name? 

No. And he got somebody to introduce them then? 

Oh, yeah, they worked it out, and he did. I don't know how they managed to meet. Isn't that interesting, though? 

What a story. 

That's a great story, isn't it? 

They must have been meant to be, huh? 

Well, it didn't take them long. Mother had been to Shorter, and Dad had been to VMI. Both of them finished in three years. Wow. They were smart. Yeah. 

And they married, and he brought her back here to Canton? 

Yeah, she told me her experience on the way, they had to come back on the train. 

Dad used to, when he went to court, he had to live here at noontime on Saturday because he worked till that time. See, he worked 10 hours a day, and about 5 hours, I think it was, on Saturday. 

So that gave him about 60 hours. And so he had to take the time and ride a train to Atlanta, catch another train on town. And he only had a few hours to be there because... He'd turn around and come back? 

He'd turn around and come back by Monday morning. 

Well, that was true love, wasn't it? 

It had to be. Yeah. 

But anyway, he went down and visited with her. And when they were married, they came back up to Canton. and the mother, I think, said she rolled her hair that night on the train. 

And she got to Canton a little earlier than she thought they were going to and she had to get off with her hair still rolling. 

So she was embarrassed to be coming back with rollers in her hair. She said she was sort of embarrassed at that. Thought some ragged -looking woman was coming in. Where did he get her, huh? 

Yeah. You were the first of their children. Did they have other children? 

Yes, I've had four total. 

So you had three younger siblings. My sister, Sarah, who was married to Bob Cheatham, she's still living. And she had five children and about 65 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

A huge crowd, huh? 

Yeah, and then my brother Turner, he was named for my grandfather on the mother's side. Right. your mother was a Turner. My mother was a Turner. 

He was John Turner Jones is what he went to Georgia, University of Georgia and later went to Georgia Tech. Sarah had gone to Agnes Scott. She was one of the top girls who graduated from Agnes Scott at that time. She and some, I can't remember. I don't recall who the other girl was. They were both tops out there. Who was the youngest? 

And Turner went to Georgia about two, three years, whatever. Yeah, two years. He took pre -med over there, he thought. He decided not to go into pre-med and decided to go into textiles like I had. And consequently, as he went over, he took every credit he had at the University of Georgia with him. And he graduated at Georgia Tech with an M. A. in textiles. And he went back and got a, not an M. A., but A. B. And he got an A. B. at Georgia if it used to be, whatever they call them. 

So he got a certificate of graduation from both schools. How good for him, huh? 

Same time. Yeah. He's a maneuverer. You can see. He's a wheeler dealer, you can tell. He negotiated two degrees. Yeah. And who was the youngest one of the children? 

Peggy. Peggy. My sister, Peggy. Mother, Dad named her Pearl Turner Jones, but Mother says, I don't want that name. I don't want it. 

So we'll call her Peggy. 

So she was known as Peggy all of her life. Peggy. My wife is. You also got a Peggy. About the same thing. They changed their name. 

We got two girls together and each one of them decided they'd have a nickname or something and all of a sudden there it was and they all had them. 

So you've had Peggy's in your life from the get-go, huh? 

Seems like I have. 

So you were born here in Canton and raised then here in Canton, no doubt. You went to elementary school here? 

Yes, I remember that very well. Where? 

Did they only have one elementary school here? 

Oh yeah, that's all. Hanton Elementary. 

Well, they did have another little, a couple of elementary schools, but the small one was the one that the mills had furnished to the city, and the city had had this other little school. I went to the one that would, the uptown school. I don't know what he meant or not. It was my time I was Captain Elementary. Tell me, were you a good student? 

Not too good. I was all right. I didn't have any trouble learning. I just didn't want to learn all of it. They wanted you to get too much, huh? 

Yeah. Did you like going to school, though? 

Well, I enjoyed school. I don't recall anything that I had any real problem with. 

I bet you what you liked best about school was being there with everybody else, right? 

Well, I enjoyed it, for that matter. And especially, as the fellow says, play time. Yeah, being with everybody else. It was obsessed. You're definitely a people person. I always have enjoyed folks. 

Now, tell me about the mill. 

We keep, we're going to be referring to the mill throughout our conversation, so let's go back to the history of the mill. Tell me how it began. 

Well, the mills were, my grandfather came into the county about 1872. And it was, which grandfather? 

What was his name? 

Well, Robert Tyre Jones. They called him Mr. R. T. Okay. Mr. R. T. came here in the late 1800s. 

Yeah, and Bobby's father was about a year or two, a year old, maybe a couple of years old, just born, about that age, probably his father. 

So he started here, and I understood. 

Now we're talking about our team, Mr. R. T. I'm talking about Uncle Rob. 

Okay, he's the one that founded the mill. Oh, no, my grandfather founded the mill. 

Okay, let's talk about him first, okay? 

Your grandfather founded the mill. 

Now, how was he prepared to do something like that? 

What had he done in his lifetime before that? 

He went to some sort of business school when he grew up. 

And what was his interest in that? 

He grew up on a farm and went to a business school someplace in Atlanta, I believe he did. He had about a fourth grade formal education at the time. 

So was he like the investor, the major investor? 

He came in, well, let's get on with the show, since you've asked me that. He came into town and I think he had $500 when he came. 

He set up a little merchant store, you might say an old family type store that had just about everything. 

So he was a retailer to start with? 

Yeah. 

He would, he grew that store up during the next 10, 15, 20 years and he was, he got into where he was financing the farmers with their cotton and other things and he would drive out through the country with his horse and buggy and stop and talk to the farmer who was plowing a row down the field. And they'd visit a little bit and they, at the end of the year they'd come in and they'd settle up. 

So Granddad felt that sending that cotton off and having to pay such high prices for the freight going up against the prices that we had for the freight coming down, we could do better by setting up a mill. 

So he was a good, sharp businessman. He realized that the profit was to be made in setting it up here. He was just looking far down the road always. 

So he purchased the land to build the mill on? 

Well, I don't know that he purchased it, but they got a group together. Okay. And there was a little article in what was now known as the Tribune. I think it was called the Cherokee Advance. My dad used to call it the Cherokee Astonisher. You never knew what you were going to find. You could be astonished. 

So they got together, and that article was about the people who got together, the names and the amount of funds that they invested. And I guess there was about 100. And they've officially launched this mill. The mill, yes. They put in $100,000. 

Which seems like not very much money now, but it was a lot of money then, wasn't it? 

They multiplied by 200 or 300. Yeah, it was a whole lot. 40 or 50 times, anyway. And the whole purpose of it was they were going to take the cotton from the locals. They were going to take the cotton and process it into a fabric. Into a fabric. 

And they were making twills the first year they had organized and it was in 1900 I think that it was started in. 

So it was a huge thing for this local area to have its own industry. 

They were starting to put them around the state of Georgia so it was a real big thing for here wasn't it? 

It was a pretty good thing but nobody helped. 

But they did borrow all the money to buy the machinery and they paid that off. I think he lost 10% of the investment the first year. Oh I bet they did. 

But what courage it took for them to do something like that. 

Well the people had to have it. 

We've had it in this country as long as it's going to be free and we'll still have it if if we're not hamstrung by too many regulations out of Washington. Yeah, yeah. 

So this is the way to make the economy go, to let people use their creativity and go for it. Yeah, our own initiative and not have to have somebody else tell them what to do. 

So from him coming in 1879 to actually starting the mill wasn't even 20 years then. 1900 the mill began. Yeah. And it was a big employer for many people around here. 

Most of that time it would be, now we didn't have enough people I don't guess in the actual city to manage. Probably not. No. 

But people walked in from outside three or four miles away or more. To come to work. To come to work. We had, I know of one man who walked all the way from Woodstock. Just because he knew there was going to be a job. There was going to be a job. And they were there waiting for him. 

It took him about 12, 13 miles, you can imagine, at three miles an hour, how much time it took him to get here. Just to get here to work. It's amazing, isn't it? 

Now, when you came along in 1913, the mill was fully established. Oh, yeah. 

And your father, did your father go to work for the mill then? 

Well, my father had gone to work in the mill before then. He got out of college in 1909, and he went to work in the mill right away. 

Okay, so it was a family business by then. 

Well, that's not the family business. That was a local business. The family business was a Jones Mercantile Company. Oh, they still kept the store then? 

Yeah, Granddad kept the store. The store was still growing. Oh, so he had... And Dad's brother, Uncle Paul, the second son, was handling it. Uncle Rob had grown up and gone to Atlanta, and that's where Bob was born, Bobby was born. And when we talk about Bobby, we're talking about Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., the famous golfer. We never called him Robert Tyre Jones. No, I'm sure you didn't. We called him Bobby. For clarity, for our record here, it's Bobby we're referring to. 

So your grandfather had several sons. Your father, Bob's father, and Uncle Paul. Paul's father, Uncle Paul, Uncle Albert, my father, and Uncle Jack. so there was oh there were still two other ones then the next second family was rube jones and and tire jones so the joneses were prolific there were a lot of them had enough of them around to kind of hold their own to hold your own huh so let's go back now to your time you went into elementary school you were capable of doing the work but you were full of fun you loved having a good time, I can tell. Yeah, well, that's not all I liked to, I worked hard. Yeah, and that's a good point to bring up. The work ethic was very, very important in your family. Everybody had responsibility. Yeah. And even as a 10-year-old, you went to start to work at the mill. Yeah, my dad wanted to know what it was like, what work was like, I guess. He wanted you to have the experience to the real world. We were grading for the number two plant at that time. They didn't have any bulldovers. Oh boy, was that done by what, hand mule? 

Oh yeah, mules. Yeah. 

They had a big plow that they plowed the ground with and loosened it up and they had scrapes, I guess you could call them, about one cubic yard. Where they dragged things along. And they had a mule team, a double mule team in front of that. Can you remember seeing that? 

I drove one of them. Did you really? 

They let me drive one one time over there while they were doing that. What was the first job they gave you when you went to work at the mill? 

In the plant itself. Anything. When was the first time your daddy said you... That was my water boy. You became the water boy. 

Yeah, I had to go about a quarter mile, draw two two and a half gallon buckets of water and carry them back a quarter mile and have the water available to all the guys who were working, digging, moving. 

Oh, so it was the actual, the people who were landscaping or leveling the ground, you were helping them out. I had to cut out and do the foundation. 

So your daddy thought that was a good occupation for you in the summertime? 

Yeah, he didn't think it was going to hurt me. Did it hurt you? 

I don't think it did. It built you up some muscles, I bet. 

Well, I used to be pretty well taken care of. 

Yeah, to hauling water like that? 

I think it partly shows up even a little bit today in spite of everything. Yeah, sure it does. 

So you pretty much knew what your life was going to be. You were going to school during the school year and working in the... My father was superintendent at that time of the plant. And that's why my goal was to... You were going to be the superintendent? 

Be like my father. That's not a bad goal to have, is it? 

I don't think so. He was a real role model for you. 

Well, he was absolutely... I don't know what you could say. he was an absolutely fine person, totally Christian. He studied his scripture. 

My grandmother Lil, who was my grandfather's second wife, told me that he had, and they had a mantle, and one of these old fashioned mantles that had shelves on the side, little shelves. And And my father kept his Bible on that shelf and he came in one day and his Bible was not there. His sisters and brothers had taken it and hid it somewhere just for the fun. 

They were teasing him, huh? 

And he couldn't find it until Grandmother Leo got with those children and told them, said, that's Lewis's Bible, it's going to be on that shelf, and the next time you all would fool with it, I'm going to take care of you. They never did have any more trouble with it. 

Now another time that made me appreciate it a little more was when I was looking through my father's things. It was never mentioned during his lifetime, but I didn't know about it. 

I found in it a little envelope with a small silver bookmark, and it was from my grandmother Lil to Louis to him to keep his place marked in the book. Oh, isn't that nice. 

So she was his stepmother, but she was very good to him then. A lot better than I hoped she might have been. Yeah, that's great. That's a great story. 

So the family was very close. 

Well, they were long done. Two families, but they got along well together. Yeah, I thought pretty good most of the time. My grandfather always had a Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve at his place. And everybody came? 

They all came. 

And so there's a picture around someplace that's got everybody that was living at the time that picture was made and Tyra I think was about two years old. And Bobby was not yet born. I don't know. Bobby was born. And he was there standing up, I think. 

When you think back to those times, are those happy memories for you? 

Well, see, I wasn't in on that at that time. Oh, you weren't going back for those reunions. 

But I mean, just having so much family around you, do you have happy memories of him? 

Well, yeah. We played together all the time. Did you? 

Yeah. We lived within a short distance. 

Well, everybody lived right here in Canton, didn't they? 

Yes. Pretty much? 

Yes. See now, when I was growing up, I lived directly across the street from Granddad's house. My Uncle Albert lived in the street, I mean, in the house next door. 

Well, that's pretty close. And Uncle Paul lived in the one across the street for a good long time during the earlier days. And Reuben Tire was not married at that time. They were just older uncles, you might say. 

But that would give you such security to be surrounded by all this family. 

Well, I never did worry about security. Yeah, no, you didn't have to worry about it all. I didn't think about it. You were as safe as you could be all the time. 

Well, they were always trying to pick on me. Everybody was bringing you up. That's what was happening, Mr. Jones. Yeah, yeah. Everybody had a hand in it, huh? 

Yeah, they always dare me to do something, you know. Did you fall for that line? 

I wouldn't take it. I didn't. Good for you. You were smart enough to not get in trouble, huh? 

I kept my ankle sprained quite a bit. Used to climb the trees and jump out and climb. Maybe I shouldn't tell all of these things. No, no, don't tell me. It'll take all day and some more. No, tell me, tell me. What you're telling me is that you had a very happy, joyful childhood. Oh, yeah. Even though you worked hard. Yeah, yeah. There was plenty of time still to play. That's right. And you had tons of cousins to play with. 

Well, yes. People everywhere. And we played, by the way, the Methodist church was at the end of the road down here. And the jail was on the corner on the other side of my house. And the sheriff lived there. 

So you had both extremes right at hand. I had the secretary to take care of me on the back, the secretary and the church. And the sheriff and the jail on this side and the granddad on this side. 

So I was really covered up. I suspect you were a very good young man. You had enough people watching you. 

But I also hear that it was just a real happy growing up time. I think it was for most people around here we had a good time. We had, see, we would kind of do things that maybe you would normally didn't want people to do. See, the road was a short road. It went right directly to the church. 

And so we'd get out in the street and play town ball, we called it, an old -fashioned sponge rubber ball in the back. You ever see a sponge rubber ball? 

Uh -uh, I never have. 

Well, they were just made of a sponge. 

So you could squeeze it. 

Outside cover is pretty tight, about the size of a baseball, probably weighed about the same as a baseball. When you hit them, they took off. Oh, yeah. 

So we played with that. It was a form of baseball? 

We used it. It was a town ball. Town ball. I call it that because it wasn't quite baseball, we didn't have a baseball player. You didn't go running around bases for it? 

Oh yeah. 

Oh you did? 

You did go bases? 

But you could play right out in the street because there wasn't any traffic to come. 

Well we just tied a rope across the street. You shut the street down? 

Yeah. Wow. We did that one day and it was a Saturday I think and everybody came to town on Saturdays. They weren't too happy with that? 

Well we were, but my father in the crowd wasn't happy with it. 

All the farmers rode in their wagons and they came in and they always parked on the street, just covered it up. 

So we told them, we had to roll across and if we let you through you're going to have to go over to the cemetery and tie up. 

So they did, they went over there. 

Until you got caught, huh? 

Yeah, and when Dad came home for lunch that day, everything was stacked up all around the courthouse, which is right next to the sheriff's house, the white marble courthouse down here was built after the other one burned, which was in that little parkway where the, what do you call that, little, it's not a pagoda, but it's, can you think of what you You recall those things in the middle, in a little out place where you go out and sit. Yeah, yeah, I can't think of the name of it either. Anyway, we'll worry about that. 

But everything was just covered up around the store. They were almost parked too deep on both sides. And he came when it was going on. And he couldn't even get his car in that day. And did he come back to the house and find you were the culprit? 

He found us all out there. and asked who did it. I said we did. He went out and tore the rope off and opened it up so people could get in and out. Did he make it clear you weren't doing that again? 

He didn't like that. We never did do any of that again. 

But it was fun. What a fun memory for you. 

Well it's great. I think about these things. Yeah. It's a great memory. 

Those kinds of things just can never happen anymore we live in too busy of a world not likely now kids do play in the street but they don't have that that much freedom yeah yeah you had a really really wonderful childhood we kept the traffic out even what power you had um as you grew older and you kept taking more chores on in the summer time always in the summer your dad made you go to school i mean you didn't skip school to work oh no i didn't stop any school at all school was very important in your Even then, I couldn't have worked in the mill, in the plant until I was 16. Until I was 14. Both of your parents were well educated, so they expected you to go to college. Yeah. 

So it was a given you were going to be going to college. They practically... Insisted, huh? 

Well, they didn't exactly insist, but they didn't insist me not to. Where did you go to high school? 

I went to what they call Canton High School. 

Okay, right here in town again. It was right at the same, across the street from the old elementary school that I attended. And did you do all right in high school? 

Oh, I didn't have any problem in high school. Did you get involved in any athletic activities? 

I was involved in everything that went on. I bet you were. Athletics. Everything, period. My mother had me involved in everything else, too. She knew that busy boys don't get in as much trouble. Yeah, we had football came to Canton High School. I was in the sixth grade at the time. 

So I went out. I got my own uniform and I went out for football. And I was on the scrub team trying to help the guys be good. Did you love it? 

Oh, yes. I never got hurt. Oh, that's great. I did get hurt later on at VMI. The coach had wanted me to stay in Canton. and play for them the next year because we had dropped football for about a year. 

Now in those days did you go to high school until you were 16 or was it 12 years, the 12th grade? 

Well 16 was... Was 11th grade? 

No, well 16 is when I graduated. 

But that was not having the final year, that was 11 years? 

Well we only had 11th grade. Yeah, yeah. 

So you have 12 now. Yeah. I don't think they learned about half as much in 12 years as we did in 11, I tell you. They packed it in, didn't they? 

Well, I had a good foundation, no question about it. 

Now, how was the decision made that you were going to go to VMI? 

Well, my father had gone to VMI. 

So he thought it was a good idea. He graduated there in three years, and I think he picked up the nickname was Deacon. Deacon? 

Deacon. Okay. They called him that all the way through. 

And the Georgia Texas Manufacturers Association, every time you saw Ted Forbes, who was executive secretary of the association, he called me and said, how's Deacon doing? 

Anyway, I knew who he was talking about. 

So he sent you off to VMI? 

Well, see... Any objection on your part? 

No, no. I was wanting to go, really. 

But they were kind of encouraging me to try to decide what I wanted to do. 

Well, I wanted to be a... Superintendent of the mills, right? 

Yeah, superintendent of the mills. And so they didn't have a textile operation, an educational field in VMI. That's very, very much a military school. Oh, yeah. 

Well, see, about all your generals in World War II came out. Yeah, VMI is a very important school. You'd be amazed how many of them did. Yeah. 

So when you went up there, had you ever been there before? 

No. My father carried me so he could go back and be with one of his classmates who taught calculus. 

So he drove you up there? 

Yeah. 

Well, we rode up on the train. On the train, okay. Took the Crescent Limited. I don't know whether you ever knew what that was. I've heard of the Crescent before. It used to be a crescent limit. It went up from New Orleans to New York. Yeah. And either way you could drop off in Virginia. Yeah. We'd go to sleep about, well, in the Carolinas, I think. And we'd ride on up and get out probably in Washington or New York by the next morning. 

But usually about 6 o'clock, I guess, or 7 o'clock, we'd be in Lynchburg, Virginia, somewhere along there. And that's where you'd get off? 

And we'd get off. And you could catch the train right here in Canton, couldn't you? 

No, no, no. Ours is a branch line. 

Okay, so you had to... 

So we had to catch the train coming out of Atlanta. Okay. The Crescent went through there. Yeah, all right, so you made that. 

So it was a pretty big journey, all things considered. It was a big deal. 

Did you have you a trunk with all your worldly goods in it? 

Yeah, well, we always took it where we had to go. We didn't have a lot of stuff to carry with. The man had a suit for Sunday, and he wore overalls most every other day of the week. Could you do that in school? 

We didn't have it. I wore it. My mother insisted on some other things. Did you wear a uniform at VMI? 

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you couldn't attend to VMI without VMI. Okay. 

Okay, so you got the uniform after you got up there, so you were just taking your other things up there. Yeah, I had to be fitted for that. 

So your daddy went on up to visit folks and dropped you off? 

Yeah, I was there, and so all the third classmen saw me come in and my dad was bringing me in, and they also saw me go into the professor's home on Sunday for dinner, so when I matriculated Monday morning they were there and they saw me there. Did they give you the business? 

I had a rough time. Oh no. They had to tease you to death then huh? 

Well they did a little bit more than that. Did you get hazed? 

Oh yes. They had it not too heavy in those days. I didn't. 

But I don't think I just never really think much of that type of thing. Yeah. Yeah. 

Well that must have been a scary thing for you. You were so far away from home after being with family all the time? 

No, I didn't. No? 

I decided whatever they could give, I could take. 

So you were a tough guy then, huh? 

I thought I was. 

And how did you do with scholastics? 

I did very well except with one course I had, one portion of the course. The professor and I must have gotten it cross purposes. It can happen from time to time, huh? 

But they didn't have... He asked me to put a problem on the board. I put the problem on the board and I started explaining it. And he wouldn't accept what I was telling him. And he asked me to sit down. I sat down and he asked another fellow to explain it. 

Well he got up and used my solution on the board and explained it. And I took a little exception to that. You let him know. Professor and then from then on I had a pretty rough time trying to pass that course. Oh dear. During that quarter. The whole rest of the year was bad for you. 

Well now, the next professor I had in that same course, which is a chemistry, I had a 98 all the time with him, but I knew the chemistry because I had the same book in high school. Oh, that was wonderful. Sometimes that happens, personalities, you know, you don't know why someone doesn't get along. I don't know why. You know, I just never did Jee-Haw. You never did Jee-Haw. Mr. Jones, your experience at VMI was very interesting to you for lots of reasons. You got involved with sports up there, didn't you? 

Oh, yes. See, I was always interested in sports. 

During the early 20s, mid-20s, Charlie Paddock was the fastest 100-yard dash man in 10 seconds was a record. Wow. And today it's only about 9.50. Whoa, that was still really good. He wanted to cut a half a second off in 75. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? 

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's not, you haven't gotten much faster. Then you had Jim Thorpe coming along, you may remember. I've heard of him anyway. Uh-huh, we do. And Nermy was one of the runners, came from the Scandinavian area. Paolo Nermy I think was his name. 

So you followed these guys, you were interested in their careers. 

Well sort of, you know, and Cunningham, I can't remember his first name. And Cunningham had to spend maybe 30 or 40 hours running before he could run the distance. The problem was that he had been burned, both legs had been burned badly when he was a child. He had to loosen all those muscles and the scar tissue and he was really a top runner too. 

So he had to warm himself up to that? 

Those are just some of the guys that I remember very well. 

So did you go out for track at that time yourself? 

I went out for everything. Everything? 

I went out for track here in Canton. I went out for football here in Canton. And then when you got up to VMI you did the same thing? 

Yeah. I was in, I went out for gymnastics because my dad was a gymnast at VMI. Oh, and you were trying to do everything your daddy did. Keep me back to that again. 

When he came home, He'd been pretty much involved in gymnastics and the rings and the parallel bars and the horizontal bars and the giant, I don't know, the bars you swing on, I can't remember the name of it. You go around and flip off, go flip and land out. Could you do all that stuff? 

No, I couldn't. 

I never did really try it, but I worked on them and played on them and did my chin-ups and flip-overs and so forth, but I never did go out and try to turn a flip. 

Okay, just as well. 

That would be just something you didn't do, huh? 

But you were having a good time with all those physical activities. Did you tell me you went out for wrestling, too? 

Yeah, yeah. Enjoyed all of it. 

Yeah, I was in wrestling, and I should have been, I think I felt like I should have had the wrestling team, but then there was a guy there a little older than me. 

Well, sometimes freshmen, it's hard anyway, it's your first year to get, you know, get on the team. Yeah, but it was a hundred and forty-five pound group, see, that's what I weighed in those days. Oh. 

Now, Mr. 

Lewis, think back, as you came to the end of that year, where did you make up your mind that you weren't going to come back to school again to that particular school? 

Well, I don't know. It's not really. It's hard to say, but I was yet to think about being a textile engineer. I figured I'd learn a lot more textiles than Georgia Tech, but they had a course in textile. Right, right. 

So you asked your dad if you could transfer? 

Well, I talked with him and he said, well, that's okay. I just want you to know what you're trying to do. Okay. I want you to do what you plan to do. 

Did you come back to school, back to the house that summer and work in the mill again before you went back to Tech? 

Well, I went down to Tech and went to summer school. Oh, you did? 

Right off the bat you started. See, I didn't get any mechanical drawing practice up at VMI. 

So you actually started, you went right from one school to the other with no break in between. Yeah. 

Now, when you came to Tech, to Atlanta, you went to live in a boarding house, you said first. Yeah. Okay. Had you ever been to Georgia Tech before that? 

Well, I've been to the school. I used to go to the games down there. All right. That's the one you know. 

So you did get to go to the games when you were much younger. Yeah, I remember quite a number of the players that were played, the names of them. I don't know of them. Would it have been as early? 

The 29th class. 

Well, that was the Rose Bowl game. Yeah. 

So you probably went to... I remember most of those guys. Those players were good. Because they were at Stumpy Thomason and, let's see, Melody. 

Father Goose? 

What? 

Father Lumpkin? 

Father Lumpkin and McGee, but anyway there were several of those fellows. They were pretty well known in the whole area. Oh yeah, everybody knows them, even in general, all over, but some of those. 

So you were a fan of the Yellow Jackets even before you got to school then? 

Oh, yeah. I'll say Vance Marie is what I was saying. Yeah, that's who you're trying to think of, Vance Marie. Yeah. They're still legendary names. Oh, yeah. They were amazing football players. They're still alive. Yeah, amazing football players. 

So you got to Georgia Tech, you got to the boarding house, and you told me you could even remember the name of the woman that you remember. No, I remember she was Mrs. Myrick, and I can't remember her first name. I never did call her by her first name. No, I'm sure you didn't. $30 a month, room and board, which is pretty amazing. 

Well, I guess your schools, too, had probably cheaper rooms than that. 

If you went in the dormitories? 

In the dormitories, I don't remember that. 

Do you know why you didn't go in the dormitories? 

Well, there was no room when I went down the first time. Oh, that's a good reason. They were too crowded. 

So I had that little house, and it was okay. 

Okay, the time that you came was 1931, and in 1931 the Depression was already setting in over a lot of years. It already set in, good. Yeah. Money was hard to come by. Everybody was... That's another reason I limited myself to spending money on a year. Yeah, I bet you did. Over a dollar a day. Yeah. What did you think of the classes when you got to Georgia Tech? 

Well, the classes are fine. They're not too big. Most of them are not. And could you manage the studies? 

Yeah, I didn't have any problems with them. You were lucky because most people were really struggling. 

Well, I had a little problem with calculus at one time. I bet you found somebody to help you with that. I got some help. Yeah. Did you ever have D. M. Smith for mathematics? 

That's the one I had. 

It couldn't get any better than that, could it? 

Well, see, I have had and didn't know it really at the time, but I was diagnosed with narcolepsy back at that time. I didn't know about it. Dad never did really tell me what it was. 

But I'd just take off and go to sleep. That can be pretty dangerous. And my sister also had it, but she didn't seem to have had it until much later. 

But I had it in D. M. Smith's class. Oh my goodness. Did he throw erasers at you? 

No. Because he was known to do that, you know. He came back there and he got me and says, Mr. Jones, if you just can't stand it, go back here and sleep. 

So I just went back there and took a nap. Oh, for goodness sakes. 

So he was pretty nice to you then? 

Yeah, he was. He didn't know what I was running. He thought I'd just had a hangover. He thought you'd stayed up too late the night before, huh? 

Maybe, yeah. 

But you said you were able to manage your academics fairly well. Pretty much, in a general way. 

Now, did you go out for sports at Georgia Tech? 

Well, no, I did try out. 

I went out and dressed for football one time, but I didn't know anybody there, and they didn't know me, and they already had everything set up. Yeah, they were pretty much bigger than you were, too. 

Well, I was a little bigger at the end of it. 

Well, by the time I was 18, I weighed roughly what I weighed now. 

Now, did you go out for track? 

No, I never did. You never did? 

George Griffin was in charge of the track program at that time. Yeah, I knew George. Did you know George? 

I didn't know him well. I just knew him. I'd see him and speak to him and vice versa and that's about it. Oh, I'm surprised he didn't try to get you to run track for him. See, he didn't know. I mean, nobody knew what I... You didn't tell them what you could do. I didn't tell them anything like that. I just went down there. 

Now, another thing that you had to do when you came to Tech was get into the ROTC program. 

So you didn't wear a uniform all the time just on your training day, right? 

I just had to spend my time with it because I'd already had more ROTC at VMI than they ever gave me. Yeah, because it was all the time at VMI. Yeah, every day, every day at VMI. And it's just one day at VMI, usually Thursdays. What's that? 

It was usually on a Thursday. Yeah, I think it was a couple days, about an hour each, you see. Yeah, you put your uniform on. When at VMI I marched the class, I marched, I sat at attention at the table and ate at attention. 

So it might as well have been the military, huh? 

Yeah, so I just walked there. I walked for the afternoon to class. I had that formation every morning at Reveille and every meal. 

So Tech didn't seem so bad in that respect, huh? 

Yeah, and paraded every evening. 

Now, you went out for a fraternity. 

Well, I did. I didn't want but one. Which one did you pledge for? 

Well, that was the Jones fraternity. That was the Jones fraternity. Okay. All of our family had been SAEs except one, I think, Uncle Albert. And many of your family had gone to Georgia Tech. You see, Bobby was a Tech man too, as a cousin, Bobby. Right, and he had graduated. They have a portrait of Bobby in the fraternity house at Georgia Tech. I don't know whether you're aware of that or not. He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1922. Yeah. 

So he was already long gone by the time you... Oh yeah, he was gone before I ever got there. Yeah. 

But maybe this was a good time for us to talk about him. You grew up with him? 

Not really. Not really? 

No, no, not really. He grew up in Atlanta. Oh, he was born in Atlanta, that's right. Yeah, he was born down there. 

Did you ever have opportunities to play with him at all? 

Very normal opportunities, except on Christmas Eve. Okay. That's about the only time he came. and Clara was not in good health most of her life. She hardly ever got up to the party you might say, the Christmas Eve party. 

And that was his mother? 

Yes, Uncle Rob brought Bob up and he, I think Bobby later brought, maybe he brought Clara, oh, I can't recall his wife's first name at the moment. Mary? 

Mary Malone, yeah, Mary, brought her up with the children a couple of times. 

So you saw him from time to time, but you didn't hang out with them or do things to you? 

We didn't have a very heavy relationship, and I saw him also quite a bit in the business. 

In later years? 

They were our legal resource, Uncle Rob and Bob, but I would go down and see Bob on business every once in a while. Uncle Rob was the chairman of our board at that time. 

Now he was 12 years older than you, so. Bob was, yeah. 

Yeah, so that, I mean that's a big, huge age difference when you're a little kid, so you didn't see a whole lot of, when Uncle Bob passed away, we brought Bobby on the board and he attended from then on. Yeah, you did know that he had gone to Georgia Tech. Oh yeah. 

So you were aware that he had been at school there. I knew that. He went to, I believe it was Princeton too. He went to a few schools, yeah. Emory. Yeah, I may have heard, I'm not sure. 

So let's go back to you at Georgia Tech now. 

So you rushed for the fraternity. Yeah. And did you enjoy that life? 

Did you have a lot of activities with them? 

Well, I enjoyed it. See, I was in school with these guys. You know, Charlie Yates always came by the house. See I lived in the fraternity house the second year after I joined the fraternity. 

And the house was the old Inman house that sat directly diagonally across the street from the Biltmore Hotel. I don't know what's over there now. Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is all the way up to the Biltmore. It's all the way up to the Biltmore. I haven't been in there lately. 

But in those days it was the Inman house that you were in? it was a big old granite house. And did y'all have a good time? 

Oh yeah we had a big time in the house. I want you to tell me what did you do in the fraternity? 

Well there's a lot of little things. What's your best story? 

Well I don't know. That was your social life wasn't it? 

Yeah that was social life. What would people do for entertainment in those days? 

You didn't have much money. No, we shot craps with a little bit of money. Really? 

We had that sometimes. Okay. It wasn't a lot. We had a pool table we played pool on. Okay. We might play for a nickel or a dime or a game or something like that. Yeah. 

But we'd shoot a little gambling on the table with a, with a dice on occasion, and uh... 

Go to the movies? 

What's that? 

Did you ever go to the movies? 

Yeah, two or three times a week, I guess. A lot. You went to the movies a lot then. Yeah, I used to. What about girls? 

Not too many. Not too many girls at the SAE house? 

No, they didn't come by. They didn't come by there too frequently. Really? 

You didn't have parties on Friday nights? 

No, we didn't have. They weren't regular stuff, you know. No? 

We didn't have big parties. 

How about that? 

And did they have dances? 

Did they sponsor fraternity dances? 

Yeah, the dances was more of a school organization. Yeah, the school. Interfraternity council used to sponsor the dances. Yeah, they had a, but it was for the whole, the whole school. The whole school. The whole Greek. Yeah. Did you go? 

Yeah. Were you a good dancer? 

Come on, tell me. 

Well, I don't know. I never did learn to dance. 

But you were a fine athlete. 

Well, see, I knew the music aspect of it because I didn't tell you early, but I studied violin for it. 

Did you really? 

Until I went off to school and I took that violin down there to Georgia Tech with me. Wonderful. 

So you were an accomplished player. 

Well, I didn't do too badly. That's great. The situation, this is another little detail I might mention to you about the fraternity house. 

I had gone out and left my violin on top of the piano that was there and I came in, these boys had it, the box, the case, pitching it around to each other. Oh no! No. And you might not guess who had it. Who had it? 

Ivan Allen. Oh, no. He was teasing you? 

No, they weren't teasing me. Oh, they weren't teasing? 

They were just throwing it around. Oh, mercy. You must have been terribly upset. 

Well, I was. He was an upperclassman. I mean, he was a few years older than you. Oh, yeah. I didn't quite ever get over that. I don't think you would. I mean, really, because he cracked it. Oh, they didn't. Yes, they did. Oh, it damaged it for you. No, I had it prepared, but the man, he's a top, top guy. violinist in Atlanta at that time, violin maker I guess you'd call him. 

So I had it repaired and I think it's maintained, it's retained its resonance even today. And it has, as they'll say, a beautiful voice. 

So it wasn't a toy to start with, it was a very valuable instrument. It is, and it was. At the time, my father paid a good bit of, a good price for that. And it's probably worth ten times that too. At that time he You know, with $300. Yeah, see, that's probably worth 10 times that, if not more today. Today, if you were to, you couldn't... You couldn't even buy it anymore, yeah. Oh, that must have been scary for you to see it flying around like that. Yeah, I did. I just stopped it right quick. Yeah. Not a joke. I've forgotten who else was there, but Ivan was a man. You remember him, huh? 

He was a man. I didn't appreciate doing it. Yeah, he had no better, huh? 

They were... I don't remember all the details, but there's quite a number. 

Well, in those days, dances sometimes were held at the Biltmore Hotel. Oh, yeah. Do you remember going to the Biltmore? 

Oh, yeah. We had our first, our 25th reunion of our class at the Biltmore. Oh, at the Biltmore, yeah. And you would go into... I didn't recognize any of those old men. You wouldn't know them for sure now, huh? 

Well, I'm sure that some of them I wouldn't miss. Yeah. One fellow came over to me and we were talking and he was just as bald as he could be. 

I couldn't place him and finally he told me who he was and I thought back I said you had a full head of hair when I saw you left. That's the first thing that goes on a lot of them is their hair. 

Now you've still got your full head of hair. Yeah it just happens I do. Yeah you do. You were lucky one. My father did. My mother's father, her brother's all had a full head of hair. Yeah, well you're lucky you still got your full head of hair. Yeah, so that comes down through the mother. Yeah, it does. That's what they say. That's what they say. 

Did you ever, did you go to school all the time or did you ever take breaks in the summer and go back and work again? 

Well, I'd take a break in the summer for them and then work. And go back to Canton then. Yeah, I'd be back to Canton and working in the summer time. 

What's your strongest memory of Georgia Tech? 

My what? 

Strongest memory, when you think about Georgia Tech and you being a student there, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? 

Is it a classroom situation or was it the fun at the SAE house or did you go to the football games? 

Was that fun? 

I went to all the games, yeah, but I don't... You don't remember anything? with the rest of the crowd at that time yeah. Did you date girls from Agnes Scott? 

Well I had a girl at Agnes Scott I used to date. Yeah I think that was a very strong part of growing up at Georgia Tapp. Yeah well the girls at Agnes Scott, I don't know that they all were dating girls from Agnes Scott. I'm trying to think of the name of the school. There were a lot of nursing students that the boys dated, too, from Crawford Lawn. 

Well, I didn't know any of those girls. I was thinking about the Westminster. Oh, that's the high school girls. It's an incorporated group. The old girls' school was incorporated into that when it was first begun. And that school just disappeared because of the Westminster taking it over. It used to be the NAPS they called that. North Avenue Presbyterian. I heard about that school. 

So you were dating some girls from there. They were close at hand. that was close by. 

I remember they had a little sorority there called the, let me see if I can remember it, I think it was called the Venus Club. Oh my, Venus. All the Venuses were. Were they goddesses? 

They were. They thought they were. That's a good memory and I never heard of that before so that's a great story. I think it was called Venus Club. Did you ever go to the Fox Theater? 

Quite often. It had just opened a few years before. 

It had just opened in those days, and it always had, they had a good many stage people on time to time. Who did you see? 

Well, I don't know. You don't remember anybody? 

They were just, uh, Fanchon and Marco had. Oh yeah, they had all the dancing girls. They had the girls dancing, and they had some acrobats and days and Sunday. 

So they just stage shows that you could go to? 

I met some of the acrobats because they were pretty well built and I talked with them about how they did. The gymnasts? 

Yeah. One of these had been a sailor but he was involved in this at that time. That was fun. That was interesting. And the theater was brand new then so it must have been beautiful. It was brand new and you had an orchestra in there a lot of times. Yeah. It was fairly reasonable in those days to go? 

Oh yeah. Not too bad. I can't recall much, but I think it was around 35 cents. Yeah, that's pretty cheap. Just imagine it. First class entertainment, huh? 

Yeah. 

Did you ever go to the varsity? 

Was that a part of your routine? 

It's where? 

The varsity? 

Oh, yeah. 

Well, the varsity was about as big as this room at that time. Really? 

It was really small. Maybe a little deeper and maybe not quite as wide. I'll be darned. And you walk in and line up just like you do today. if you're going to get it off but you didn't have any outside service everything was inside everything was inside and you got it and took off or it didn't have a place to sit there was no tv in the first place yeah it was it was so you just got it cash and carry yeah cash and carry so that was the way it was and uh it was okay and he just he just continued to grow when you were at the uh SAE house did they have a cook that you got your meals there then? 

Oh yes we had our meals there and I don't recall the cost of that but we also had our deers and things like that. 

So it was a good system for you? 

Oh yeah I thought it worked out very well. And you were just a typical college boy enjoying the fraternity. I guess you could call it pretty much that. Doing okay in school and going to the football games and having a good life. Yeah well I had a friend that I met who was my same name. His name is Waldo Jones. It was a different family all together. 

We were not related but he dated my sister and so he got me to come to the debut parties he was in on that. And when I got in on that I was out to the debut parties every time. You were a handy gentleman to have. I was ready to ****** those days. How fun. I bet you had a tuxedo that you had to stiff up in, huh? 

Yeah, I did. Yeah. 

Now that's a good memory to have. 

Well, I don't know whether you ever knew Jack Adair or I've heard of him or not. I have heard of him. 

Well, he was, he was, had to run his father's business because of the depression hit and his father died when he was young. 

Well, Jack had to take it over. And he had a sister named Mary Jane. and I used to date some. 

Actually, my father told him to turn over his real estate operation that he had to carry along as best he could to Jack to operate and run for him while he was alive. Oh, so he really got to be a business partner, too. Yeah, so dad, that was cleared up altogether in Cleveland in 1942. 

Now, during the 30s while you were at school the mill was doing very well through the depression the mill stayed in business and did well well my parents the mill oh yeah they managed to stay in business yeah i think they lost ten thousand dollars one year but they did still stay in business most of the time they were making really good money yeah and so you would go home and work when you came home you went to work at the mill well some i didn't work in the mill much because i was having a hard time okay uh keeping keeping people that were there working and see what happened. 

The textile industry worked out a relationship with the insurance program that carried a labor program, the unemployment insurance group. 

If you were unemployed you would get a certain amount of insurance. You get a small wage anyway. 

Well, so what we worked out, we would run one shift one week, the other shift the next week. And when they were off, they drew the unemployment. Oh, that was a system to keep everybody's some money coming in. To keep them with some income. That was very, very philanthropic to do that kind of thing. 

Well, I thought we were very good. 

See, during that period though, the early part of the period, we put in the warehouse around a million yards. Oh, I see. We didn't sell it all. Yeah, so that it wasn't generating as much income, but you were still taking care of the employees. 

Somebody was talking about it, said my grandfather took whatever he had and he put it into it right on top of it. just alone. I don't know whether you've got any interest out of it or not, I'll tell you the truth. 

Well, they were struggling to keep it going. 

He made the statement that you folks have helped us get this far and said, we're going to all see this thing through together. Isn't that wonderful? 

So that was his attitude, and that's what they had. That definitely is not the philosophy for today. And my father was the one who had to see to it that all of the stuff got done. 

How many employees did the mill have at that time in 1935? 

I can't recall specifically I'd say well over 600. 

So several hundred we can say safely. 

So really it was them and their families that were all being supported. 

The families were here I'd say the city was at that time, see you had both mills at that time and you were having to do that. that and so uh dad was having to he had his hands full he had a rough time he had a breakdown oh he did yeah is that why you left school and came to help that was in 1935 you you really were needed then you had to go into work what was your job in the mill when you came what did they want you to do well they didn't really i just wanted to be here i don't know if dad would And when they gave me a job as a machinist in a machine shop. 

So you were learning the business right from the ground up. Oh, yeah. See, I used to be out there and I repaired the equipment in the plant. 

Now, how did you know how to do that? 

Well, I had a fellow who was with me and helped me with it. And you learned from him. I knew what it was. 

But then repairing of it is a little different story from knowing it and working with it inside. 

But you see, I had a machinist who would, we'd have to repair say a cylinder, a metal cylinder that's made out of tin you might say, about eight, ten inches in diameter. And something would happen and you'd dent one in. 

Now those cylinders ran the spindles in the middle on that machine that spun the yarns And if you had a bump in it, it wouldn't spin and the end would just come down. It would stop everything then. The end would, that particular one would come down. 

So each one had a separate band of belt, we'd call it I guess, that on it and ran the spindles. 

So it was a constant job to keep everything running. Yeah, pretty good, but we didn't have too many cylinders. we were able to keep one available and take one out and put one in. Put one in. 

Did what you learned at Georgia Tech in textile engineering help you? 

Well, yes in a way, but I knew more about school than they did. Did you really? 

In many respects, yes. Because you had grown up with it. 

Well, see I grew up and ran the machinery and they kept me down and I had to count the number of teeth and the gears on their equipment. For some reason, I don't know exactly all together. Did, at that time, in the textile department at Tech, were they actually making fabrics? 

Oh yes. We made everything. We did, I did design work. I used, I painted all of mine. 

My brother came down there and I let him have them and I don't know which of them he used but he used a lot of them. 

So you were learning a lot about textiles, all the different branches of textiles. They actually were making fabrics right in the school though, in the shop of the school. Oh yes, I made a working hand learn them even. Oh really? 

Yeah we did have them, I guess we still got them, frankly. I hope they still have them, I don't know if they still have them. They may have, I'm pretty sure it's very possible. If they don't, they probably have a couple models there. It would be wonderful to have some of the fabric that you actually made. I found something the other night. I'm not sure, but I may have done it. Really? 

Oh, that would be wonderful to see. It wasn't not just a fabric. It was just a fabric. 

But it doesn't matter. It was something that you actually made. I had a lot of colors in it. Did you? 

Oh, that sounds wonderful. And you made it right there in the old shop. Right there in the old building, yeah. Mr. Jones, you are holding a piece of fabric. Hold it up for us. 

This is something that you made when you were at Georgia Tech and you said you made it, did you make this on a hand loom? 

This was made on a hand loom. On a hand loom. And it's a square of fabric that's very brightly colored. 

Now, fabric can be explained how when you're making, this was done right on Georgia Tech in the old shop. Yes, these yarns were dyed probably at Georgia Tech. I don't recall them now, but we had them there at school. We had a special board that we had to work to thread up these fabrics on that board. 

So every color that's in there was a different spool of thread. That's right, a different spool. 

And what you'd do is you would get them all up on the board? 

We had to cut them in between like this so we could keep them separated. Right. 

And then you have a harness, what's known as a harness, that have the eyes across this way and they run up and down like this. Each eye has a thread in it and they go up whenever you're supposed to be regularly. It's all in synchronicity. It goes up and down in the right rhythm. up and down and they open up and then there's a shuttle about so big that we have it's full of another yarn or the one that goes across. And that's what you would throw across? 

This one is all white. 

So then you have a string and a handle and the shuttle would go here and you'd **** it and spin it to the other side and then you'd make a change in what we call the shed. Right. Right. And that would be done by foot pedal? 

Or how? 

Yeah, a pedal. 

Well, no. They were changed by foot pedal, yeah. And then you just jam it. Sling it back. Pull the reed as it reeds where they're all drawn through. And it jams the thread up tight against the other. And that's what makes it such a dense fabric is the fact that you're tight. 

That's what the reed is for, keep it all pulled together in one, you might say, continuous unit all the way to both sides. 

And when you made that, would that have been part of an assignment? 

Oh yeah, well that's part of an assignment. Everybody in there had to make a short fabric, or I don't remember the length of them. 

The idea was to show that you knew how that machinery operated and what all the principles were behind it. 

I could demonstrate to make it as a neophyte for instance, I'd have to make it because then I would understand how it worked, which I already was familiar with. You already knew that because you were seeing it at the big mill. 

And the big mill was doing the same thing, but it wasn't by hand, it was an automatic? 

Well a lot of it was more automatic, yes. And additional automation came on as time went by. A thread would break for instance on a regular loom and it wouldn't even be present. Here I would have seen it break. You would have seen it right away. 

But there you didn't have any waste. 

So we had developed, we didn't, but the industry developed a stop motion, a mechanical stop motion. And it had the bars here in the back behind the shed. And the thread came through those and each little one had what's called a drop wire. 

And then you had a, well it's just hard to tell you exactly, they had a bar across here and it was jagged. Okay. 

So they were teeth like across it, yeah. 

And these little drop wires would fall and drop down in that and you had a straight running back and forth. And when the drop wire got into that thing, it just stopped the loon. Because then they knew that something had broken and they could stop it. They knew that the hen was there. And that prevented it from having flaws in the finished fabric. It reduced the flaw to a minimum and hardly noticed it. 

This is a good time for us to talk about the fact that you had grown up actually going down to the mills whenever you could and seeing what was going on over there. 

And you had already explained to us that during the Depression, during the hard times, Your dad and your grandfather looked after. You told me a wonderful philosophy your grandfather had. Share that with us again. 

Well, there are two little things involved in that. He went off, I think, to look at some goods at one time. He came back, and the fabric was perfect, but he claimed it was second quality. 

But my grandfather went out to check it, and he checked it with the man, and he said, I'll be there when you are ready to open a business in the morning. And they never had even opened a bale of it. And they were trying to... They were trying to horsewabble him, that's what. Yeah, so that's why my granddad went, just to be safe. 

So he found that, but when he got back, and he said, the fellow says, he called my dad, says, I want you to do one thing, let's make it better. And that could be our motto is make it better. 

So from then on that was one we did use. That was the philosophy of the company. 

And I think we were probably, as I told Mac the other day, we were probably one of the top five denim manufacturers in the country and probably as well known throughout the world as any of them. As any of them. 

But your grandfather had a philosophy about the men that worked for him. Men and women, because women worked also. 

What was that one about the shoulders? 

So I said each generation should step off of the shoulders of the previous one so that progress comes. You would know, I know so much. 

Somebody, the new generation coming on, they ought to start from there and grow in their own knowledge but it also requires a lot of self -control and understanding of the individual person of himself right we have a letter that you just got yesterday you told me i'm holding it in my hand from a woman that you don't even know but her father worked for your grandfather and your father and she she writes a wonderful note to you calling you mr lewis and you said Everybody referred to your dad as that, and then later you. I think she left me about the age of Dr. Moore. 

So she would be just coming to be 80 years old. Right in the neighborhood of 80. 

Yeah, and she writes this wonderful letter saying that she grew up in the mill village, and she's thanking you and your family, not only for the mill village, but for the stores, that they always had enough food, that they had a great school to go to. They were well cared for. 

And she said that's proof, her life is proof of that because she's gone on to acquire law degrees and PhD and has had a very exciting and successful life. 

And to read something like this after all these years, wouldn't it please your grandfather and your father so much? 

This reminds me, as I told you earlier, what happened to Dr. Moore, you know, Mike Moore, your economics professor at Georgia Tech. His family grew up here and his mother worked because his father was not able. He did plow and work the field for them, but I think he had a bad heart. And so Mac did the same thing. 

All of his brothers went on through school and most of them got some kind of a degree one way or the other. Everybody learned to work. Everyone had the work ethic, but everyone also had the security of knowing they were cared for. 

Well, if I could go through the community here and tell you who the leadership is and where they came from, you'd see what... The connection all goes back. You'd understand where they all came from. It all came from 1900 in the establishment of the mill. 

So it makes you feel like you did make some accomplishment. Oh, you made a huge difference in a lot of people's lives, that's for sure. Mrs. Frances Hardin made that very eloquently clear. I think she did a beautiful job. She did a beautiful job, and it's a beautiful letter to read. I appreciate that. I'm going to keep it from my archive. And I'm going to cherish the fact that you shared it with us. All right, so you came back, and you got a job here in the mill as a machinist. 

And then did you go through and learn everything all the way up the line in your career? 

Well, I had to run through the machine shop and do repair work and whatever else had to be done coming in from outside in the plant. I was not the only one. No. I mean, I was with the group. Right. 

And then did they pass you on to another to learn more? 

Well, yes, I had to make a gear myself all the way from scratch. 

So nobody was cutting you any slack. You were learning everything, right, from the ground up. 

You had to turn these gears down on a lathe and be sure that they were in tolerance of plus or minus a thousandth of an inch. 

And then you take it to a milling machine and on a divider engineering unit, and you cut the gear, teeth in it, all the way around. 

So you learn, you become a man of many trades. 

Well I could just about do any of those things. A lot of it's mechanical engineering as well as textile engineering. 

Well yes, that's right, you had to have some mechanical. Right. 

So it takes you to learn some mechanical engineering at the same time. 

So you were getting the basics over there too. Yeah, and I would get the practice of it. Yeah, that's the basics and put them into practical use, as they say. Some people never use the hands-on stuff, but you certainly use the hands-on stuff. I always have a bit of a hand-on person, I think. Mr. Jones, when did you meet Peggy? 

Well, she... Our Peggy here. She came shopping. To Canton? 

For a deer. For deer? 

Yeah, and she got one. You silly thing, come on. She got a deer. 

I won't argue with you about that, but where was Peggy from? 

She came shopping for a deer, and she got one. She got one. That's me. Yeah, I know. I know what you mean. I didn't think you completely recognized her. Oh, no, I completely recognized you right from the first word. I knew just what you were going to tell me. 

But tell me how you met Peggy. 

Well, she came up to teach speech in the high school. 

Well, it was all levels of the school, between elementary and through high school. came from where from South Carolina and so she came down Batesburg Leesville as it's called she came over from there and when she finished school at Renown College in Gainesville uh-huh and I'll get the story from her of what happened she was trying to finish up over at Renown she had a professor who she had to have an exam from I think after that. 

But he said, Peggy, I said I want you to go over to Canton, Georgia with me. 

And she said, I would just, she remarked the other day and said I'd just about do anything to get a good passing grade on that psychology course, whatever it was. She was chairman, I mean president of the student government over there at that time. 

So, he said, I just want you to go. 

The superintendent of the school over there is going to be out of a speech teacher this next year and he never has taken anybody but renowned students and said, you're the one I want him to get. 

So, she came over and they talked. She said, well, the mother and dad want me to be at home and not so far away. 

But she came on over and interviewed the superintendent and they talked a little bit and they offered her a job and she didn't know how to say no so she accepted the job. 

So she had the job that day and her mother and dad did fully approve of it. 

But she came on and they told us well if you don't like it at Christmas time you can adjust. but anyway. In the meantime. In the meantime, I was in wait. 

I was going to, I was going to the football games about that time and fall I'd work all day in the mill. I was still working in the machine shop at that time. She came in 38. I was in there for about two or three years where I was. Uh-huh. 

And so, well, it's, they go in there pretty greasy and dirty and I'll go over to games because it didn't take time to clean up. Uh-oh. 

Watch your high school games and some other teacher who had married one of our local boys wanted me to eat Peggy and wanted her to eat me, so. You had a blind date? 

Yeah, I don't know what you call them blind dates. I had my wife's wide open. I saw her. I hadn't. You get your eyes wide open. I've already seen her. I think from what I heard she's seen me. Uh-huh. 

So did we repeat history like your mom and dad? 

Do you know right off the bat she was the one? 

No, pretty much so. You knew right away, huh? 

Yeah. And so, uh. How long did you court her? 

Well, we courted until, you mean until I asked her? 

Yeah. About, uh, let's see, Yeah. About six months, I guess. You were a fast worker. 

Well, I don't know about that. How about it, children? 

You met her in the fall and married. When did you get married? 

What year? 

Married in July of 1938. 

So she came, you saw, you conquered, you married her. We did it. Yeah, and she never looked back. She moved from South Carolina permanently then. I guess so. She looked over there quite frequently. She wanted to take a care. took her kids over there to stay with momma for a good time. 

Well those were visits though. I know. 

But she told me she married into a cast of thousands here. There were a lot of Joneses to learn about. There were a lot of them here at that time. 

We talked about the fact that your grandfather actually ended up having eleven children that survived. Yeah, that's right. 

Five boys for his first wife, two boys for his second wife, and then you had a little smattering of aunts, three aunts that... There were four, two in the first family and two in the second family. 

So and they all went forth and multiplied and they went forth and multiplied in that. 

So Peggy really wasn't kidding. She had a lot of people to get to know. 

So you married and settled where? 

Did you build yourself a house here or rent a house? 

Well, it so happened that they had a fellow who had, well, the grandfather died in 37. Oh, so he didn't get to see you be married. Which was the year, October before we married in July. Yes. And the president of the company, a man who was made president later, lived in that little house. The house that we took. It was an old house that my grandfather's brother lived in when I was just a child. Oh, okay. It was right down on the main street, right down the middle of town. 

So you settled right into downtown Canton. 

I moved right in there and we came in and moved right in and spent our first night home from honeymoon in there. 

I had to get Mother and she promised to make up the beds and put everything in shape and And got in there that night and there wasn't a thing done. Oh, no. Did you come home early or something? 

No. I called her and told her, you can get over there. 

So we did. And we stayed there. Yeah. That's a great memory to have, though, huh? 

Well, I think it's good. Yeah. And you settled in and continued. 

Now, when did your father become president or CEO of the company? 

Well, Dad was doing practically, he was the general manager, practically CEO and I say grandfather was the chairman and also he had president but he never did function that much as president, frankly, not lived, at least not after Dad grew up and handled the mill. He grew up and did all, just about everything. Yeah, he did everything. 

And you were still determined to do, to emulate him, do everything? he did weren't you yeah and you followed right along yeah i tried to do that so it was a um a wonderful family enterprise that just continued generation after generation jones mercantile continued and yeah canton mill continued and well several other things yeah so it was a very good life for you and peggy you you were part of canton and everybody took to calling you mr lewis Now, you said they'd called your daddy that beforehand. Yeah. 

Now, how'd they tell the difference between Mr. Lewis and Mr. Lewis? 

Well, they used to call me Little Lewis. Ah, that's what I was going for, that nickname. And there's nothing little about you. Not please. I was bigger than Dad. Yeah. Little Lewis when you're bigger than your dad was. I'm about two inches taller and weighing about 25, 30 pounds more. Isn't that funny? 

And they still called you that. Yeah. 

But everybody knew me as a child growing up. Yeah, and that was Little Lewis. And that was Little Lewis at the time. Because I was. Yeah. Isn't that funny? 

When it goes on to adulthood, it doesn't even make any sense then. That's true. Once your daddy, when did your daddy pass away? 

He passed away in 1966. Okay. 

So then you were the only Mr. Lewis. Yeah. And by that time well established. 

Now by that time you already had a family too. Yeah. You and Peggy had. And then we had Lewis III and Frank, and then Nancy had been born in 1950. All right, well let's go back and tell me about Lewis III. Lewis was born in 1942. Where did he go to school? 

Oh, 1940. I'm missing myself two years. And then Frank came about two and a half years later. Lewis was born in February. And Frank was born on the 30th of June, roughly two and a half years later. It's amazing you know your son's birthdays. Most men don't know those things. That's nice that you do. We always celebrated birthdays. 

Well, that's great. That's great. We've done that, I think. Vegas family in our life, too. All your life, sure. Tell me what Louis III does for a living. What is his career? 

Louis is now in real estate. See, mills had gone through a rough time all Texas. Oh, they sure had. 

And during, for instance, during World War II, we did not, had not made much profit during the Depression. None at all, probably. At some instance. 

Well, we made a little, but not much. 

And because of that, they wanted to hold the profit for the textile industry and all other, maybe some of it, to, about what they were making during the Depression. 

Well, you couldn't accumulate anything at that time with that. Yeah. Couldn't expand. 

So, we had been trying to expand and grow and get new equipment, but there was not enough money to buy. No capital for it. Yeah. And you couldn't, it was not enough to make payments on equipment. 

So we had to run with what we had and we managed to replace a lot of equipment. upgrade, let's say a better word. 

And so I drew the specifications in 1936, or a little earlier than that, on a set of new spinning equipment that we bought. And we brought it in and fortunately we were able to get that done. 

But then it hurt, a lot of things hurt worse later so we brought those in. 

Did World War II provide a stimulus and make a better time? 

Well we had a lot of extra work we had to do which we didn't they wouldn't let us make much more profit. 

So the work was there but it wasn't that. 

See we were running three shifts or trying to during that time we never had run at two before and when the Bell bomber plant opened it It ****** one shift out. Oh, I see. And a lot of them went down there to build. To work, yeah. And they were making real high money because... There was a demand. It's quite a difference. If they had been closer to the ground and like a farmer... It wouldn't have happened... .like we had and had been there for thousands of years, they wouldn't have made that much money. It was more lucrative to be making airplanes than to be making fabrics. 

Yeah, but you begin to see what the lucrative association does to people, and that's what you've done. 

You've just about overdone it for these folks, and they've extended themselves so far, and they had to pay such a high price for their equipment. They are riding on the rocks now. Yeah, yeah. 

Now when you look back at that time through the, you established your little family, and you were very busy with the mills. 

Did we ever have a boom time? 

Was there ever a time when the mills did really well? 

Well, as I say, we did. We boomed very well during that period, except for the fact that they wouldn't let us keep. See, after we passed that mark, a certain level there, they took 95%. Who took? 

Uncle Samuel. Oh, that took. The federal government was controlling the productions and such. 

So did that, the mill still thrived, though, into the 50s and the 60s? 

Well, we came along, we did all right. Even in the 50s, we did pretty well. 

But those were the years... 

But you were very, very heavily taxed. Those years we did pretty well, but they were not as heavily taxed after the war. Because it took off the 95 percent and went back to about 30-something like it. And that general percentage from 25 to 30 percent. 

So that's when more expansion took place, more upgrading and... 

Well, we upgraded some during that particular time, too. 

You got involved, and we're going to go back and talk about the children again, but as long as we're talking about this now. You got involved with the Georgia Textile Manufacturing Association. Oh, yes. Your dad had been involved before your grandfather. My grandfather was among the group that organized it. And you actually took a national office with them. I mean, a state office. You headed it up for a while. 

I was, I was, well, you work, go through procedures, once you get involved in that, you go right on through to the only three of the top positions. 

Now, that was a professional association that was to help all the textile people come together. All the textile people to work as a unit to some degree to, to... Did they lobby the federal government for help? 

Yeah, it was lobbying. They did some lobbying. 

So you really had to learn politics then, too, not just textile manufacturing. I didn't get too much involved in politics. 

But you have to learn how to play the game to make it happen, don't you? 

Yeah, well, sometimes. All of our people did politics individually. When did you take over the running of the mill? 

What year was that? 54. 

So before your father passed away? 

Yeah. You had already worked your way up from that? 

He was about 12 years later. 

So from Waterboy to Chairman of the Board or President, what title did you have in 54? 

I was made President in 54. 

So you went from Waterboy to President. 

That's pretty amazing, isn't it? 

What's that? 

That's pretty amazing to go from Waterboy to President in that span of time. 

Well, I think there's probably a good many more men who did that than you realize. And you continued with the mill. when did the mills actually close down? 

About 81. In 81. 

But they, you didn't dissolve it, it still exists today. 

Well, we were able to, we went into a chapter 11 and we were able to salvage sufficient funds to continue in a sort, in a special operation that we actually we And it's halfway, we'll say, liquidated in a sense. 

But we had a small, not quite enough to pay all of our shareholders, funds, certain funds. 

So we could take that and buy out, say, all of them but $75, and those $75 and then formed another sub-corporation, which is another sub -special form that the government has permitted and set up. 

So we are in that form now. 

So it still does exist on paper. 

But we are not having to do any work. There's no manufacturing work on it. 

It's all an investment at this point and within X numbers of years we will be in position to sell the entire thing out and pay off everybody. Which is amazing. And everything that they ever got. The mill, when the mill closed in 81, it was the beginning of the end for mills all over the country. I mean it's... Oh yes. 

Your aunt and dad went up to New England, they were up there and they saw the mill and they did a white, white, oh twill, first year of operation or two. and then they talked about denims. And denim was big. 

Well it was coming along. And denims were put in about 19, 2 or 3 I don't recall. I wasn't there. Not yet. 

So I think it reminded It reminds me of a story. Tell me. 

My grandfather, he went up to New England, but in the meeting, at the board meeting, they were paying him, I think it was a thousand dollars a year for his services, and he was, if he had any expenses, the secretarial work, he had to hire. He had to do it himself? 

That wasn't exactly high cotton, was it? 

That's all. 

The demise of the whole industry came because of foreign competition, right? 

It was the labor market? 

The what now? 

The demise, the end of the textile industry. 

Well, not altogether. 

Is that one of the factors? 

It was naturally one of them, but the cause of the factor was that the government got in business with us too much, and they started regulating too much. Oh, I see. 

So regulation... And they regulated us right out of business. Oh my goodness. 

And they put in a trade operation, which they negotiated trade trying to make a, what you call and what is referred to as free trade. Free trade is based on trading from scratch. 

When you start, if I'm working at a job, you're working at a job, and I ask you for, or somebody They ask you what you'll charge for certain things, and I ask me, who do you think gets the job? 

The guy who's charging the least. If he does the job, and they know people, know it sooner or later. Yeah. All right, here we are. Our wage rates were raised at $0.25 from $0.15. That was in 1932, 1931. They had been raised regularly by the government. 

So they set the rate. They gave you what you were doing. They gave the minimum. Yeah. Still do. For everybody. Yeah. 

And the people who are closest to the agriculture and to the ground, so to speak, they're the ones who draw the least amount. The least amount of money. Yeah. It's the fellow who's in the scientific field that draws an X. 

But then he's now in a situation, they are now in a situation that they've got people in every country in the world is qualified to do anything they want to do in this country. Many of them send them in over to those countries to get information. 

But over there, they've got people who can do the same work and do it for a lot less. And that's why they say, exporting jobs, or who's exporting the jobs? 

Every time you raise wages. It just makes more jobs go. See, the dollar, at that time, was worth $32 to $35, a gold, worth an ounce, gold. 

Today, it's only worth about $385, but it should be worth about $2,000 because the dollar is not worth any more than that. 

So it's a very complicated process. it's very complicated and the government the boys up there did not understand anything about the total fundamentals of economics now mac and i can talk to you about that yeah mac loves to talk about that and if you get down to it you can analyze it to pieces but it's just that there was too much intervention you see if if we had to remain with let's say at 25 cents until until everybody else came up to that level, you could open it up to free trade. 

Another thing is those people though in all these countries in Japan and China, they were willing to work and still do some of them for as much as 25 cents. Yeah, and now, today, yeah. Because they... And so you can put a lot more labor into a fabric over there. 

They can take your type of fabric, your dress is made of, they're lightweight, and they can make that because they put a great deal more labor in it and they can undersell you if you're going to make the same fabric a whole lot. It's a very, very competitive thing. Because you're paying a premium for labor here in the country. Yeah. 

And we're paying more for our labor than he is for what he's put into it with two or three guys working for twenty, twenty-five cents a day. Twenty-five cents. We're paying five dollars an hour. once i heard a story that the reason canton was named canton was because they were going to start the silk industry yeah well they were trying to they tried to put up silk industry way back on was that before the bill yeah way way back before before canton textile mill so it goes way back i have seen a few mulberry trees and a few few malls around from time to time so they actually we're going to try and plant the trees. I think the weather maybe put them out of business. 

Okay so it never really happened but that's how the city got its name. You know you got all these silkworms you got to keep them alive. Yeah and it got a wee bit too cold. 

And you roll that silk off of those cocoons that they put it make them for themselves and put it on a skein and put then Then you put several ends of those threads together and you spin it into a silk yarn and make silk fabric. 

But it never flew in Canton, Georgia did it? 

No. It just never flew. I think it flew out the window. I think the cold weather was probably the biggest factor. Maybe they didn't know how to protect them. Maybe it was one of those plans that wasn't thoroughly investigated. I'm sure. I'm sure it must have been. Let's go back now to your children. Your oldest son, who is the third, what does he do for a living? 

You said real estate. He's in real estate here in the Atlanta area? 

He's in Atlanta, yes. Yeah. And he is married and has children? 

Yes, he has three children. Three children. 

Okay, and Frank is his second son. And what does he do for a living? 

He's a lawyer in Rome, Georgia. In Rome, Georgia, okay. He has two children. And he's married with two children. And Nancy, what does Nancy do? 

She's working in the investment aspect of Wachovia right now. She started out with Robinson Humphrey and they've been acquired by several different ones. Merge, merge, merge. In Wachovia, she's been able to retain her job, I'm happy to say. Does she have children? 

Hmm? 

Does she have children? 

She has two girls, Lindley and Carolyn. 

So you have several grandchildren, and beyond that, you have great-grandchildren, too. Yeah, we've got some great -grandchildren. We counted up, you maybe have six of them. And they're all great. 

Now, the kids are all fairly close around, so you do get to see your children, your grandchildren. 

Well, they're within 40 miles or so. Nobody lives here in Canton with you, though? 

No. All three of them live somewhere else? 

No, not in our immediate family, no. Yeah. Are there still a lot of Joneses in Canton? 

Not many with the care of the name. There might be a few girls that stayed here. 

So everybody's pretty much left Canton and gone off to other parts? 

Most of them have gone outside and married other people out away from here. Yeah. 

So you have... I'm trying to think who made this home, but they're not around here. Do you get together on Christmas Eve anymore? 

No, we do kind of. You're just your old family? 

Yeah. 

But no more of the Big Jones gathering. No, we didn't have a barn big enough for them. There wasn't a barn big enough, huh? 

Yeah. 

So time went by, and you have the best memories in the whole world of all of that. Everything changes. Yes, it does. 

And by telling us your stories, you're passing them on to your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren, so they can pass them on to theirs. I'm doing that part of it right now. We've done it now, yes, indeed. And we have the stories for the rich traditions and legacies that you had here in the city. And the letter you got from Mrs. Hardin yesterday is an example. To me, that was very... Justifies all the sacrifices. We appreciate it. 

Well, it's a wonderful story. 

And we're so grateful that you took time in your life to go to Georgia Tech and tell us about the textiles and to tell us what life was like in the 30s there. And it's life not only at Georgia Tech but in Atlanta and of Georgia itself and of Canton. It's been very, very nice hearing your story today. 

Do you think we did a good job covering it? 

Are there more things you want to talk about? 

Well, I can continue for quite a while. 

What story would you tell me if I said tell me one more story? 

Well, let's see if I can come up with something. They just keep crowding through again. You've got so many memories. Yeah, I never know which one it's going to be. You said your granddaddy and your daddy both used to love to tell stories. My dad, well, I don't know about granddad too much. Oh, but it was your dad. He and I never did converse that. Oh, okay. Except when I was in his office on occasion. I misspoke an issue. And after work, many days I'd stop by and visit with Granddad in the office, in his office downtown. And I'd just get an opportunity to visit with him and learn about him and learn his Christian views. And it enabled me to kind of keep my feet tight on the ground. That's good. He was a positive influence. We tried to do that for our children. What kind of story would your daddy have told? 

Well, there are so many. I don't have any idea right this many what he would have told. 

But you have a lot of happy memories of him. Oh yes, I enjoyed all of his tales and it takes something to come along and remind me of one. Yeah, that's the way it is. It tweaks your memory and you say, oh I remember when Daddy told about this or told about that. Tell me about this house that we're in right now. How long have you lived in this house? 

It's been a year, fifty years. Fifty years? 

Fifty-four years this year. Wow, that's a long time. And it's an interesting house. Yes, this was built in about 26 or 27, I won't recall the exact year. I got the blueprints, but I haven't looked to see what the date on them was. You weren't the first one to live in this house? 

Oh, an individual that built the house lived here. His family had passed away, most of all of them. 

And so you and Peggy bought the house? 

Except a couple of grandsons, which I know about, and they were out away from here. One of them was, and he worked for Lockheed Martin, I believe it is. 

Do you feel that your children were raised in this house pretty much so? 

Your own children? 

No, no, no. Only one child. 

Well they came up here in the fifties and Louis, well they were here during the... You moved here in 1950. Except, except St. Louis, when we moved in here in 1950, and... He was still just 12 years old. Yeah, I know. 10 or 12 years old. 

So they grew up here. He was here. I don't recall what year. We asked you to let him go to camp about that year. He was 12 or 13 maybe. I can't recall the camp at the moment. I thought of it a while ago. 

But the children lived here for their growing up. Culver Camp is the name of it. Okay. They had their growing up time here and they have happy memories of Canton too. Oh yeah, I hope so. Yeah. 

But see, we sent them off and then Lewis, a couple of years later, went to Darlington or Rome. Uh-huh. 

So he's been gone more or less since then, but he worked in the mills when he came home for summer. This was still home place. Yeah, well I hope he thinks it was that way. Did Frank go to Darlington also? 

Yeah, Frank went to Darlington a little earlier than Lewis. See what happened was that the school systems merged here. The county and the city merged. 

The county actually, naturally county took over the operations and they did not keep any of the faculty at the old Canton High School. Oh, I see. And they tried to set up a high school. You just felt the boys would be better served. And I didn't think my boys were getting what they should have had at that time. 

So I just moved them over to Darlington where I was there. That was considered to be one of the top boys schools. Of course. And so they were there. Where did Nancy go to school? 

What? 

Where did Nancy go? 

Nancy went down to Westminster. Oh she did? 

Yeah, after he was up, what, 12, 14, maybe something like that. 

Well, it's been quite a good story. 

Wonderful, wonderful tales of the Jones family and the Turner family and everybody settling in here to this Canton area and being so important to Canton. 

Well, you know, Peggy's family was a, she had five sisters. In South Carolina? 

The Hendricks family, yeah. And they've been an important part of your life, too. Oh, yes. Yes. 

Well, we're good to mention that. I didn't think you needed to let me lead that out. No, I let you put that out. That's fine. It's been a pleasure meeting with you today. Thank you for giving me so much of your time. I really appreciate it. 

Well, I've enjoyed it. Oh, good. We're glad to hear that. And I've just only gotten started. Maybe we'll have to come back another time. I've only, we've only got here about, the boys are only 12, 13 years old right now. And you did ask about what they did. Yeah, you want to talk some more about them? 

You're welcome to do it. No, I just, we could tell a few more stories about they and their mother in particular. You've had a blessed life, have you not? 

Yeah, I had a special situation. You've been very, very blessed. One of these stories you wanted me to tell. 

Well tell me it. This one just came up as I was talking. Tell me. The boys were out for football over here, right back. And we had a little rain coming on and the boys were out on the field practicing it. 

We had a young man who was working in the yard here and his mother, her, their mother Peggy called the boy in and said, James, take these raincoats over there and give them to Frank and Louis. Tell them, put them on. 

Well, he goes over. Louis is out on the field in the scrimmage. Frank was out in the junior team just practicing. I don't know what they were doing. 

But James walks out on the field and says, coach, coach. And he called and got Lewis and brought him up. He said, his mother wanted me to do this and give you a word. He was in the middle of the skimmage in the football game. I bet he could have just killed him. And so he got a hold of James. 

He said, Now James, you go back over there and put these things down on that stand right there and said, don't you take that to Frank. This is all you need to do. 

So he told me to bring it back over there. I don't know what happened the rest of the day, but it's something like that. 

I bet the boys had some advice for their mother about raincoats, huh? 

I guess they talked to her pretty good. I don't know. 

But it was right. It's amusing in a way. It is. It's funny. She was being the good mama, but the boys. She's very conscientious. That's the way she's been all her life. Yeah, the boys would not appreciate that at all. 

Now, see, now I get the benefit of the whole thing. You do, indeed. The boys are gone, and I get it all. Yeah, she gets to put all of her consistency and her conscientiousness on you. Yeah. 

Well, you're her dear, so that's the way it should be. You think so? 

I guess I'll have to get used to it. I think you're probably about as used to it as you're going to get. Thank you again for spending time with us today. It's been such a pleasure. I appreciate the privilege of doing this and working with you. I think it's a real opportunity to get some things maybe on the record. Thank you so much, sir. It might not be there otherwise. It's our pleasure. Thank you. 

Well, Matt's been wanting me to do a history, and he thought I ought to write one, but I figured it would be a lot faster. and the book would get filled up just as quickly, wouldn't it? 

Yeah, I think so. Thank you, sir. Thank you.