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Interview with Wanda Presswood

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  • Wanda (Newman) Presswood talks about living in Fontana Village as a child while her father worked in the Fontana Dam project, about how she found out about the Dam Kids reunions, and how wonderful it was to come to these reunions every year where she could meet people she had known while living in Fontana Village.
  • 1 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) Katie Bell: That is A-Okay [in response toWN saying she may not remember much] Wanda Presswood: But I'm 81 now. I remember a lot now. KB: Well that's perfect. If you want to look over this first- WP: Okay now, I can't do that. I have an ulcer on this eye- KB: Do you want me to read it to you? WP: Yeah, and I couldn't put in my contacts this morning. KB: Ouch. Okay. This is consent to be interviewed, to let us use the interviews­it says "I understand that I am being asked to contribute to Western Carolina University's oral history collection which aims to collect the narratives of persons affiliated with WCU or western North Carolina communities. We're considering this a community. I hereby voluntarily consent to be interviewed, understanding that recordings, transcripts, photographs, and any accompanying materials and all rights therein will be the property of Hunter Library at Western Carolina University, and available for public use unless restrictions are specified below. So if you tell me something, and you don't want it let out for so long, we can write that down right here. WP: Okay. No problem. KB: The goals of the collection have been explained to me, to my satisfaction, and I have listed any restrictions on this material below. So basically what were hoping to 2 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) do with this is record stories, of course, of experiences at Fontana for the use at Western Carolina's library, but hopefully also for future use at the museum they want to put here. WP: Okay, alright. KB: We're hoping that it would be able to contribute to that as well. Eh, confidentiality. It says "I understand that if I ask the interviewer to keep confidential any information which I reveal, then they will do so, and refrain from using or submitting that material. I understand that I can withdraw from this interview at any time. WP: Alright. KB: Alright. And then the last bit. I have read the above, or listened to the above, and offer the Hunter Library at Western Carolina University full use of the information contained on the recordings and transcripts of these recordings. I have specified any restrictions on said use below. I understand that my interview will become a part of a historical collection, and that the tape and/or audio file and transcripts of my interview will be stored in public archives and will be made available to the general public. I voluntarily release the information I provide and understand that my entire interview or - parts of it, and accompanying materials may eventually be published. I understand that I have not, and will not receive, payment from WCU, Western Carolina University for the rights granted herein, and WCU's subsequent use of the work. Unless restrictions are specified below, this agreement also includes the Hunter Library's right to post these recordings, transcripts, other recordings and abstracts of these recordings and materials in electronic format on the web. Whew. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: Yeah, that's hard to read, isn't it. KB: It is hard to read. WP: Breathtaking. KB: But, that's what it says. Are you okay with that? WP: Yes. Fine. Fine. KB: Fantastic. WP: No problem. KB: Are you able to print here and then sign there for me? WP: Yeah. KB: And then I'll sign below later. [Pause while WN signs release] KB: And then for the first part of this, I'd like to ask a few questions about the reunion itself- WP: And then sign my name here? KB: Yes. And then, life in general at Fontana Village as you remember it, a few other questions, and then just open it up for whatever you would like to add, or whatever you think that I've missed. WP: Okay 3 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Does that sound good? WP: Yep, because like I said, I have very little, because I was too little. To remember. KB: That is A-Okay. WP: Isn't that something? KB: Every experience builds into the story though, you know? 4 WP: Well see, I'm 81 now, and I was six years old. What do you remember at six years old, years back? Nothing except playing, playing. KB: !-hardly a thing. WP: You just want to play all the time. KB: Do you remember when you first came up here? Like what journey was like?-where did you come from, I guess I could start with that. WP: Alright. We came from Ducktown, Tennessee. Do you know where that is? KB: Nope. No idea. WP: Alright. Do you know where Murphy, North Carolina is? KB: I do. WP: It's the next town, Ducktown is, after Murphy. KB: Oh, okay. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: And, also-Ducktown, I didn't know it at the time, but where the dam sits here at Fontana, the copper vein-the dam is sitting on top of the copper vein that goes all the way down into Ducktown, Tennessee, and that was called the copper mines. The Copper Basin. KB: Oh, right. I knew there were quite a few copper mines and what-not around here- 5 WP: But that was it, and the copper mine's closed now, but that was how people made a living working for the copper mines going underground. But not my Dad. He was a TVA man. KB: Alright. What did he do for the TVA? WP: Alright, he operated one of the conveyor belts that brought the rock from the rock quarry, the river below the dam, on the left side, all that mountain right there is just rock, brought it over to the other side to make concrete for the dam. And they had several conveyor belts, see. And that's a big deal. And my Dad's job lasted about a year and a half. But I never-when we lived up here, I never remem-I mean, I never remember seeing Dad much, it was just mother. She was the leader. Because he worked 24/7. I mean, when he was not working, he was asleep, so I don't remember seeing him much. Because we'd have to take his food down. Something would tear up, they'd have to lay over, work. KB: Where did you live in the vii-did you live here in the village? Or was it elsewhere? Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: No. We lived in that curve, right above the hospital. KB: Oh okay. Right. WP: Right in that curve. And, the things that we did to play, mother was real careful not to let us out of her sight. Real protective, and from the road to where the hospital was down here, there were steps, three or four landings of steps, and what was our thing that we played with all the time? See who could run up and down those steps the fastest. I was always the winner, but I had skinned knees all the time. KB: Well if you don't have skinned knees, you aren't having fun, right? [laughs] WP: No, no [laughs] And then, past our house, in the next little street, was these big grape vines that hang in forests, you know? KB: Okay, right. 6 WP: Alright, they would cut the ends of them, and we'd swing out over the road and the houses, and we could have dropped off and been killed. Mother didn't know about that. But my brother was two years older than me, said "Oh Wanda, you can hold on, you can hold on" and we'd swing out over that road, over those houses. Mother never knew that. KB: Oh my goodness. What was your brother's name? WP: James. KB: James. Okay. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: James Presswood, and he was a big friend of Bob Kiem. That was the guy who just did that. KB: Right. Okay. WP: If you need to write something, just tell me now, and I'll wait on you. KB: You can keep on going. WP: Alright. And James and Bob were in school together, in the same room. 7 When we lived here, my brother, two years older than me, like I said, I'm 6, Bob and he decided that years on down the road, we're going to meet at a certain place, at a certain time, so many years from now. There's going to meet back together you know. And my brother went to high school, he didn't graduate here, he went to high school and then to service. World War Two, and Vietnam, and he came out of service and went to college at Cookeville, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech. And then, ALCOA Aluminum in Alcoa, Tennessee came into the school and hired people that was graduating, and so they hired him and sent him to Massena, New York to work on the St. Lawrence Seaway. From there they sent him to South America. Paramaribo, South America. KB: He's a regular globetrotter. WP: Right-to build a dam over there in the bush country. And he was killed over there in the car wreck. And so we didn't know where Bob was. We didn't know where they were going to meet because they secretly had that together. So we couldn't find Bob. We hunted different places, but we couldn't find him. And, the year they found us, our Presswood family, that was the year they found Bob Kiem's family. 8 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Okay. And "them" meaning the Dam Kids? WP: Yes, Yes. The Dam Kids found us. See, they had been coming already for reunions for ten years before they found us. And we were right down in Ducktown, Tennessee. And that's just about a two and a half hour drive from here. And so, when Doris Clayton sent us a letter, we called her back and said "Have you found Bob Kiem?" "Yes, we found him this year too, as well as you all." So we come to see Bob, and he come to see us. So when we got up here, I said "Doris, where's Bob Kiem?" She says, "Right here behind me." So when I saw his little face, that was the way I remembered his little face, with real thick glasses, and so he-we-he talked to us, and we hugged and kissed and we was having talking, and then he says "where's James?'' So, we hugged and kissed and cried more. But that was the greatest reunion we've ever had with-meeting back with a family from Fontana that we knew, you know. KB: What year was that? Roughly? WP: Uh, '42. Because my Dad worked at Apalachia Dam, in North Carolina, and that's how he found out about they're going to build the TVA dam up here. SO we came right on up. That's about all I remember, except that Dad had two woody Ford station wagons. And he would carry-his friend-He had a friend that would drive one, and he'd drive one. People that didn't have a car and carry them to work. KB: Okay, wow. That's amazing. WP: Yes. Yes, those old woody station wagons. But after Dad's job was over, we went back to Ducktown and I-Dad bought a building and got the dealership for Presswood, Wanda (Newman) Oldsmobiles and was the Oldsmobile dealer there, was the only garage in town for 45 years, and the Mayor for 17 years. KB: Oh my goodness WP: And then we-all of us girls drifted off to Chattanooga, you know, got married. KB: Okay. How many siblings did you have? WP: I had two sisters and a brother. KB: What were your sister's names? 9 WP: Vivian and Sue. And, Vivian has passed, and Sue is still in Chattanooga, and that's where we are. I live in Signal Mountain in Chattanooga. And we brought our mother up here to-after they found us, I says "mother, I don't remember anybody in my class, I don't want to go." And she says "Well we'll find out." So we got up here, and then you started to remember names, up in your classes. But we brought her up here till she was 93 years old. Loved it. And at that time, she was about the only mother that was still alive. See? We'd been coming since '82. But I wish they had have found us when Dad was alive. He would have loved it because, as we was growing up, after we left here, Dad'd say "were going to pack a picnic lunch and we're going to Fontana." Well the first time we did that, that was something that big dam. And see, I could barely remember the dam because I was too little, and I wasn't interested in a dam. I didn't know who the president was, I didn't know there was world war, I just wanted to play all the time. But I do remember the dam, when we'd have to take Daddy's food, that darkness was daylight 10 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) over there. I mean, they had so many lights everywhere-let's see. There was one more thing I wanted-and then my middle sister died, Vivian. She died. But, Mother thought this is something, up here. She remembered a lot, see, being older. I just don't remember seeing Dad up here. KB: Mm. Working. WP: Because he was working all the time. But anyway, we packed that picnic lunch, and we come up here and see the dam. Oh that was beautiful. Water spraying out of that tunnel over there, up in the air you know, and Dad'd take us in the dam with us, when we got to go inside, you know. And then, another Sunday or two, Dad says, "We're going to take another lunch, go to Fontana." And I thought, "well we've already seen that once." But he was so proud of that dam. KB: He built it. WP: Yes, yes. And to think that they built it in three years? KB: [15:14:] '42, '43- WP: See, Roosevelt said "How long will it take you to build the dam?" and they said five, with five thousand workers. They built it in three, because they-2417. KB: Right. That's amazing. Have you noticed any, like over the years, through the times that you've come back, have you noticed any changes, or what are some of the bigger changes? 11 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: Well, see the village was just trailer, after trailer, after trailer, up the road there, up the hill. Houses was real thick, but see they just keep tearing down the ones that cost too much to repair. And the hospital stayed the same, and the school stayed the same, but then it started thinning out. Down at the store there was a cafeteria that we'd get to eat in sometimes, and it just kept getting prettier and prettier, and that first time to the Dam Kid reunion, really did sink in, and I wouldn't miss it for anything. And we didn't come to the Spring thing-Fling until later, and Doris was saying "Why don't you all come up here for that?" Well we come and cook our own food, and then have covered dishes of the night, every night. Good cooks, and so we started coming to that. So we come in April, and October. KB: So there's two a year, ofthese reunions. That's fantastic. WP: Yes, there's two a year. But only about 25 or 30 people come to the Spring Fling because they kept so far away. See we had them come from California, Washington State, I mean everywhere. KB: I was talking with someone else, and they said every-just about every state was represented except Idaho [laughs] WP: [laughs] Yes, yes, yes, yes. And to think that people would come that far back, but see, we're getting too old now, we're dwindling away, people are dying and handicapped and can't-and we'd hike all these mountains. And now we just talk about our hiking [laughs]. And Harvey [Welch] was the main leader of our hiking, you know that. 12 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Yup. He was-we were talking with him earlier. WP: He was the main-when he carne up here, he said the minute their car parked to get out, they moved up here, he went to the mountains and said "I just roamed all these mountains." And I said "wasn't your mother afraid?" and he says "no, he just roamed all these mountains." And he was our hike leader, so he knew-they had the hikes, the trails of the hiking named different names, and so when we started corning back, we'd hike maybe 20 mile, or we'd hike another one. Sometimes we'd hike two a day. KB: Wow, that's amazing WP: And Harvey was the main leader. He kept it together until he got-you know he's in his walker now. I think they need to do surgery on him, but his heart can't stand it. Both his knees, but he'd not make it through surgery. The doctor says "I'd advise you to get you a walker, and keep on trucking with those knees." And he's something else. He's an adorable man. But that's about all I remember. KB: That's fantastic. WP: Oh, the one girl I remembered in my class, I was-I remembered her name, but I couldn't who-what she looked like, and so when we got up here, they had already found her too. And, she lived right down in Atlanta, Georgia, from Chattanooga. KB: Oh my goodness. WP: I didn't know it. So that just thrilled me. Now they're corning today, and they're- Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: What was her name? WP: Doris Sutton. But that's not her last name. I think her last name now is Grimsley or something like that. They're bringing twelve family members. KB: Wow. 13 WP: Yeah, so that's going to be a big crowd. Yes. You've got to talk to her. She's a sweetheart. But, when I saw her, then she looked just like I remembered her, but I couldn't remember what she looked like. But when I saw her, then that brought that back m. KB: That's what's amazing about having these reunions is that it triggers those memones. WP: Yes, and you'll get to talking with somebody and you'll think"you know, I don't know them" and we'll converse with each other, and find out that yeah, we do know them too. We just-we change and our years are coming on. But anyway. We never did keep up with anybody other than one family. And they lived at Rayburn Gap. They lived here and went to Rayburn Gap. KB: Okay. WP: Okay. And he was the- our next door neighbor, and he poured the first bucket of concrete, and the last bucket of concrete on Fontana Dam. KB: Oh my goodness. Who is this? WP: Claud Kelly. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Claud Kelly. Okay. 14 WP: And he had a boy that was nearly my age, and he was so mean, and we were going to go outside and play and mother says "you can go outside and play if-" and he's our next door neighbor, "if you don't play with that mean Billy Kelly." Well that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to play with mean Billy Kelly. And so, they lived here and went to Rayburn Gap, Georgia, I believe that is. And bought a rock quarry, and when he retired, he sold it to Vulcan, So they really got into something big. But Billy's dead now. He died about two or three years ago, and he was my sweetheart. Other than that, I didn't-you know when you go to school and you're little and you start having sweethearts first, and then it gets a little serious, and he was my sweetheart, and he was the mean Billy Kelly. And something else I remembered was, the war was going on, and I remembered that as we'd go and come from Ducktown, like on a weekend or something if we'd go home, we had little tokens where we'd stop over at Topton. Do you know where that is? KB: [mumbles the negative] WP: Okay, that's coming in from Murphy, that's the next thing after Murphy. Topton. And then coming in to-and we're about 30 minutes from Fontana. And we had little tokens where they had a store there that we'd go in-I'd go in and get a Hershey Bar, and then my sister would go in and get a Hershey Bar, and I remembered that [laughs]. KB: Oh my goodness 15 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: And see, that's about the only thing I remember about a war because I didn't know-I didn't realize that was going on. But I'm sure some people really had it hard, because if they didn't have families to have those little token things, they're just little round red things, but you had to have one of those to get a Hershey Bar. [laughs] KB: [laughs] how fun. Interesting. WP: And how us four children li-it was a house, a duplex, family at each end. We had two bedrooms, a little real small living room you'd call it, and the washer out on a little landing where we'd have to roll it in the house, and our tubs in the basement to wash. And we had a stove that burned wood, or coal, either one, and that was our heat. But we had bunk beds in one of the bedrooms, so us four kids slept in those bunk beds. Mother and Daddy in the other bedroom. And another thing I found out, there wasn't a Santy Clause up here. My Mother-my brother said "Wanda, told you there wasn't a Santy Clause." "But how do you know that?" and he says because he found his bicycle in the attic. And he had me to get up on a ladder and see it when Mother and Daddy was gone one day, and then what do I do? I ca-l tell my sister, two years younger than I was, and she's the one that's dead, and so I showed her there wasn't a Santy Clause too, but now my baby sister, I didn't tell her. [laughs] KB: Okay. Oh my goodness. WP: But that's about the only thing I really, really remember that really sticks out, but I still come now and somebody will say something to me and I'll say "I remember that!" See, it brings it back. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Yep, yep. 16 WP: At six years old nowadays, kids remember stuff of the computer and all that stuff. Back then it had to be a trauma to remember something. You know what I'm saying. A Shock. [laughs] KB: Mmhmm. Thank you so much for talking with me, that's fantastic. And if you ever-we're going to be here all day, if you remember anything- WP: Alright, I'd like to add to it. KB: Feel free to drop by. WP: Well you're beautiful. And how old are you? KB: I'm 26. WP: And you're going to college? KB: Yep. I'm a master's student at Western Carolina University. WP: Wonderful, wonderful. KB: Thank you, thank you. WP: And what are you studying? KB: Public history, so exactly this stuff. WP: Alright. Oh you're good at that. KB: Oh thank you, that's very sweet. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: And are you-where do you live? KB: I live in Cullowhee now, I grew up in Cincinnati, was born in Florida, and spent a lot of time in North Carolina. WP: Well good for you. I'm glad you got down here in the South. KB: Me too. [laughter] 17 WP: But we're going to stay on another-after Sunday when we check out, one of our Dam Kids built a cabin, his mother and daddy lived here. KB: I think I've heard about this! Tell me more. WP: Alright. They built a cabin-his mother lived here, and the father left here, and they lived over on Hazel Creek. KB: Okay. WP: SO when they flooded over there, they had to move that family over here in the village. He stayed here, his daddy bootlegged. And he'd say "Jim, I want you to bring me so-and-so," somebody wanted some whiskey. He'd go on a boat and get it and bring it back over here. Well, his dad left, and his mother still stayed, and there was four boys, and she had acquired-because she got the land and everything, so she gave all four boys so much land. And he was a Dam Kid because he went to school here. KB: Oh, okay. So he was local, but then he lived in this area. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: When they moved into the village then they had to go to this school in the village. So, when-when-after they found Jim Cable-they found those people first because they lived here. KB: Okay. So Jim Cable. 18 WP: Not like-they had to try to find them. And so when he belonged to the Dam Kids he'd say "come on Dam Kids, I've got some land that I need to see where I want to build a house up here." And they lived in Jacksonville, Florida. He was in the Navy- KB: Oh my goodness. WP: Yeah, you see he'd went to college and got married and whatever, and lived in Florida there where he was stationed in the Navy, and-but he wanted to build a cabin up here so that when we'd come to the Dam Kid thing, he could stay in the cabin. KB: Well there you go. WP: So he built this cabin. So we went over and he was showing us the land and everything, and it was this mountain. Mountain. KB: [laughs] WP: No land-flat land. And Jim says, "Well," and that was where his land was. So we tracked up to the top of that mountain and Jim says "Well okay, I think I'm going to build it, come down from the top of that mountain, and level it of you know," and build his cabin there. Well that's what he did. He didn't build it, somebody built it for him. Log cabin you know, it's a package deal that you put together. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Oh, okay. 19 WP: And so, about three years ago, we had come to Dam Kid in OCtober, and­uh- they-Evelyn and he would come up and so-they've had a storm in Florida while we were up here at the Dam Kid reunion. And so, when they went back to Jacksonville, he was at level ground down in Florida, he's out picking up sticks and things, and fell back-fell, slipped and fell backwards and hit his head, and he'd had already a heart attack before then. So he was on Coumadin, so you know what happened. [pause] He went in and laid down, and blood filled up in his brain. And that got him. Well-but when he built the cabin, after he built it, my son comes with me, and he says "Edsil, here's you a set of keys. I want you to go up to the cabin, stay anytime you want to." KB:Wow. WP: So it's a big two-story cabin, you can't see it from the road, you can't see it at all until you get up there. KB: Oh my goodness. WP: But they had to-he had to contract a builder to build a road up there to it, and then the cabin and all, and so- KB: That's amazing. WP: So we stay out about a week and a half after the Dam Kid week. And I bought my son a bass tracker boat, and we's go down to the boat dock and fish everyday for about week and a half. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Oh my goodness, that sounds fabulous. WP: Isn't that something? But when he died, that just killed us. Well, it just wasn't the same. But then my son would take Jim trout fishing, and that's what remembered as a boy up here. KB: Oh, okay. So now he's got memories too. 20 WP: Yes. He-but Jim was so sweet. And he's got one son in Colorado, and one daughter in-Winst--close to Win-Clemson? KB: Clemson. WP: Okay. KB: South Carolina? WP: Yeah. KB: Yup. WP: That's where his daughter is. KB: Oh, okay. WP: That's where his daughter is. So, right before his accident happened, they decided okay, they need to do something because they were three years older than I was. So they willed the house to the daughter, but Jim says "you all keep going to my cabin, and taking care of it." Real sweet people. Real sweet people. But now the daughter-the mother Evelyn, she have-I've got to tell you how they met. That was sweet. She'd tell me. They now have moved her up to her daughter's. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Okay. 21 WP: From Florida, but Jim's buried in Florida, in the mem-in the Veterans Memorial Cemetery, and so she's just been up here a few months, and had an estate sale, and selling her house, and whatever. But, you have to make a decision sometime of what to do to where you're taken care of. KB:Right. WP: But anyway, Evelyn, I says "Evelyn," one day I says "How did you and Jim meet?" because she was from middle Tennessee, around Memphis. KB: Oh, okay. WP: Okay. So she saw an advertisement said-She's in college-"Go to Fontana and work for so many moths, and back to your college, and make money for spending from-in the summer." So, she came one year. On a bus. Up here. And, she worked in the kitchen of one of the places to eat. And her and Jim got together, because he was in college too, they both made teachers, and he would come back up here to work the summer, and go back to college. Well, she did that for three years because of Jim. They fell in love. And so they both-and then they lived in Illinois, and he was a professor of math, and-at this college, and-just a lovely, lovely story. And had two kids, one went to Colorado, and one up here in South-South Carolina. But you know? Some of the sweetest stories when you talk to some of these people, you know. KB: Yep. 22 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: But Evelyn is still alive, and like I said, after this week's over on Sunday, one day next week, we're going to go on over to South Carolina to see her because we'd been to Florida three times to see them, see, but we're going to go over there and see her. KB: That'd be lovely. WP: Because I think she's not-not living with her daughter, she's-assisted living. KB: Ok, okay. WP: Somewhere over there. We've got her address, so we're going to go there. KB: That'd be lovely. WP: But she don't like to come over here to the cabin because she'd have to come alone because her daughter works for the school over there. So she just has certain holidays to be out. ~ KB: Right. WP: But isn't that a sweet story? KB: That is really sweet. That's a good one. WP: [laughs] Now let's hope one day you'll have sweet stories like this. KB: Yes. WP: Ofwhat you did up here. Yes. KB: Yes. 23 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: Alright. Anything else you need to know? KB: That's fantastic. Thank you so much. You've been wonderful. WP: Alright KB: It's been wonderful meeting you. WP: And we-we-my sister still works two jobs. So see, I'm retired. So then I started having my son come with me. Because she's still working. She need to go quit someday, too. But I worked till I's-I's 79. KB:Wow. WP: And I wanted to work till I was 85, but they wanted to push the older ones out, and hire young ones. KB: Oh. They could pay them less. WP: Yes. And, that's a [33 :50.0]-you climb the ladder, they wanted to get rid of you. KB: Unfortunately. WP: Well I just real tickled to get to do this. KB: Thank you. WP: And I hope you get some more good ones. If I know somebody that I know's got the good stories, I'll come send them on down here. KB: Send them on down. Yeah, do that. Thank you so much. Presswood, 'Nanda (Newman) WP: Bye bye! KB: Enjoy the res • of your time here. WP: Thank you h m, bye bye END OF INTER /lEW Katie E. Bell 12/5/2014 24
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  • Wanda (Newman) Presswood talks about living in Fontana Village as a child while her father worked in the Fontana Dam project, about how she found out about the Dam Kids reunions, and how wonderful it was to come to these reunions every year where she could meet people she had known while living in Fontana Village.
  • 1 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) Katie Bell: That is A-Okay [in response toWN saying she may not remember much] Wanda Presswood: But I'm 81 now. I remember a lot now. KB: Well that's perfect. If you want to look over this first- WP: Okay now, I can't do that. I have an ulcer on this eye- KB: Do you want me to read it to you? WP: Yeah, and I couldn't put in my contacts this morning. KB: Ouch. Okay. This is consent to be interviewed, to let us use the interviews­it says "I understand that I am being asked to contribute to Western Carolina University's oral history collection which aims to collect the narratives of persons affiliated with WCU or western North Carolina communities. We're considering this a community. I hereby voluntarily consent to be interviewed, understanding that recordings, transcripts, photographs, and any accompanying materials and all rights therein will be the property of Hunter Library at Western Carolina University, and available for public use unless restrictions are specified below. So if you tell me something, and you don't want it let out for so long, we can write that down right here. WP: Okay. No problem. KB: The goals of the collection have been explained to me, to my satisfaction, and I have listed any restrictions on this material below. So basically what were hoping to 2 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) do with this is record stories, of course, of experiences at Fontana for the use at Western Carolina's library, but hopefully also for future use at the museum they want to put here. WP: Okay, alright. KB: We're hoping that it would be able to contribute to that as well. Eh, confidentiality. It says "I understand that if I ask the interviewer to keep confidential any information which I reveal, then they will do so, and refrain from using or submitting that material. I understand that I can withdraw from this interview at any time. WP: Alright. KB: Alright. And then the last bit. I have read the above, or listened to the above, and offer the Hunter Library at Western Carolina University full use of the information contained on the recordings and transcripts of these recordings. I have specified any restrictions on said use below. I understand that my interview will become a part of a historical collection, and that the tape and/or audio file and transcripts of my interview will be stored in public archives and will be made available to the general public. I voluntarily release the information I provide and understand that my entire interview or - parts of it, and accompanying materials may eventually be published. I understand that I have not, and will not receive, payment from WCU, Western Carolina University for the rights granted herein, and WCU's subsequent use of the work. Unless restrictions are specified below, this agreement also includes the Hunter Library's right to post these recordings, transcripts, other recordings and abstracts of these recordings and materials in electronic format on the web. Whew. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: Yeah, that's hard to read, isn't it. KB: It is hard to read. WP: Breathtaking. KB: But, that's what it says. Are you okay with that? WP: Yes. Fine. Fine. KB: Fantastic. WP: No problem. KB: Are you able to print here and then sign there for me? WP: Yeah. KB: And then I'll sign below later. [Pause while WN signs release] KB: And then for the first part of this, I'd like to ask a few questions about the reunion itself- WP: And then sign my name here? KB: Yes. And then, life in general at Fontana Village as you remember it, a few other questions, and then just open it up for whatever you would like to add, or whatever you think that I've missed. WP: Okay 3 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Does that sound good? WP: Yep, because like I said, I have very little, because I was too little. To remember. KB: That is A-Okay. WP: Isn't that something? KB: Every experience builds into the story though, you know? 4 WP: Well see, I'm 81 now, and I was six years old. What do you remember at six years old, years back? Nothing except playing, playing. KB: !-hardly a thing. WP: You just want to play all the time. KB: Do you remember when you first came up here? Like what journey was like?-where did you come from, I guess I could start with that. WP: Alright. We came from Ducktown, Tennessee. Do you know where that is? KB: Nope. No idea. WP: Alright. Do you know where Murphy, North Carolina is? KB: I do. WP: It's the next town, Ducktown is, after Murphy. KB: Oh, okay. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: And, also-Ducktown, I didn't know it at the time, but where the dam sits here at Fontana, the copper vein-the dam is sitting on top of the copper vein that goes all the way down into Ducktown, Tennessee, and that was called the copper mines. The Copper Basin. KB: Oh, right. I knew there were quite a few copper mines and what-not around here- 5 WP: But that was it, and the copper mine's closed now, but that was how people made a living working for the copper mines going underground. But not my Dad. He was a TVA man. KB: Alright. What did he do for the TVA? WP: Alright, he operated one of the conveyor belts that brought the rock from the rock quarry, the river below the dam, on the left side, all that mountain right there is just rock, brought it over to the other side to make concrete for the dam. And they had several conveyor belts, see. And that's a big deal. And my Dad's job lasted about a year and a half. But I never-when we lived up here, I never remem-I mean, I never remember seeing Dad much, it was just mother. She was the leader. Because he worked 24/7. I mean, when he was not working, he was asleep, so I don't remember seeing him much. Because we'd have to take his food down. Something would tear up, they'd have to lay over, work. KB: Where did you live in the vii-did you live here in the village? Or was it elsewhere? Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: No. We lived in that curve, right above the hospital. KB: Oh okay. Right. WP: Right in that curve. And, the things that we did to play, mother was real careful not to let us out of her sight. Real protective, and from the road to where the hospital was down here, there were steps, three or four landings of steps, and what was our thing that we played with all the time? See who could run up and down those steps the fastest. I was always the winner, but I had skinned knees all the time. KB: Well if you don't have skinned knees, you aren't having fun, right? [laughs] WP: No, no [laughs] And then, past our house, in the next little street, was these big grape vines that hang in forests, you know? KB: Okay, right. 6 WP: Alright, they would cut the ends of them, and we'd swing out over the road and the houses, and we could have dropped off and been killed. Mother didn't know about that. But my brother was two years older than me, said "Oh Wanda, you can hold on, you can hold on" and we'd swing out over that road, over those houses. Mother never knew that. KB: Oh my goodness. What was your brother's name? WP: James. KB: James. Okay. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: James Presswood, and he was a big friend of Bob Kiem. That was the guy who just did that. KB: Right. Okay. WP: If you need to write something, just tell me now, and I'll wait on you. KB: You can keep on going. WP: Alright. And James and Bob were in school together, in the same room. 7 When we lived here, my brother, two years older than me, like I said, I'm 6, Bob and he decided that years on down the road, we're going to meet at a certain place, at a certain time, so many years from now. There's going to meet back together you know. And my brother went to high school, he didn't graduate here, he went to high school and then to service. World War Two, and Vietnam, and he came out of service and went to college at Cookeville, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech. And then, ALCOA Aluminum in Alcoa, Tennessee came into the school and hired people that was graduating, and so they hired him and sent him to Massena, New York to work on the St. Lawrence Seaway. From there they sent him to South America. Paramaribo, South America. KB: He's a regular globetrotter. WP: Right-to build a dam over there in the bush country. And he was killed over there in the car wreck. And so we didn't know where Bob was. We didn't know where they were going to meet because they secretly had that together. So we couldn't find Bob. We hunted different places, but we couldn't find him. And, the year they found us, our Presswood family, that was the year they found Bob Kiem's family. 8 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Okay. And "them" meaning the Dam Kids? WP: Yes, Yes. The Dam Kids found us. See, they had been coming already for reunions for ten years before they found us. And we were right down in Ducktown, Tennessee. And that's just about a two and a half hour drive from here. And so, when Doris Clayton sent us a letter, we called her back and said "Have you found Bob Kiem?" "Yes, we found him this year too, as well as you all." So we come to see Bob, and he come to see us. So when we got up here, I said "Doris, where's Bob Kiem?" She says, "Right here behind me." So when I saw his little face, that was the way I remembered his little face, with real thick glasses, and so he-we-he talked to us, and we hugged and kissed and we was having talking, and then he says "where's James?'' So, we hugged and kissed and cried more. But that was the greatest reunion we've ever had with-meeting back with a family from Fontana that we knew, you know. KB: What year was that? Roughly? WP: Uh, '42. Because my Dad worked at Apalachia Dam, in North Carolina, and that's how he found out about they're going to build the TVA dam up here. SO we came right on up. That's about all I remember, except that Dad had two woody Ford station wagons. And he would carry-his friend-He had a friend that would drive one, and he'd drive one. People that didn't have a car and carry them to work. KB: Okay, wow. That's amazing. WP: Yes. Yes, those old woody station wagons. But after Dad's job was over, we went back to Ducktown and I-Dad bought a building and got the dealership for Presswood, Wanda (Newman) Oldsmobiles and was the Oldsmobile dealer there, was the only garage in town for 45 years, and the Mayor for 17 years. KB: Oh my goodness WP: And then we-all of us girls drifted off to Chattanooga, you know, got married. KB: Okay. How many siblings did you have? WP: I had two sisters and a brother. KB: What were your sister's names? 9 WP: Vivian and Sue. And, Vivian has passed, and Sue is still in Chattanooga, and that's where we are. I live in Signal Mountain in Chattanooga. And we brought our mother up here to-after they found us, I says "mother, I don't remember anybody in my class, I don't want to go." And she says "Well we'll find out." So we got up here, and then you started to remember names, up in your classes. But we brought her up here till she was 93 years old. Loved it. And at that time, she was about the only mother that was still alive. See? We'd been coming since '82. But I wish they had have found us when Dad was alive. He would have loved it because, as we was growing up, after we left here, Dad'd say "were going to pack a picnic lunch and we're going to Fontana." Well the first time we did that, that was something that big dam. And see, I could barely remember the dam because I was too little, and I wasn't interested in a dam. I didn't know who the president was, I didn't know there was world war, I just wanted to play all the time. But I do remember the dam, when we'd have to take Daddy's food, that darkness was daylight 10 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) over there. I mean, they had so many lights everywhere-let's see. There was one more thing I wanted-and then my middle sister died, Vivian. She died. But, Mother thought this is something, up here. She remembered a lot, see, being older. I just don't remember seeing Dad up here. KB: Mm. Working. WP: Because he was working all the time. But anyway, we packed that picnic lunch, and we come up here and see the dam. Oh that was beautiful. Water spraying out of that tunnel over there, up in the air you know, and Dad'd take us in the dam with us, when we got to go inside, you know. And then, another Sunday or two, Dad says, "We're going to take another lunch, go to Fontana." And I thought, "well we've already seen that once." But he was so proud of that dam. KB: He built it. WP: Yes, yes. And to think that they built it in three years? KB: [15:14:] '42, '43- WP: See, Roosevelt said "How long will it take you to build the dam?" and they said five, with five thousand workers. They built it in three, because they-2417. KB: Right. That's amazing. Have you noticed any, like over the years, through the times that you've come back, have you noticed any changes, or what are some of the bigger changes? 11 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: Well, see the village was just trailer, after trailer, after trailer, up the road there, up the hill. Houses was real thick, but see they just keep tearing down the ones that cost too much to repair. And the hospital stayed the same, and the school stayed the same, but then it started thinning out. Down at the store there was a cafeteria that we'd get to eat in sometimes, and it just kept getting prettier and prettier, and that first time to the Dam Kid reunion, really did sink in, and I wouldn't miss it for anything. And we didn't come to the Spring thing-Fling until later, and Doris was saying "Why don't you all come up here for that?" Well we come and cook our own food, and then have covered dishes of the night, every night. Good cooks, and so we started coming to that. So we come in April, and October. KB: So there's two a year, ofthese reunions. That's fantastic. WP: Yes, there's two a year. But only about 25 or 30 people come to the Spring Fling because they kept so far away. See we had them come from California, Washington State, I mean everywhere. KB: I was talking with someone else, and they said every-just about every state was represented except Idaho [laughs] WP: [laughs] Yes, yes, yes, yes. And to think that people would come that far back, but see, we're getting too old now, we're dwindling away, people are dying and handicapped and can't-and we'd hike all these mountains. And now we just talk about our hiking [laughs]. And Harvey [Welch] was the main leader of our hiking, you know that. 12 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Yup. He was-we were talking with him earlier. WP: He was the main-when he carne up here, he said the minute their car parked to get out, they moved up here, he went to the mountains and said "I just roamed all these mountains." And I said "wasn't your mother afraid?" and he says "no, he just roamed all these mountains." And he was our hike leader, so he knew-they had the hikes, the trails of the hiking named different names, and so when we started corning back, we'd hike maybe 20 mile, or we'd hike another one. Sometimes we'd hike two a day. KB: Wow, that's amazing WP: And Harvey was the main leader. He kept it together until he got-you know he's in his walker now. I think they need to do surgery on him, but his heart can't stand it. Both his knees, but he'd not make it through surgery. The doctor says "I'd advise you to get you a walker, and keep on trucking with those knees." And he's something else. He's an adorable man. But that's about all I remember. KB: That's fantastic. WP: Oh, the one girl I remembered in my class, I was-I remembered her name, but I couldn't who-what she looked like, and so when we got up here, they had already found her too. And, she lived right down in Atlanta, Georgia, from Chattanooga. KB: Oh my goodness. WP: I didn't know it. So that just thrilled me. Now they're corning today, and they're- Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: What was her name? WP: Doris Sutton. But that's not her last name. I think her last name now is Grimsley or something like that. They're bringing twelve family members. KB: Wow. 13 WP: Yeah, so that's going to be a big crowd. Yes. You've got to talk to her. She's a sweetheart. But, when I saw her, then she looked just like I remembered her, but I couldn't remember what she looked like. But when I saw her, then that brought that back m. KB: That's what's amazing about having these reunions is that it triggers those memones. WP: Yes, and you'll get to talking with somebody and you'll think"you know, I don't know them" and we'll converse with each other, and find out that yeah, we do know them too. We just-we change and our years are coming on. But anyway. We never did keep up with anybody other than one family. And they lived at Rayburn Gap. They lived here and went to Rayburn Gap. KB: Okay. WP: Okay. And he was the- our next door neighbor, and he poured the first bucket of concrete, and the last bucket of concrete on Fontana Dam. KB: Oh my goodness. Who is this? WP: Claud Kelly. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Claud Kelly. Okay. 14 WP: And he had a boy that was nearly my age, and he was so mean, and we were going to go outside and play and mother says "you can go outside and play if-" and he's our next door neighbor, "if you don't play with that mean Billy Kelly." Well that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to play with mean Billy Kelly. And so, they lived here and went to Rayburn Gap, Georgia, I believe that is. And bought a rock quarry, and when he retired, he sold it to Vulcan, So they really got into something big. But Billy's dead now. He died about two or three years ago, and he was my sweetheart. Other than that, I didn't-you know when you go to school and you're little and you start having sweethearts first, and then it gets a little serious, and he was my sweetheart, and he was the mean Billy Kelly. And something else I remembered was, the war was going on, and I remembered that as we'd go and come from Ducktown, like on a weekend or something if we'd go home, we had little tokens where we'd stop over at Topton. Do you know where that is? KB: [mumbles the negative] WP: Okay, that's coming in from Murphy, that's the next thing after Murphy. Topton. And then coming in to-and we're about 30 minutes from Fontana. And we had little tokens where they had a store there that we'd go in-I'd go in and get a Hershey Bar, and then my sister would go in and get a Hershey Bar, and I remembered that [laughs]. KB: Oh my goodness 15 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: And see, that's about the only thing I remember about a war because I didn't know-I didn't realize that was going on. But I'm sure some people really had it hard, because if they didn't have families to have those little token things, they're just little round red things, but you had to have one of those to get a Hershey Bar. [laughs] KB: [laughs] how fun. Interesting. WP: And how us four children li-it was a house, a duplex, family at each end. We had two bedrooms, a little real small living room you'd call it, and the washer out on a little landing where we'd have to roll it in the house, and our tubs in the basement to wash. And we had a stove that burned wood, or coal, either one, and that was our heat. But we had bunk beds in one of the bedrooms, so us four kids slept in those bunk beds. Mother and Daddy in the other bedroom. And another thing I found out, there wasn't a Santy Clause up here. My Mother-my brother said "Wanda, told you there wasn't a Santy Clause." "But how do you know that?" and he says because he found his bicycle in the attic. And he had me to get up on a ladder and see it when Mother and Daddy was gone one day, and then what do I do? I ca-l tell my sister, two years younger than I was, and she's the one that's dead, and so I showed her there wasn't a Santy Clause too, but now my baby sister, I didn't tell her. [laughs] KB: Okay. Oh my goodness. WP: But that's about the only thing I really, really remember that really sticks out, but I still come now and somebody will say something to me and I'll say "I remember that!" See, it brings it back. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Yep, yep. 16 WP: At six years old nowadays, kids remember stuff of the computer and all that stuff. Back then it had to be a trauma to remember something. You know what I'm saying. A Shock. [laughs] KB: Mmhmm. Thank you so much for talking with me, that's fantastic. And if you ever-we're going to be here all day, if you remember anything- WP: Alright, I'd like to add to it. KB: Feel free to drop by. WP: Well you're beautiful. And how old are you? KB: I'm 26. WP: And you're going to college? KB: Yep. I'm a master's student at Western Carolina University. WP: Wonderful, wonderful. KB: Thank you, thank you. WP: And what are you studying? KB: Public history, so exactly this stuff. WP: Alright. Oh you're good at that. KB: Oh thank you, that's very sweet. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: And are you-where do you live? KB: I live in Cullowhee now, I grew up in Cincinnati, was born in Florida, and spent a lot of time in North Carolina. WP: Well good for you. I'm glad you got down here in the South. KB: Me too. [laughter] 17 WP: But we're going to stay on another-after Sunday when we check out, one of our Dam Kids built a cabin, his mother and daddy lived here. KB: I think I've heard about this! Tell me more. WP: Alright. They built a cabin-his mother lived here, and the father left here, and they lived over on Hazel Creek. KB: Okay. WP: SO when they flooded over there, they had to move that family over here in the village. He stayed here, his daddy bootlegged. And he'd say "Jim, I want you to bring me so-and-so," somebody wanted some whiskey. He'd go on a boat and get it and bring it back over here. Well, his dad left, and his mother still stayed, and there was four boys, and she had acquired-because she got the land and everything, so she gave all four boys so much land. And he was a Dam Kid because he went to school here. KB: Oh, okay. So he was local, but then he lived in this area. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: When they moved into the village then they had to go to this school in the village. So, when-when-after they found Jim Cable-they found those people first because they lived here. KB: Okay. So Jim Cable. 18 WP: Not like-they had to try to find them. And so when he belonged to the Dam Kids he'd say "come on Dam Kids, I've got some land that I need to see where I want to build a house up here." And they lived in Jacksonville, Florida. He was in the Navy- KB: Oh my goodness. WP: Yeah, you see he'd went to college and got married and whatever, and lived in Florida there where he was stationed in the Navy, and-but he wanted to build a cabin up here so that when we'd come to the Dam Kid thing, he could stay in the cabin. KB: Well there you go. WP: So he built this cabin. So we went over and he was showing us the land and everything, and it was this mountain. Mountain. KB: [laughs] WP: No land-flat land. And Jim says, "Well," and that was where his land was. So we tracked up to the top of that mountain and Jim says "Well okay, I think I'm going to build it, come down from the top of that mountain, and level it of you know," and build his cabin there. Well that's what he did. He didn't build it, somebody built it for him. Log cabin you know, it's a package deal that you put together. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Oh, okay. 19 WP: And so, about three years ago, we had come to Dam Kid in OCtober, and­uh- they-Evelyn and he would come up and so-they've had a storm in Florida while we were up here at the Dam Kid reunion. And so, when they went back to Jacksonville, he was at level ground down in Florida, he's out picking up sticks and things, and fell back-fell, slipped and fell backwards and hit his head, and he'd had already a heart attack before then. So he was on Coumadin, so you know what happened. [pause] He went in and laid down, and blood filled up in his brain. And that got him. Well-but when he built the cabin, after he built it, my son comes with me, and he says "Edsil, here's you a set of keys. I want you to go up to the cabin, stay anytime you want to." KB:Wow. WP: So it's a big two-story cabin, you can't see it from the road, you can't see it at all until you get up there. KB: Oh my goodness. WP: But they had to-he had to contract a builder to build a road up there to it, and then the cabin and all, and so- KB: That's amazing. WP: So we stay out about a week and a half after the Dam Kid week. And I bought my son a bass tracker boat, and we's go down to the boat dock and fish everyday for about week and a half. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Oh my goodness, that sounds fabulous. WP: Isn't that something? But when he died, that just killed us. Well, it just wasn't the same. But then my son would take Jim trout fishing, and that's what remembered as a boy up here. KB: Oh, okay. So now he's got memories too. 20 WP: Yes. He-but Jim was so sweet. And he's got one son in Colorado, and one daughter in-Winst--close to Win-Clemson? KB: Clemson. WP: Okay. KB: South Carolina? WP: Yeah. KB: Yup. WP: That's where his daughter is. KB: Oh, okay. WP: That's where his daughter is. So, right before his accident happened, they decided okay, they need to do something because they were three years older than I was. So they willed the house to the daughter, but Jim says "you all keep going to my cabin, and taking care of it." Real sweet people. Real sweet people. But now the daughter-the mother Evelyn, she have-I've got to tell you how they met. That was sweet. She'd tell me. They now have moved her up to her daughter's. Presswood, Wanda (Newman) KB: Okay. 21 WP: From Florida, but Jim's buried in Florida, in the mem-in the Veterans Memorial Cemetery, and so she's just been up here a few months, and had an estate sale, and selling her house, and whatever. But, you have to make a decision sometime of what to do to where you're taken care of. KB:Right. WP: But anyway, Evelyn, I says "Evelyn," one day I says "How did you and Jim meet?" because she was from middle Tennessee, around Memphis. KB: Oh, okay. WP: Okay. So she saw an advertisement said-She's in college-"Go to Fontana and work for so many moths, and back to your college, and make money for spending from-in the summer." So, she came one year. On a bus. Up here. And, she worked in the kitchen of one of the places to eat. And her and Jim got together, because he was in college too, they both made teachers, and he would come back up here to work the summer, and go back to college. Well, she did that for three years because of Jim. They fell in love. And so they both-and then they lived in Illinois, and he was a professor of math, and-at this college, and-just a lovely, lovely story. And had two kids, one went to Colorado, and one up here in South-South Carolina. But you know? Some of the sweetest stories when you talk to some of these people, you know. KB: Yep. 22 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: But Evelyn is still alive, and like I said, after this week's over on Sunday, one day next week, we're going to go on over to South Carolina to see her because we'd been to Florida three times to see them, see, but we're going to go over there and see her. KB: That'd be lovely. WP: Because I think she's not-not living with her daughter, she's-assisted living. KB: Ok, okay. WP: Somewhere over there. We've got her address, so we're going to go there. KB: That'd be lovely. WP: But she don't like to come over here to the cabin because she'd have to come alone because her daughter works for the school over there. So she just has certain holidays to be out. ~ KB: Right. WP: But isn't that a sweet story? KB: That is really sweet. That's a good one. WP: [laughs] Now let's hope one day you'll have sweet stories like this. KB: Yes. WP: Ofwhat you did up here. Yes. KB: Yes. 23 Presswood, Wanda (Newman) WP: Alright. Anything else you need to know? KB: That's fantastic. Thank you so much. You've been wonderful. WP: Alright KB: It's been wonderful meeting you. WP: And we-we-my sister still works two jobs. So see, I'm retired. So then I started having my son come with me. Because she's still working. She need to go quit someday, too. But I worked till I's-I's 79. KB:Wow. WP: And I wanted to work till I was 85, but they wanted to push the older ones out, and hire young ones. KB: Oh. They could pay them less. WP: Yes. And, that's a [33 :50.0]-you climb the ladder, they wanted to get rid of you. KB: Unfortunately. WP: Well I just real tickled to get to do this. KB: Thank you. WP: And I hope you get some more good ones. If I know somebody that I know's got the good stories, I'll come send them on down here. KB: Send them on down. Yeah, do that. Thank you so much. Presswood, 'Nanda (Newman) WP: Bye bye! KB: Enjoy the res • of your time here. WP: Thank you h m, bye bye END OF INTER /lEW Katie E. Bell 12/5/2014 24