Virginia Ihle

Virginia Ihle

Virginia Ihle

MA: Well it looks like you have some things that you wanted to tell us about

VI: yes I have

MA: I, I don't know if uh

VI: That was the east side of, I think its the east side

MA: Oh, this is before Hoover Dam. Yeah. Now when you, when you, when your, were you living in Galena when your husband's medical practice was there?

VI: Oh Yes

MA: OK and where in Galena did you live?

VI: Uh, we lived at 15 North Walnut Street. It's the first house going up Walnut Street on your left after you leave the square.

MA: OK

VI: and uh, Dr Ihle came to Galena in 1933 and established a practice and he was there for 40 years until he died. So, but in 1945 we bought Grissley property on Sunbury Road south of Galena and moved down there. And my sister, uh, was being married and she and her husband bought the house and then they later sold it to Dick and Grace Beaver who still own it and they are at the Village in Westerville where I was. They've been there for 9 months and he has Alzheimer and Parkinsons too, diseases. She fell and broke her wrist and her ankle and I don't know how long they'll have to stay. They live in the house where we used to live. And the house, we bought this farm of 40 acres and Frank Grissley and his brother Ed Grissley had built homes there on Sunbury Road. Ed and his family, his wife had 6 children, but Frank was a batchelor, and his house, well both houses, had been built with beams from an old barn. It was quite rustic, and we lived there 6 years and then built a brick house on the south part of the property and then later we built another house right next door to the brick house and that's where we lived when Dr. Ihle died. But I had 5 1/2 acres of grass to mow and it was just a bit much and I have all this back trouble so. In 1969 we had a bad accident down in West Virginia and I had 4 vertibrae fractured. Since then I've had 5 back surgeries, and uh. I had a chance to sell it so, Dave Pemberton, I don't know whether the Pembertons come to the library or not. Dave and Mary Ann?

MA: I don't think I know them.

VI: He's an attorney and they wanted to buy the place, so I thought, well, now's the time to sell it. I said I'd sell if I could find something. Well Howard Crain, who used to be in the savings and loan, knew I was looking for a place and he told Mr. Lewis, the builder of this house. So the Lewis's called me and I came up and looked at it and bought it. And I've been here 31 years. It's a, a nice neighborhood, quiet street, sometimes the truck noise gets pretty loud but I've become so deaf that I can't hear it (chuckles), it doesn't bother me.

MA: Where were you born Virginia?

VI: I was born in Harlem Township, that's the reason I've been interested in Vicky's writings. My parents rented what was known as the Garling, the Downing farm. It was on Center Village Road and my brother and my oldest sister and I were, are born there. And um, then in 1918 my parents bought a farm at the corner of Sunbury and Woodtown Road and we lived there for 10 years, well maybe 11 years. And uh, then we moved to a farm east of Galena, the Garling House farm, and then in 1933 my folks moved to Columbus. And I was in my senior year of high school and I didn't want to go so I stayed and lived with some friends and finished high school in Galena. And uh, then I went to Ohio State for one year. And then I had met, I wanted to be a nurse and I had met some nurses from Philadelphia General Hospital who had come to Ohio State to get their BS degrees. And they told me all about it and course this was back during the depression and uh jobs were hard to find, but I wrote for information and was accepted and went to Philadelphia and was there 3 years and then I worked for about a year. And then Dr Ihle and I were married. He had been married before, and uh, his first wife died and his second marriage was ended in divorce. He was 18 years older than I so people thought I was crazy but we had a good life. (chuckles)

MA: So what year did you graduate from Galena?

VI: 1934

MA: And he was not from Ohio, your husband?

VI: Yes, he was born and reared down in Meigs County

VI: and uh, his mother had died and there was no high school in Meigs County at that time. His brother was superintendent of schools at Nashport Ohio, its in Licking County. And uh he went there, he lived with his brother's family and went to high school and then he went to Ohio University, I think for 6 weeks. At that time you could take the Boxwell examination. He did that and taught school one year, and part of another year. And then the war, the First World War came along. And he, his sister lived in Beaver, Pennsylvania. He went there and lived with them, and worked as a mail railway employee. I forget where he traveled, it was in Western Pennsylvania but he rode, you know, the train, the cars, and sorted mail and delivered it. And then he went to his brother's in Bethany Ohio and lived there. And then he decided he wanted to be a doctor so he came to Ohio State and got his BS degree and then his medical degree.

MA: Is that's where you met?

VI: No, no. Um, when I was in high school and after my family had moved I needed a place to live. And they had just come to, he and his first wife had just come to Galena and I, um, was told that they were trying to find somebody to come and stay so she could get away. Because he had the office in the house. So I went there the last of November until, oh in July of '34 when I went to Columbus and started to work and uh went to school. And then I was gone for six years, came back, and we just, by that time he had been divorced from his second marriage (chuckle) I don't usually tell all this to people (all laugh). But anyway I was working in Cleveland, Saint Luke's Hospital, at the time and we just decided to get married so. We had a son Curt, lives in Burk, Virginia which is about four miles from Springfield. And uh, they have, he married Brenda Hoover, do you know Bob Hoover here in town? Well Brenda is Bob's daughter and um, they have two sons, Chris, lives in Apex, North Carolina and he and his wife have three little boys. And Andrew, the younger son, lives between Dulles Airport and Leesburg, Virginia and they have a little boy and a little girl. And uh then Enid has three girls. Uh, Molly is married. And uh, Cindy lives in Cleveland and the company that she works for, it's a financial company, uh, she travels all over the United States for them. And Beth is a Special Ed 8th grade teacher at the Bishop School in Delaware. But I'm real proud of all my grandchildren they all graduated from college and two have their masters'. So... think they've done pretty well.

MA: Your daughter says that you, that you're an expert on the history of Galena.

VI: I'm not an expert (chuckles), I've just been around for so long I remember things. I said even though I'm 92 thank goodness I still have my mind, that's uh, worth a lot. My back gives me an awful lot of problems but I can still think. What did you want to know about Galena?

MA: Well, um, your husband's practice was in the building that we still call the Dustin House?

VI: Yeah, or before that, where's one of these pictures? I think... one of these, No that's the north side and this is the east side

MA: These look like the shots from uh, the Sunbury News, this one anyway, or maybe the Delaware Gazette. That's from the paper.

VI: Yeah, I have had the original pictures of these.

MA: The photographs themselves?

VI: Yeah I looked for 'em last night but I couldn't find them. This was published in the Dispatch at the time that we bought the Dustin House. This is the south side of the square. Dr. Ihle had his office in this part.

MA: OK

VI: until we bought the Dustin House and then he moved over there.

MA:Is that building still standing?

VI: Yes

MA: OK, that's, isn't that where your sister-in-law works? Isn't that a restaurant now?

VI: Oh there is one there.

CM: Yeah she used to work there.

VI: There's one on either end of that row of buildings.

MA: These look like, we have copies of these in the Burrer Room.

VI: Here's the north side of the square.

MA: Oh look at that.

VI: Lilly Shaw, who lived in one of the apartments in the Dustin House.... Here's another picture of it.

MA: So, this, this whole side's gone now right? This was removed when the dam was built, is that correct?

VI: Uh, it, most of it burned.

MA: Oh it burned.

VI: That's the north side.

MA: OK, 1947. Did you take these photographs, or

VI: No, I started to tell you Lilly Shaw, who lived in one of the apartments in the Dustin House. Her son took them and he, took them with a camera that used glass plates and she had all of those and she let our son take them and he made a lot of pictures from them. I don't know whatever happened to them because he gave them back to Lilly and uh

MA: Was he, was her son in the photography club? There was a, what was the name of that photography club?

VI: Oh gosh, this was back in the early 1900's

MA:The markings on the back are the same, those circled numbers. There was a, there was a photography club that met in the '50's

VI: Yeah, I belonged to that for awhile

MA: Oh, OK

VI: But no, these were taken long before that. Here's a picture of the school house.

MA: Oh ok

VI: In 1928 they, uh remodeled the Galena School and added on an auditorium and some rooms, a stage, basement for a cafeteria. My brother graduated in 1928, that's the reason I remember. When they, I think when they originally built the school which was a log school back in 1868, they found, um Indian skeletons and um, they found some bones when they excavated in 1928. There was, you know, quite a rumor at the time but apparently Indians had been buried there. Nathan Dustin built the Dustin House, or Stage Coach Inn as it was sometimes called, I think in 1828. He came and lived in a log house first and then they made bricks in the back part of the property and fired them. And he put up the back part of the building first and then couple of years later built the front part of it. It was a pretty, old, house, it still is. When we bought it, it had never been modernized. And I don't know you whether you've ever remodeled an old house or not, but you think you'll do one thing and you end up doing 10 that you never expected to do. It got quite expensive. And the beams in the house were like that, you know just huge, and you either had to go up over them or under them because you couldn't cut through them. It was a big problem. They did had a couple of electric lights with just a cord hanging down and one bulb. So we had the house wired. And there were 18 rooms in that house, um, Dr. had the, a, part as you face the house on the left side. And then the other side was an apartment and there were two upstairs and one in that little back part. So there were four apartments there that we rented. We never lived there, it just wasn't, you know, suited for our family so we didn't even consider it. The uh, as I started to say Nathan Dustin, who was a Revolutionary War soldier, built the house and when we sold it, we sold it to Jim Whitney. And Elmira Dustin, one of the descendants, had given me a picture that had been taken, uh, she thought in the late 1860's in front of the house. And it showed Nathan and there were two or three ladies. And Jim had some copies made of it and gave me a big copy. And I gave it to Polly for the Library, do you have it?

MA: I think, I think we do.

CM: Do we?

VI: Do you?

MA: I think we do. We have some pictures of the Dustin Inn and Mr Dustin has a beard,

VI: Yeah

MA: A long beard in the photo.

VI: And there's one man with a top hat.

MA: You know I'm going to have to check, I don't recall a man in a top hat.

VI: Yeah, there, there are three or four ladies standing out there and one man with a top hat.

MA: I'll look for it.

VI: Well I think Nathan died in 1872 and that's when they ceased having guests at the house. I think its interesting that now when we go to a hotel or a motel we rent a room with a bed. But back then you rented a room and a bed.(chuckles) You might have two or three people sleeping in the same bed. I never realized that until we were at Williamsburg, Virginia and visited that old inn and the man told us that and I thought that's what they did at the Dustin House. John had five wives. They're all buried there in Galena Cemetery. And his children, Fred, Nathan and John. No, John. Gosh I forget now, I'm confused. Nathan and Fred were John's children. And Mrs. Willis, who married Frank Willis. Oh, what was her name?

MA: Um, I know

VI: Yeah I know too

MA: I'm right with you

VI: That's what my 92 year old brain does to me

MA: Well, I don't think its anything to do with age, because I can't recall either. But I know we have a picture in the Burrer Room of Frank Willis and is it Anna, Annie? and the daughter at her gradua, she's in her graduation gown. In the picture that we have in the library.

VI: Allie

MA: Allie

VI: Allie Willis. Yeah, I made some notes here to sorta jog my memory. She died, no Frank died in 1928. He had been to Galena High School for a speech and he had been a governor and senator and was a prospective presidential candidate when he was at Gray Chapel. My brother was there at Gray Chapel that night and he was so shook up over Mr. Willis' death, everybody was. He was a nice man. Did either of you hear the acceptance speech last night of the (everyone chuckling). She seems like a ball of fire (everyone chuckling).

VI: Well, anyway, Nathan, and I think his wife was Hannah, died in the 30s, that was after Dr. Ihle came to Galena. And then John, no, it was John that lived in the house, he and his wife died , not Nathan, Nathan had died in 1872. Um, the um... I have to stop and think what I want to say, uh... and the Dustin House um, it was built in 1826 to 1828 and inside the windows, the window sills were like that (gestures with her hands) and then the um... uprights were like this (gestures with hands) and they said that that was if the Indians you know came around or anybody, they could stand out of sight but, aim their guns out, um... a lot of old houses were built that way. And there was a um... in the back of the house, was a wool shed. Um...Nathan used to um.. weigh animals, hogs, that would be driven on to Pittsburgh and sheep and I don't know how many people they employed, but um, there was a wool room and there was a heated boiler room where guests could take a bath and there was an old privy and all that was standing when we bought the house. And we had thought at first, oh gosh, the boards in it, you know, were just great wide long boards,um, cut from huge trees that we would make apartments back there but we found that termites had got into it and it wasn't feasible to do that so we had that all torn down and I hated it, but sometimes you do what you have to do. Here's a picture of the Dustin House, and these little, I don't know what you call them, porticos or something were on the front of the house but they were rotted and it just wasn't safe so we had those taken down. We thought we'd have them replaced but we never did.

MA: No? (chuckling) Is that a picture that somebody

VI:Yes

MA: in your family took? So is this a, is that before you,

VI: Yes

MA: that is part of what you had taken down?

VI: Yes, that's where the wool shed, the bath house and all that was. There was a smoke house, too, and then there was a bar, and the bar was semi-circular and it was made of walnut boards and it was up in the attic. Well I thought it should be preserved, so I found a carpenter and it was just about to fall apart and he cut some new shelves and put in. Enid has that in her basement. She wanted it so I gave it to her. She, like me, likes antiques. The um, I don't know where the meals were served. I never figured that out. You come in the front hall -where is it -this was the front door, uh you come into that hall, and then this is where Doctor had his office, here, and in the next two back rooms. Um, the family lived there also and then in the upstairs on this side was a ballroom where they had dances that was the entertainment, so Allie Willis told us, and um, someone had put a partition in there so it made two rooms out of this one great big room. I don't know where the meals were served and I don't know where the bar was kept. But it was someplace. And then with the bar, there was a, um, kinda made you think of a picket fence that went clear up to the ceiling, and then when the bar was closed, that was lowered. It was on pulleys. But I don't know where it was. I don't know where they had that. The um, Helen Willis, um, taught music and a lot of people, older women, when uh, when they were girls, took music lessons from her. Our friend Madge Barrows who was the daughter of Inman Budd. Where is the north side of the square? This originally was a hotel and then you don't see all of the house you just see a part of it. But then Inman Budd had a store here and he had a big old pot bellied stove and men came in in the wintertime and sat there and shot the breeze I suppose you'd say (everyone chuckles). This was a restaurant with rooms up above that people rented. People rented some of these rooms and there was a post office in here and a beauty shop. But this, this burned I think in 1936 and this burned maybe in '38. All this went the next time. And Madge Barrows or Madge Budd, was a daughter of Inman Budd, and after her parents were deceased, she had a, a store built there a grocery store and it was there until Galena Bank came in and they tore down the store and built the bank. So that's what's on the property now.

MA: Could you, could you show us that picture again and run through the uh, where, did that show up on the camera?

CM: No

MA: to identify what was in there is great for the

VI: You want me to

MA: You'll have to tell us again

VI: Well this was a hotel originally and then the Budd family lived there and this was Inman Budd had a grocery store in here

MA: Did it ever have a sign that says IC Budd on it?

VI: Yes.

MA: We have pictures of that

VI: Uh huh. And this was a restaurant and living quarters up here. And there were living quarters through here. There was the post office in here some place and a beauty shop. I went to the beauty shop after Doctor and I were married and um Mrs. Bloom was her name and she had a little dog and it just roamed around the shop. If she'd happen to drop something, she was sorta old, she'd pick it up and brush it off and put it back, that was her way of sanitizing (everybody chuckles). In the Dustin House, too, at one time was a millinery shop and it was in, upstairs but I don't know which part. And when we bought the house there were a lot of the hat forms left and I still have those they're down in the basement. I had told Polly I'd give those to the library but I suppose the historical place would be the proper place to put them. Trying to think what else was in the Dustin House. I think after Nathan died, John and his wife lived there and it was just a home, I mean they didn't, maybe, maybe that's when Mrs Wambaugh had the millinery shop there. In Vicky Tieche's Harlem Township book she tells about Mrs. Wambaugh, who had lived in Harlem Township in Center Village. And um, I gave Enid one of the hat forms, it was one of the nicer ones. Some of them had the ladies names on, there's Mrs. VanFleet and I forget who else I haven't seen them since I moved up here, they're down in my crawl space. The uh, you know who founded Galena and all that, that's common knowledge. The Lodge Hall was built about the same time the Dustin House was and some people think that the tile mill furnished the brick for that. But the tile mill didn't exist at that time. The brick were all fired, made and fired there at the Dustin House. And then in, in back of the Dustin House when we bought it was a barn that had been the livery stable and it had the most beautiful big wide boards and beams and we didn't know quite what to do with it. But the Sheriff came and talked to the Doctor. It had been reported that kids had been playing in there and we were afraid somebody might get hurt. Uh, we had no use for it and it needed so much repair, just, you know, wasn't worth putting money into it so Doctor found a couple men who came and tore it down for lumber and then later a restaurant was built back there and then when the city built the lake, and uh, took a lot of property that was torn down. Trying to think what else happened.

MA: You remember quite a bit, none of this was known to me about the history of that house

VI: I remember back in the '20's there was a Chautauqua came to Galena. It was there on the school grounds and mother let my brother and older sister, oldest sister, and me go, and I think she always regretted that it was "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and little Eva was in it and she was such a simppy thing (everyone chuckles) and we'd, you know, go around pretending we were little Eva. (chuckles) The Lodge Hall was right there beside the Dustin House, was built about the same time and um. MA: That's the brick building across the street? VI: Yes. The Masons, there was a Masonic Lodge of Sunbury men who built that, and then they disbanded, oh gee, what year? It was built in 1868, that's, that's when the Masonic Lodge, there was a school in it too, up.. I guess the downstairs and the Lodge Hall was upstairs. Well then they disbanded and uh, the uh, Odd Fellows came in, took it over. And then in 1947 the Rebecca Lodge was formed. I was one of the charter members, and uh, Joanne Farris, Joanne Devore Farris, we are the only two living charter members. I think there were just almost 30 members joined. And um

MA: What is the Rebecca Lodge?

VI: Yes, It's still there

MA: What kind of an organization?

VI: It's like the Eastern Stars the Pythian Sisters and things like that. I must admit I haven't been a very good member (chuckle), just too many other things to do and I've had so many surgeries that um, I just haven't taken an active part in it. I still belong but. On the west side of the store, right next to the Dustin House was a grocery store and at one time Charlie Bricker owned it, and then he sold it to Mossman, no maybe Mossman was there first then Charlie then Charlie sold it to Mr. Koonz. And the Koonz had two children Twila and Buddy. And I think they went to Galena School. When Mossmans owned the department store, my mother bought a book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", she paid a quarter for it she said. And I had it and I gave it to Enid. And the Mossman's store carried groceries and clothing and shoes, and they all did back then because you couldn't go to Columbus, Westerville very often, and uh they tried to provide what people needed.

MA: Did you know the Hopkins?

VI: No, I didn't

MA: They had a taxi service I read in the newspapers, the Sunbury News from the late 1920's or early 1930's. Roberta Hopkins, kept the Hopkins House on the square it's the Historical Society now and she writes in her diaries about the trips that they would take to Columbus for curtains and rugs and that sort of thing there must have not been any place in the immediate area to furnish

VI: Well we didn't get to Sunbury very often either. My, the first car that I can remember we had was an old one a touring car and it had side curtains that you took off in the summertime but then you snapped back in place when you had cold weather and they had a front seat and then two little seats that folded down and then a seat in the back. There were six kids in my family and I'm the only survivor. They are all gone. My brother and four sisters. But I can remember it was really a thrill to get to go some place and get in that car (all chuckle). Trying to think of something else to tell you.

MA: Were there ever trips that you did make to Sunbury for any particular reason, or Galena had every thing that you needed to

VI: Well my dad had a store in Galena there on the south side

MA: Here's the picture

VI: Yeah it was right here (points). I don't know what's in there now if anything is.

MA: What, did he have a sign up on that store?

VI: I think so. He and John Cockrell started it. Where is that? Oh it's in here. Wait a minute. I jotted down some of these page numbers. Here, look at the prices of groceries back then (all chuckle). Prime rib was 20 cents a pound.

MA: And your father was

VI: uh huh

MA: Was Buck?

VI: Uh huh, uh huh

MA: That's your maiden name?

VI: Yes, Uh huh.

MA: They look like good prices now don't they? (all chuckle). Now this book is interesting we have a very small

VI: John Bricker gave that to me

MA: OK. This is much larger than the edition we have in the library. I'm actually going to be meeting with him next week, to look at some things that he thought the library might be interested in. So I can ask him then about that

VI: I gave John a lot of things, papers that I'd had. So here he came one day and had that for me (all chuckle). Um, and I really enjoyed it there's just, you know, so many items about people and things that I remember.

MA: Uh huh, uh huh

VI: Talking about Galena school back in the 19, the early 1900's. A law was passed that if there was no high school in your county or township you could go to a school that did provide teacher training. And my mother was born and reared on Red Bank Road, do you know Joan Lawrence? Well that was the home that she was born and reared in. And, um, they came up, oh, I don't know whether it was even a mile, to the little old school house that was there. And there used to be a covered bridge that the school house was close to. The bridge was over Big Walnut Creek and when we lived down there we owned that property clear down to the bridge to the middle of the creek, 40 acres that we had. But anyway Mother went to Galena High School for two years and took the Boxwell examination and taught school, country schools for 5 years. And she and my dad were married in 19-8 and had six kids. And then after my father died in 19, um 49, they had a store on Sunbury Road. You know where Mifflin School is? Sunbury Road pretty far down, their home and store was there. And mother didn't know what to do, but in the early 1900's, she and my aunt her sister, Aunt Mabel, came to Sunbury and took china painting lessons from Dr. Gearhart's wife. Some of my pieces here are hers, some of 'em are mine. My sister Erline and I decided we'd like to learn and after Dad died my mother took up painting again. And she went uh, Ohio Dominican College, at that time it was called Saint Mary's of the Springs. She went down there for art lessons and she ended up, just, well she painted those birds for me,

MA: Wow

VI: and the mums.

MA: Oh my goodness, she was very talented

VI: Yes she really was. But she taught school for five years, and uh, after dad died, you know, she just didn't have much to do 'cause they had sold the store and she spent her time painting. And my sister Erline and I went down and took uh, well we did oils with her and china painting. I have a kiln and fire my own china, it's why I've got a load of blank china in the basement that I'd like to get painted but um, I don't know when I'm gonna do it. I've had shingles three times, and the third time they were all over my face the vesicles, and I had an ulcer on my left cornea

MA: um

VI: so my eye has bothered me a lot and I just had to quit painting for awhile. But that was one reason I wanted to come home from The Village was so I could do some of the things I wanted to do rather than just sit the rest of my life (chuckles).

MA: Uh huh

VI: That's uh.. There were a couple other hotels in Galena, early Galena. Utley's had one and there was one across the street from Budd's. I think Steele's owned that, and of course those buildings were all torn down when Columbus tore down so many buildings to, you know, make way for the lake.

MA: Uh, huh. Is that a picture under your notebook of the inside of the Dustin Inn?

VI: No this was my mother's home where Joan Lawrence lives.

MA: Oh

VI: That's a stairway. Diadatus Keeler built this house and this was a spinning room. There were four doors that in the summertime they opened and five girls could sit in there with their spinning wheels.

MA: Where is this, where was this located?

VI: On Red Bank Road

MA: This..

VI: Where Joan and Wayman Lawrence live.

MA: So this is the same place?

VI: Yes

MA: Oh, OK

VI: I've got some more pictures but I couldn't find them last night. That's the Dustin House. Oh, that's my three granddaughters when they were little (all chuckle). This is the quilt that I won.

MA: Oh yeah, you know I was looking this morning for... um, I think we have the story in the newspaper about that.

VI: They asked me if I would do the Dustin House. And uh, I did that and I was having so much back problem that I went into Riverside hospital and I was there 33 days. They did a laminectomy, and I was there when they had the drawing for the quilt and I won it and I'd just bought one ticket (all chuckle).

MA: So they brought it to you. And this is, oh is this the bridge that was on uh, did they call this the Yankee Street Bridge?

VI: Yes

MA: Ok, wow that was long

VI: It was long

MA: Oh and there's something on the other side

VI: My mother painted it for me and then I painted one. Mother did the east end and I did the west end.

MA: (chuckles) And you, and you met in the middle

VI: Yeah

MA: (chuckles)

VI: After my grandparents died, my grandfather died in 1928 and my grandmother in 1934, my aunt had lived with them and there was no way she could stay there and maintain the house and it was in rather bad condition 'cause they were old and just hadn't done anything

MA: That house is gone?

VI: Oh no

MA: No, that's still there?

VI: That's where Lawrences live

MA: Oh that is the house, OK

VI: That's the house. Another thing, I forget when it was in the 60's, they put a plaque on that house.

MA: You, but your husband's practice was out of there by then?

VI: uh, huh, do you have these?

MA: We do.

VI: You do, OK. That, this was, was published in the uh

MA: Dispatch

VI: Dispatch, when we bought it

MA: May I see the picture of the Dustin House again that you have showing the front door?

VI: I just had it

MA: There's a little person on a tricycle there.

VI: It's what?

MA: It's a child on a little tricycle in that picture (chuckle).

VI: Oh yes it is.

MA: Yeah. Not one of yours I take it (chuckles).

VI: The house had been painted white when we bought it and the paint had all flaked and we had it sandblasted.
And then we had somebody come to tuck point the joints

MA: Uh huh

VI: and they got up so far, they were a couple of men in Galena, and they got up so far and they said they
just couldn't do the rest of it so the top of it's never been finished.

MA: Wow

VI: Ken Mulner owns the building now and uh he and Mark Adams had their law offices there.

MA: And that's all that's in the house now?

VI: Uh huh, I think so

MA: So they couldn't get to the top huh, they didn't have tall enough ladders?

VI: No

MA: (chuckles) That would be a big job.

VI: Uh, some place in here is that... Yeah this was about my mother. Mary Ann Whitney interviewed her and wrote that
about her.

MA: For the newspaper?

VI: What?

MA: Was that in the newspaper?

VI: Yes Sunbury News, and mother had published a book of poems.

MA: Oh wow, Oh, we have this in the library.

VI: Yeah, I think my sister Jo Miller gave several copies to the library.

MA: I do believe that we have one, I'm going to double check to make sure that we do but I recognize this.
(to CM) Do you? I think we have that.

VI: There's a long poem about her old home when she was a girl. It's where Lawrences live.

MA: Uh huh

VI: It was a pretty old house. Waymen's father and mother bought it in 1938. And uh, oh, they had the chimneys rebuilt.
They put in new siding, and new windows, new roof. They just modernized it. Put in electricity and bathrooms.
This is where you went down to the basement there at the Lawrence house. I don't know where those other pictures are.

MA: We have a couple here that you showed us.

VI: Yeah but I have more.

MA: Do you know when this house was built?

VI: When?

MA: Do you know when your mother's house was built?

VI: About the same time the Dustin House was built.

MA: 1820's?

VI: Uh huh. Diadatus Keeler, I forget how many acres of land he had. Grandfather bought, I think there were 100 and 60 some in the two pieces.
Do you know where Woodhaven addition is now? Well grandfather owned all that and he sold it in, back in the 20s to Sam Cohen. I don't
remember what Sam did but he had an airplane. He built an airplane hanger and built a huge house back there it's where Cochrans lived.

CM: Yep

VI: Do you know the Cochrans? And uh, then it was sold to Dr. Woods, and then, I don't know whether Dr Woods had it plotted
or who did. Somebody did. But it was all plotted into lots and sold off. That was back in the 40s and 50s. It's
pretty land.

MA: You knew, um, Helen Campbell?

VI: Oh yes, heavens yes.

MA: And uh, the library had a set of slides that were all pictures that she had taken.

VI: Uh Huh

MA: Do you know anything about those pictures? Or do...

VI: Well, they were ones that people had given her and some that she had taken. I have seen them several times.

MA: Uh huh

VI: Uh, Helen was quite a character. She was a good person but she was certainly opinionated. (both chuckle) Did you know her?

CM: Uh, No

MA: No, we only know her through those slides and um, I wondered if you had seen them because the library doesn't have
a good identification for alot of the pictures.

VI: Oh

MA: And Polly, a few years ago, had gotten a couple of people together who, who didn't..

VI: She asked me if I would see them.

MA: uh huh

VI: and, but she never came with 'em and, uh, last year, I just lost the year being sick,

MA: uh huh

VI: so yeah I'd be glad to look at them I don't know whether I could identify very many but maybe some.

MA: Uh huh. How, how did Helen get the pictures? We had always been told that she took, took them, but only
some of them she took herself?

VI: Well I think people gave her some

MS: Gave her.. Was she in the photography club you were in also?

VI: No

MA: No

VI: No that was later. I thought she gave those to Eldon Chambers and Eldon gave them to the Library.

CM: Maybe

MA: I, I don't know, I think they came to the library before we were around.

VI: Helen was one of those people who never forgave anybody for liking Sunbury. She was
wholly for Galena.

(all chuckle)

MA: And Eldon Chambers was from Galena (chuckles)?

VI: Oh, yes he still lives there.

MA: Oh OK.

VI: He could tell you quite a lotta history too.

MA: Well you've filled in a lot of holes for us.

VI: What?

MA: You have filled in a lot of holes for us today on some things we have in the library.

VI: Oh

MA: So that's very helpful to us when we put things together. Would you be comfortable with us,um,
taking these to the library to scan them and then I'll return them to you?

VI: Sure you can take them.

MA: OK, we don't have any of these pictures in our collection.

VI: You don't.

MA: No. So it would be nice to, to add them. We'll just scan them. And they'll lay flat we won't, we
won't

VI: OK

MA: have to do anything else to them. And then I'll return them to you.

VI: OK, I'll look and see if I can't find some more.

MA: Oh, that would be wonderful.

CM: Now did you live over on Red Bank when Cochran lived off Woodhaven there or was that later

VI: When dad sold the store in Galena and we, the farm had also been sold, we were supposed to have a house
in Galena to rent and then the people didn't move and we had to give possession of the farm. So we moved in
with Grandmother and Aunt Edna, um, and lived there for about six months and that's the only time we lived on
Red Bank.

CM: Oh, OK

VI: But our home was down on Sunbury Road right where, close to where Red Bank begins. We bought the Grissley
house and then we built the brick house and then we built the last house. And a gal in Galena, whom I never
liked very well, asked me one day why we sold that nice brick house. I really didn't think it was any of her
business. I said well it got so dirty I didn't want to clean it up so we built a new one. (chuckles)
This was the depot in Galena

MA: Oh, wow, I don't think we have a picture of the Galena Depot

VI: More pictures that I want to put in albums that I have so I'll be going through them again and I'll see if
I can't find some more for you.