My Family: Chapter 15

Dad had many work accidents at the coal mines and the Company would pay him monetary compensation for each accident or injury he suffered. Remember, my parents are very poor and most times didn't have the money to have the basic necessities of life, so when they got money they really enjoyed themselves. There was no thought to save any of it or to buy me a bicycle to ride to school so I wouldn’t have to walk.

One time they got a thousand dollars, I remember how excited they were when they opened the letter - it was compensation from when Dad got his neck broken.

Niece Mary Jo, Mom and Dad

This was a lot a money back then in West Virginia. You could buy a house for a couple of hundred dollars. Dad went on a fishing trip to North Carolina and Mom took us girls to Logan to stay with Grandma Dillow. While we were there Aunt Hannah and Mom took us to a Carnival.  We went to the movies with a stage show which featured a fortune teller. Out of all the people in the theater he chose Mom to tell her fortune - we were sitting in the middle, half way from the front of the stage. The fortune teller knew things about Mom which he couldn't have known unless he knew her well. He even knew Dad was away on a fishing trip in North Carolina.

I also remember going to the movies with Mom, Aunt Eloise, Aunt Hannah to see An Imitation of Life.  It was such a sad movie and I tired not to cry but the more I tired not to cry the harder I cried. I was afraid Mom wouldn’t take me with her any more if I embarrassed her by crying.

Aunt Wanda, Aunt Hannah, Niece Poodie and Aunt Eloise

The more my parents drank the worse things got, after awhile they spent all their money on beer and whiskey. All of Mom’s jewelry got sold or traded for drink and you might not believe it but she had some expensive things such as a diamond watch, a necklace set, and several rings.  Like once, after receiving a compensation check, my parents went to visit his niece who lived in Detroit and Mom bought a fur coat. The first time I ever saw her put on makeup was when Mom would wear her fur coat. I only saw her wear it a few times.  Just think what we could have had if they never drank. They could have bought a home, or a car, or we could have had plenty to eat, or clothes to wear, and they would have lived longer. My parents would have gotten my Dad's $60,000 compensation for Black Lung. When the law passed in 1970’s that all miners and widows received the money.  I lost my dad at the age of 49 to double pneumonia, and my Mom only one year later at the age of 48 to a heart attack.

Wilbur Dillo and Marie Francis,taken right after they said their vows