This post is by my cousin Linda about family trips to Kentucky
Memories of Grandpa and Grandma Everman
My earliest memories of Grandpa and Grandma Everman were probably when I was about 7 or 8 years old. We have a picture of our family in front of our car getting ready to leave the sprawling metropolis of Grahn, Ky. Grandma might have visited us in Dayton before that, but I just can’t remember much about her visit.
We made an annual visit to Kentucky to visit them each year. The trip was arduous because there were four kids and two adults in one vehicle. Back in those days, there was room for three people in the front seat, but that meant three of us still fought in the back seat. Tom usually got a window because he yelled dibs first. The trip was usually hard for me because I always got car sick riding down there because I kept reading books. The highlight of the trip was a stop in Ripley, Ohio at the Bob’s Big Boy restaurant for lunch. I think it was the only time we ever got to eat out during the year. Are we there yet?
Grahn is on the outskirts of Olive Hill, Kentucky. It had a post office, an elementary school and a Baptist church. I think there was also a tiny grocery where we managed to get a pop and some candy. The real grocery was on Rt 60 near Nadine Kiser’s house. Since everybody knew everybody, when we showed up, they knew who we were and that we were visiting Grandma & Grandpa.
Grandpa and Grandma’s house was on a lane parallel to the railroad tracks next to the Justices [Grandma’s brother]. It had a building where Grandma did her laundry. There was also a cold storage hut dug into the hill where she made her pickles which Tom still adores. The scariest part was the outhouse. It was a single seater with furry trim and it stunk to high heaven in there. There were the largest spiders in the world and the path to it included at least one snake. Their house was a two-bedroom house which became quite crowded when the six of us descended on it. There was no bathroom so on Saturday night, we had to use a round tub and pour hot water into it to take a bath. The TV didn’t get many stations so it didn’t interest us too much. Grandma had a rocker that was a burgundy velvet type fabric. I ended up buying one just like it for my house because it is so comfortable but I didn’t realize it was like hers until Lydia said something years later. They had a porch that went around the front and one side of the house. When the men were sitting there drinking their beverages, they would have to hide them under their chair whenever a car came down the road because Carter county is a dry county.
I always remember Grandpa being so skinny and soft spoken. He looked like a bean pole. He played the banjo and fished. He didn’t drive, but he bought a black hearst to have one of his friends take him fishing. I don’t know where they went, but it was one of his favorite things to do. I think Grandpa was a brick maker when he worked. He took us snipe hunting one year after dark. City kids are so gullible. He always drank his coffee out of a saucer because it was too hot to drink from a cup. Grandpa told Mom and Bess that he sold his banjo before he died. Tom and I would love to have it as a memory of him.
Grandma was more on the portly side and always wore a dress and an apron. I resemble her in that manor. She also was soft spoken. She made the best biscuits in the world. A friend of mine whose family was from West Virginia said the same thing about her grandma. We think they had special flour in that region. I think one of Grandma’s past times was quilting. I have one of her quilts.
Most of the time we were down there, we really didn’t have a lot to keep us occupied. I remember climbing the hills behind Grandpa’s house and smelling honeysuckle. We visited relative such as the James family. I think there were 17 kids and Grandma could name them all. There is a family cemetery up the steep lane behind their house. All cemeteries are up the lane in Kentucky. Nadine Kiser when with me to visit it one time, but one of the James’ boys had to drive my car back down, I was so scared. Nadine also showed me one of the cemeteries down another lane. She told me that she and Mom used to play up in the cemetery because it was so pretty up there. I’m not sure I could find it again it was so remote.
We always enjoyed visiting Kentucky when all of Mom’s siblings came down. We would enjoy a family reunion at Carter Caves State Park. The caves were so cool in the hot July weather. There was also swimming if you had the stamina to walk down and back up all the rock steps to the lake. They also had a playground area that we took advantage of since we were bored with walking up and down Grandpa’s lane.
Linda Zahirsky
