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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInterview with Olin and Novella Cole 09.08.1998Interview with Olin and Novella Cole 706 5 Gordon Interviewers: B i l l and Mary Lancaster Barber for 56 years - beginning in 1934. In YMCA on TAMU Campus and in Bryan . BM= Bi I I Lancaster as moderator MM =Mary Lancaster as moderator OI =Olen as interviewee NI= Novella as interviewee September 8, 1998 BM: Olin tell us, if you would, when you came to A &M. OI: 1934, I worked out at the nine chair barber shop. It had a laboratory in the center of the shop. All the barbers had to use that one laboratory. It had a beauty shop and I'd go out there and work in my brush days before corps trips and football games because the boys had to have a fresh hair cut. BM: You work as a barber though in Bryan? OI: Yeah, I'm working in Bryan but us barbers go out there during rush hour. 1 BM: When did you come to Bryan? OI: In 1934. BM: Where did you come from? OI: Normandy. BM: Had you been a barber in Normandy? OI: For one year, before I came to Bryan. BM: For one year? But you were in Houston even... OI: I went to barber college in Houston. BM: You went to barber college in Houston? When did you get out of the barber college? OI: October, 1933. BM: You came to Bryan then... OI: In April of 1934. BM: In April of 1934 and went to work and did part time? Were you ever full time at the barber shop at A &M? OI: Not at the YMCA. BM: Not at the YMCA? Now how long were you there at the...? OI: Oh we'd work sometimes a week out at the...they'd have a short course once every summer and all the state of Texas would come out and I'd work out there at the short course. 2 BM: Well, now as far as the period of time, they built the MSC in 1950, and my recollection is that the barber shop was moved to the MSC. OI: They had a manager, Mr. Freeburger, he managed the barber shop over there at the MSC. The YMCA was locally owned and they were renting the space. BM: Oh okay, so they changed managership from the YMCA to the MSC? OI: Yes, that's right. Mr. Lavender had it and he sold it to Miss Smith and Miss Smith sold it to Mr. Palestine. Mr. Palestine owned it when they moved it. Haircuts then were 40 Cents and shaves were 25 Cents. BM: How many people would get shaves back then? OI: A lot of people in town, but not many at the college. Some of the army officers from the college would get shaves, but not many students. They didn't have the money. BM: Well, they got the money now. What else was going on in the YMCA at that time? OI: They had the bowling alley there for a while and the swimming pool but I never will forget the Seniors wore their boots, but they would send the freshman over to get them shined and 3 come back to get the boots. I think the shines were either 10 Cents or 25 cents for boots. BM: Who else was working in the barber shop at the time you were working there? OI: Mr. Will Banks was working there and Harry Gurrisky and Paul Jones... BM: Was R.W. Ivy ever working at the YMCA? OI: No sir, he was in the North Gate, there were only two barber shops at the college, the one at at the YMCA and the north one. Doc Ivy we'd call him at that time. BM: He was a marine during W.W.I, what about Dutch Hardman, where was he? OI: I beg your pardon? BM: Dutch Hardman, was that his name? OI: Dutch Heedman. Dutch Heedman. BM: Dutch Heedman, ok. Where was he? OI: He worked for Mr. Doc Ivy, he may have worked at the Y before he moved. BM: You say there were 9 chairs? OI: 9 chairs, but they only had up to 6 regular barbers. They had 3 extras that we would go out and work during the rush hour. 4 BM: Did you move in essence from the YMCA to the MSC, did you ever barber at the MSC? OI: No, I never did. BM: Oh okay, and Freeburger took that over. Was Eddie Novasod ever at the YMCA? OI: Edmund Novasod worked for him. Also Oren Beal. BM: Were they ever at the YMCA? OI: No sir, they weren't barbering of it at that time. BM: The barber shop at the YMCA was a new thing nearly altogether. Now, what else at the YMCA now, it was the center of activity wasn't it at the campus, what all went on there that you remember? OI: I never will forget several guys coming in wanting to borrow 50 cents for a dollar from each barber and they could register for $25.00, for a semester and they said they would work their way through college for 25 cents an hour waiting on tables or working the dairy barn. BM: Did you loan any of them the 25 cents? OI: We did, we did, we felt sorry for the boys. There were several barbers that barbered their way through school. Red Kradick 5 was one of them. I don't remember the other two, there were three BM: They barbered and got into college? OI: Yes sir. They didn't take a full Toad of school. BM: You got 40 cents for a hair cut, how much of that did you get to keep? OI: 60% BM: 60% It was a sixty -40 cut? Did that give you a very good living? OI: I lived on it, I was getting boarding and room for $7.00 a week. BM: When did ya' 11 get married then? OI: 1936. BM: You worked for two years here in Bryan and College Station as a barber before Novella got to come on the scene then? OI: Novella came down to work for the government with what they called then Old Triple A. That's how I met her. BM: When did you go to work out there? NI: July 1934. We got married in 1936, November. BM: That was that wooden building near Kyle Field? NI: Yeah. I first worked in the administration building, the big building that faces the highway, that's where I worked first. 6 BM: You did? NI: Oh yeah. Mr. gave me the job and I walked from the old extension service building to that building with Herman Crowser. I went to work the same day. BM: For the Triple A, how about that? NI: Yeah, $3.00 dollars a day. BM: 1934 when you started to work. NI: It was a good job. BM: They employed a lot of people in there as I remember. OI: They worked 3 shifts, the cotton was on allotment, and peanuts...I'm not sure about rice. she was... NI: When I got off of that bus in front of Old Aggieland Inn, Harry Boyer ( Virginia Dasby's brother) was the first guy I met on the AMA Campus. BM: Harry Boyer, and who's brother was he? NI: Virginia Dasby. BM: I didn't know that. Where did you come from? NI: Middle Othian, Ellis County. I graduated from high school in Middle Othian, went one year in Denton school at the, it was a teachers college then. Then the depression came along and I went to Fort Worth and lived with my aunt and got a job at Montgomery Wards and 7 worked in the bookkeeping department for 4 years. Then I lost my job and went over to Dallas and took a comtomotry course and came to College Station. BM: How did you hear about the job in College Station? NI: My teacher got it, she ran a comptometry school up there and sent about 15 girls down here to work. BM: You came down on the bus and stepped off the bus, where'd you live? NI: Well, it's a long story, but I won't go into all of it. I came back and decided I learned I couldn't live in College Station because they didn't like girls coming to College Station back then because it was boys school in that day of time. I found that out right quick because you'd go somewhere and ask about getting a room there and they would say, "We don't rent to girls." So, I came to Bryan and lived with the We'd work so many weeks and then the seasons would change and we'd get laid off for 2 or 3 months. When I got laid off one time and came back and lived with Jack Bullard. Mr. Bullard ran the metropolitan barber shop, and that's where I met Olin. BM: Okay, you met him through the barber shop then? That's interesting. Who were some of the people that you worked with in the Triple A? NI: Shannon Burglar was my supervisor, Mr. Rattan was head of it. 8 BM: D.E. Rattan !! NI: Uh huh. I was working out there when Henry Marshall was killed. BM: Henry Marshall? NI: You remember that? BM: Well, no, not really, but what happened to him? NI: Well, they say Billy Saul Estes killed him. BM: Oh really. NI: You don't remember that? BM: Oh, I remember Billy Saul Estes, I had forgotten the Henry Marshall part of it. NI: His ... lives on 29th street now. Now, lets see, Tim Moore, and Jimmy Hendrix. Flourine Hendrix also worked there. Helen Burisky worked there, she was comotode there... you know her? BM: I know the name, Helen Burisky? It was Burisky's that had the... NI: She's Frank Burisky's wife. OI: County clerk. BM: Back to the YMCA and the barber shop, what are some of the unusual things that went on that might be interesting? Some of the people that you gave haircuts to. 9 OI: I remember Harry Boyer do Bennett Taylor worked out there in 41 and 42, and Harry Boyer came through and Bennett Taylor was giving a shampoo over at this laboratory and let the hose get away from him and it hit Harry in the back and he jumped up and set it off .... HAHAHAHA BM: It stirred him up a little bit. NI: Tell him about Miss Holdsman. OI: I just cut Miss Holdsman's hair and she teaches out there at the Consolidated school and when she was 99 years old she came to the barber shop and she hit the door and the first thing she said Mr. Cole I came after 2 things and I said "what's that Mrs. Holdsman" and she said a haircut and the news...at 99 years old. I cut her hair also when she was 100 years old. and she died when she was 101. BM: She was my third grade teacher, I knew her well. Do you remember some of the professors that would come in and get their hair cut? Who do you remember on the teaching staff? OI: I can't remember their names now because it's been so long, but they were a bunch of good guys. They were really good teachers. NI: Tell him about the man up here hun, that used to live over here that used to come to the barber shop. I can't remember his name. 10 OI: Dr. Hedgecock NI: Do you remember him? BM: No, I don't, but you did mention Dr. Clark. OI: Dr. Clark, he was a character. HAHAHAAHAA BM: What were some of the things Dr. Clark would do? OI: I can't remember a lot of them. But he was something. BM: Oh man, he was in the economics department over there. NI: Tell him about Dr. Asberry. OI: Dr. Asberry lived out there on the...he lived off the campus didn't he? BM: Not to begin with, he lived in one of those houses behind the power plant. OI: Then later they moved him over to Gandy Hill. He had a piano in every room, I think he had about 9 rooms. BM: Do you remember the roses he grew around his house? NI: Yes, I do, vines, he had that house covered up in vines. He was across the street from Miss Barnehill, when that was Barnehi I I's Cafeteria, I used to eat lunch there. BM: Now, that's something interesting. Miss Barnehill, I had forgotten about her. She ran a cafeteria up there off of Northgate. Do you remember anything about her? 11 NI: I know a lady that used to work for her. Miss, I can't think of her name, Hardman, I think it is. Did you ever know Miss Wheeler? Did you ever know Ms. Cindy Wheeler? BM: No, I don't think so. NI: They lived out there right behind Miss Barnehills cafe. Ms.Bullard that I lived with knew the Wheeler's real well, they went to the same church with them. That's how I got acquainted with Cindy Wheeler. When I got laid off one time out there, she (the oldest one, used to work for Mr. Weddington) got me a job in Mr. Weddington's office. BM: In the extension service. NI: Uh huh, and I worked there about 2 or 3 months. BM: Who were some of the people in the extension service you might remember? NI: She used to be county agent, Swift, Helen Swift. I knew her. BM: Do you remember Helen Horton? NI: Yes, I do. She died recently. BM: In Houston. She was 102 or 103. NI: I had a lot of good experience out there. BM: Do you remember who the director was? NI: Mr. Weddington. BM: Well, he ran the fiscal office, but it was O.V. Martin. 12 NI: I never knew him, I don't think. I don't remember him. BM: O.V. Martin was the director and he died I think in '35 and then H.H. Williams took over. NI: He did take over. I don't remember Mr. Martin, but Mr. Williams was a fine man. OI: Bob Shaw had a hamburger stand out there on campus, there were very few people that had venices on the campus at that time. He ran a little wooden shack hamburger stand that stood behind the YMCA. BM: bid you ever eat there? OI: Yes. NI: How much were the hamburgers? OI: We would eat at the mess hall but if you didn't go down before the students got there they would take over the street, they had to march in to get, so we would have to either eat at Casey's or Bob Charlottes Hamburger Stand. BM: I don't remember, did Casey and Casey's Confectionery serve hamburger's in there? OI: Sandwiches and a cold drink. BM: That's what I remember, coffee and fountain drinks. OI: Mr. Casey was a good man but not the manager and I always heard that he sold Mr. Sparks half interest in there for $1.00 and 13 Mr. Sparks really put it on him. He got the money. Mr. Casey was a good man, too good. The students would walk out with out paying. BM: Yeah, J.F. Casey. He'd let them get by with it. NI: bid you know.... MM: No, now where was her cafeteria? NI: Right across the street from where Mr. Asberry's house was. Right in there. It's called University Blvd. now, I don't know what they called it back then. It was just a street then. The Northgate street. BM: Were there other places to eat at the Northgate? NI: Not that I remember of. OI: I don't remember either. BM: I was trying to remember the name of the lady that ran that and I'm glad you mentioned it. NI: I was eating my lunch one day in there and this student was working there to come around to clean the table off and I looked up and I thought "my word I know him, he's from Waxahachie" It was Gill Thompson. bid you know him? BM: Yeah, I know the name. NI: He girl. When we were kids I used to go visit my aunt and uncle who had a farm and the 14 Thompson farm was joining. The times that I would go visit they would always invite the Thompson kids to come over and play with us. And that was something to find somebody down here that I knew from home. BM: Do you remember any of the Thompson's kids names? NI: No, I don't believe I do. Now, what was that boys name, honey? OI: BM: One of them worked for the city out here, the policeman. NI: He married a Carpenter girl. BM: He rewired our house.... NI: Did you know Miss Carpenter that used to work out here at this courthouse for years BM: Well, I'm sure I did, but it doesn't ring a bell right now. NI: That Thompson son married her daughter. BM: He's been on the police force a time or two as a cop. What else, back to the YMCA, they had church services upstairs up in the chapel, and out in the lobby area they played dominos, cards and had all sorts of games going on and then the people that lived in the YMCA, do you remember any of those people? Up on the third floor? OI: Brett Cashen, ... manager. 15 BM: That'd right, and John Gordan Gabe, the assistant manager over there, they ran the place, they took care of the YMCA. They were both good men. I remember the WTAW radio station was up there on the second floor maybe the third floor of the YMCA. OI: If I remember right Allen Craft worked there for a while. BM: Yeah, he did, now there were some people that actually lived up there on the third floor, I want to say Bob Cherry. NI: I remember him, I don't remember where he lived, I just knew him. BM: I think somebody else, people generally knew , lived upon that third floor. You know that third floor was added after the YMCA was built. I have a picture from 1917 of the YMCA that doesn't have the third floor on it. I guess they added it when they made living quarters for people that needed to live there. Do you have any idea how many students were enrolled in A &M back then? OI: A little over 2000 at that time. BM: 2000? My oh my. OI: You could buy a season ticket for a little over $7.50 and that included football, baseball, BM: Seven and a half? OI: Seven and a half. track, and basketball. 16 BM: And that gave you all of it. (Laughing) Oh man. NI: I used to buy season tickets when I worked out there for $16.00 OI: Well, they were $7.50 NI: I thought it was $16.00, I guess it divided to be that, I remember paying that for them one time. BM: Did y'all go to the football games a lot? NI: Every chance we got. OI: Nolan Arton was the coach. Mr. Walton was the president of the college. BM: Did he ever come in for a haircut? OI: He didn't, but I cut but his son, T.T. Walton's hair all of the time. BM: They lived on campus when there daddy was president. OI: They were married when I came along. BM: They're a lot older than I am. Let's see, a train would come through regularly back then. OI: That's the way the students came to school, on weekends would have to thumb it. I remember Mr.....He was from San Antonio, he came to school and would go home for 17 Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break. That's only 3 times a year. BM: There were no cars on Campus? OI: No cars. NI: I had a second cousin from Corpus Christi that went to school out there when I was there and he had a car. He had to keep it out, he didn't dare get that car on campus. BM: What would they do? NI: It was just against the rules. I don't know what they would do. BM: They just weren't allowed to have cars. NI: Nuh uh. No cars. Do you remember that? MM: No, not that, but did you all live in Bryan; did you all ride the - -- - - - -? NI: We rode the bus at Edgeways. MM: Who was the driver? BM: Paul Edge. NI: Paul Edge and what was the other boy's name? OI: NI: When I was working at Chevrolet, somebody with a car that would take passengers out there so you would pay his gasoline 18 bill. Everybody would pitch in, and he would pick us up every morning. That was very convenient. BM: Mr. Weddington rode in a car pool like that. Mr. Broach and Weddington, and I don't remember who all else shared. NI: Mr. Hertell did too. BM: Herbert Hertell was one of them too, that's right. NI: Mr. Edge? BM: Cliff. NI: Cliff Edge and Hertell and I don't know who else. OI: At the time A &M he the student's clothes as uniforms. They would ride the bus and park up close and walk to the store to buy their uniforms. Then go back to school. That was before the exchange store put in the uniforms. BM: I guess they bought all their clothes back then. OI: Bought all of them as far as I know. JC Penny's started to handle a few of them later. NI: I wonder what a pair of senior boots cost back then. MM: I don't know, but I know what they cost now - about $600. OI: At that time, they cost about $50. Now they cost about $600 or $700. MM: Isn't that something. NI: They would get them shined for a dime. Ten cents. 19 MM: Now Lisa Weddington, was she the daughter? NI: Sister. Ms. Porter and Ms. Weddington have two daughters that live down here in these apartments. Ms. Porter and, I can't think of her sisters name, but she lives right next to her kids. MM: She has two daughters? NI: Uh huh. I told them one day last year when we were eating out Ms. Porter went to Las Vegas one time, when we went, and I got to playing with her boy and I knew I who she was and saw M- out one day and I went to the table and told him that his daddy gave me my job in College Station . I thought that was real interesting. BM: The times were tough around that time, weren't they? NI: You bet they were. BM: Well lets see, what else? MM: Any other good stories that you can you can remember? OI: I remember Mr. Trotter taught out there, and at times the professor would ride their bicycle from their home to the school, and he had a accident on a bicycle. When he got up he wanted to know which direction he was facing, because if he was facing towards the school then he'd already had his lunch. If he was facing toward the house then he was going to the house to get his lunch. I never will forget that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA BM: He couldn't remember whether he was coming or going.. 20 OI: Do you remember him? BM: Oh yeah. Yes siree, Bob Trotter. I sure do. OI: Mr. Dobe? BM: C.C. Dobe, did he get a haircut with you? OI: He belonged to the rotary club. I belonged to the rotary club for about ten years down town. He raised turnips in his garden. BM: He did? Did he ever give you any? OI: Yeah. BM: He was in biology. OI: He was a character. BM: He ought to have been able to grow some turnips. MM: You know Mrs. Dobe lived to be almost a hundred. OI: Is that right? MM: She was in her ninties. BM: It wasn't to long ago that she died. MM: I can remember her talking about their salaries when they first came here. They lived in an apartment or room with somebody. BM: With the Boltons on campus. MM: Their salary was very, very small whenever they first came. NI: Most all the professors lived on campus when I came here, they had those old two story houses over there. 21 OI: The heads of the departments lived on the campus, but the regular teachers didn't. They lived in town. BM: Now there was a barber shop that started over there in George's confectionery I guess before the MSC was built. Were you all still operating at that time? NI: Was that Jimmy's barber shop? Was that Jimmy Smith's barber shop? OI: Tray Jones opened it, there at the north gate, but later sold it to Jimmy. BM: This was on campus there at George's Confectionery behind the extension service building. Wasn't there a barber shop in that building? OI: Well they put in one when the Navy it during W.W.II. BM: Maybe that was it. OI: They didn't run but for about three or four years. I worked there some when the Navy borrowed it. BM: When they'd get a run on the navy people they'd call you out, huh? OI: Before they'd have inspections the boys would all have to have fresh haircuts. BM: Do you remember anything unusual during the war while you were working out of there? 22 OI: No, I don't remember anything. BM: Four or five years, 1941 through 1945. OI: Later I had to go into the Navy. BM: You went into the Navy? How long were you in the Navy? OI: Oh less than a year, the war ended in 1945. BM: Well lets see, what else? Now you all lived in Bryan all the time? How long have you lived in this house? OI: In this house? 26 years, in this house. BM: Where'd you live before that? OI: Down on 32nd street. NI: 30 years. BM: 30 years on 32nd street? Is that right? NI: Same house. BM: Is that right? When did you move into that? OI: 1940. BM: 1940? You where there until 1970 about? OI: It was 1972 wasn't it? NI: Yeah 1972 I believe it was. OI: We lived in an apartment while they were building this house. BM: Yeah? OI: The Edge Apartments. BM: You lived in the Edge apartments? 23 OI: They were brand new. BM: Oh man. That's hard to believe. Some of them are still there I guess. Well, can you think of anything else that might be interesting? OI: They had nine barber shops in downtown Bryan. BM: Nine barber shops!! OI: At that time, and two in College. Not any between here and college at that time. BM: Nine is quite a number. NI: Well they had all of the Allen Academy boys to do. The Aggies used to be hauled into town in pickup trucks. BM: Yeah. Good night MM: Now Olin, how long did you, were you in a barber shop? How long did you barber? OI: I worked downtown 50 or 60 years, and ran a barber shop 45 years. MM: You ran the barber shop for 45? OI: Well I had two partners, and they each one died., and I bought them out later. Sam Buddock was one of them, and Bennett Taylor was the other. NI: 56 years. 24 OI: I wound up the shop myself. My sold it to my nephew, and it's still operating. MM: What's his name? BM: What's your nephew's name? OI: Aldon Coles. BM: My word. Well that's a long haul, that's lots of service. OI: Tom Dawsons been working for about 35 years. He used to work with Doc Ivy in College, but not sense the early years. After W.W.II is when he went to barber college. BM: You know Mrs. Ivy is still living isn't she? OI: No she just died. BM: Did she really? I didn't know that. OI: Yeah she died she was almost 100. NI: She was an interesting character, Mrs. Ivy was. BM: I know. OI: We went on several bus trips with her. BM: Really? OI: She was a character. BM: Now her daughter is still here in town isn't she? NI: Yeah she moved here to take care of Mrs. Ivy I think. Her husband retired and they moved here. OI: He deceased now though. 25 BM: Oh her husband died, I didn't know that. Yeah because she and Mrs. Ivy came to one of our recording sessions one time, and she was nearly 100 then, I think 99 or something like that. Yeah I can remember when I was kid I'd, for some reason or another, we went up to Ivy's to get a haircut. I don't know why we didn't go to the YMCA. Doc Ivy and Dutch Huebner were the two there. I can't remember... OI: Willbanks. BM: Willbanks yeah. OI: He later worked with Jimmy Smith. BM: Yeah, now I went there because around the corner there on College Main Willbanks cut my hair. OI: Across the street from Hollick's Boots. BM: That's right. Well, what else can we ask? MM: I can't think of anything. We got a lot of good information. NI: I can't think about anything else about the YMCA, or pertaining to it. I can tell a lot of stories about other things. BM: Well tell some of them, what do you remember? OI: At that time they did not have lights. Jimmy Smith lived behind the ole' hotel out there, and he had never seen lights or lamps. The finally got the REA. BM: Behind the old hotel? NI: He lived behind the hotel on Texas Avenue there that's a dormitory now. BM: Oh, okay! OI: Used to be the Ramada Inn. Joe Ferrey ran it then. BM: Harry Gereski's daddy used to live up there on that hill. This fellow lived behind him you said. There were some houses up there behind him? OI: Small houses, rent houses. Jim and Corrine lived in one of them, and they did not have light electric light. BM: Is that right? NI: After we married we went out to visits, and they had kerosene lights. BM: Kerosene lights. OI: The city of Bryan finally got REA and they got lights. They had lights on the campus because the campus had their own power plant, but not outside the campus. BM: Well, that big house of Geriski's did it have power too? OI: I can't remember. BM: I say a big house, it seemed big to me, but we were kids you know? OI: Yeah. 27 BM: That was ole' Terry's daddy who owned that when Terry was a barber. OI: You see when I came to Bryan the highway wasn't open from here to Navasota you had to go by Wellborn and Millican to get to Navasota and Houston. BM: That's right. OI: But they later opened it. BM: That turned the college around it faced east instead of west. OI: We've seen a lot of changes in Bryan. NI: That building, when we first came to College Station, the main building that faces the highway was brand new. BM: It was built in '32 that's right. That's when they were turning it around. NI: I thought that was the prettiest building I ever saw. I had a relative that taught school, she was an old maid, all she ever did was teach school. One time she came to visit us, and of course everybody who came to visit me after I got married that's what they wanted to see was AEM College. She thought that was the most beautiful thing. She said everyone in the state of Texas should see A &M College. It was a state school you know. 28 OI: Bryan college was Tess than 10,000 when we came here. 10,000 population. It had three banks, and they was all less than one block from each other down there. After W.W.II. BM: That's right. First National, City National, and First Bank and Trust were all lined up there together. City National had the clock out on the corner. Time goes by. OI: A lot of changes. BM: Well listen we'll write this up and send you a copy of it and yall can make whatever changes you want to to it, or add to it. 29