Turning Points

It was the year 1932, eggs were seven cents dozen, bread was eight cents a loaf, and gasoline eighteen cents per gallon. These prices seemed very high to Arlie Clarence and Ethel Rose Brown. The Brown’s and all of America were coming out of the great depression. On October 22, 1932, their family had just become a family of 5 and what was to become a family of eight. This new arrival number 5 was born 5 years to the day from the last of the first 4 in the family and since I was the new kid in the family I received much attention and love from the four older children. In those days, in the Ozark Mountains nearly everyone was called by their first two names as Margie Lee, Lowell Lavern and in my case; I was named by the family as Billy Dean. This stuck and was used by family, friends, and classmates up until high school when I thought the Billy part of the name was a bit sissy primarily because there was a girl in school who was named Billie Ruth. I, at that age, wanted to be a little more of a macho guy and requested my family call me by my middle name. The name Dean has been my favorite and the way I officially conduct business even to this day.

In those early days, we children learned to work together as a team. We watched over each other, worked together, supported, and encouraged each other in the family just like a successful sports team would do. It seemed all right for us to argue or fight among ourselves as long as mom and dad weren’t around, however, no one outside of the brother and sister circle dared to pick on a sibling or they would have the other seven highly involved in the fight. Eight to one odds usually corrected all challenges.

There were no jobs, no money; we were very poor mountain folk. In other words, we were “Big on Love and Short on Money”. We lived on a 155 acre farm which my dad purchased for $500 but wasn’t able to pay for it until much later in life. Nearly everything needed, with the exception of coffee and sugar, was grown on the farm by the family. Wheat and Corn was taken to the mill to be ground, and with no money to pay the mill operator, trading a portion of the ground wheat flour and cornmeal was the accepted practice to pay the operator for his services. The flour and cornmeal supplied the daily and yearly ingredients needed for baking biscuits and corn bread. A one acre garden supplied potatoes, beans, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and all the vegetables needed for our large family. Fresh vegetables for the summer season and large amounts of canned vegetables went in the cellar to take the family through the fall, winter, and spring months. Milk, eggs, and meat were present by growing animals on the farm. Pork was the main source of meat because it could be smoked to preserve it making it safe for consuming throughout the year. The processing of the meat was done by family members on the farm. Potatoes were put in a hand dug trench three feet deep sprinkled with lime then covered with straw followed by soil. This method of preventing the potatoes from spoiling during the winter months worked well for the Brown family.