I was born on April 20, 1910 in Hoosier Prairie, IL, southeast of Louisville. I was the seventh child of Hiram and Mary Cooper. Two boys and four girls were older than I. The oldest was Nelly Mae, then Olie Ethel, Nora Rina, Pansy Belle, William Alexander, and Joe Sirus.

We lived in a two room house which set on a hill ¼ mile from the river. The roof of the house was wooden shingles. My mother took in three orphan brothers, John, Walter, and Lemuel Bryant. They lived with us a good many years, especially in the winter months.

My dad made a living by driving a “huskrey” wagon (groceries), drawn by a horse. In the winter months, dad stayed in St. Louis.

The earliest thing I can remember is having beds in one of the larger rooms. My mom cooked on a wood stove and washed on a scrub board using water carried in a wooden bucket up the hill from the river to the house.

Most of our meals were cornbread. Mom would dig frozen potatoes from the ground and fry them up for all of us. We had sweet milk most of the time, that she put in a bucket and kept in the well to keep it cool. We also had lots of wild onions in the summertime. Sometimes she would carry laundry down to the river, build a big fire to heat the water, and fish while waiting on the water to get hot.

I had two dolls and I would take a shoe box, put a hole in one end, put a string in it, and pull the dolls up and down the old dirt road. I’d sit them under a shade tree and pretend to be in church.

The only big doll I had was one my dad brought from St. Louis. I thought it was a real baby. I stood and peeled the limbs off one of mom’s rose bushes until it died, because I thought this doll was a real baby. Then one day, my brother Joe and I were playing on the floor with the doll. He told me to bite the doll’s fingernails off and they’d grow back. Old dumb me, I did, but they sure never grew back.

I went to Rayburn school, which was a mile and a half away. We all walked, wore long handled underwear, bloomers, and long, dark socks. I mostly had a Mother Hubbard dress, buttoned in the back.

The school was only one large room with a large wood stove in the back of the room. I attended the 1st grade to 8th grade. The final exam was held at Sailor Springs, but I didn’t have a new dress to wear, so I didn’t go take the exam.

One day I stopped by my girlfriend’s home on my way to school. They had a box of cereal and I had no idea what it was. I figured they were rich after I found out it was cereal.

So I was born poor, stayed poor, and am still poor – thank God!

When I carried my lunch in a half gallon syrup bucket, it was a cold biscuit and fried eggs. Mom would make curly Q’s on top of my pail with her thumb so I would know which one was mine. She was very patient.

I remember that almost every day, mom would say, “We’re going fishing”. She would grab cold cornbread and pick wild onions on the way to the river. We’d stay most of the day.

Once a year, my dad’s family would come on the 4th of July. We made home made ice cream for their visit.

The first cap and sweater I ever had was given to me by my Uncle Lafe for feeding and watering his dogs while he was at work. In the winter, Uncle Lafe would walk from our house to Flora, going through the country, and carry home 50 pounds of flour and lard.

My mom would take me and my sister to church sometimes. The church was in people’s homes and they would have lady preachers. I remember one day when a lady was making bread and someone told her, “the Lord has called on you to preach.” She wiped the flour off her hands and preached. They used to baptize people east of Moores – Mill Bridge.

My dad used to go to Louisville for groceries once a month. At Christmas, we were lucky to have a stick of peppermint candy. At Easter, the big boys would cook eggs in the woods.

My mom would cut a grape vine and put a container under it. She’d then use the juice or drippings in my hair. She also rinsed my hair in coffee to keep it dark and help get the tangles out.

Mom also made Lye Soap and skinned white corn to make hominy.

We had no fans at our house. When someone came in to eat, the adults would take turns fanning with a cloth to keep flies away while the others ate.

When I was about 5 years old, my mom took me to a neighbor’s house to get some milk. The lady gave me a biscuit with some butter on it. I took only one bite and the biscuit was so bitter that I licked the butter off and threw the biscuit underneath the house. When they found it, I got in trouble.

One day, I didn’t have much to play with, so I was playing with an old newspaper. My dad came in from the outside carrying a man’s mitten. He said “Sister, hold your lap and I’ll give you something.” I was thrilled, thinking it would be something to play with. He then dropped several baby mice into my lap. They had no eyes or hair. To this day, I’m afraid of mice. I shiver when I think about it yet today.

My sister Rena came by our house and I cried to go home with her. My mom said no. So I went into the kitchen, found a broken piece of glass and slit the new tablecloth my mom hadn’t had too long. Again, I was in trouble (That was temper, temper.)

Another memory I have is of a dog we had. It was having a fit one day and ran into the house. I ran outside and climbed up on top of the chicken house. My dad penned the dog up and told me to come down. I said, “No, I won’t do it.” But boy when I did come down, I really got it from him. Now that’s back in the good old days when parents could make their kids mind. Not like the 90’s.

When I was in school once, they predicted that the world was coming to an end on a certain day. I played sick so I could stay home with mommy. I wanted to die when she did because I didn’t know what would happen to me.

When I was 7 years old, my dad and I would hoe corn for 25cents a day. We worked for Dan Cottongain in the river bottoms. Around the same time, my dad was using a double shovel pulled by two horses. Dad was almost blind, so I had to sit on the double shovel with him to help him guide the horses.

Once summer, the farmers were saddened with a drought. All the crops wee lost, so all of us kids had to pull percely weeds to feed the mules. There was no corn, no hay, nothing for the mules to eat. They got so weak because the weeds didn’t nourish them enough. We couldn’t use them to work the fields for a long time, so my folks finally had to sell them.

One day, 14 of us were in a wagon going up a hill, and my sister Pansy fell out. She was ran over by one of the wheels.

I also remember my Aunt Bell McKenny was sick, so my mom, Pansy, and I walked from our house to Flora to see her. We spent the night, then walked back home the next day.

When I was a little older, a whole bunch of us would ride horses from our house to Sailor Springs to church.

My mom, sisters, and I all smoked clay pipes with homegrown tobacco.

When I was 12 years old, I baby sat in Flora for Mr. and Mrs. Earl Slade. I watched their two boys and canned apples for $1.00 a week. Then at 13, I went to work at the Sexton sewing factory. I was allowed to work only three hours a day because of my age.

Alto and Anna Greenwood - Newlyweds

Once Alto bought a battery operated radio. When he turned it on, my mom said, “Now that’s impossible. No one’s voice can come over a wire. You are trying to fool me.”

I met Alto in Flora. He was driving a tractor, and I was on a load of wood which Clyda and Rena Salter were pulling with two mules. He had lost his funnel which he needed to put gas in his tractor. We got to talking, then he went to Rena’s house. We started going out occasionally. One Easter, I was in the car with Clyda and Rena and they stopped and got Alto. We dated steady for the next four years, then Alto got us a marriage license.

One night he said, “We’re going to have to use this license or it will run out.” Alonzo Fitzgerald, my nephew, was at the show and Alto had him called out to be a witness to our wedding. We drove about two miles out of town to a preacher, Timothy Scheetz. It was 9:30 and we woke him up. The date was October 15, 1928. He and his wife came downstairs. She put on a white tie apron so she could be a witness. The preacher told us to stand parallel with the long boards on the floor and it would be a long marriage. It worked!

Pa worked at the Flora Light Plant unloading coal for 15cents a ton. I worked at the Sexton Sewing factory.

We didn’t get to live together for about two weeks. I lived at home, and he lived with his mother. My mom was in bed sick and found out we were married. She called me over to the bed and said, “Now if you’re married, his place is here with you.” So he moved in. That was on Mill street.

Alto helped me care for mother. We lived upstairs and only had a leather couch and a small coal stove. My sister Olie also lived there. I cooked for my mom, dad, Alto, Olie, and myself. I would sneak up to the ice cream parlor after work and get Alto ice cream, then take it to him at the Light Plant.

My mother passed away shortly after that, and I was four months pregnant. Alto and I moved out and got a small house on Shady street.

Alto got a job at the furniture factory for more money. Ranard was born September 18, 1929. He was our first born, and was born at home. Dr. Howard Dillman delivered him. The day he was born, the factory called me to see if I could come to work. I told them that I didn’t think so because I was having a baby. Rena and Grandma Nelson helped with delivering the baby. My sister Pansy stayed with me after ranard was born and built a fire in the laundry stove to do our washing. Pansy kept Ranard so I could go back to work after about six months. I’d go home on my lunch hour to let Ranard nurse.

I worked there about two years and got pregnant with Pete. He was born on our third anniversary, October 15, 1931. Dr. Finch delivered him at our house on East Fourth street. When Pete was born, it was noon time. The school kids were going along. The doctor got there five minutes before the baby came. The doctor bragged on what a nice, clean bed I had all ready. Violet nelson and Rena cleaned up Pete when he was born. I never went back to work.

My third baby came along three years later, a girl, Bonnie, was born October 28, 1933. Dr. Finch also delivered her. Pansy helped me with my work until I got back on my feet. Bonnie had colic real bad for the first nine months.

We moved to Karr street in White City where our second daughter was born. It was a real windy March day. There was a little snow on the ground. Wilma was born March 11, 1936. In that house, there was only room for one person to get in beside the bed. The same doctor delivered her. I used Alto’s handkerchiefs for diapers, she was so small. Olie stayed with me until I could care for the rest of my family. The day Wilma was born, we could hardly keep the stove going because of the wind.

After a while, we moved to a house in the 500 block of East Fourth. Then came my third daughter Elizabeth after three years. The same doctor delivered her. She was born on June 17, 1939. She was my first red head. The doctor said, “Alto, there is something wrong here.”

Before Elizabeth was born, I went outside and Clyda Salter, my neighbor, was setting out sweet potato plants. I let Alto name her because I’d run out of names. Henamed her after one of his old girlfriends. When I was in bed with this baby, Wilma cut her foot really bad and couldn’t walk for about three weeks. My dad stayed with me then until I could be up and around.

We moved up the street to 414 East 4th. By this time, Alto got on the B & O Railroad. The next child was a boy. He was born July 28, 1942. Same doctor, another red head named Eldon. When he was born, Alto’s sister went to find him at work to tell him the baby was coming. When she told him, he jumped off the hand car while it was moving and hurried home. Each one got more exciting. Two of my sisters, Rena and Pansy helped me. We never moved after that. We started buying the house.

After about two years, another baby came. The same doctor delivered Sherri on July 26, 1944. Sherri was a blonde. We hired Flossie Wyatt to stay with me. While Flossie was making gooseberry pie, Pete got burned because it boiled over on his foot.

The last child was born two years later. bill was born December 21, 1946. He too was blonde. The doctor said I'd have to have a blood test. It was the state law, and he didn't have me take it before bill was born. That year, Pete played Santa Claus. He came and touched me - I was in the front room, in bed. This baby cost $36.

The Greenwood Children -

L-R : Ranard, Pete, Eldon (Duck), Bill, Bonnie, Wilma, Elizabeth, and Sharon

When Bill was about three years old, I took my first and only family vacation. We took all the kids, packed our lunch, and took the train (Puddle Jumper) to Springfield. We got the tickets free because Alto still worked for the railroad. We left at 5 a.m. it was a one day vacation. While we were there, we walked 22 blocks to the park carrying our picnic lunch.

One of the boys had milk in a pop bottle and it spoiled while we were there.

Alto was sick a lot through the years. He had a ruptured disc in his back, he was in Olney hospital with ulcers, he was in Decatur hospital, and in Effingham with a bowel problem. he had several feet of his bowel removed. When he was working at Valley Steel, he had a bad heart attack. After retiring from there, he worked on Green Thumb at Johnsonville Lake until he got sick again. This time, it was cancer.

Alto also worked at WPA. We had four children then. Galen Border was his boss. My sister mary and some other ladies worked over at Sudamore store, making dresses for the WPA wives. All the women dressed alike. The dresses were all gray and white stripe made on the same pattern. So everyone in town knew by their dress where men worked.

When Ranard started first grade, we lived in White City on the south side of Flora. He had to walk to McEndree school by himself since we didn't have a car, and I had to stay at home with the little ones. He had to cross the railroad tracks (no lights or gates then) and the highway. I remember seeing his little head bobble up and down until he got out of sight. The weeds were so high and of course, he was pretty short.

My dad took Pete to McLaughton's store and Pete wanted this little red wagon. My dad, having no money, went in and charged it to Alto. Pay day came, and Alto went in and paid the $1.50 for it. My dad said, "By golly, he got his little red wagon."

When Liz was about 5 years old, Bonnie took her on a bike ride. Somehow, she got her heel caught in the spokes of the bike and cut her heel almost off. She had to crawl around several months. Alto made her a cute little pair of crutches.

When Sharon was small, she and Duck were playing outside. Duck threw a can lid and cut Sharon's head really bad.

One day just before time for school to start, our neighbor John Nelson came over and said he and his wife Violet would like to buy Duck's clothes for school. They got everything he needed, socks, shoes, and all. They were good neighbors.

When we bought the house where i live now, we paid $8.00 a month. We bought it from Mrs. Lancroft and paid $800. We had just a few payments to go when John Nelson told us to go get a note and finish paying it off. We only owed about $150 by then. It had no front or back porch, the living room was made of logs, and there wasn't any running water, electrcity, or a bathroom. We added two porches, floors, and a bathroom.

The youngest boy, Bill had just finished first grade when we took in our grandson, Dickey, to raise. he was four months old then. Dick would play with his little cars. He'd kneel down beside the bed in front of the fan because we didn't have air conditioning then.

I had Tommy Joe, Dick's brother, for nine months. Id have to tie him to my waist when I hung up clothes or he would run away.

A few months after Alto retired from Green Thumb, he started pitching washers. He got in several tournaments and did real good. Then he got most of his boys and grandsons interested. About every placed they pitched, it seemed like one of the Greenwoods bought home money and a trophy. Pa loved to pitch washers and enjoyed it until he wasn't able to do it anymore. One place they went, they had to pitch with light from oil lamps. He won that year too.

Pa passed away in August, 1977. I started to work with green Thumb on September 12, 1977. I worked until I was 80 years old, and some of my kids thought I needed to retire.

That's what I did.