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Podcast

Memories Podcast

Katheryne Dollar, director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program in association with the Natchitoches Area Action Association arranged interviews with senior citizens around the parish. The interviews were conducted between 1971 and 1974 by David Dollar. Recordings were originally aired on KNOC Radio.

Episodes

3. Alonzo Plummer (1893 - 1980) Part II

Transcript

David Dollar: Hello again. In case you just joined us. I'm David Dollar. We're going to visit this morning again with Mr. Alonzo Plumber. I think we're going to try to talk a little bit about education this morning. So Mr. Plumber, why don't you take it from there and do what you will with it? Alonzo Plumber: Oh, okay. Well, I'm going back to Nebo again. David Dollar: Good. Alonzo Plumber: There was a typical thing that happened that's probably... You wouldn't, most of you understand the sanitary facilities that had to do with that school, it was very simple and natural. The boys had the north side of the road and the girls, the south side in the woods. This except for the fact that most of them didn't have a creek to use for refrigeration purposes, this was a typical country school. I would say over the south, not just in Louisiana, but over the south. My mother and father realized, they were ambitious for us. And they realized that the facilities there were altogether inadequate. And they had read of this normal school at Natchitoches and decided to move to Natchitoches. So the family moved in 19 and three to 110 Casbury Street there in Natchitoches ... Normal Hill, as it was called at that time. And as Louisiana state normal school didn't have one brick building on it. Every building was a wooden building. The two buildings that housed the classrooms and other educational facilities, one of them was about in the position that the old science building that burned down was in and the other just across the driveway from it was known as a model school. And that model school took in from the beginners up to oh, about seventh or eighth grade. And that was the only school below the normal level, except for a short time, Mr. Greeno ran a private school on... In the position that's now occupied by the parking lot that is provided by the police jury here in this parish. David Dollar: Right? Right. Alonzo Plumber: I came to school here, entered the third grade was a miss Henrietta Lewis as teacher. I think all of us loved Ms. Lewis. She was a fine person. I was in school here for then continuously for five years. We had this advantage and the organization and the school was such that it was in four months terms and there were three, four months terms in a year. And we could go to school 12 months in the year. Well, a part of the time I did that. And the part of the time I worked during the summer, even as a child. David Dollar: This allowed the children to help their parents then doing crops and things like that during the rotation series. Alonzo Plumber: My family lived here in Gnatcatchers. The crop situation didn't come into the picture for us, but it. David Dollar: It did for some others, then. Alonzo Plumber: It did for some of the people. However, I'll say that to emphasize the fact that most of the schools outside of the centers, the wealthier centers of population, or these little one room schools there was at the time and it existed for a number of years after we came here in 19 and three, there was a school that's now on very near where the valley electric company is. That close end operated a one room. David Dollar: Well I'll be darned. Mr. Plumber, let me interrupt you right here. We've got to take a commercial break right now. A little word from our sponsors, the folks at People's Bank and Trust Company. In case you just joined us. This is David dollar. We're visit visiting this morning again with Mr. Alonzo Plumber on memories. Mr. Plumber, we've been talking a little bit about education. Why don't we skip just a few years after you left the normal school here, when you yourself began teaching. Why don't you start there with it? Alonzo Plumber: Well, that was [inaudible 00:06:17] considerably in 19 and eight at the mature age of 15, I was a teacher in one of those little one room schools down close to Bichico in what was then St. Landry Parish. It's now Evangeline Parish. I began the process then, the next year I didn't go to school. And then the following year during the summer, I had ... I happened to be in one of the classes taught by Mr. D.G. Lonsberry, who was superintendent of schools in east Louisiana Parish. Well, the state had become more involved in public education, and they were promoting consolidation of these country schools. So he offered me the principalship of the Bluff Creek Consolidated School in east Louisiana Parish. David Dollar: And how old were you at this time? Alonzo Plumber: I was 17 at that time. David Dollar: 17 and a principal? Alonzo Plumber: That's right. David Dollar: My goodness. Alonzo Plumber: And the faculty, three besides myself, the oldest one of them was 19. And they had come up somewhat in the same fashion that I had. David Dollar: What was one of the reasons that the state was pushing for this consolidated school now? Alonzo Plumber: Well, there were many reasons people could readily see that the one room school was not the answer. The thing that retarded that thing the more was roads and transportation. David Dollar: Transportation. I can understand that. Alonzo Plumber: And they were very, very ... well, in fact, no improved roads, you might say, in the state. In fact, right here in Gnatcatchers Parish. When I came to Gnatcatchers there was not an improved road running into Gnatcatchers. Not a one. I don't mean even a gravel road. David Dollar: Even with the college here? Alonzo Plumber: That's right. David Dollar: Not a road? My goodness. Alonzo Plumber: Not a one. And the original pavement on Front Street was going on, and that was the first piece of pavement in the city of Natchitoches. David Dollar: My goodness. Alonzo Plumber: That was in 19 and three. David Dollar: So you were in about 19... What? Eight or 10 or so? Something like that. You were teaching as well as coming back to normal here, working on your degree, is that true? Alonzo Plumber: Well, we didn't think about degrees then the old normal was not a college and that is it. Wasn't a four year college that offered a degree. But I was alternating teaching ... David Dollar: An education, yourself? Being a teacher and a student and a principal all at the same time? Alonzo Plumber: Yeah, that's right. Going on. David Dollar: That's pretty unique. Let me interrupt you one more time for a commercial message from our sponsors this morning, People's Bank and Trust Company. We'll be right back. Mr. Plumber. We like to close our programs with a closing memory. If you've got something you can share with us, why don't you do that at this time? Alonzo Plumber: This sticks in my memory, I don't know that it's significant from any very ... a great point of view, but I remember a student who felt like always that he was being picked on. And he was a regular problem. The boys wanted to be nice to him, but, you know, they would pick at him a little. And I remember one incident, Victor connected with it. He had got him a new Topco. Very proud of it. And in coming downstairs for a recess period, the boys, a number of them had taken their finger in mark... that is put pressure up and down his back. And the others would say, well, now I wouldn't mark that boy up like that. I just wouldn't ruin his coat by putting praying marks all over it. So he came in tears to me, down in the office telling that tale. And I said, well, and he was sincere in it. I said, now that's pretty bad, but are you sure? I had seen the back of his coat and he had. Are you sure that they did that? Oh, yes. I sure. Well, I had him take off his coat and hanging up on the [inaudible 00:11:39] there in the office was back toward him. And he saw it. Well, he just liked to fainted. David Dollar: Cause he ... Alonzo Plumber: And he had... it brought the whole picture to him about the type of thing that he had been doing that caused him not to get along well with people. David Dollar: Well, I... Alonzo Plumber: And he was pretty much of a changed person. David Dollar: Well, that's great. Things are not always what we think they are. Are they? Alonzo Plumber: They sure are. David Dollar: So that's a lesson that we all could learn. We'd like to, to thank you, Mr. Plumber for joining us again today on Memories. If you folks enjoyed the show today, if you were listening, why don't you let the folks at People's Bank know about it?

Mr. Plummer is a regular guest on Memories. He talks about his time in school, at Normal College (present day Northwestern State). He also discusses his time in elementary school and how it differs from the school schedules today.

2. Alonzo Plummer (1893 - 1980)

Transcript

David Dollar: Hi. In case you just joined us, this is David Dollar. We're going to visit this morning with Mr. Alonzo Plummer of [inaudible 00:00:07] on Memories. Mr. Plummer, why don't you start things off, just tell us a little bit about yourself? Alonzo Plummer: Well, to begin with my father, Allen Leroy Plummer, was a Civil War veteran. My mother was Nora Squyres. They married when he was 40 and she 20. There are four of us of the family. This was at Summerville. I was born at Summerville, Louisiana in 1893. In 1896, my family moved to the community of Nebo near Catahoula Lake over in what is now La Salle parish. The home in which we moved was quite a contrast from what we had previously lived in. It had begun with a log house and been repaired and redone until you would hardly recognize what it was, but it turned out to be a rather comfortable place. The big draw back there was mosquitoes. We had to sleep under bars, that is nets that were to keep the mosquitoes out. I had malaria at the time. My father was principally engaged, at that time, in raising cows. He had previously been a teacher in one room schools over the area. The ill health of my mother had caused him to take up an occupation where you could stay closer home, and he left that. At Nebo I went to school in a little one room school. It was a church house, really. Most of the rural schools in the area, I might say in the whole area of the South, rural schools were in church houses. In the South there was very little tax money left to look out for either schools or roads in this state due to the fact that Louisiana was one of the few states that didn't repudiate the Civil War debt, a big part of which was brought on by the carpet bagger regime in Louisiana and for years after the war. It's been in recent years. I remember the campaign of one Jared Y. Sanders for governor of Louisiana in which he had... One of the big issues of his campaign was to pay the debt. Pay the debt and get it over. David Dollar: Get it behind us. Alonzo Plummer: Yeah, get it behind us. David Dollar: Just a matter of curiosity, was he elected? Alonzo Plummer: Yes, he was elected. David Dollar: He was? That was before my time a little bit I'm afraid. Alonzo Plummer: Yeah, he was elected. David Dollar: Well, I'll be. Alonzo Plummer: Something about the school. Our school was unique in one respect, and that was in what we might call now refrigeration. We didn't see it was refrigeration then, but to a degree it was refrigeration. A very beautiful cold water, clear spring creek passed right by the door. Most of the children, in fact, I think all of us took milk to school. We put it in bottles, put a string around the bottle and put it around our necks as a convenience to carry it. When we got to the school house we tied it to a root in a tree next to the creek and it stayed in there and it was nice and fresh. David Dollar: It stayed real cold, huh? Alonzo Plummer: It stayed nice and fresh. So, we had a pretty good lunch. I'll give you a few things with reference to the activities within the school. One of the things, a little incident that illustrates something of what was going on happened to me. We were studying geography, and the geographies at that time were illustrated and then just questions asked. For instance, land forms. They asked what was an island? And what was an isthmus? And so on. We stood up, most of us barefooted, and you can imagine a line of people standing up toeing a crack across the building and standing up there just as erect as we could be. The teacher asked those questions as they were in that book and we were supposed to answer them verbatim according to what was in the book. Well, a question came to me as to what was an island? Well, all those words just flat wouldn't come to me. And I said, "Well, an island is a small body of land with water all around it." Well that wasn't acceptable at all. I passed it on to the next person and she knew it verbatim and she turned me down. We had a turning down process of going to the head and so on and standing the foot. So I got turned down on that, and the next thing that came around to me was, what was a continent? My answer was that it was a large body of land that had water all around it. Or almost all around it, but that wasn't any good. It was large body of land surrounded by, or almost surrounded by water. That was the wording. Well, I was turned down again and that meant that I spent my recess time- David Dollar: Studying geography [crosstalk 00:08:45]. Alonzo Plummer: Studying geography. But the humiliation of it was what really got me because it didn't take me any time. I remembered whoever turned me down, when they gave the right direction- David Dollar: Then you knew the answer [crosstalk 00:09:06]. Alonzo Plummer: I knew the answer already. David Dollar: Just a little bit late. I tell you what, Mr. Plummer, I don't want to turn you down or anything, but what I want do is interrupt right now for a commercial message from the folks that are bringing you Memories this morning, People's Bank & Trust Company. We'll be right back. This is David Dollar, again, on Memories. In case you just joined us, we're visiting this morning with Mr. Alonzo Plummer. Mr. Plummer, you mentioned something. When we were talking earlier, you seemed to be very knowledgeable about the Civil War. Why don't you tell us a little bit about some of your vested interest in the Civil War, and some things that went on when you were living over in Mansfield? Alonzo Plummer: Well, my people on both sides were very much involved in the Civil War. My father fought during the Civil War and the whole period through. He was discharged. I say discharged. They didn't give him a discharge. They gave him a parole at Vicksburg. No, at Mansfield, rather. Pardon me, at Mansfield in 1865. He had formerly been a member of Company A, 17th Louisiana Infantry. That organization was captured at Vicksburg when Vicksburg fell. But he didn't go in. He slipped out, got on a log on the Mississippi River and floated down to where he could get over in Louisiana, and he joined General Taylor's forces on the west side of the Mississippi River. That brought him to the Battle of Mansfield. Then in 1960, I became superintendent of the Mansfield Battle Park and Museum. The battle park was a part of the old battleground, and the museum contained relics of the battle and other Civil War relics. We didn't just stick to the things that were used at Mansfield. David Dollar: But the whole war, yeah. Alonzo Plummer: But the whole war. David Dollar: So they had somebody that was almost as good as firsthand, at least secondhand, having you there at the museum about that, because your own father was right there in that very battle. Alonzo Plummer: That's right. And I'll mention this. Before any marker or anything had ever been put up there, I passed along that road with him, and I didn't know anything about it then. I didn't know anything about even a battle having been fought right there. He looked around there and he said, "Well," he said, "Right here is where Dick Taylor whipped the hell out of Banks." And that was his- David Dollar: That was it. Alonzo Plummer: That was it. David Dollar: And he knew the spot. Well, Mr. Plummer, let me interrupt you one more time. We need to take one more short commercial break. We'll be right back on Memories this morning with Mr. Alonzo Plummer. Mr. Plummer, we like to close our program every week by having what we call a closing memory. If you've got something you'd like to share with us, why don't you go ahead now. Alonzo Plummer: Well, the thing that I would like to share with you is the most important decision of my life. In 19 and 16, I met Miss Ala Lee Joyce. In May of 19 and 17, I had had, my mother had been ill and I'd been in close attendance with her, and I didn't have much chance to go see anybody. But anyway, we worked our courtship along, and in May of 1916, 1917 rather, in May of 1917, we decided to make a life partnership under a shade tree out in front of their home at Campti. David Dollar: Well, I think that's a very fitting closing memory for our program. Thank you for sharing it with us. Mr. Alonzo Plummer was with us this morning on Memories.

Mr. Plummer is a regular guest on Memories. He talks about his time in school, at Normal College (present day Northwestern State). He also discusses his time in elementary school and how it differs from the school schedules today.

1. Ada Mallard Rachal (1898-1991)

Transcript

David Dollar: Hello again, David Dollar, this morning, visiting all memories with Ms. Ada Rachal. Ms. Rachal, we thank you for joining us today. Why don't we start things off with you telling us a little bit about yourself and your family and some history and things. Ada Rachal: Thank you. David Dollar: Okay. Ada Rachal: My father was named Nester Greeter, either your own layer styles, and they had quite a big family. They married, they lived together until death, for around 60 some years. David Dollar: Oh goodness. Where were they living at the time? In other words where- Ada Rachal: Right about in this neighborhood. Never did move far away until later. David Dollar: Right around Shady Grove, huh? Ada Rachal: Around Shady Grove, uh-huh (affirmative). He reared a big family. My mother was the mother of 18 children. David Dollar: Ooh, goodness. Ada Rachal: Five sets twins. David Dollar: Five sets of twins. Ada Rachal: Five sets of twins and four sets of- David Dollar: My goodness. Ada Rachal: Four sets of twins in succession. David Dollar: I can't believe that. Ada Rachal: It's real, though. It's real. David Dollar: Goodness gracious. Ada Rachal: Five sets of twins. And she had 18 children. And I'm thankful to say that reared, those children, and none of us are that in no serious trouble, and never had to go to jail. David Dollar: My goodness. Just by odds alone, out of 18 people, you could just about say, one of them at least, was going to get into some kind of trouble. Ada Rachal: That's right. David Dollar: But y'all managed to stay out of it. Well that's good. Ada Rachal: I always said I loved my daddy. I loved both of them. I love my daddy. He was very interested in children learning to read the Bible. He couldn't read other books. But the Bible, he could really read it. And he had a big dining table, he'll sit with us around the table two or three times a week, and how he got all the testaments he had, and the Bible story books, I don't know how he got them, but he had them. And he was sitting with us around the table and have us all read with him. Learning how to read the Bible. And he would explain it to us. Made a pretty good living, or some may call it a hard time now what we went through, but we all appreciated the things that our parent doing to us. David Dollar: Oh I bet so. Ada Rachal: And grow the nice crop, and planted peas and corn, and everything. David Dollar: What all were they growing then? Just things for, like vegetables or doing cotton too? Ada Rachal: Cotton, too. Big, big cotton crops. And we worked in the field. I learned to use every plow the boy use. David Dollar: Oh goodness. Ada Rachal: I plowed along with the boys. David Dollar: So there wasn't that much difference between the children there. Ada Rachal: It wasn't. The girls and the boys worked together. David Dollar: Not boys doing this and girls doing that, you did whatever needed to be done. Ada Rachal: You did whatever they done. Cut wood whole, pick cotton, plow, do all of those things. David Dollar: Goodness gracious. Ada Rachal: And I loved it. My mother was very conscious about seeing that we had a plenty to eat, regardless of what it was. If it was nothing but peas and bread. David Dollar: There's going to be enough of it there. Ada Rachal: Plenty of that. David Dollar: Right. Ada Rachal: And she was very careful in dealing with the children, wouldn't just treat one. She was a good seamstress. She could sew, make clothes on her fingers and do things like that. But the real thing that I loved to do was to go to school whenever I could, whenever that we had school. We didn't have but three months of school. David Dollar: Oh yeah? Ada Rachal: Uh-huh (affirmative). David Dollar: When did you have school? How old were you when you first started? Ada Rachal: I was six years old. David Dollar: Six, okay. Ada Rachal: I was six, mm-hmmm. David Dollar: And where was the school? Here in the community? Ada Rachal: Here in the community. Up there around [inaudible 00:03:38]. And we go to school. We go from old houses where it wasn't nobody living in. And we'd have school in a old house and in the church house. David Dollar: What about the teacher? Where did he or she come from? Ada Rachal: Oh, well maybe out of town, somewhere like that. David Dollar: I know I've heard, talked to several folks around here and other places, too, how the parents would have to get together and get up the money to hire the teachers. Ada Rachal: That's right. Sometimes. So we have public school. If it's got to be three months and if their parents seeing that they need children back in the crops, they would take them back in the crop. Maybe one of the trustees go in and talk with the school board member and tell them that they the need the children back in school, call it the vines and weed growing up in the corn and need to week it out. David Dollar: So they kind of worked with the teacher and the school board, too. Ada Rachal: Oh, they did. They did. We worked together. David Dollar: Well that's good. Ada Rachal: We went to school and I did love to go to school. I learned many songs in school. David Dollar: Oh yeah, like to sing. Ada Rachal: Just like to sing. We've had many different recreations of concerts, you know, have concerts, some called drill. David Dollar: Now wait. Tell me about these concerts. Do you remember any, you know, really well that you could kind of tell me about or tell all of them? Ada Rachal: So yeah. See we'd have a different...we'd have bloom drills in the concert or you the band drill. Or sometimes we have a flag drill and representing the United States. We'd have a flag drill. David Dollar: What did you do in these concerts and drills? Ada Rachal: Well, we'd go around in circles and go round when [inaudible 00:05:27] come in, he'd make it very beautiful. Look like it was very following. You know, you're going around. David Dollar: Kind of marching around. Ada Rachal: Kind of marching around. David Dollar: Yeah. Ada Rachal: Some go one way, some go, then they meet and get together and go around again. It was beautiful. David Dollar: Who drew all these together? Who put them together? Ada Rachal: The teacher. David Dollar: The teacher did. Well, my goodness. Kind of like the marching bands today, like at football games. Ada Rachal: That's right, that's right. Something like that. David Dollar: So y'all were doing that, huh? Ada Rachal: That's right, we were doing that, in fact sometimes I look at it now I say, "Oh, we used to do something like that." But wasn't using decent instruments at that time, we'd be singing. We didn't have no band and nothing to play. But we would sing and keep music with that way. You know, it makes me very instrumental, and I love that. And I still have some poems that I still remember, that I said when I was going to school. David Dollar: Can you remember one you can tell us right now? You remember? Why don't you do that? Ada Rachal: After school and I got married when I was 17 years old. And I had done said this speech before. And so, "I know a wee couple that live in a tree, and in they high branches, their home you could see. The bright summer came, and the bright summer went. Their [inaudible 00:06:36] gone, but they never paid rent. The parlor, whose lined, it was the softest of wool. That kitchen was warm, and their pantry was full. Three little babes peeped out at the skies, you never saw darlings so pretty and shy. When winter came on with his frost and his snow, they cared not a bit if they heard the wind blow. All wrapped in fur they all lie down to sleep, but always spring how the bright eyes will peep." David Dollar: Oh yeah. Well that is might good. When did you learn that? Ada Rachal: Oh, I learned that when I was about 15 years old. David Dollar: You've got quite a memory there. Ada Rachal: Oh, about 15 years old or whatever would go on in school, I would kind of keep it in mind and then songs I kept them wrote down, On the Blue Ridge Mountain of Virginia, Come on Nancy and Put Your Best Dress On. And another one, let's see, it's I Have Friend Far Away, Far Away. David Dollar: Just all of them. You really enjoyed all of that. Ada Rachal: Mandalay, Mandalay. Yes, I enjoyed all that. I rehearsed it very much after I was married. David Dollar: I'll tell you what we need to take a short commercial break right here. We'll be right back visiting with Ms. Ada, Rachal this morning, right after our message from People's Bank and Trust Company, our sponsor. Hello, once again, in case you've just joined us David Dollar, today down in Shady Grove, visiting with Ms. Ada Rachal. Ms. Rachal, we've been talking about school and work and family, and all that. I'd like to ask you a little bit more about the family. Now, when was it that you were born and how did, how are you age-wise in relations to your brother and sisters, all 18 of them or 17 others, I guess Ada Rachal: Well I was born in March 17, 1898. David Dollar: 1898, okay. Ada Rachal: 1898. And it was about five older than me. And I was a twin, my twin is still living. He's living in San Francisco. David Dollar: Well I'll be. Ada Rachal: His name is Lee [inaudible 00:08:49]. David Dollar: I see. Ada Rachal: And we was a set of twins. Five sets. And I was one of them. David Dollar: So you had all these twins. Was it very much trouble for your mother or for you keeping up with twins, aren't two new babies a lot harder to keep up with than one new baby? Ada Rachal: It didn't seem like it was hard because always some older. It's about three or four was older than the first set of twins. Then we would take care of the baby- David Dollar: So your mom always had help. Ada Rachal: Had help. We would take care of them. And after I grew , around nine or 11 years old, well, that was my job taking care of the babies, too. And then cook and feed the babies and cook for my father and mother while he was at work. David Dollar: So you're an old hand- Ada Rachal: I'm an old hand. David Dollar: At keeping up with children and keeping house, and- Ada Rachal: Then I did midwife work for about 41 years. David Dollar: Oh really? Ada Rachal: I did. David Dollar: Right around here? Ada Rachal: I delivered many babies around here, [inaudible 00:09:42]. David Dollar: Well, I'll be. Ada Rachal: I started working when I was 29 years old and I quit when I was 70. David Dollar: You had practice doing that, too, huh? Ada Rachal: It was just a gift God gave me. And then I had a book that I'd read and my mother a doctor book called A Family Book, and I read that book and learned how to do what it says how to treat them all, and they want to do. And I went about that. After going into the work, I got quite a bit of experience, and working with doctors, too, when they had to call the doctor in the home. And I worked right along with him. Man didn't need to tell me- David Dollar: Learned with him and help him. Ada Rachal: I worked so diligently with that, and loved the job so well to Dr. Reed, or from [inaudible 00:10:23] she says now, but he's wanted me to leave my work from home and follow him. Turned around said, "I'd make a registered nurse out of you." David Dollar: My goodness. Ada Rachal: And I was anxious to, but [inaudible 00:10:32] said, "No, I married you to take care of me and my business." So that's why I didn't go into that. [crosstalk 00:10:41]. David Dollar: Well that sure is interesting. Ada Rachal: I worked until I was 70. David Dollar: And without the up-to-date hospitals and transportation service we've got today, folks like you are very much needed in communities not real close to big hospitals like in [inaudible 00:10:55]. Lady had to have a baby, she couldn't get in the wagon and head for [inaudible 00:11:00]. Ada Rachal: Well at my age I would be very interested in helping out anywhere now. I loved it. I felt like that was my calling. David Dollar: I bet you help. A lot of people felt that was your calling to help them out and their babies. Ada Rachal: I'm sure I delivered around 500 babies. David Dollar: Oh goodness. That is something. Ms. Rachal, we're just about out of time Ada Rachal: And then in two or three families, I delivered all of their babies. David Dollar: The whole family, huh? Ada Rachal: They have 10 or 11 kids, and I delivered all of them. David Dollar: And you were there for all of them. Ada Rachal: That's right. David Dollar: Oh, goodness. Again, we're just about out of time. Let me ask you for your closing memory that you wanted me to remind you about your grandma. Why don't you tell us about that? Ada Rachal: Oh yes, I'll be glad to tell that. My grandmother, she was very good Christian woman. And she said God revealed to her that she had only five more years to live. Well she told that after the death of one of her grandchildren and she say, "Well, I got five more years to live." Said, "It has been revealed to me that I live five more years." And sure enough, at five years she passed. She had cancer. She had about five cancers, and she lived two years off and on, on the bed. And right up to the time she say she would leave us when she did. David Dollar: She knew what was going on. Ada Rachal: Yeah, she knew what was going on. I said, a person with a Christian experience, God do reveal things to them. And when we live close to Him, He's always with us and He will give us what to know, what He want us to do, and what's going to happen. David Dollar: Well, amen. That's a very fine closing memory and the whole visit this morning has been quite nice. And we thank you for sharing all this with us today. Ada Rachal: Yeah. Thank you. David Dollar: Okay.

Ada Rachal: Her father taught her how to read and interpret the Bible. She and her family use to work in the field farming. She remembers her time in school and got married when she was 17 and is fond of poetry. She is a former midwife.

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