INTERVIEW WITH
JACKIE HOPE PRICE
September 15, 2011 – Angela Bates, Interviewer
ANGELA: This is Angela Bates and today is Thursday, September 15, 2011 and I am here in the Nicodemus Historical Society Offices in the Priscilla Arts Club Building on the town site and I am here to interview Jackie Jones Hope. Jackie can you say your full name and spell it?
JACKIE: Okay my name is Jackie or Jacqueline J-A-C-Q-U-E-L-I-N-E Price is my maiden name, P-R-I-C-E and I am a part of the Jones family J-O-N-E-S and my last name now is Hope H-O-P-E.
ANGELA: Okay when is your birthday and how old are you?
JACKIE: 9/26/45 and I will be 66 next week.
ANGELA: Wow! Are you married, divorced, widowed or single?
JACKIE: I am divorced.
ANGELA: Okay so you were married. What was your husband’s name?
JACKIE: Let’s see my first husband’s name was Leonard Hope.
ANGELA: Is he the father of your children then?
JACKIE: Yes.
ANGELA: Okay that’s good.
JACKIE: And we were married 38 years.
ANGELA: And so your maiden name is?
JACKIE: Price.
ANGELA: Okay and when and where were you married?
JACKIE: I was married in Denver and I was married in 1961.
ANGELA: How many children do you have?
JACKIE: Five.
ANGELA: Five children and their names?
JACKIE: Steven, Leonard, Lennice, Roosevelt and Tanya.
ANGELA: And how do you spell Lannice?
JACKIE: Lennice.
ANGELA: Okay. Do your children live here?
JACKIE: Just Tanya.
ANGELA: And when I say here where do you live?
JACKIE: I live in Palco, Kansas.
ANGELA: Do you have any grandchildren?
JACKIE: I have six and five live here.
ANGELA: And their names are?
JACKIE: Dominique, Jordan, Janea, Leonard and Jericha.
ANGELA: Can you spell Janea?
JACKIE: Janea. J-A-N-E-A.
ANGELA: And the last one that you mentioned?
JACKIE: Jericha?
ANGELA: Yea, can you spell that please?
JACKIE: J-E-R-I-C-H-A.
ANGELA: Okay and who are your parents?
JACKIE: Margaret Price and Robert Price.
ANGELA: Okay. And your grandparents?
JACKIE: Mamie and Skylar Jones.
ANGELA: So you come down on the Mamie and Skylar Jones side?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: So that is how you are a descendant? Okay and any sisters and brothers?
JACKIE: I have one brother his name is Robert Price.
ANGELA: Is he still alive and where does he live?
JACKIE: Yes and he lives in Denver.
ANGELA: You live in Palco now, so prior to living in Palco where were you ?
JACKIE: In Denver.
ANGELA: How long had you lived in Denver then?
JACKIE: 60 some years!
ANGELA: So when did you move here?
JACKIE: I moved here three years ago.
ANGELA: It’s been three years? Oh my Lord. Wow. So you moved here three years ago. Why did you decided to move here?
JACKIE: I thought it would be better for my grand children because I am raising grand children and so it is just easier for them to be in a small rural surroundings than an urban one because there is so much stuff going on out there gangs and that kind of thing and I just want to get them away from that.
ANGELA: So you chose home huh?
JACKIE: Yes.
ANGELA: So you moved three years ago, and you have your grandchildren with you that you are raising?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: Who else in your family is living with you or moved down with you?
JACKIE: Well Tanya, their mother has moved down and then of course Amos Jackson.
ANGELA: So you guys all came down at the same time.
JACKIE: No, we didn’t all come down at the same time.
ANGELA: Did your daughter come down with you?
JACKIE: She came down a year and half later.
ANGELA: Okay. So you live in Palco. Why did you choose Palco?
JACKIE: Well I tried to get in Nicodemus. There was no lots for sale at the time so you know it was just easier to get into Palco.
ANGELA: But if you could of found a place here in Nicodemus this is where you would have selected?
JACKIE: I would have.
ANGELA: What kind of work do you do?
JACKIE: Right now I am doing home health and I have done home health. I took care of millionaires. I ran their household and what have you. Also I taught in public school and I was a day care supervisor. I went into the homes and taught daycare mothers how to take care of their children, what kind of activities for the kids and what have you, and also a community liaison between the schools and home.
ANGELA: But aren’t you also a cook?
JACKIE: Well yea (laughing) I cook. I done a lot of cooking and catering. Every year I would go do the Bob Hope Open in Palm Springs, and what have you.
ANGELA: Wow who taught you to cook?
JACKIE: Well I learned a lot of it from my grandmother.
ANGELA: From your grandmother who?
JACKIE: Mamie.
ANGELA: Mamie?
JACKIE: Mamie Jones.
ANGELA: How dID she teach you and when?
JACKIE: Well she taught me as a little girl and we did hands on kinds of things. She taught us how to dress chickens and wash them, how to make butter and bread and cakes and pies and those kinds of things and of course I went to school and I took Home Ec. I took also cake decorating, I took catering classes, I took nutrition, so I know a lot about cooking.
ANGELA: You grew up in Denver?
JACKIE: Yes.
ANGELA: Okay but then you would come to Nicodemus when?
JACKIE: I would come to Nicodemus every year. Actually I came to Kansas every summer as a little girl growing up and I would stay with my grandmother and we usually stayed about three months and then went back to Denver and then back to school.
ANGELA: And where was she living at?
JACKIE: She lived between Bogue and Hill City and so that’s…
ANGELA: So you spent time with her actually out at on her farm?
JACKIE: Right. On the farm, we learned how to milk cows and ride horses and the whole ball of wax.
ANGELA: You are grinning, so did you have a good time?
JACKIE: Yea, we had a great time! We did a lot of things my grandmother probably wouldn’t have approved of, but we did a lot of things there.
ANGELA: Who would come down with you?
JACKIE: My brother.
ANGELA: So it was you and your brother that would come?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: And you would spend the summer with them?
JACKIE: Yes we would spend the summer and we always looked forward to Homecoming as one of the biggest events of all. Of course we went to the church every Sunday with her.
ANGELA: Which church did she belong to?
JACKIE: She belonged to First Missionary Baptist.
ANGELA: Here in Nicodemus?
JACKIE: There in Nicodemus.
ANGELA: So you would come and go to church with her?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: Are you a Baptist now?
JACKIE: Now I amm I was a Pentecostal in Denver.
ANGELA: Okay so when you would come down when you were younger, so you would ride horses and be at the farm and she taught you how to cook. Did she teach you anything about any sewing skills like making quilts and those kinds of things?
JACKIE: Well you know I didn’t learn how to make quilts, although I know how to, we had some sewing and we, I belonged to 4-H with my cousins that was here and we would go to 4-H up in Hill City and we also went to Ms. Blanche White’s house too and we made aprons and skirts and things of that nature.
ANGELA: So you belonged to the 4-H when you came down?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: That’s neat. When I have interviewed other people they have talked about the 4-H and Ms. Blanche White and some of the activities and some of the stuff that she had them doing. So you got a chance to actually be mentored by your grandmother?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: What about your aunts and your uncles, did you have any interaction with them?
JACKIE: All the time in Denver there was two aunts there and one aunt in Colorado Springs and so we did a lot of things together. They taught me some cooking, professionals and Shirley cooks in a school system in Colorado Springs. My mom she was a nurse and she also cooked in a nursing home. She had her own nursing home and then Aunt Alta she was the cake decorator and what have you so. I got a lot of first hand experience.
ANGELA: Directly from the women?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: The women in your family?
JACKIE: And some of the men.
ANGELA: And some of the men?
JACKIE: Some of the men, Uncle Joe I can equate some of the things on Cajun food. I learned how to make gumbo from him which a lot of people can’t make it like we do, but I learned how to do that.
ANGELA: Did you learn how to do any canning? Did you watch your grandmother?
JACKIE: I watched my grandmother can and I do can and going to can this weekend!
ANGELA: You are going to can this week? What are you going to can?
JACKIE: I got peaches, I got plums and a few apples and I am going to…
ANGELA: Where did you get the fruit at?
JACKIE: I went to Denver and picked up some fruit and brought it back.
ANGELA: Colorado peaches?
JACKIE: Well you know they are not Colorado peaches. I didn’t buy any Colorado peaches because there wasn’t any there in Denver.
ANGELA: So you learned to can by your grandmother?
JACKIE: Yea.
ANGELA: Wow, so getting back to Homecoming, what kinds of things would you do to get prepared for Homecoming?
JACKIE: Oh, we had to make sure we looked just so. Everybody had to get their hair done and we had to have something really cute because we knew we were going to dance and we had to look the part. We had to be able to attract the boys!
ANGELA: So you would get special outfits?
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: What about Homecoming do you find most enjoyable or what kinds of memories do you have about Homecoming?
JACKIE: Well as a kid it was always the dance. The dance was so important we knew that they was going to go do that and we never made it there hardly on Friday night, but always Saturday we knew we were going. So we were excited and the other piece even when it wasn’t Homecoming there was a little building across from the Hall and they danced in there and we would go.
ANGELA: At the American Legion?
JACKIE: On Friday nights and dance there.
ANGELA: Do you know that used to be the old Fairview School?
JACKIE: Ah.
ANGELA: Yea, it was the Fairview School that was located out there near where Sharon lives. Then they moved it into town next to the one room school and then when they got rid of it the American Legion bought it and moved to down there. I remember the American Legion building I went in there one time as a little kid, peeked inside and went in and that was interesting. So you remember the American Legion wow, so you looked forward to the dance. As an adult how have you participated in Homecoming?
JACKIE: Well the way I participate now we have a family reunion always at the same time as Homecoming, so I look forward to meeting people at the Homecoming and at the family reunion. There is always a new set of cousins, so I meet a new set of cousins most of the time!
ANGELA: What family reunion is this?
JACKIE: This is the Cannon-Jones reunion.
ANGELA: The Cannon -ones reunion? Where do you guys usually have it?
JACKIE: Usually have it up in Hill City.
ANGELA: And it is usually at the same time on Friday or Saturday or Saturday and Sunday?
JACKIE: Just Saturday, people would come in Friday.
ANGELA: They are coming from all over?
JACKIE: Yes, they come from all over. They come from Ohio and Florida and California and of course Kansas and Colorado.
ANGELA: How long have you guys been doing this reunion?
JACKIE: We have been doing it since 76.
ANGELA: Wow. Who organizes it?
JACKIE: Well, I have been one of the organizers since the 80’s. My mother was the main one that had started doing this back then Marvin Price and Alta Berry would do it then, get the invitations and get the food and stuff together and what have you for the reunion. And at that time we did it every two years and we thought people were getting older we would start doing it every year. And sometimes we would do in between reunions we would have another reunion.
ANGELA: Wow, and where do you guys usually have it here? Is it about the ones in between do you usually have them here in Kansas or are where outside?
JACKIE: They are in Kansas, we usually have it in Nicodemus. We usually have it at Rose Stoke’s house.
ANGELA: Okay I think I remember one a few years you guys had one and I remember Dale coming over and I was talking to Dale. Wow, so what families other than the Cannon-Jones that are married into the families. What are the family’s names, what other family names are married in to the Jones’?
JACKIE: Okay it’s the Switzers, the Bates, the Williams, and let’s see the Boyces and Rines and the Johnsons and I am there a lot of others there is some Moore’s in there. So it is a lot of them. And the Napues we sort of kind of impacted each other and it was necessary for my mother to leave in order to get married.
ANGELA: When you guys have those reunions during the Celebration do you guys take group pictures, do you take pictures and that kind of thing?
JACKIE: We did this year, our picture was put in the newspaper.
ANGELA: Um.
JACKIE: It came out in the Hill City Times.
ANGELA: How many usually attend?
JACKIE: Usually we have anywhere we have anywhere from 150 to 200 people.
ANGELA: That’s is why it is so hard to guess how many people come to Nicodemus for the Celebration and all, because there is family reunions going on, there is so much going on it is just hard to get a real take on how many people are actually here.
JACKIE: Right.
ANGELA: And if you guys had that many we then I know a lot of them may not even come down on a Saturday night for the some of the activities. Have you ever been in the parade or the fashion show at Homecoming?
JACKIE: Uhm, no.
ANGELA: As a kid or an adult?
JACKIE: No I haven’t but I have family members that have before we used to have our own fashion show and we would have a reunion in Denver and then we would come down we would have already had a fashion show.
ANGELA: So did you partipate in those?
JACKIE: Yes.
ANGELA: Have you ever been in the parade then?
JACKIE: No, I haven’t.
ANGELA: Do you have any special are there any places in Nicodemus that is special to you. You know on the town site or even out in the country or in the township that hold special memories or that you consider a special place to be.
JACKIE: Well, the church is a special place because I went to the old church as little girl before they got the new church and then as little girl when I left they was still using the old church and then I came back after being married for some time then they had the new church. You know it brings back a lot of memories and of course the old farm has a lot of memories which it has changed, but has a lot of memories.
ANGELA: Now which farm is this?
JACKIE: This is the Jones farm.
ANGELA: And who lived out there?
JACKIE: Lawrence Jones and Mamie and Skylar.
ANGELA: And those were your grandparents?
JACKIE: Yes.
ANGELA: Do you have any particular relatives that you stay in contact with? You know we all have different people that may be a little bit closer than others. Do you have any cousins or relatives in particular that you stay in contact with or that you do things with?
JACKIE: Yes I do. I have lots of them. Especially when I have 50 some first cousins!
ANGELA: But, that’s right you are the genealogist for the Jones-Cannon?
JACKIE: Right I am in contact with most of them.
ANGELA: What motivated you to want to keep track of the family history?
JACKIE: I think because my mother did it and then it just kind of passed on down to me. I received a mantle like Elijah the mantle, so it passed on down to me.
ANGELA: What do you enjoy about the doing the genealogical research?
JACKIE: Well the part I like is finding out and meeting other people and meeting someone candidly because I have met so many people in doing that. You know first cousins that, my first cousins I know all of them. Well now I am meeting second cousins and third cousins so we have like four generations in my family there is five generations in my immediate family and at one point we had five generations at the church of my family. When my mother comes we have five generations there because all of the kids are there and of course I have two great grand children.
ANGELA: You have two great grandchildren? When you think about Nicodemus today and you compare it to the time that you were growing up what are the changes that you see and how do you think that impacts your grandchildren and your children versus what you experienced?
JACKIE: Well it has changed a whole lot except for you know the time change because of computers. The computer age and of course the Hall is a little bit different than what it was when I came up because everything was basically done in the Hall.
ANGELA: How do you feel about the fact that the National Park Service is in the Hall?
JACKIE: It is a little different I am under the impression that the Park Service is going to build their own building and then maybe it will go back to being the Hall like I remember it as a kid. The Hall was a special thing you were able to go over to the Hall and of course the dancing and then at Homecoming time it was always exciting to be able to go over there and I don’t know I come from a big city where there was all kinds of things around, but it was just something about that that made the difference and so that made it so much nicer. And even going to the American Legion building you know there was all kinds of places to go in Denver, but it was something about going over there to dance and the music of course was ancient outdated, but it didn’t matter, we was still having a good time.
ANGELA: What do you think is important about Nicodemus that we should pass on? You know if you were talking to the next generation or an unborn generation of descendants what would you say to them, what advice would you give to them?
JACKIE: Well I talked to a man yesterday about families sticking together and becoming cohesive, helping one another and I feel like Nicodemus has that charm. Families coming back together and sharing and meeting new people and finding out there is a strange person in town but that person really is my cousin or something. Cousins from way back passed generations and you always are meeting somebody interesting and then two the other piece you know when they have funerals you get to meet people there again, people that you never dreamed of that was kin to you. In Colorado I ran into that I would run into people that I went to church with and I had no idea that they was a part of my family.
ANGELA: Wow.
JACKIE: No idea.
ANGELA: Wow.
JACKIE: I grew up with some kids we played together and we could have been girlfriend and boyfriend you know, but we weren’t we just friends and we just played together and then when my last great aunt died and I went to the funeral and there was those kids there and I wondered “What are they doing here?” I just wanted to know what the connection was. Well those were my great aunt’s grandkids.
ANGELA: Wow.
JACKIE: And I grew up and played with those kids and I never knew it they lived right around the corner from us.
ANGELA: Wow.
JACKIE: And so I feel like you know, the one good thing about Nicodemus is families do come together and they get to know who they are kin to because we are such a big family until you go out in the world and you run into a cousin, but you think, well there is connection, but you are not sure why there is a connection. Well the connection could be that person is kin to you and not eligible to be a spouse or a lover or whatever.
ANGELA: So, what would you say to this unborn generation or the kids that are coming along now. What advice would you give them?
JACKIE: I would tell them to, if they are courting age, know who you are seeing and dating what have you, because it could be your cousin. You know and it is something about the looks of the cousins you don’t always know, if you haven’t been a part of. I would instruct them to try to come to family reunions and be a part of families you know don’t be an outcast and have nothing to do with people. Meet people, intrigue people and find out who you are and find out who they are, know who you are and that’s is real important to know who you are.
ANGELA: If you have a magic wand you could say bling, what would Nicodemus look like and be like and what kinds of things would you add or subtract, so to speak or what would you like Nicodemus to be like?
JACKIE: Well, I would if it is was me, I would put in maybe a store a grocery store and I would put in a filling station so they wouldn’t have to go so far to get gas and stuff like that. Put in a library and a post office is not really necessary, but it would be a good thing. A restaurant and a motel.
ANGELA: Yes, I think those are essentials.
JACKIE: Yea.
ANGELA: Do you see value in what we are doing here with the oral history project. Do you think it is of importance?
JACKIE: I do, you know, because you are passing on a legacy and just like Alex Haley when he wrote his book. He continued, they passed on everything from generation to generation. I feel like it is necessary for us to continue to pass on the heritage that we belong to and what have you. I am proud to be a descendant. I have no problem with it. Maybe some little tiny town, but I have no problem with being a descendent. I have no problem telling anybody about being a descendant of Nicodemus.
ANGELA: That’s wonderful. Is there anything else that you would like to add to the interview? Anything else you would want to say or any stories that you have that you carry with you, that you want to share with others? About Nicodemus, about something that may have happened to you as a child. Let me ask you this, did you ever go fishing and hunting? Did you do anything of like?
JACKIE: I didn’t do that, but my first husband he did that and his goal to come down here to hunt not so much fish but he would fish when he came down. But I always came with him to do hunting and fishing with him only to maybe take care of the hunters and what have you, because I know my family down here that is what they did, they took care of hunters and they still are taking care of hunters! So that was the fun part of coming, you know and I would come fairly often and then finally we got a house in Damar and we had it for 12 years and we would come down with the kids and I, my husband died shortly after we got the house, but I kept the house for the 12 years and I would bring the kids on their break, because they went to year round school so we had a break in the wintertime in which we didn’t come in the winter time, but we would come in the spring and then we would come in the summer and then they had a fall break we would come then. And sometimes we would come for Thanksgiving, but not too often, because I did other things in Denver on Thanksgiving and Christmas, because I fed the homeless and that kind of thing.
ANGELA: Well if you don’t have anything else to add this has been good interview.
JACKIE: No, I really don’t, you know.
ANGELA: I am glad I got a chance to get you interviewed.
JACKIE: I am just really excited about being here and I am also looking forward to seeing some real changes take place in Nicodemus, I really am.
ANGELA: Well hopefully you will be a part of making those changes!
JACKIE: I certainly hope too!
ANGELA: Alright well thank you for the interview.
JACKIE: You are welcome.