Memories of My Life

By Carol S. Meredith

Carol S. HaytonMeredith was
born in Kenova, WV on December
11, 1941. The country was engaged in
World War II when Pearl Harbor was
bombed four days before her birth. She
was raised up in a Christian home and
has never forgotten her heritage. She
is a graduate of Ceredo-Kenova High
School, Southerton Beauty College and
West Virginia Insurance School and is a
licensed insurance agent . She has worn
several hats during her lifetime serving
her community as a hairstylist, often
going to the local funeral home to fi x
the hair of one of her beloved patrons. She was a hairstylist for 32 years
and then moved on to a career as an insurance agent which is her present
occupation and has been for 23 years. She worked one year for H&R Block
and is waiting to see what her next phase of life will bring.
Carol was a former Army wife to her loving husband Berlin to whom
she has been married for 49 years. She is the mother of two loving sons,
Berlin Ray II and Brian Keith Meredith. Nanny to two wonderful grandsons,
Joshua Tyler and Keenan Joseph Meredith and mother-in-law to her loving
daughter-in-law, Kathy.
Carol has been a covenant member for 16 years of New Life Church in
Huntington, WV , where she was an assistant Sunday School teacher to 6 &
7 year old children and a helpmate to her husband Berlin, who is a Deacon
of the church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 29, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453585290

Carol S. Meredith

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carol S. Hayton - Meredith was born in Kenova, WV on December 11, 1941. The country was engaged in World War II when Pearl Harbor was bombed four days before her birth. She was raised up in a Christian home and has never forgotten her heritage. She is a graduate of Ceredo-Kenova High School, Southerton Beauty College and West Virginia Insurance School and is a licensed insurance agent . She has worn several hats during her lifetime serving her community as a hairstylist, often going to the local funeral home to fix the hair of one of her beloved patrons. She was a hairstylist for 32 years and then moved on to a career as an insurance agent which is her present occupation and has been for 23 years. She worked one year for H&R Block and is waiting to see what her next phase of life will bring. Carol was a former Army wife to her loving husband Berlin to whom she has been married for 49 years. She is the mother of two loving sons, Berlin Ray II and Brian Keith Meredith. Nanny to two wonderful grandsons, Joshua Tyler and Keenan Joseph Meredith and mother-in-law to her loving daughter-in-law, Kathy. Carol has been a covenant member for 16 years of New Life Church in Huntington, WV , where she was an assistant Sunday School teacher to 6 & 7 year old children and a helpmate to her husband Berlin, who is a Deacon of the church.

Book preview

Copyright © 2010 by Carol S. Meredith.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2010914286

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4535-8528-3

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4535-8527-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4535-8529-0

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Contents

Dedication

Preface

Kenova, West Virginia

Memories of My Life

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book in loving memory of my parents, King Joseph Hayton and Ella Thompson-Hayton, to my father and mother-in-law, Benjamin C Meredith and Nellie Bellomy-Meredith, to my brother, Rev. William R. Hayton, to my 10 year old sister-in-law, Pamela Elaine Meredith and to my beloved niece, Sherma Gayle Arrowood-Harless. They all left us way too soon!

Preface

I decided to write Memories of My Life, so that my children and grandchildren would have information about not only myself and the area in which I was raised and where they now live, but also about their ancestors that preceded them. I feel that it is important for everyone to know their heritage.

I would like to thank God, my Heavenly Father, for all the memories of my life and for allowing me to be able to remember.

I would like to thank my loving husband Berlin for encouraging me all through the process of writing my memoires. I would also like to thank my sons, Berlin Ray II and Brian, my grandsons Joshua and Keenan and my daughter-in-law Kathy for making my life complete.

I thank God for each of them.

Kenova, West Virginia

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Kenova Sign

Kenova, a small river city of approximately 5000 people founded in 1889, and is named for the three states that converge there—Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia—it is located at the western-most point in West Virginia and the juncture of Big Sandy and Ohio Rivers. West Virginia at one time was part of Virginia. During the 20th century more coal was transported through Kenova than any other city in the world. One of the historical sites is Virginia Point where the Ohio and the Big Sandy Rivers meet. Virginia Point has a gazebo where people of the city picnic and sometimes entertain or can be entertained. There is also a small camp ground and a baseball/soccer field where many children play their sports of choice. Virginia Point is where our ancestors landed when they came from England and other countries. Kenova has many historical sites. Kenova tragically was the location of the Marshall University football team plane crash in 1970. The story was documented in the 2006 Warner Brothers movie We Are Marshall. Kenova is home to the Pumpkin House, one of the best loved tourist attractions of West Virginia.

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Virginia Point Sign        Virginia Point

On Beech Street, close to where I attended high school, there are several Victorian style homes with turrets (towers). I used to pass them as I walked to school and I could just imagine a young girl standing in the window of the turret waiting for her ‘Romeo" to come. It was about ten blocks to school and I walked every day for five years. I always walked with a girl by the name Vivian Adkins. Vivian was several grades ahead of me, but she would join me on the way to school. From the time I began in seventh grade through the ninth grade, I would get a case of poison ivy every year. After a series of poison ivy serum injections (which I did not enjoy) I finally became immune to it.

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Victorian House on Beech St

The town used to have a trolley car that you could ride that ran on Chestnut Street, (Kenova’s main street) from one end of town to the other. There was a railway station between Chestnut and Pine Street’s where people boarded the trains, picked up loved ones and from where our mail was sent. In 1945, when WWII was about over, I remember my Daddy taking me to the train station to pick up my cousin James Christian, (my Aunt Zora’s son). James escorted bodies of the soldiers that were killed in the war.

image005.jpg

Kenova Depot and Train Station

I remember the town ice house where people would go to get big blocks of ice for their ice boxes. At that time not many people had refrigerators. We had an ice box and the ice house delivery man would deliver big blocks of ice to our house about every day. My brother Bill worked at the ice house while he was attending high school.

image006.jpg

Dreamland Pool

Kenova has the largest swimming pool in the tri-state area. When I was growing up it was owned by the Tweel family. There was also a large dance pavilion upstairs over the locker rooms where they would have big named bands come and play for the dances. People would come from everywhere to swim and dance. A tunnel led from the pool side of RT #60 to the other side where the pool owned more locker rooms. When my cousins came to visit, we would go to the pool every day. Most of my cousins lived in Ohio and this was how we entertained ourselves while they were here. They enjoyed the pool a lot more than I did, but I had a fear of water until I was older and learned to swim. Sometimes in the evenings we would go to Camden Park, (the oldest and largest amusement park in West Virginia) an amusement park between Kenova and Huntington, WV. We would spend the evenings riding rides and playing games.

image007.jpg

Camden Park

There was a movie theatre on Chestnut Street, and we would sometimes go there and take in a movie or two. All of the kids in town would gather at the theatre on Saturday to watch westerns and sci-fi movies. A lot of older people would be there too. I remember one lady in particular that would really get into the movies. She would yell ride-em cowboys-away when the westerns would be playing, or hi-ho Silver if the movie happened to be the Lone Ranger. She was very entertaining!

Kenova has several churches, the three oldest being First Baptist, United Methodist and Poplar Street Church of God.

image008.jpg

The Kenova Post Office, Theater and Woman’s Club

on Chestnut St. Kenova

The Kenova Post Office was built after Mother and Daddy moved to Kenova. Daddy was the first letter carrier in Kenova and he had to work up the mail while sitting on orange crates until the new post office was built. The post office was originally in a large yellow brick building that stands on the corner of 14th & Chestnut Street’s across from the First National Bank of Kenova (another landmark in our town). It has been told that the outlaw, Jesse James, robbed the First National Bank back in the days he was wreaking havoc on diverse areas.

image009.jpg

Daddy in his Postal Uniform

Daddy knew almost everyone in town and he weaned most of the babies in Kenova from their bottle. Their mother’s would give the bottles to daddy and he would drop them in the nearest trash bin.

Now on to the stories of my life!

Memories of My Life

By Carol Sue (Hayton) Meredith

It was the year 1941, on a beautiful winter’s day, that I was born in the little town of Kenova, West Virginia. Kenova is located in the most north western part of West Virginia on the borders of Kentucky and Ohio. The three states are separated by the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers. I was born at the Rife-Ferguson Hospital on December 11, 1941, the youngest daughter of King Joseph and Ella Thompson-Hayton. Mother said the doctor let her lay in labor for a long time and didn’t come back to check on her. I was born breech birth and had to be turned before I could be born. Mother was so upset with the doctor that she told him she would have died before she would have called for him again. Daddy paid for my delivery in 50 cent pieces in the amount of $40.00. I am told the doctor put the money into his pockets and almost lost his pants!

There was an African-American man that worked at the hospital, by the name John Redd. John used to push the babies up and down the corridors of the hospital in a buggy and I was one of those babies. John loved to tell me about it when I was old enough to get out in town. I would run into him and he would say, Susie (that is what he called me) when you wuz born I used to push you up and down the halls of this hospital in a buggy". As far as I know, he was the only black