Martha Barton (F)
(5:27) Mrs. Barton describes how she met her husband and vacationing with her family. This inteview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Hi...
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| Format: | Electronic |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library
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| Online Access: | https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/153 |
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Electronic |
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Oral Histories Collection |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Florence-Lauderdale County Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Martha Barton (F) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Automobiles; Vacations |
| description |
(5:27) Mrs. Barton describes how she met her husband and vacationing with her family. This inteview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Martha Barton
May 14, 2009
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 6 of 10
Clint Alley: You say World War II had a big effect on your childhood?
Martha Barton: Yeah, uh-huh.
CA: And you were in high school when World War II started, is that correct?
MB: Yeah, uh-huh.
CA: So did your, ah, did your brother have to go to World War II?
MB: He, no, unh-uh, he’s younger than I am. He went to Korea.
CA: Okay, that’s right, he went to Korea.
MB: But my husband was in World War II.
CA: Your husband was, okay. And what’s your husband’s name?
MB: He was Hugo Barton and he died last December.
CA: Okay, okay. And he was in World War II.
MB: Um-hm. He was in the Navy.
CA: Okay. And did you know him at the time?
MB: No, I didn’t know him till he came back here to go to school. He was registered to go to Auburn, and when he got down there and found out he was going to have to live in a tent by the steam plant, and they had this common shower, he said, ‘No, thank you.’
(laughter)
MB: And they started, this carload of four boys, from that same town, going from college to college, and this is where they wound up.
CA: Okay, so he came—
MB: The only place that had a dormitory, a room that they could live in!
(laughter)
CA: And it was Florence State Teacher College?
MB: Florence State Teachers’ College.
CA: Okay. And did he come as part of the GI Bill?
MB: Yeah.
CA: Okay, so he came with the GI Bill. Ah, and how did y’all meet?
MB: We were in school together, classes together.
CA: Okay, so you met at—
MB: Back then they used to seat you alphabetically.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: He was with a “B” and mine was with a “C,” and I sat behind him most of the time.
CA: Okay, okay. Do you remember your first date with him?
MB: That’s been too long ago!
(laughter)
MB: We were married sixty-one years!
CA: Sixty-one years! That is great! That’s great.
MB: And, ah, he was president at Muscle Shoals Technical College when he retired. Of course now it’s Shoals Community.
CA: Um-hm.
MB: But he was at Calhoun for eighteen years. That place changed names, too, frequently. And he was a coach, a basketball coach.
CA: So he, he was into education, as well?
MB: Yeah, he was in education, as well.
CA: Well, what was your first car?
MB: The first one that we owned as a family or the first one I remember?
CA: Both of them.
MB: Well the first one I remember was a Studebaker.
CA: Studebaker.
MB: With a rumble seat. You know what that is?
CA: Yes ma’am.
(laughter)
CA: It’s where you open it up in the back?
MB: Yeah, that’s where the second seat is!
(laughter)
CA: Okay. And what was the first one y’all had as a family?
MB: I guess it was a—I don’t know whether it was a Ford or a Chevrolet. It might have been a Ford. And I’m thinking, let’s see; it was an old model, it was a thirty-something I think, ah maybe ’37, I don’t remember.
CA: Okay. So, did y’all ever take any vacations or trips anywhere?
MB: Yeah. Un-huh. We had a Volkswagen.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: One of those little bugs. Any my husband and I—you know you could lay the back seat down—and we put a tent, an ice chest, some food, and some clothes, and we went as far as Salt Lake City.
CA: Wow. In a Volkswagen.
(laughter)
MB: In a Volkswagen. There were just two of us. But we would stop frequently, maybe every second night, at a motel. Maybe we would stop and buy food along the way, and a lot of times we just ate in a restaurant. But we’d camp. We camped on the Green River, and we went to Dinosaur National Park, and went to Salt Lake, saw the Great Salt Lake, and went to Anaconda Copper Mine.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: That was the deepest hole in the ground! And you could see these trucks, like a corkscrew, coming up and down out of there with their ore.
CA: Hm. It’s a copper mine. Was that in Utah?
MB: Utah. Out of Salt Lake.
CA: Okay.
MB: It’s got another name, now, if it’s still in existence.
CA: Uh-huh, but it was Anaconda Copper Mine, at the time.
MB: Uh-huh, at the time.
CA: Okay.
MB: I don’t remember what year that was. We went to a World’s Fair in San Antonio.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: And, ah, we went up into Virginia, Williamsburg, Richmond, that area. The children were along then, though. And we went down into Florida. Ah, Jekyll Island, we camped on Jekyll Island. That’s the main ones I can think of.
CA: Well y’all traveled around quite a bit, it sounds like.
MB: Well, yeah. It’s more when you stop and try to list it than it is if you just think all these people that go somewhere every year.
CA: Yeah.
MB: We didn’t do that.
(laughter)
MB: We went to Washington, D.C., too, and we went up the Blue Ridge Parkway.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: Well the boys couldn’t stand Washington. They didn’t think too highly of the Smithsonian. They wanted to go back to the mountains.
(laughter)
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| title |
Martha Barton (F) |
| titleStr |
Martha Barton (F) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| id |
FLCPLoral_hist153 |
| url |
https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/153 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/oral_hist/id/153 |
| _version_ |
1782468788237631488 |
| spelling |
Martha Barton (F)Automobiles; Vacations(5:27) Mrs. Barton describes how she met her husband and vacationing with her family. This inteview is part of an oral history project funded by a grant from the Alabama Historical Records Board, managed by the Alabama Department of Archives and History staff, using funds provided by the National Historical Preservation and Records Commission.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryMartha Barton2009-5-14sound; textaudio/mp3; text/pdfEnglishIs part of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library collection.Contact the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Martha Barton
May 14, 2009
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Clint Alley and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 6 of 10
Clint Alley: You say World War II had a big effect on your childhood?
Martha Barton: Yeah, uh-huh.
CA: And you were in high school when World War II started, is that correct?
MB: Yeah, uh-huh.
CA: So did your, ah, did your brother have to go to World War II?
MB: He, no, unh-uh, he’s younger than I am. He went to Korea.
CA: Okay, that’s right, he went to Korea.
MB: But my husband was in World War II.
CA: Your husband was, okay. And what’s your husband’s name?
MB: He was Hugo Barton and he died last December.
CA: Okay, okay. And he was in World War II.
MB: Um-hm. He was in the Navy.
CA: Okay. And did you know him at the time?
MB: No, I didn’t know him till he came back here to go to school. He was registered to go to Auburn, and when he got down there and found out he was going to have to live in a tent by the steam plant, and they had this common shower, he said, ‘No, thank you.’
(laughter)
MB: And they started, this carload of four boys, from that same town, going from college to college, and this is where they wound up.
CA: Okay, so he came—
MB: The only place that had a dormitory, a room that they could live in!
(laughter)
CA: And it was Florence State Teacher College?
MB: Florence State Teachers’ College.
CA: Okay. And did he come as part of the GI Bill?
MB: Yeah.
CA: Okay, so he came with the GI Bill. Ah, and how did y’all meet?
MB: We were in school together, classes together.
CA: Okay, so you met at—
MB: Back then they used to seat you alphabetically.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: He was with a “B” and mine was with a “C,” and I sat behind him most of the time.
CA: Okay, okay. Do you remember your first date with him?
MB: That’s been too long ago!
(laughter)
MB: We were married sixty-one years!
CA: Sixty-one years! That is great! That’s great.
MB: And, ah, he was president at Muscle Shoals Technical College when he retired. Of course now it’s Shoals Community.
CA: Um-hm.
MB: But he was at Calhoun for eighteen years. That place changed names, too, frequently. And he was a coach, a basketball coach.
CA: So he, he was into education, as well?
MB: Yeah, he was in education, as well.
CA: Well, what was your first car?
MB: The first one that we owned as a family or the first one I remember?
CA: Both of them.
MB: Well the first one I remember was a Studebaker.
CA: Studebaker.
MB: With a rumble seat. You know what that is?
CA: Yes ma’am.
(laughter)
CA: It’s where you open it up in the back?
MB: Yeah, that’s where the second seat is!
(laughter)
CA: Okay. And what was the first one y’all had as a family?
MB: I guess it was a—I don’t know whether it was a Ford or a Chevrolet. It might have been a Ford. And I’m thinking, let’s see; it was an old model, it was a thirty-something I think, ah maybe ’37, I don’t remember.
CA: Okay. So, did y’all ever take any vacations or trips anywhere?
MB: Yeah. Un-huh. We had a Volkswagen.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: One of those little bugs. Any my husband and I—you know you could lay the back seat down—and we put a tent, an ice chest, some food, and some clothes, and we went as far as Salt Lake City.
CA: Wow. In a Volkswagen.
(laughter)
MB: In a Volkswagen. There were just two of us. But we would stop frequently, maybe every second night, at a motel. Maybe we would stop and buy food along the way, and a lot of times we just ate in a restaurant. But we’d camp. We camped on the Green River, and we went to Dinosaur National Park, and went to Salt Lake, saw the Great Salt Lake, and went to Anaconda Copper Mine.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: That was the deepest hole in the ground! And you could see these trucks, like a corkscrew, coming up and down out of there with their ore.
CA: Hm. It’s a copper mine. Was that in Utah?
MB: Utah. Out of Salt Lake.
CA: Okay.
MB: It’s got another name, now, if it’s still in existence.
CA: Uh-huh, but it was Anaconda Copper Mine, at the time.
MB: Uh-huh, at the time.
CA: Okay.
MB: I don’t remember what year that was. We went to a World’s Fair in San Antonio.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: And, ah, we went up into Virginia, Williamsburg, Richmond, that area. The children were along then, though. And we went down into Florida. Ah, Jekyll Island, we camped on Jekyll Island. That’s the main ones I can think of.
CA: Well y’all traveled around quite a bit, it sounds like.
MB: Well, yeah. It’s more when you stop and try to list it than it is if you just think all these people that go somewhere every year.
CA: Yeah.
MB: We didn’t do that.
(laughter)
MB: We went to Washington, D.C., too, and we went up the Blue Ridge Parkway.
CA: Uh-huh.
MB: Well the boys couldn’t stand Washington. They didn’t think too highly of the Smithsonian. They wanted to go back to the mountains.
(laughter)
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