Holland Greer (D)
(4:21) Holland Greer talks about the dam construction and his childhood. This interview was conducted as part of a joint project of the Music Preservation Society and the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. This project focus was oral lhistory interviews with area residents who had lived or worked o...
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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/249 |
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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 Holland Greer (D) Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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Oral histories -- audios and transcripts Dam construction; Occupations |
| description |
(4:21) Holland Greer talks about the dam construction and his childhood. This interview was conducted as part of a joint project of the Music Preservation Society and the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. This project focus was oral lhistory interviews with area residents who had lived or worked on the Tennessee River.Florence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Holland Greer
November 6, 2007
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Patti Hannah and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 4
Rhonda Haygood: Did he have anybody teaching him how to do whatever he did on the tow boat? Did they, somebody actually teach him or was it something he learned on the job as you go?
Holland Greer: I think he just picked it up. You know, they were all starting out up there and some people are just more talented about grabbing a hold and doing things, and driving trucks and cars and machinery and others are not inclined that way. But he was, he, ah, he could run things. And evidently it’s come all the way down. My grandson is seven years old, driving a truck, four wheeler and runs in the family. Another story, not about my daddy, but John Alvis Lamar, worked up there. The personnel was over on the south side of the river. And, he went up there and told them he’d like to have a job. They said, “We’re not hiring anybody.” And he said, ”Yeah, you’re gonna hire me.” They said, “No, no, we’re not hiring anybody.” He said, “Let me tell you how”, he was a plumber, a pipefitter. He said, “Let me tell you how all the plumbing is gonna to go in this dam.” And they sat there and he told them all the way it was going to run and they hired him on the spot. He wound up he was either a pipefitter or foreman or superintendent one or the other. But, now he was something else. You know, you find jewels out in the cotton patch that never had an opportunity to spread out and show what they could do. Well, Wheeler Dam and the construction of it gave a lot of people the opportunity to show their talents.
Patti Hannah: Well, I want to know how your dad did all of it, the farming, the store, the working on the river.
HG: He was not like me. (laughter) He had sharecroppers. And then my mother you know, she worked in the store a lot. He didn’t really like to stay there you know just hour after hour after hour. He was bad about going up Center Star somewhere standing around talking. Passed that on down through the family, too. That’s the way it worked, you know he’d go to work but you know my mother would open up the store and then we hired help at the store sometimes. And he’d go down to the farm and you know check on the sharecroppers. He just, he liked it that way. He stayed busy all the time.
RH: What did he want you to do when you grew up? Did he have a preference, did he try to guide you in one way or the other or—?
HG: Make a vet out of me.
PH: Hum.
RH: Really.
HG: John Darby was the Shell oil delivery man and he came to the store when I was a little boy, delivering gas. He nicknamed me worrywart. Cause I worried him to death, climbed all over his truck, had his steal some wrenches, wham, knocking . Anyhow he took a liking to my daddy and mother and I guess me too. But later on he went to work for the state weights division. He went around all over the state you know checking gas pumps and scales and so forth. He said, “If you’ll come down to Auburn I’ll let you stay with me for free.” Just live with him. Of course, I never did make it. (laughter) They don’t let playboys go to vet school. (laughter) I was not really interested in making A’s and B’s and that’s what you needed to go to vet school.
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| title |
Holland Greer (D) |
| titleStr |
Holland Greer (D) |
| author |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
| author_facet |
Florence-Lauderdale Public Library |
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FLCPLoral_hist249 |
| url |
https://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/oral_hist/id/249 |
| thumbnail |
http://cdm15947.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getthumbnail/collection/oral_hist/id/249 |
| _version_ |
1782468788809105408 |
| spelling |
Holland Greer (D)Dam construction;
Occupations(4:21) Holland Greer talks about the dam construction and his childhood. This interview was conducted as part of a joint project of the Music Preservation Society and the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library. This project focus was oral lhistory interviews with area residents who had lived or worked on the Tennessee River.Florence-Lauderdale Public LibraryFlorence-Lauderdale Public LibraryHolland Greer2007-11-06sound; textaudio/mp3 ; text/pdfEnglishIs part of the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library CollectionContact Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to use.Contact Florence-Lauderdale Public Library for permission to useFlorence-Lauderdale Public Library Digital Archive
Interview with Holland Greer
November 6, 2007
Florence, Alabama
Conducted by Patti Hannah and Rhonda Haygood
Clip 4
Rhonda Haygood: Did he have anybody teaching him how to do whatever he did on the tow boat? Did they, somebody actually teach him or was it something he learned on the job as you go?
Holland Greer: I think he just picked it up. You know, they were all starting out up there and some people are just more talented about grabbing a hold and doing things, and driving trucks and cars and machinery and others are not inclined that way. But he was, he, ah, he could run things. And evidently it’s come all the way down. My grandson is seven years old, driving a truck, four wheeler and runs in the family. Another story, not about my daddy, but John Alvis Lamar, worked up there. The personnel was over on the south side of the river. And, he went up there and told them he’d like to have a job. They said, “We’re not hiring anybody.” And he said, ”Yeah, you’re gonna hire me.” They said, “No, no, we’re not hiring anybody.” He said, “Let me tell you how”, he was a plumber, a pipefitter. He said, “Let me tell you how all the plumbing is gonna to go in this dam.” And they sat there and he told them all the way it was going to run and they hired him on the spot. He wound up he was either a pipefitter or foreman or superintendent one or the other. But, now he was something else. You know, you find jewels out in the cotton patch that never had an opportunity to spread out and show what they could do. Well, Wheeler Dam and the construction of it gave a lot of people the opportunity to show their talents.
Patti Hannah: Well, I want to know how your dad did all of it, the farming, the store, the working on the river.
HG: He was not like me. (laughter) He had sharecroppers. And then my mother you know, she worked in the store a lot. He didn’t really like to stay there you know just hour after hour after hour. He was bad about going up Center Star somewhere standing around talking. Passed that on down through the family, too. That’s the way it worked, you know he’d go to work but you know my mother would open up the store and then we hired help at the store sometimes. And he’d go down to the farm and you know check on the sharecroppers. He just, he liked it that way. He stayed busy all the time.
RH: What did he want you to do when you grew up? Did he have a preference, did he try to guide you in one way or the other or—?
HG: Make a vet out of me.
PH: Hum.
RH: Really.
HG: John Darby was the Shell oil delivery man and he came to the store when I was a little boy, delivering gas. He nicknamed me worrywart. Cause I worried him to death, climbed all over his truck, had his steal some wrenches, wham, knocking . Anyhow he took a liking to my daddy and mother and I guess me too. But later on he went to work for the state weights division. He went around all over the state you know checking gas pumps and scales and so forth. He said, “If you’ll come down to Auburn I’ll let you stay with me for free.” Just live with him. Of course, I never did make it. (laughter) They don’t let playboys go to vet school. (laughter) I was not really interested in making A’s and B’s and that’s what you needed to go to vet school.
http://server15947.contentdm.oclc.org/u?/oral_hist,249 |