Oral History of Larry Richardson

ORAL HISTORY OF LARRY RICHARDSON

Interviewed by Don Hunnicutt

Filmed by BBB Communications, LLC.

August 3, 2016

1

MR. HUNNICUTT:This interview is for the Center for Oak Ridge Oral History. The date is August 3, 2016. I am Don Hunnicutt, in the studio of BBB Communications, LLC., 170 Randolph Road, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to take Larry Richardson's oral history about living in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Larry, please state your full name, place of birth, and date.

MR. RICHARDSON: Larry Fred Richardson. I was born April 20, 1939, in Coeburn, Virginia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, your father's full name, place of birth, and date.

MR. RICHARDSON: Fred Lindsey Richardson, January 29, 1911, Coeburn, Virginia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, your mother's maiden, place and date, birth, and date.

MR. RICHARDSON: Vivian Dingus ...

MR. HUNNICUTT:Spell that last name.

MR. RICHARDSON: D-I-N-G-U-S.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Ok.

MR. RICHARDSON: She was born October 16, 1916, in Coeburn, Virginia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, where is that town located, next to a larger town, for example?

MR. RICHARDSON: It is, probably, 40-some miles into Virginia, out of Kingsport. And, it's on Highway U.S. 58, that runs from Cumberland Gap, all the way to the Virginia coast.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, what was your grandfather's name, place of date and birth, on your father's side?

MR. RICHARDSON: Aaron Richardson. I'm not sure of his birth date, but he died in 1947, at the age of 77, I think. And, he was also born in that Coeburn, Virginia, area.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And how about your grandmother on that side?

MR. RICHARDSON: Cordelia Holbrook was her maiden name. She was also born in Coeburn, Virginia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And then, on your mother's side, your grandfather on that side?

MR. RICHARDSON: He was Malcolm Dingus. He was born in 1890, in Nickelsville, Virginia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, grandmother?

MR. RICHARDSON: My grandmother, Anna May Stallard. She was born around 1895, in Nickelsville, Virginia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What do you recall about your father's school history?

MR. RICHARDSON: My father went to Coeburn High School, and he finished the tenth grade.He said that his father gave him money in August, after he had finished his sophomore year, to go get his shoes resoled.Being one of 13 kids, he took the money, and hitchhiked to Kissimmee, Florida, to live with his oldest sister.

MR. HUNNICUTT:How about your mother's school history?

MR. RICHARDSON: My mother finished high school, and went to Berea College, for one quarter. My grandmother had made her a black, silk dress, and she wore it to a dance at the school.One of the teachers did not like it, so they sent her home, because of that black, silk, silky, or slinky dress. So then, my grandfather sent her to Radford Teacher's College, in Radford, Virginia, and she got her teaching degree there.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Do you have brothers, and sisters?

MR. RICHARDSON: I have one brother.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, what is his name?

MR. RICHARDSON: Edward Bruce Richardson. He was born in 1943, in Dungannon, Scott County, Virginia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Is he alive today?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes, he's alive today.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, where does he live?

MR. RICHARDSON: He lives in St. Charles, Missouri, but, he is now in the Veterans Hospital, in St. Louis. He has dementia.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What do you know about your father's work history?

MR. RICHARDSON: I know that my father, when he went to Kissimmee, Florida, he helped build the airport there.He said, on Sundays, he used to go out to a grocery store, out in the middle of that area, said there was a lot of lakes around, and the gentleman that owned the grocery store used to have him come out and go fishing with him. So, in 1982, my father's sister who lived in Kissimmee passed away, so we went down to her funeral.This was at the time they'd just built Disney World. He looked at a map, and said, "I'll be darned. That’s where I fished with that man." And he owned all of that property. Now, this was in the late 1920’s.

MR. HUNNICUTT:So, Disney bought the property ...

MR. RICHARDSON: Somebody.

MR. HUNNICUTT: ... from your father's friend?

MR. RICHARDSON: I don't know if his friend still ...

MR. HUNNICUTT:Or in the family?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yeah, I don't, I'm not sure.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Well, that would been a pretty penny to make, I guess.

MR. RICHARDSON: And then, he also told me that, after that, there'd been a hurricane that hit Daytona Beach, in that timeframe, while he was still in Florida, and he said he went over and did carpentry work, anything to help rebuild houses, and, I guess, hotels, back in those days, over there. He said that if he could've got his hands on $500, he could've bought a lot on Daytona Beach. But, he said, it might as well have been $500,000.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Yeah. Did your mother work any?

MR. RICHARDSON: My mother taught school before theygot married.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, what kind of school did she .. ?

MR. RICHARDSON: A one-room school house in Coeburn, Virginia. It was out in the country from Coeburn.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, when you were growing up, what was it like at the home place?

MR. RICHARDSON: Idon't remember much of it, Don, because Dad started working at Holston Ordinance, in Kingsport, around 1943. Well, actually, in '42, so I can just, just vaguely remember the house that he and Mom lived in. Then, he told me, later on, that he was working there at Holston Ordinance on evening shift, and said that the foreman came in, and said that they're building a project right out of Knoxville, Tennessee, and they're hiring anyone that wants to go there. So, my father came down to Knoxville. He said he rode the railroad car, flatbed railroad car to the K-25 job site [Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant].He said, he got off there where the old steam plant was, and it was nothing but mud everywhere he stepped.So he said, he went back to Knoxville, and came back out to the, where the Federal Building was, and hired in there with Clinton Engineer Works.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Do you remember what kind of job he hired in as?

MR. RICHARDSON: His first job there was, more or less, like, time keeping. His job was to be sure that there was enough men around the area where the railroad cars full of cement would come in. When one came in, he would have the men out there, ready to start working the cement when they poured it out of the railroad car.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Now, you mentioned your father worked in Kingsport. Is that, was that Holston plant an ammunition plant?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes, it was. Still is today.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Do you know what job duties he had there?

MR. RICHARDSON: No, I do not. He never did discuss that.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What year was it that your father came here to Oak Ridge?

MR. RICHARDSON: He came in the summer of 1943.

MR. HUNNICUTT:When did the family move to Oak Ridge?

MR. RICHARDSON: Well, after Dad came to Oak Ridge, Mother moved in with her mother and father. My brother was born there, in Dungannon, Virginia. So, Dad did not get a house until the summer of 1945.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What type of house was it?

MR. RICHARDSON: A TDU [temporary dwelling unit].

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, where was it located?

MR. RICHARDSON: South Hickory Lane.

MR. HUNNICUTT:You remember the number?

MR. RICHARDSON: 120 South Hickory Lane.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Explain to me what a TDU looks like.

MR. RICHARDSON: It is a two-family dwelling, a long, narrow type house. One end had two bedrooms, and the other end had three bedrooms. Since there was four of us, Dad got the two-bedroom. And, it's right at the end of the street, and South Hickory Lane, part of the road that came down through there was part of the old Oliver Springs road, that went across the ferry, to Knoxville, across the Clinch River. And, it was on stilts, Don, at least 12 feet high. When it'd come a good rain, coming down the edge of the street there, it would run under, our part of the house.

MR. HUNNICUTT:They built a lot of those houses on stilts ...

MR. RICHARDSON: They did ...

MR. HUNNICUTT: ... on the side of a hill.

MR. RICHARDSON: Right.

MR. HUNNICUTT:In that area.

MR. RICHARDSON: They sure did.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What do you remember, growing up in that house?

MR. RICHARDSON: I can remember, back in the, guess it's late '40s, early '50s, they started doing a lot of improvement on the houses. So, they repaved the road, they filled in, put guttering in there, and also filled in all under my dad's house, and fixed it up to where it wasn't so bad, it still had, at least, eight steps to go up into the house, but they, at least, had the closed in a lot of it. And, being at the end of the street, the boardwalk started at the end of the road, and went down to Robertsville Road, there, in front of where the fire department, and where the Crossroad was.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, at the Crossroad?

MR. RICHARDSON: At the Crossroads Tavern.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Do you remember how the house was heated?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes. We had one Warm-Morning heater in the living area.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Now, was that an oil, or a coal-fired furnace?

MR. RICHARDSON: Coal-fired stove.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, where did you get the coal, do you remember?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes, all the houses on South Hickory Lane had the coal bins.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, did you have to pay for coal in those days, or do you remember?

MR. RICHARDSON: No, everything was furnished with that, I think, it was $43 a month that they paid for it.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Did your family have a car, at that time?

MR. RICHARDSON: Dad had a car, and he traded that for an International panel truck, for a while.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Now, did your mother work, during those times?

MR. RICHARDSON: Mother came down to Oak Ridge in 1944, got a job at K-25 so that they could get a house in Oak Ridge.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What, what did she do? Do you recall?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes. She worked at K-25, in the Payroll Department.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Do you recall your mother, or father, ever talking about their job?

MR. RICHARDSON: No, I just knew that Mother worked in the Payroll Department.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Secrecy was secret in those days, wasn't it?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes, definitely, it was.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What was the first school you attended?

MR. RICHARDSON: Highland View. I started the first grade there in September, of 1945.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Did you attend kindergarten anywhere?

MR. RICHARDSON: No. Since I did not move to Oak Ridge 'til July of '45, the first grade was where I started.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Approximately how, how far was the house from Highland View School, do you think?

MR. RICHARDSON: Through the woods, it was, at least, three-quarters of a mile. It was, probably, farther, if I went up Hillside, to Highland, and walked up Highland. But, I very seldom did that, because it was whole lot easier to go through the woods.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Back in those days, was the woods grown up a lot, or was it still young trees. Describe what you remember about that.

MR. RICHARDSON: The woods between Hillside, and the Wadsworth area, up in there, the woods was right next to Highland View School, was still, they had left the woods pretty well, like, it had, there was still mature trees in there, so ...

MR. HUNNICUTT:Was the housing up in that area finished, at the time, do you remember, or were they still working on them?

MR. RICHARDSON: They were finished, at that time. They had the flattops up there, around Highland View, and on West Outer, they had a lot of the TDUs, like I'd lived in.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What do you remember about the first day of school, at Highland View.

MR. RICHARDSON: My teacher's name was Mrs. McMillan, and each student had to get up, and give their name, and say wherever they were from.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Was there a lot of kids in your class?

MR. RICHARDSON: There was, probably, 25.

MR. HUNNICUTT:And, everybody came from a different place, didn't they?

MR. RICHARDSON: Everybody was from somewhere else. Billy Ray Elkins got me in trouble for talking. (laughter) And, Billy Ray is still here, in Oak Ridge. He, and Sandy.

MR. HUNNICUTT:I don't know of many boys didn't get in trouble for talking, in those days.

MR. RICHARDSON: Exactly. (laughs)

MR. HUNNICUTT:Didn't take much, did it?

MR. RICHARDSON: No, it didn't.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Do you recall how the classroom looked in first grade?

MR. RICHARDSON: No. I would have to go to about the third, or fourth grade, to remember.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Well, tell me about that.

MR. RICHARDSON: Well, it was rows of desks, and the teacher, of course, was at the front part of it, and had the big green boards, in those days.

MR. HUNNICUTT:What they, probably, call, "blackboards," but they were really wasn't black, they were green.

MR. RICHARDSON: Right. Yes. And, it, most of, well, I had a few different classmates in each grade there.But then, when I got to the fifth grade, our teacher was Mrs. Lindenmeyer.We had her for the fifth grade, and also for the sixth grade. Highland View did that for all of the fifth and sixth grades. There was three different classes of fifth and sixth grade students.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Have you been back to the Children's Museum and gone in there, and found your old school rooms.

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes. All the time. Every time we get a chance, I go up there. The only place that's off limits, is the dadgum cafeteria.The '53, '54, '55, and six classes used to hold their picnics up there, and, I started going up there to those picnics with them.Me and a couple of the guys that were a year or two ahead of me, we tried to get in the old cafeteria there, but they have it completely blocked off.

MR. HUNNICUTT:During your school time at Highland View, did you have any special classes you liked, or disliked?

MR. RICHARDSON: I liked the, I guess, you would call it Industrial Arts shop. Charles Wilson was there, at Highland View, at that time, and he was our shop teacher, or Industrial Arts, as we called it.

MR. HUNNICUTT:So, what, what kind of things did you do in the Industrial Arts?

MR. RICHARDSON: We would learn to make things with wood, different things like bird houses, foot stools, and other things.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Would that've been about the sixth grade?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes. Fifth, and sixth grade.

MR. HUNNICUTT:I'm not real sure that the other schools had those, to some degree.

MR. RICHARDSON: Right. Evidently, this was one of the first ones. Later on, then, when Robertsville Junior High opened up, I understand, Mr. Wilson was a teacher there, for years.

MR. HUNNICUTT:In the summertime, between class, school years, what, what did you do for fun?

MR. RICHARDSON: I went to the, the Highland View playground, quite a bit. But, usually, one month of each summer, my brother, and I, would go back to our grandmother’s in Dungannon, Virginia. But then, the times there, why, as I got into fourth grade, and on up, why, they had softball teams, and we would play the different schools, Pine Valley, Elm Grove, you know, like that. Cedar Hill. And, in 1951, it's '50, or '51, WillowBrook opened up, and we played them, some.

MR. HUNNICUTT:So, how did you get from one school to the other, when you played them?

MR. RICHARDSON: We had to walk.

MR. HUNNICUTT:That's a pretty good piece to Pine Valley, wasn't it?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yeah, yeah ...

MR. HUNNICUTT:Cedar Hill's even farther.

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Well, what about Elm Grove. Did you ever go up there?

MR. RICHARDSON: No, we just played with Pine Valley, and Cedar Hill, and down to Willow Brook, when they opened it.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Did you during the summertime, ever go to the swimming pool?

MR. RICHARDSON: Living on South Hickory Lane, I could be there in about five minutes, so yes, I ...

MR. HUNNICUTT:Describe, what you remember, how the swimming pool looked, in those days.

MR. RICHARDSON: By the time I started going to it, why, the entrance was over on the opposite side that it is today.They had the wooden type bath houses. I'm not sure what year it was, but there, where Don Bordinger used to have his little snack bar.

MR. HUNNICUTT:I, I don't know.

MR. RICHARDSON: I think he had the concession stand.

MR. HUNNICUTT:Oh, did he?

MR. RICHARDSON: Yes, he had the concession stand.

MR. HUNNICUTT:I wasn't, I don't remember that.

MR. RICHARDSON: Yeah. But, they had a [inaudible] come in there, and they had a Ferris wheel, a swings, and a tumble car, they called it, that went 'round, and 'round, in the car, and it turned, turned over, and over. But, this was before Don Bordinger's building.

MR. HUNNICUTT:There was something else that's unique about that swimming pool, and it still is today.

MR. RICHARDSON: Right. That spring there. When I was growing up, there was an old cabin still there. In the wintertime, I would go to the old cabin with friends to shoot crows with our BB guns.

MR. HUNNICUTT:There was a particular lady we interviewed a few years ago that lived over in the trailer camp, where the high school is.