Joyce Birchfield Stover was one of 11 children who grew up at the base of Tatham Gap Road during the early 1950s and 1960s.
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This is the first of a two-part series about the life of Joyce Birchfield Stover.
Joyce was the first child born to Harold and Helen Montgomery Birchfield on Aug. 31, 1940. Her parents left the mountains to find work since jobs were far and few between in Andrews during the 1940s.
She was one of 11 children and was born in Florida, in addition to her brother, Jerry. They lived in Camp Monson, just outside of Lake Alfred in central Florida.
The family moved back to the mountains in 1946 and rented a house at Rhodo, near Topton, and after a couple of other rental houses, they moved to the house at the foot of Tatham Gap, where all of the other children were raised.
“We had a great childhood growing up in the mountains and being the oldest I had to help my mother a lot,” Joyce said.
“When I was 8 years old my mother went to work at Berkshire Knitting Mills, so I had to fix lunch for the other kids. My sister, Gaynell, and I would iron clothes with an old flat iron that we heated on the wood cookstove.
“We ironed on Friday during the summer and on Saturday when we were going to school. Mother was a fanatic about clean floors so Gaynell and I would put the polish all over the floors and then drag each other around on old cloths to make the floors shine.
“When I got old enough to work, one of my first jobs was cleaning house for my great uncle, Sheriff Devereaux Birchfield and his wife, Rebecca, on Saturday. Then when I was a little older, I worked at Charles Walker’s egg farm. He paid me $10 a week and gave me a basket of eggs at the end of the week, which held about 12 dozen.
“I also worked at the frosty bar for Cecil Warren’s mom, which was located adjacent to the Andrews United Methodist Church across the alley. During high school I worked at Jabaley’s, a clothing store on Main Street.”
Joyce added, “I was gone most of the time, working in many places, so my sister, Gaynell, helped take care of the smaller kids. I stayed with my Aunt Bea and Uncle Leon a lot and helped Aunt Bea in her store, which was located to the right of the bridge at Industrial Opportunities. My Grandpa built the little store building near what is today, Midnite Electric.
“Later, I worked for Grady Garrett at Lay’s Dime Store at the candy counter during the holidays from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and through the January inventory. Mr. Garrett was so good to me, and before closing he would sack up a bag of candy out of the display counter and give it to me to take home for my siblings.
“His excuse was it was not fresh and he needed to put new candy in the display container. But when I got to be an adult, I realized that he had just done that because he knew we were poor. He was such a kind man. I was the oldest child and I took every penny I made from my jobs and gave it to my Mama.
“During the summer months, my brothers, Jerry and Jimmy Wayne, and my sister, Gaynell, would be gone most of the day hunting lizards up Piles Creek under Joanna Bald. They had the technique down to an art and made good money, but gave it to our Mother. We all helped out one way or another during this time because our father was not well,” Joyce said.
“My Daddy had a nervous breakdown when I was about 12 years old and it completely changed him, he was never the same from that day forward. He was in a state of depression because he was moving a family to help them out and the father was on the back of the pickup holding on to a spinning wheel and he fell off the truck and was killed. Dr. VanGorder told them he had a massive heart attack and that was why he fell, but Daddy always felt responsible because he was driving the truck.
“He never got over it. The sad thing was this family was friends of ours, and the little girl was my best friend. She told me once that the accident had ruined her life, and I told her that it had ruined our lives as well. I have often thought it was heartbreaking that the younger seven children never got to see how fun Daddy was before the accident.”
To be continued ...
Kandy Barnard is a columnist for the Cherokee Scout. To talk about the Andrews Valley, call her at 361-3268 or email kandybarnard@gmail.com.