Interview with Juanita Dixon Worster, December 10, 1988

Interview Summary

Juanita Worster was born in 1919 in Van Lear, Kentucky. Her father was an assistant supervisor for the Consolidated Coal Company, and she describes Van Lear as a large mining town which did not fit the image of the typical coal camp. Van Lear had two hotels, a clubhouse, and a movie theater. Worster does not remember any unusual troubles during the Great Depression. She states that she always had what she needed and that people in Van Lear helped each other out. But Worster recalls that the African American families in Van Lear had inferior housing. Worster graduated from high school in 1938, attended college, and began teaching in a one-room schoolhouse near Van Lear in Butcher Hollow. She explains that she wanted to teach in one of the Van Lear schools, but that those positions were difficult to obtain. While in Butcher Hollow, Worster taught future country music star Loretta Lynn for one year. She explains that she knows some of her pupils did not come to school in the winter because they did not have shoes. Worster discusses the social life and sexual mores when she was a young woman. She recalls men who did not want to tell their sons about the facts of life and states that she told her son herself. She explains that dating was not common when she was a young woman. Instead, the teenagers socialized in groups. Worster moved to Lexington, Kentucky during World War Two.

Interview Keyword

Appalachian people Appalachian social issues Class distinctions Coal mining Consolidated Coal Company Education Gender roles Johnson County (Ky.) Loretta Lynn Marriage Sex education Van Lear (Ky.)

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region Worster, Juanita Dixon, 1919- Worster, Juanita Dixon, 1919- --Interviews

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Interview Usage

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