NANCY ABASIEKONG AND CLEVIE SPANGLER

TRANSCRIPT %u2013
[Compiled October, 2009]

Interviewee: Nancy Abasiekong & Clevie Spangler

Interviewer: Janet Hoshour and Pat Anderson

Interview Date: September 2, 2008

Location: Cleveland County Extension Office, Shelby, NC

Length: 118 minutes
Note: The interview takes place while they are looking at scrapbooks of the history of the Extension clubs.
CLEVIE SPANGLER: This is the first agent that was assigned to this county. She had what was called the tomato club and right here is a picture of the tomato club. I think this is most interesting, and we're fortunate to have had that. And what they did was bring women together and teach them how to can tomatoes.
JANET HOSHOUR: And there was a need in the community, obviously.
CS: Evidently at that time. Let's see, do we have the year there, Nancy?
NANCY ABASIEKONG: She came to the county in 1914.
(long pause and some commotion)
CS: And, incidentally, she traveled in a buggy to go around to the communities.
JH: All over Cleveland County?
CS: Not all over Cleveland County, but she began I believe up in the Belwood area; that was the first organized group, in the Belwood community.
JH: It's interesting, you say she was teaching women how to can. I would have thought that food preservation would have been something that would have been passed on from generation to generation and that they would know how to do canning.
CS: Well, I suppose not. Food preservation at that time, what they knew. But this was new, canning.
JH: Oh, I didn't realize that.
NA: Recommended techniques research based, that is what the cooperative extension has always offered. Most of the time families do something. We still hear today about canning, "My grandmother, my mother did it this way." It may not be safe; it may not be our recommended practices. So that's what cooperative extension started with at that time and continues to have food preservation as a very important area.
JH: So was the Tomato Club under the umbrella of a larger organization, or was this just some women coming together to do this?
CS: I'm not sure. Mrs. Weathers, or she was Miss Elliott then when she was doing this, but she was paid by the state, by the extension. It's an arm of North Carolina State University.
PAT ANDERSON: Wasn't there a case of botulism in the mountains in the 1960's where at least one of the couple died because of improper canning? I think it was green beans.
NA: Could have been, I'm not sure about that. But of course with this starting early in 1914, this Tomato Club, teaching techniques. And green beans, that would be a low acid food and, of course, tomatoes are an acid food, so you can by two different methods there. But green beans we still hear of people putting them in a water bath, which is not a recommended method. There certainly was a need for sanitation, food safety, and all of the different areas.
CS: Then as the agents changed, we were lacking just a little bit on information right in this period of time. But the next agent was--.
NA: We outlined the scrapbook by decades so that we could document and somehow make the material manageable. And we, of course, had to leave out much more than we could put in. Even during that first decade a second agent was listed, Bertha Herman, and Miss Elliott. Then the agent in the twenties was Cornelia, and then finally they got someone who could be married. That might be something you want to speak to; all these were Miss up to this time.
JH: And the reason for that?
NA: All of the agents at that time were not married, and even when Miss Elliott got married and became Mrs. Weathers, she had to give up her work. Miss Bertha Herman came along. It's interesting; we're fortunate to have a few original things in the file that we could add to the scrapbook here and document some of the original material.
JH: Do you know when it was that the first married woman was able to be an extension agent?
NA: I don't know.
CS: I don%u2019t believe that I do.
NA: There may have been someone before Cleveland County had a married person because we continued to have single agents for a long time.
CS: Then in the twenties, this is some of the things. You see we're lacking just a little bit of information along there. [long pause] NA: These are some of the program highlights and looking back at some of the agent reports and so forth in these early days is how we were able to pool this information.
JH: You've done a great job of organizing.
NA: We had a committee; Clevie was the chairman.
CS: We worked on it a long time. It took a lot of time to dig back and find out all these things.
JH: This is done beautifully.
CS: Here is something I think is very interesting. Mrs. Cole went to England; now let's see what was that group she went with? Country Women of the World. Our Extension has been associated with the Country Women of the World; I don't know if you're familiar with that or not.
JH: No.
CS: She sailed on the Queen Mary, and she saw the Queen while she was there.
JH: So the Country Women of the World, same type of organization--?
CS: No, now Nancy will have to explain to you about the Country Women of the World; I'm fairly familiar with it, but Nancy will know more about it than I do.
NA: That is an international organization that home demonstration, extension homemakers and now ECA, Extension and Community Association, are a part of. This is women from all over the world, who come together triennially, and we have had delegates from North Carolina, often our state president, whoever is the state president that particular year, and a delegation attend that meeting. And one of the projects then that the United States, and I guess other countries also participate in, is called Pennies for Friendship. And this is a project through Country Women of the World where women take whatever is the lowest coin, the lowest money denomination that they have and voluntarily contribute that. And it is sent to Country Women of the World as a project of aid. And we have done Pennies for Friendship.
CS: It's one of our strong projects.
NA: It's still one of the projects. It used to be under Citizenship, one of the program of work committees. Now it comes under Leadership and Community Capacity Committee. Still you can see the linkage; a lot has changed but there are still some threads, some nuggets of this organization that are still going on today. It's a beautiful organization.
CS: One of the purposes of the Pennies for Friendship is to enable people who could not afford to attend those conferences to come and share the concerns of their country.
NA: We could get you more information on any of these.
CS: Strange as it may seem, mattress making was one of the earlier projects, too. A lot of the rural people used straw ticks, straw for their bedding. So that was one of their projects.
JH: So did they move to cotton batting from straw?
CS: Yes.
JH: Now if this hadn't been a cotton region, do you think that class would have been offered? Or do you think that part of it was--.
CS: It was part of the state program. Our county just participated in whatever the state program was.
JH: So it was the state that dictated the types of--. When we look back at the different projects for each year, that was mandated by the state?
NA: There has always been, as far as I know always, a plan of work, a structure in place. Again this is part of a state-wide organization. Our officers have the opportunity to go; we have a club, a county, a district and a state and that feeds, of course, into the national program. But our programming and overall projects, that does start at the state level with the recommended areas, such as mattress making or even being divided into the program of work areas. But every county in addition has autonomy in deciding whether or not they will participate in any program, and in initiating programs on their own as well.
JH: Okay.
PA: So it's really a way for North Carolina State University to share professional knowledge with local folks. Is that the principle?
NA: That would be the basis, why it is tied to the land grant universities, North Carolina State is one and A&T is a state university. Not every state has what at the time, 1865, is NC State, and 1890 is the mandated year for the black institutions and made it possible for African-American families to have this tie to the University for research-based information. So that families are not any longer only doing what Grandma or Grandpa knew or thought was right or tried and which may or may not have actually been what was recommended. So there was this tie to the University and research so that no matter where you were in the state, you were tied back. With our home demonstration and extension homemakers, ECA, these are individual members. This organization, ECA, is a stand alone organization, but we do have a memorandum of understanding between the cooperative extension and ECA so that those are independent but very much partners. And the outreach of the University is made possible because of people at the local level who are interested and learn and carry the information out. There is that outreach component of extension homemakers as well.
PA: A great service.
CS: This is the forties. [looking at scrapbook] This agent, she was not married. She seemed to promote not only the lessons we were to learn and how to do things, but a type of social, a coming together. Getting to know each other and doing things together, and this was very meaningful to the rural women. And here was our first African-American agent, and she was single, too.
JH: The photographs are only for my research and wouldn't be used in any way other than through my own information.
CS: It's been a long time since I have looked at this, but I have to look at it to see what it is. We also promote the 4-H Clubs, and the 4-H Clubs are under the same umbrella as the extension. This was 4-H Club members who later became active in the extension program.
NA: This is something that tells about each of the clubs, the Polkville Club, something unique about each of them.
JH: Do you know when the different names changed? At what point it moved from the Tomato Club and then the--?
CS: It will be in here, and we can--.
JH: Okay.
NA: Those are the names. There have been four name changes, and now the ECA, the Extension Community Association. We're not part of a national organization as such. Well they have now joined a volunteer organization called ENVON, but it's not like Extension Homemakers was; that was a national group. We still do have a national affiliation but some differences over the years.
CS: I think it's fascinating the different things that have sprung out from the club. We had a county chorus of women in the Extension Homemakers that wanted to sing, and, of course, there were various classes, quilting and lots of health classes. It just covered such a broad spectrum.
PA: Miss McVae was librarian in Burke County at the Morganton Public Library? I think her name was Thelma; anyway it was McVae.
NA: It might have been some of her family, but she was from Alamance County.
JH: This is interesting. Negro families migrate--. Do you know where this came from, or these are just clippings and things that you had in the files?
NA: The clippings and things I would think came from the Shelby Star probably.
CS: Things that we would have had in the file here at the office.
NA: When we could, we put a date or a source, but with your research it might be possible to look back at that period on microfiche or on line somehow.
JH: Okay, thank you.
CS: That was our little songbook. I don't remember all the tunes that were in there, but anyway--.
JH: Does the chorus still exist?
CS: No. It has changed. I guess that's one thing you could say about it; it has changed.
NA: That's right, because, what decade was that? The fifties, because when I came in the seventies there was no chorus, but I heard about it.
CS: Let's see what's this all about here?
NA: I don't know if we can look at each article, but maybe with the decades.
CS: We need to move on then. As we went into each decade, we tried to outline the townships of the county, and we tried to show just where the various clubs were. And these are just people and clippings of things that we were doing.
NA: One thing that's interesting is that they designated a Rural Woman of the Year. And of course Ms. Koon was in the Fallston Club, and there were others, but to have that designation of Rural Woman of the Year was interesting.
CS: And you notice we wore hats back then.
NA: Very dressed up.
CS: Red Cross classes, I'm not sure; I guess that's a first aid class.
JH: How did membership change over the years, over the decades?
CS: Well I guess back in the forties and fifties membership was at the highest, probably. But then as people began to go to work, as women began to go to work, our membership began to decrease. And then, too, I guess television made a difference, you know, learning how to do things. People really didn't have the need; they could learn from other places. But still this is research based from the state college.
NA: I think that the going to work made a difference. And as I understand, as Clevie said, people have other options and lots of other demands on their time. Family care giving also makes an impact on membership, when people have to step out of the club for a time period to do additional things with their family and then grandparenting responsibilities. We have more people who are raising their grandchildren.
CS: I just wanted to show the contrast from the Tomato Club to this. Look at it. This is the next agent, Miss Wingo, and she was not married. Nancy, I guess you were the first--.
NA: That Mrs., someone in. That Ms. Harmon, was she married? I think there was one other, then me. I became the next one; I came in 1977.
JH: My goodness. Could you hold up this so I could photograph this page; what I'm curious about on this page is now it starts becoming about space planning. We're in the fifties now, and that's a very different focus from what there was previously.
CS: This is a broad program.
JH: Okay.
NA: Electrification, people planning their homes, putting in storage buildings, storage in the home, appliances and so forth. So again, Extension and ECA or Home Demonstration, Extension Homemakers have always tried to be on the cutting edge of what is new and what families need.
JH: But I see they still have canning as well, at the same time as we%u2019re moving into appliances.
NA: We're still doing food preservation today.
JH: Are you? So that's really constant.
PA: The needs are greater for families now, aren't they? Society has evolved and there are a lot of young folks who have had no preparation for family hood.
NA: And have no connection. Extended families are not next door like they used to be. So individuals don't know, and with the economy and the need for a safe food supply, I think those are some of the issues that are driving people to look at providing their own food, whether they grow it or not. Going to the farmers%u2019 market which is becoming more readily available to everybody. People are looking for alternatives, and they don't know what to do. So Cooperative Extension nationwide is still the source for preservation. And a lot of the printed material is from the Ball Company. We use the Ball Blue book as a reference, but that's not the only reference that the agents use.
CS: All along we are trying to keep up with the different years for the various clubs.
JH: Now here in the sixties it looks like a lot of very active clubs comparatively. They're not really singing. It's an increase from the forties and the fifties. Isn't that something? Definitely an increase from the forties. So it looks like in the sixties there's lots of participation.
NA: I'm not sure if we put our dots in blue and red because up until late sixties the clubs were separated. We had two Extension services, an 1890 and an 1865, a black and a white.
JH: Ohhh. Up until what period?
NA: It was the sixties. We probably have the year. Do you remember if it was 1966 or something like that?
CS: Don't we have that somewhere in here?
NA: We'll come to that, but that again was a significant thing when integration came about, not only in the schools but in educational organizations as well. This is part of N.C. State and A & T State; that is education at the grass roots level.
JH: Now earlier we had seen the first African-American Home Demonstration agent, so would she only have been dealing with the African-American community? And was that the inception of the first African-American club?
NA: Yes.
JH: And what year was that, do you remember?
NA: Actually there was someone prior to Thelma; let's see Miss Adelaide Morehead was black and Miss Katie Battle was black and they didn't stay very long. Miss Thelma MacVae was actually the first black agent that stayed, and she came to just stay 2 or 3 years or something like that, but she stayed 30 years.
JH: Wow!
NA: When she retired, I came and she continued to live in the county until she passed away in probably the late 90's or it might have been 2000.
CS: I'm not sure.
JH: So let me ask, the blue x's are the African-American groups?
NA: Right. A & T is blue, which is their color, and N C State is red, and that denotes the clubs at that time as best as we could accumulate records. And prior to that time all of them were red. So the circles indicate Home Demonstration clubs in the thirties, and it looks like there were only 5 perhaps, again as best as we could document.
CS: Nancy, now we don't have a date on this, but this is when the county approved the agents, the black or African-American agents.
NA: September of 1947.
JH: Was she the first? You said there was somebody earlier.
NA: And this right here, January 1, 1947, Adelaide Morehead started. This tells which clubs were organized under her leadership. Then Miss Penny Battle worked in the county from July 1 of %u201847 until September. And then Thelma came in September of 1947.
JH: So very high turnover in those first years, year. Any ideas why?
PA: Would it have anything to do with the war? 1941 would have been World War II.
NA: But this was 1947.
JH: So nothing in your research--?
CS: Thelma endeared herself to everybody, and we all loved Thelma.
JH: Okay, thank you.
NA: I think Miss Adelaide Morehead lived in Kings Mountain; she was in our quilter's guild later. I don't know if she's still living or not. It might be possible to dig that out, if she is still living.
CS: Our clubs participated in the Woman of the Year program. Let%u2019s see who we chose, Mrs. Turner. Let's see.
NA: The home tour.
CS: These houses had maybe done some addition; I think this Lattimore house in New House; that was on tour. This house had been renovated and also this house right here. They came to my house too, because we had built-in shelves in the den.
NA: Storage.
CS: For storage and so on. That's just showing the different things that we did.
NA: Talking about wills and estate planning.
JH: Interesting. I see a craft workshop and copper embossing.
NA: Quite a variety of things.
CS: Let's see, we had a tea or something for her, I'm not sure.
NA: They gave her a silver service as a gift. I remember when Jessie Wingo retired, they gave her luggage.
CS: You see we were still wearing hats.
NA: Eight-five women marked Achievement Day with lunch, exhibits, and a style show. And as you can see, they are very stylish.
JH: With gloves and hats.
CS: Then, you've probably never heard of Miss Alice Bell. She came to our county and taught us a lot about dressing and how to look sharp.
NA: It's interesting that it's called the Charm Encyclopedia.
CS: That's quilting. Quilting has been a big part of the Extension Homemakers for some, those who quilt.
NA: And community service. This speaks about Operation Santa Claus; they're making something there for the Jaycees. There has always been again that community--. It's hard to read; you might need to sit here.
CS: I just haven't seen this book since we finished it; I haven't gone back to look at it. [Shifting around and changing seats] CS: I believe this is when we merged. Both clubs were state organizations and then we merged. Let's see if there's a date on this.
NA: 1966, that%u2019s when we merged. Miss Maureen Moore was the first president of the Extension Homemakers Council and 1890 groups and North Carolina Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs with the African-American group and then the State Council was the 1865 NC State group.
CS: The seventies, various workshops that we had.
NA: Now you see the club color is one color. It's red, because we're all merged. NC State has given primary leadership to the Extension Homemaker program. That's where the leadership component comes from for this.
JH: %u201CWomen learn old and new skills in workshops.%u201D So I see them weaving and what else?
NA: Wood carving, whittling, I'm not sure what that one is.
CS: I'm not sure what that one is either.
JH: Do you remember in the seventies those string art pieces? I wonder if that's what that is?
NA: It might be; it might also be punched tin. Candlewicking, embroidery, crewel.
JH: It's interesting in looking at the old and new skills workshops, certainly weaving is one of the things that women would have done over the decades. I'm not sure that wood carving is something that women, that I would necessarily associate with rural women in the home. I imagine most of their time was spent doing things that were functional.
NA: Flowers, this one is silk flowers. Counted cross stitch, there was just a lot of involvement. And our members often were the teachers. If a member learns something, there always has been a leader training component to Extension Homemakers. Where leaders go and receive information or come to the office for leader training program and go back and do the educational program in their club. Or for the crafts program, we had an area crafts workshop and a district craft workshop opportunity where area craftsmen were the teachers.
CS: It was brought back to the club, and if you were interested in a particular craft you were able to pursue it further, and if not you could go on to something else. It was up to the individual what they wanted to pursue, quilting or--.
PA: Lots of opportunities.
CS: I think that's one of the features of the club, was so many different opportunities.
JH: How often did the clubs meet?
CS: Monthly. And then we would have our quarterly meetings. The council would come together for our council meeting and planning and so on, and committee meetings in between. Our Extension Club members gave the seed money for the McKennen Center throughout the state. I don't know that it amounted to all that much for that large building. But still clubs throughout North Carolina gave the seed money.
NA: I don't remember right off how much that was.
CS: Now Nancy, you need to be over here now.
NA: Oh, right here. They gave a check for $100,000.00.
CS: To the Council of North Carolina State University, July of 1966. %u201CEntered into an agreement with them that this fund was to be used toward the cost of a continuing education center."
NA: And Jane S. McKimmon was one of the early home extension agents, state agent not a local person, but at the state level.
CS: Through our state meetings and district meetings we had this connection with other ladies, our members throughout the state.
NA: Everything in the organization is done by members, so it was a tremendous leadership opportunity. A development opportunity for individual members; they could decide to work in their local club, or they could work at the county level, the district level or the state level. There was training all the way along, and Clevie has participated in all of those levels.
PA: Educate the women and there's no telling what you can do.
NA: That's right; you educate the whole family that way.
CS: Ms Rosina Hamrick was such an enthusiastic--. She organized the club in Boiling Springs and was their president for a long time.
NA: This picture also demonstrates that when integration took place, it truly integrated this organization. Because these are the leaders, our council's officers, and as you see there's true representation of both groups. It truly did merge into a wonderful, strong partnership that continues today.
JH: It's funny looking at the powder puff clinic. And I remember when I was in high school in the seventies that's what they called it when women wanted to take auto powder puff mechanics. [Laughter]. That wouldn't apply nowadays would it? [laughter] CS: But I tell you it was beneficial; we learned a little more about the car.
NA: Return, a bicentennial, brought up looking back at the past always involved with 4-H.
PA: I was in 4-H in Burke County. And one of the best experiences of my life was a summer camp at John's River 4-H Camp, near Collettsville, down in this beautiful bowl with mountains all around it, just gorgeous. But it was a great experience.
NA: Our 4-H counselor took campers this year to camp. We still have participation.
CS: And here's Nancy when she first came to us.
NA. Brand new.
JH: It's interesting to see on the same page, "Insurance will be the topic of area homemakers," and "woodstoves topic." Old and new.
CS: That's what our meetings were about.
NA: Remember in the late seventies, that's when we had the energy crisis, 1977-78. Again cutting edge, that's what families needed to know. Making our homes economical. We had gas lines and high utility bills. So putting in woodstoves, how to do that safely. This was one of the housing specialists who did the interior design part. So we were still interested in beautification, making draperies and Roman shades and different things for the home. Very much hands on skills, teaching skills. Extending family income, helping families learn to do things themselves, or making selections. How to be selective even if you hire someone to do various things.
CS: We have more material now than we did back at first. This is just some workshops and meetings. Then we have another agent that has come to us to help us.
NA: Lois came in 1986. But we had crafts, and Christmas programs were the big things. Duke Energy, Duke Power home economists would come and do a Christmas program. They would do it by themselves, or we would do it together.
CS: All the clubs came together.
NA: The area meeting concept started in 1978, I believe, and these were area meetings and area meeting topics. Again looking at ways to, we were still concerned about all the clubs integrating and joining together and extension information not just being available to club members, so area meetings were open to the general public. And the public outreach, again, was even stronger. It might be a holiday program; it was the technique, on how to do. We tried to always offer something that you wouldn't just get in a magazine or watching "Top of the Day" or something like that. Over the years we had different agents from the surrounding area also who would come. Then again crafts were big during the eighties; you can see different things there, area meetings began. I think that was %u201886 not %u201878.
CS: Always we participated in the fair, the Cleveland County Fair. Each club would have a booth, with the help of the agents they would compete, you know, who could do a better exhibit, to teach a lesson. Always we had to teach a lesson in everything. And these are just some of the fair booths, the exhibits.
JH: I love some of the topics here: "Ingredients for a strong marriage." "To keep food safe to eat." "Fire safety." "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Oh, and inflation called "Got a tiger by the tail?" Dealing with inflation. And fashions, "Yesterday and today."
CS: And then for our county meeting, each club decorated a Christmas tree.
NA: This was the area meeting; I mean the achievement program.
CS: Each year we'd have a meeting when all the clubs came together.
NA: And focus on the things that had been done throughout the year, fair booth winners, who went to district day, the new officers who were installed and different things like that.
CS: And again I'm going to include the social aspect of this. We came together, and we got to know so many people throughout the county where otherwise maybe we wouldn't have had that opportunity.
JH: And did you find at some point that it was people from all walks of life? What was the makeup of the group?
CS: Well, many of them were the rural women, farm women, but then we also had a Shelby Club, Old Farm. I guess you would say it was just a good mix.
NA: Meadowbrook had a club; there was another one here in Shelby, Kings Mountain.
CS: This is another one of our achievements; that was in '79.
NA: And these were models of what they had made. I think that was a fashion show of their garments. Sewing was big at that time.
PA: You know, I think that's something that we miss, all the fabric stores.
CS: Oh, do we ever. Then we had table decorations one time.
NA: Into the 80s, again this is the council officers.
CS: And these are just various workshops that we were having. You remember when we made our belts? And we have someone doing tatting there. Making the wreaths that we hung on our doors. Then there were educational tours. At one time we would all go to N.C. State for what was called Farm and City Week. And our state leader got the idea; they would have people to come from various companies to educate people on products and so on. Our state agent got the idea to take a tour of these locations, rather than go to State College and have them to come. We had several people to participate in that. And I was one of the ones that went on the state tour, and we went to, well, we just went all over. To the Board of Trade, we went to Minnesota; it%u2019s left me now. I'm trying to think where we went.
NA: You went more than one time.
CS: Yeah. We got to see other clubs throughout the United States, meet with other clubs throughout the United States. Sometimes they would host a group. Oh, I'm trying to think of the company that makes cleaning products.
PA: Proctor and Gamble?
CS: No, not that.
PA: Johnson & Johnson.
CS: Wax, Johnson's Wax! See, I have aged out! Anyway places like that. And we went to Betty Crocker's test kitchen, too. Places like that. Board of Trade. Really interesting places. Then we went, from this county, up to Pennsylvania. A quick trip up there. A lot of ladies and some men who went to the Amish country.
NA: Went to the Hershey's school and the New Holland factory and different things like that. We ended up going twice. We probably have both of those pictures in here. We had workshops on the move, too. Consumer Workshops on the Move was a thing for a while and we'd do different things. This is Doran, Dover Industries which of course is closed now.
CS: We sort of adopted the idea of going out.
NA: Right. Our members would go; they brought the idea back. Here, we went to the new coliseum when it was new over in Charlotte and different things. We tried to get to know the region and our county.
PA: Am I right that that coliseum was designed by a local; his name was Camp. Was it Steve Camp?
CS: I don't think he designed it; I think he oversaw it, was manager or something. His mother was in my club, so we really got to see lots of it.
NA: I think that's Ruby right there.
CS: I'm trying to see if we had Steve in one of the pictures there.
NA: I don't think so, because that day this man gave the tour. He worked there, too. Steve had arranged for him; I don't remember what his name is.
CS: We've got another book to go through so I'm going to move along. These are county projects. Through the Salvation Army, we dressed dolls.
N.A. Several years, then the money for the goats.
CS: We had a goat project. Where was it, Haiti?
NA: I think it was.
CS: We bought a goat. And dressed dolls for the Salvation Army.
JH: Beautiful!
CS: Our club members took the dolls and used their own idea of what they wanted to make for the dolls. Then we had a club member to design our name tags.
PA: That's pretty, like needlepoint.
CS: We participated in blood pressure taking. And then we designed the county flag, although it's never really been used. It's been changed since then.
NA: We took the seal and had it put on flags. gave the flag to the county commissioners and to each of the schools, because there wasn't a county flag. But now since then, they've had a contest or something and have come up with what Cleveland County now has as their flag.
CS: But we tried.
NA: Maybe gave them the idea.
PA: The emblem has a farm, a barn, and silo and a church and I can't tell what this is, can you?
JH: A mill, maybe?
NA: I don't know, but it is the seal. This was one of Cleveland County's seals that they used, and they had another one. And then our group got to choose and this is the one they chose of the two. And then I think what they're using now is something different from either of those two.
CS: The Quilter's Guild in this county, and is it surrounding counties? It's an outgrowth of Extension.
JH: Oh, is it? I've spoken to some of the people.
C.S. It's an outgrowth of Extension Homemakers.
NA: Double Shoals Club invited Georgia Bonesteel to do a workshop. Double Springs, Double Springs. She did lap quilting. She was on television, new at that time. They invited her, opened it up to the county, and had it here. Out of that, Georgia said, "There's a lot of interest here; you all should have a guild." So we did, over time.
CS: We had this one person who was just really, really gifted in quilting, Nancy Baxter and she taught many classes.
NA: This is a demonstration at the community college, and this one out at the fair.
CS: Here's the fair booths in the eighties.
JH: "Eating Alone can be Fun."
PA: Can be what?
JH: Can be fun. I'm looking at the different times, those things that seem to be so consistent through time of things that are being taught and issues that are being addressed. "Eating Alone can be Fun%u201D; I%u2019m wondering if that's addressing divorces were happening at that time? More people were single or older?
NA: Older, widows, a lot of people whose spouses were passing away, and again trying to encourage that they maintain their nutrition. Not just eat a sandwich or a bowl of cereal. They need to continue with the nutrition, and it can be a fun or wholesome activity. And even this one over here on being prepared for the hurricane or for disasters, emergency preparedness. "Better Marriage." Tips for a happy marriage.
JH: So that's a theme we're seeing, like now we're seeing common day toxins, coming into awareness for products that we use. Crime prevention, again a reflection.
NA: Help save the earth. Earth and environmental--
CS: I guess along back then we were just beginning to experience a lot of crime issues then.
NA: Neighborhood watch, things like that.
JH: What's been fascinating to me through this entire book, what a reflection it is. What did I write in the notes? The reflection of social and political conditions over the years and also aesthetics and values. It's a reflection of so much about our society.
NA: And that the home is the basic unit for everything that happens in society. And you can't get world wide or national; it starts at home. And this has been an opportunity and the outreach; members don't just learn things and then that's it, but you have their children and family members, the people at their churches, neighbors, all kinds of outreach. Just a tremendous opportunity.
CS: I guess here we see our first African-American county council president..
JH: And that's in the eighties?
NA: For council, I believe Velina might have come before Betty. She was council president one year; I believe she followed Marley Beam. We'd have to go back and look; we have a listing. But Betty Withrow is the first person; she was actually council president twice. And district, she is the first African-American district president from our county. And Clevie also was a district president. We started doing awards of outstanding club of the year, ECA member of the year, project of the year, different things like that.
CS: Achievements within our county organization.
NA: And then one thing over here is our 50-year members. You know we took that picture of our pin, 50-year pin and some of the people who received the 50-year membership. And then there are others since that time. I think it's significant for people to be in an organization, actively, for 50 years.
CS: Also in the organization there's what is called the Veep program. I'll have to look back; I know its volunteer hours.
NA: Volunteer Extension Education Program.
CS: Okay. And of course we all participated in that, keeping a record of our volunteer hours. That was a real accomplishment too.
JH: Kathryn Hamrick?
CS: That's when she was not employed outside the home; she was a part of our organization. And this is when we hosted our district here in Cleveland County, and we had it at Gardner Webb. We had a personality from WBTV to come, Vivian Harris. What did she do?
NA: It was on Top of the Day; I'm not sure exactly what her title was there.
CS: My daughter-in-law did this little thing right here. She looked at Top of the Day on TV, and she would have her children to call her when Top of the Day came on so she could look at it, and she designed that little--. She did it in needlepoint.
PA: Ooh, that's real sweet.
NA: This is Clevie. Clevie was our district president; that's why our county was hosting.
CS: This was our district there. This has to be the state council, members on the state council board, I guess you would say.
NA: Cleveland County has always sent delegates to the state meetings, in addition to if we had district officers or issue chairman, that sort of thing, coordinators. And these were some leadership development programs; SCL was one that taught public policy, inner action, how to speak at public meetings, present their issues and so forth. Again the focus changes and continues to evolve. So we've had members that have been elected to school boards across the state, county commissioners, certainly serving on lots of boards in our own county and other counties as well. Leadership opportunities and training.
CS: This is going to be an outgrowth here of this community leadership training. Because this is the African-American community, Kingstown community, and as an outgrowth of this leadership training they began to work. I'd better let Nancy address this. But they began to work on organizing their town up there.
NA: And of course now they are a town, Kingstown like Belwood and Shelby.
CS: They have a mayor and so on. And then this pertains to when we had the national meeting in Charlotte, I believe. And we were each asked to do some things, and that was one of the little favors that was given out%u2014a glass case. And all the folks had to make those, not had to, but we did make them. We were asked to.
NA: Ultra suede glass case, so they'd know they'd been to Tarheel country. More of that national meeting. Several delegates from here went and members.
CS: This was when we had the national meeting. Anyway I was the State Citizenship Chair, and we won the recognition that year for having the outstanding project in Citizenship. That was from all over the state.
NA: Leadership and coordination for that comes through your state chairman and then the district chairman. Clevie worked with the district citizenship person.
CS: That was a retirement party for Miss Wingo. And we%u2019ve said how times have changed and they have changed. We set out to do one book.
JH: But there was so much information.
NA: I don't know how your time is going, but we can look at this book which takes us up to the year 2000; then anything you want to look at again or photograph again.
CS: Then we participated in establishing a scholarship for Frank Spencer, who was an agent here. And then these are our presidents in the county, and you can see how we are holding forth out there. And these are council meetings that we were a little more conscious of making pictures of and so on.
JH: We start seeing recycling, financial planning showing again, and then low fat diets.
CS: Trying to address the issues of the day.
JH: It is remarkable what a reflection this is.
CS: Then our Christmas, some of this is just a continuation. Then we did the radon test in our homes. Then this is when the living will was introduced, and we were taught about that and encouraged to do that. Then we had someone from the coast to come and teach us about fish, cooking fish and so on. This is just more or less a continuation of the things that we've done in the past. And then Nancy had workshops on, she called them Parent's Training for Young Mothers. Then these are summer classes for children, and that was a real good program too. They were making tote bags. And any children in the community or the county that wanted to come for that. And then basket weaving became a real popular craft. And look at some of the things we were doing. And you're still doing basket weaving, aren't you? It's been a really, really popular program.
NA: And members learned at the district and area workshops, perfected it. Came back and worked on it here together.
CS: And you see men participated in that, too.
NA: They got their husbands involved.
JH: When did you start seeing men coming and doing some of the demonstrations and things?
NA: I guess as the wives become involved and the husbands retire or have a job with flexibility where they can come, then they have come as volunteers and helped to teach things.
CS: But you know, we didn't so much in this county, but throughout the state there were a lot of men who were a part of their county's club or their community's club.
NA: Think Polly Almond's husband was a member with her. That would have probably been eighties, I would guess.
CS: When they have the church bazaars, I see a lot of baskets that have really originated from this. People who have learned basket making and bring their baskets to church bazaars. These are just some more county workshops, baskets and quilting. We're seeing less newspaper articles now, and we have more pictures of what we are doing. However we're still getting some newspaper articles. And we participated in the sesquicentennial celebration in Cleveland County. And here we have someone tatting.
JH: I was waiting for the scrapbooking.
CS: That was just an outgrowth of one of the programs we had. And incidentally, this lady helped us, Mrs. Blanton; she got really caught up in this, and we would come once or twice a month and she'd guide us through it.
NA: She volunteered.
JH: That's wonderful.
CS: This is an exhibit we had out at the fairgrounds.
NA: Fourth of July, Freedom Fest.
CS: There was an exhibit at the fairgrounds, a heritage exhibit, and our county did a lot toward that. Then later on there was a Freedom Fest at the court square, and we participated in that. Oh, this is when we had the school children to come in and see some things we had exhibited from the sesquicentennial.
NA: You can see that year, in April, in July, and now here in October with our Achievement Program, but that theme carried out throughout the year. And the members expanded on it at each opportunity; that was a little different twist on what they did.
CS: Here's some more crafts, here's educational tours to Kentucky.
NA: To Berea College, Amish country.
CS: Oh yes. When we went to Berea College that was a state--.
NA: It was our area craft workshop group. There were five counties who did the planning for that, but it was open to the state. We had people from lots of other counties who participated.
CS: Stowe Botanical Garden, this is when we went down to visit that. That was in the early stages; it has developed a lot since then.
NA: We had different issue areas, getting to know our area, our community. Botanical garden, a Charlotte area tour, African-American Cultural Center, just different things. Charlotte Convention Center, different things, we went to the First Union building and rode all the way up to the top floor and looked out. Looked at the murals or frescos in downtown Charlotte.
CS: All this was educational as well as enjoyable. Then this is our local, our Lawndale museum. I don't guess you've had an opportunity to go up there.
JH: I haven't.
CS: They had this little train that ran from Lawndale to Shelby; it was called Schenck's Dummy. And people used it to travel from Lawndale to Shelby. That will be something on its own that you'll want to . . . .
JH: That was Lawndale to Shelby? What period was that?
CS: Gee, that was before people had cars. But what we have right here was just visiting the museum.
NA: You can get the dates at the museum in Lawndale.
CS: We had the CBU program that was the volunteer hours that we kept and were recognized for. And here's environmental, we participated in the Adopt-a-Highway program; whatever was current we were into it. Then just some more projects, Books for Babies.
NA: With the Issues area, this is family issues; this other one was environmental issues. So you can see the types of things, the different issue areas to focus on.
CS: And we had a project with the newborn babies at the hospital, books.
NA: The homeless shelter, and the women's shelter, books so they could have a library for their children. Then global issues here. We looked at a variety of things.
CS: Then one of our projects, of course, was the shoebox project, and I know you're familiar with that.
NA: Here's Pennies for Friendship; that's a global. They made pillows for breast cancer patients, turbans, volunteered with the Red Cross.
CS: I think it's interesting that the Pennies for Friendship has carried on from the very beginning or about the beginning.
JH: So you see the changes in what it's being used for, moving from local to wider global.
CS: Well the Pennies for Friendship has always been, I guess, global. That's just our contribution to help these women who come to this Country Women of the World.
JH: Oh, that's right.
CS: They can't afford to come.
JH: I guess what I'm seeing is not Pennies for change but I'm seeing the issues, expanding into more global issues.
NA: Special projects.
CS: One of our special projects is we have a party once a month at the Life Enrichment Center for birthdays with cake and ice cream and whatever and visit with the patients there. And what was this other special project?
JH: Vision screening?
CS: We made these to hold up, for the counties, to go into school. Little eye guards.
NA: Each child had their own, no cost or examination or anything. This article speaks to the fact that Extension Homemakers or Extension Clubs really are much more than cooking and sewing, which are the traditional things that people often think of.
JH: Well this really reflects women's role in society somehow.
CS: The next project, oh, teaching the children to button.
PA: Pre-kindergarten.
CS: I couldn't think for my life right then, just what that was.
NA: Then when members took them, they would work with the children and then read to them and that sort of thing. And it was very much those basic skills, and you can see the variety and how much they put into everything that they do. No matter what the project is, it is taken on with real passion and real ownership and doing it like they would for their own families. It has been a wonderful thing to watch.
CS: This is the Warm-Up America program where people would knit or crochet squares; then we would turn them into our district, and they would have someone piece them together for, what did they use these for, Nancy?
NA: The Yarn Council has an office in Ranlo, I believe it is, over in Gaston County. And they also helped to donate some things and put them together. I'm not sure if it was the Red Cross who received them, but for families and people in need. But the Craft Yarn Council and Extension Homemakers partnered on that project.
CS: Then we made the mastectomy pillows and the dolls.
NA: For Brenner Hospital. So the doctor could use the doll to illustrate, or the child could point out where they're having pain, or the doctor could talk about what's going to happen to them and so forth and have the doll for illustration.
CS: Do we have any of those feeding vests we did for Veterans' Hospital?
JH: Yeah.
CS: Anyway we did the feeding vests. Took towels and made the feeding vests for the Veterans' Hospital.
NA: Also for Life Enrichment Center, the feeding bibs for them. Then you made the tracheotomy covers and little ascots for veterans. That was also something that they did.
CS: This was our money-making project, our bake sale and Hidden Treasures.
NA: We've also done things for Hospice; collected Ensure; that was a project for a year.
CS: And we would have lunch, and this is everybody checking out their items that they'd bought at the attic sale. ( ) I think it's amazing to look back over the various topics that we've covered.
JH: Isn't it though?
CS: This is our Achievement Program when all the clubs come together, and we have awards, we have programs and awards.
JH: You can tell computers came about with much more printed material. [laughter] NA: We're still getting some press.
CS: But the press dwindles as time goes on. We would select an outstanding club for one of the awards. And the state had what they called the A&P Community Service Award, and Betty [Withrow] got that one year and I did one year. Did we have some one else on the state level?
NA: Louise [Maybin] got it.
CS: I don't think Katy Ruth [Dixon] did.
NA: No she was Golden Key; that was something else.
CS: And here's our fifty-year members. And Nancy got a national award, and we were real proud of her. A fall district and council issues training. Always had to go through these training sessions and know what we were about and what we were doing.
NA: And we hosted the year that Betty was the district president; when you're first vice you host the fall issues training, and then you host the spring district meeting.
CS: The groups that attended, I believe that was Stanley County. [ pause] State council meetings that we have attended. And we've had a few people to go to national meetings. And this is the historical committee at work.
JH: The history of this scrapbook?
NA: We had a historical committee because it got to be so much more than just pictures.
CS: This lady, Wilma Hoyle, is deceased now; Betty is deceased. And here's Ms. Blanton that helped us.
JH: So when did you begin the project?
NA: I think it tells.
JH: Oh, first historical committee meeting, 1997.
CS: Creative Memories, and you're probably familiar with that I'm sure, but she was the Creative Memories representative in our county at that time. I don't believe she's doing that now, is she?
NA: She is. She's teaching also at Gardner-Webb. But I think she does still sell and help with the Creative Memories.
JH: It's wonderful. That%u2019s great.
CS: But I just want to show you an article in today's paper, as to how timely it is. I think I picked up the right thing. The support group for grandparents raising their children's children. Here's Nancy. Are you advising that group now?
NA: Yes.
CS: See how the Extension has kept up with what's going on.
NA: Partnering again with DSS, the hospital, and lots of different organizations in helping to provide leadership there. Kinship care because there're more and more.
CS: But many of our clubs, the members have aged out or are deceased, and we don't have as many clubs now. I'm still a member at large, but my club aged out.
JH: You don't see as many younger women now joining?
CS: No, like I said to begin with, many of them are working, then with their families and don't have time for meetings and so on.
JH: How many clubs are there?
NA: Now there are five. This last book is of the individual clubs.
CS: Oh, I'd forgotten about that.
NA: You can see the variety of the clubs, some are very traditional clubs, and some that by the time we were doing this didn't get their pages done. When I came I think there were maybe 18 clubs or 20, 21, or something like that. Then over the years they've changed.
CS: This is my club, the Piedmont Club. I had just forgotten about this. In my club these were people who were in leadership roles. And here's our level of involvement, different workshops and so on that we, and of course some of this is a repetition of what you've already seen. Day trips. I don't really know just what your mission is, but this Lawndale Historical Museum would be worth going to see. I don%u2019t know how much time you have, and I know nothing about what your mission is. I know what your mission is too, but how much you're involved. But this would be worth your while to run up to that little place.
JH: We'll do that.
CS: Because see there's that little car they have up there at Lawndale. It's a dead community now; there's nothing there now. But they do have the museum up there. It would just be interesting to see. And then there's the Belwood Club; the Belwood Club was the original Tomato Club and they have their history in here. They were a real active club.
NA: There are three of the council presidents and Clevie's club also had several.
CS: And each club could put in just whatever they wanted to, but I had just sort of forgotten we had done this.
JH: This is wonderful.
CS: The Casar Club, they were one of the older clubs, too. And had two fifty-year members.
NA: When I came they met at the fire station.
JH: Oh, really.
CS: These are their Fair booths.
NA: Two of the basket teachers.
CS: And the Elizabeth Club was Nancy's club, but they've aged out.
NA: And Mary is the last member of that club and she's now in the Frances Club.
CS: Then over in Boiling Springs, there's two active clubs over there yet. Does it tell when they--?
NA: They organized the year before I came. They were the new club when I came. They had a tour of homes two years, and they did a cookbook and different things on their own. Clubs are so different; you'd hardly know it was the same organization. And, of course, our good fortune as the agents, we get to visit each club.
CS: They were just a real active, lots of participation and lots of picture taking too. And then the Frances Club. The Shelby Lions Club named her as Citizen of the Year, I believe.
NA: And she was the Council president who appointed this historical committee.
CS: And I think you'll note on here that not only were some of these members active in their clubs, they were also active in other community--.
NA: They're Hospice volunteers or library volunteers or community college board, or Gardner-Webb board.
PA: Very service-oriented.
NA: Very. A different approach.
CS: Different talents. ( ) Club. Workshops they've participated in, awards they have won. That's the Lawndale Club, are they still active, Lawndale?
NA: They are. Again their membership and most of the clubs is down from what it used to be. Ellie Jolley is also still active.
CS: Ellie Jolley was named for Mrs. Jolley, wasn't it?
NA: Each of them to write their history as they see it.
JH: It's a wonderful idea for each to have ownership of their own pages. Handy Capable Club.
CS: Oh yes, that is something we probably should have mentioned. This is a vision-impaired club. They met and different members from the other clubs would do programs or something special for them or meet with them.
NA: You all also paid their membership dues. Other clubs adopted this club and would pay the dues and everything for them. And we worked with the staff person who was with Services for the Blind here; at that time it was Vicky Blanton.
JH: Oh, this is wonderful, really amazing project. So the organization today?
CS: Nancy will have to address that, because, of course, you saw what was happening here. I'm a member at large, but I'm not an active club member now. I've had health problems, and as I said, our club aged out. We were one of the older clubs. Nancy can tell you about today's.
NA: Well we do have five clubs, two in Boiling Springs, well three if you count Ellie Jolley which is Mooresboro. Mooresboro, which is Ellie Jolley, Boiling Springs Club, Bread and Roses Club, Belwood Club and Lawndale and Frances Club, then members at large. So that's six actually, six clubs. We had five fair booths this year, but six clubs. We are struggling like many other women's organizations, whether it%u2019s the church circle or the mission groups or the garden club to maintain and recruit new members, and to maintain the members that we have. Because as the groups stay active, people at different times are doing different things in their lives. With illness or other responsibilities, we've had a change in membership. We're very much open and trying to recruit new members whether at large or as part of a local club. The current President is Joan Parrish, and she's a member of the Boiling Springs Club, a retired kindergarten teacher. As people retire that's when some members are able to join. They've heard about Extension or ECA over the years. Some like Clevie came with her mother-in-law, didn't your mother-in-law--?
CS: My mother-in-law was a member of the Piedmont Club, and I went with her to a meeting, and that's how I became a member.
NA: Certain days were club days. That was a wonderful introduction to a new daughter-in-law and certainly for the organization. Clevie has been such a valuable member.
CS: The educational part of it has been so great, and the social part of it has just been an added joy, I guess you would say. Getting to know the other members and people that you wouldn't have an opportunity to know. Besides all the projects we've done.
JH: Now are you from this area originally?
CS: Yes. I was born in the Polkville community; I don't know how much you know about this county. Then I went away; I went to business school. And I worked at the Federal Reserve Bank before I married Ralph. That was during the war years. A lot of wars since then, but we still refer to World War II as the war years. Then he is a cattle farmer, and we're still in the same house we built after we were married.
JH: Now what about your background and your family. Was your father a farmer? Did you grow up on a farm?
CS: We did. People grew cotton back then. Cotton was king in Cleveland County at one time. Working, I didn't really have the opportunity to learn housekeeping skills and all the things we needed to know now, so this has been my school.
JH: Nancy, what about your background and region?
NA: My mother was from Gaston County and my father was from Stokes County, so I have North Carolina roots. But I and all of my sisters and my brother were born in West Virginia.
JH: Oh really! What part?
NA: Mingo County, Williamson is our town. We were about 76 miles or so southeast of Huntington and a little further from Charleston. Went to undergraduate college at Berea in Kentucky.
JH: You're lucky!
NA: Yes, I do feel very fortunate and had a wonderful education there. Learned many other skills, life skills, as well. So it was a joy for us to go to Berea and take a group from our area, from North Carolina and be able to show them some of the things there at the college with the labor program and everything being part of it. But I joined Extension in 1975 in Mecklenburg County. They had at that time a satellite office in Davidson; actually it was in an old school, the Amy James School in Davidson. And we served the northern part of the county, did 4-H, home economics and community development for my area. I did everything but Ag. Then in 1977 when Thelma retired I had the chance to come here to Cleveland County and really concentrate in home economics, which is really what I wanted to do. It was hard to do 3 different program areas, and what I really loved was home economics. So this opportunity to come and meet so many wonderful people and grow and learn myself, because as you can see a new young person in her twenties, they could teach me a lot more than I could teach them. But they were most gracious, and I have learned over the years and have certainly tried to contribute to the county.
JH: Thank you both so much for meeting with us today. One of the things I didn't do on this tape, so I'll do it now. This is Janet Hoshour and Pat Anderson at the Cleveland County Extension Office with Nancy Abasiekong and Clevie Spangler. Clevie what is your full name?
CS: I was a Whisnant, Clevie Whisnant Spangler.
JH: Were you?
CS: And my parents only gave me one name and I've had a hard time with it all my life. Nobody knows how to spell it, much less pronounce it.
JH: Now there's a professor who was at UNC; now he's over at State, David Whisnant. Is that any relation?
CS: I think actually I know who he is. I think he is from the same Whisnant family, but I don't know him; I just know who he is.
JH: Well I just want to thank you both today for your time. This has really been wonderful, and these books are just fascinating. And it's such an incredible history. These are gold, just golden. Thank you.
NA: We used part of our information from this book which is And That's the Way It Was, 1920 to 1980. Each county is featured in this, if that would help you to have a copy of that and this source, you might take a look at it. We again used part of it for those early years; of course we knew the later parts ourselves. Some of those early years it was very helpful to have that source that was put out through NC State or through Extension Homemakers.
JH: So can I get this through the Extension Homemakers?
NA: You know, I'm not sure; it may be out of print now, I would think. We can check, or I'd be glad to.
JH: Since we're really dealing with Cleveland County, although I imagine there%u2019s a lot more in here that would be really interesting; do you have a photocopier where we could just photocopy that section?
NA: I'd be glad to.
JH: That's wonderful.

Transcribed by Barbara Blackburn
October, 2009