Kenneth Dwayne Mcgaughey: A Youth In History
A Youth in History
Elisa M. Ybarbo
LeTourneau University
November 23, 2013
Bret Nelson
A Youth in History We live in a world of history, a history of past, history in the making, and a history not yet known. History has a way of affecting people’s lives though we often do not recognize it. Most of us do not come to the realization the daily lives we are living and the world surrounding us will one day be studied in history books. This is especially true for children. What youth often thinks, “One day, people will read about this in school”? For children who are born into a time of unease such as the Great Depression or World War II, this is extraordinarily true. Children born and growing up within difficult times simply assume the situation is a way of life; though they may hear elders speak of difficult times, they know no different life. I had the pleasure of interviewing a gentleman named Kenneth Dwayne McGaughey whose life’s story met this situation. Through stories of history, I will share some of this thoughts and memories with the connections to historical times and events.
Kenneth Dwayne McGaughey was born on the spring day of April 28, 1935. Unbeknownst to him, he was born in the middle of one of the hardest times in our nation’s history, The Great Depression. …show more content…
He also turned an innocent age of four when World War II began. Kenneth was the first out of two children to be born to his mother and father. His grandfather settled in the town of Humble, TX. in the late 1800’s with his wife and two daughters. This would be where Kenneth’s family story would develop its roots.
Kenneth’s grandfather (his mother’s father) came to Humble as a mule driver and worked in the oil fields of Texaco building earthen tanks. Humble was “a sawmill town and oil field, it was a combination of the two” (K. McGaughey, personal communication, November 19, 2013). In Humble, like many oil towns, the oil company was the biggest landowner, besides Bender sawmill (K. McGaughey, 2013). For most residents, these two companies were the prime employers. Besides the sawmill and oil fields, the next most common way of earning a living in the area was farming. “As production began to decline, many land owners returned to truck farming, dairy farming, and lumbering” (“The History Of”, 2013, para. 4). His dad’s family, which was raised just outside of Humble, did exactly this. In the small town of Cut-N-Shoot in Montgomery County, his parents met, married, and then settled in Humble like his mother’s side of the family.
Kenneth’s youth house was a simple, but nice home for the time. Like most, it was a shotgun house. Old, but well built, it had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, kitchen, outside water pump, and “nothing in it” (K. McGaughey, 2013). It is striking to see the memory of a home being bare, yet not knowing why, or that this was unordinary at the time. People then were more concerned with survival and well-being of their families then they were with luxurious possessions.
Though Mr. McGaughey was born the in the middle of the depression and did not fully understand the depth of the situation at the time, he remembers his elders speaking of it. “I could hear the old folks talk…I could hear them talk sometimes half the night saying how tough it was on them” (K. McGaughey, 2013). When asked if he remembered any of his family talking about how the depression affected everyday life, Mr. McGaughey responded quickly and in a very matter of fact tone with, “Yes, they thought they were going to starve to death! They had to eat out of the woods, whatever they could get out of the woods, deer, squirrel, and rabbits.” (2013). Rationing of foods and goods also had a lasting memory to many. When asked what one image do you picture now when you think of the depression, rationing was the main memory. “There was always rationing until about 1945” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Goods such as sugar and tobacco products were especially hard to come by. Along with this being their greatest fear, they also carried the worries of being able to provide for their children as well as feed them and be able to afford house call from a doctor should they become ill.
Luckily, Kenneth’s family fared somewhat well during the depression. They were fortunate in mother’s brother had a farm in Montgomery County which is not far from where they lived. His uncle had a horse and a plow to use on his farm and also made money by using them to plow fields for other people. They also carried a brand or license which was registered at the county courthouse that allowed them to run cows and hogs. His family practiced “open range” farming where they would turn cows and hogs loose in the woods. Once a month in a certain place, they would feed the animals to keep them happy and coming back. Kenneth’s aunt was fond of him and even purchased a brand of his own so that he could have his own stock. To get the first calf of his own, he branded two hogs and took them to town where he traded them for a calf, raised it, and was able to breed it to produce more stock. His family had killed up to five hogs at a time for food at one time. At the time, freezers were not easily accessible, especially with metal being a precious commodity for the war effort. His father did however manage to purchase a freezer where they stored as much meat as they could, enough to last about a year, then helped other families out by giving the meat they could not store away. “That’s the way everybody got along then” (K. McGaughey 2013). Along with raising animals, Kenneth’s dad would purchase needed groceries every month and charge it to an account. After his father was paid every month, he would take his check to the grocer, cash it to pay him back, and receive change back, if there was any.
People in this time were not only resourceful for food but other items. Kenneth’s mother would make shirts for them from feed sacks after the cattle had been fed. They would purchase feed made of cotton, not burlap so that there was more comfort to the clothing. At school, everyone dressed alike, but you could tell which families were not as fortunate. “They didn’t wear shoes to school. In fact, I got a picture made when I was in first grade of the whole class and there were very few who had shoes on, girls and boys. Clothes was a hard thing for them to be able to come up with” (K. McGaughey 2013).
Though Kenneth did not have many fears, he does recall his greatest hope and wish being to own a bicycle. His father saved up the money and purchased his sister one which he also rode. Hopes and dreams of adults also came when Roosevelt was elected. He recalls them being very happy for changes that might be to come. “I guess they had great hopes” (K. McGaughey 2013). Though hopes of the depression fading were high, the country rolled right over into a new problem, World War II. Hard times never really ended from the depression before the war started, “it just kind of carried over” (K. McGaughey 2013).
For children, the war simply meant “hard times” (K. McGaughey, 2013). As most children during that time, news from the war front was learned during school. This is where Kenneth heard of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan, and first learned about Hitler who was referred to as “the devil”. During school, they would learn how to recognize the silhouettes of German, Japanese, and American airplanes to learn if danger was approaching. Adults and children alike would also collect metal to sell for the war effort. Everything just seemed like a daily part of life.
Many of Kenneth’s cousins were drafted into the war. If they were not drafted, they enlisted as soon as they were finished with high school. “They wanted to go, it was just like any old job” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Men were proud to serve their country and boys wished they could. As a boy at the age of five, Kenneth (2013) “shot German soldiers all the time as a game” while hiding in bushes and pretended to be a soldier at war. Many people lost their lives in the war, some McGaughey’s family knew. When asked if losing someone he knew changed his view of the war Kenneth (2013) responded: “No, no, because that was something that was pretty much expected. We had meetings here in town where they would come by every time someone was killed from this area and they would recognize them and they would all gather at the recreation…They even had a board up there with all the names up on it.”
When the war ended, everyone was happy, had a renewed sense of security, and got to see family again. “Everybody was happy because they were going to get to see their cousins again…My mother said you won’t have to go, but I kind of wanted to go. I played army all my life” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Though it took until the early 50’s for things to completely return to normal, things began to improve right after the war. Goods became easier to get, rationing stopped, the price of gasoline dropped, and those who could not afford goods became eligible for the new government supplemental program. A new outlook was on the horizon.
Looking back, Mr. McGaughey simply saw these times as life. As a child who began work at 12 years of because he knew that money is what it took to get things, hard work was instilled in him early. According to McGaughey (2013), children are “100% different” today than they were back then. “I never went since I was twelve years old without working. I worked all the way through high school.” The best advice he would give to young people now who are going through hard times? “You gotta cut back for sure, that’s the only way” (K. McGaughey, 2013). He reflects that this hard time was simply a way of life. “I had plenty to think of without worrying about what was going on” (K. McGaughey, 2013).
I asked Mr.
McGaughey what circumstances seemed like now versus when he was growing up. His reply was, “Well, my daughter is multi-millionaire and my son is an officer in a company making $130,000 a year. It just wasn’t heard of. I don’t know what that equates to. The process is kicked up another notch as opposed to back them when not much was available” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Kenneth worked his way through college after going into the Air Force and fighting in the Vietnam War to become a successful CPA. His life has been full of hard work and hard times, but to him, even though his youth was spent in some of the most historical challenging times, to him it was just simply
life.
References
City of Humble (2013). The History of The City of Humble. [Web] retrieved from cityofhumble.org
McGaughey, K.D., interview by Elisa Ybarbo, November 19, 2013
Elisa M. Ybarbo
LeTourneau University
November 23, 2013
Bret Nelson
A Youth in History We live in a world of history, a history of past, history in the making, and a history not yet known. History has a way of affecting people’s lives though we often do not recognize it. Most of us do not come to the realization the daily lives we are living and the world surrounding us will one day be studied in history books. This is especially true for children. What youth often thinks, “One day, people will read about this in school”? For children who are born into a time of unease such as the Great Depression or World War II, this is extraordinarily true. Children born and growing up within difficult times simply assume the situation is a way of life; though they may hear elders speak of difficult times, they know no different life. I had the pleasure of interviewing a gentleman named Kenneth Dwayne McGaughey whose life’s story met this situation. Through stories of history, I will share some of this thoughts and memories with the connections to historical times and events.
Kenneth Dwayne McGaughey was born on the spring day of April 28, 1935. Unbeknownst to him, he was born in the middle of one of the hardest times in our nation’s history, The Great Depression. …show more content…
He also turned an innocent age of four when World War II began. Kenneth was the first out of two children to be born to his mother and father. His grandfather settled in the town of Humble, TX. in the late 1800’s with his wife and two daughters. This would be where Kenneth’s family story would develop its roots.
Kenneth’s grandfather (his mother’s father) came to Humble as a mule driver and worked in the oil fields of Texaco building earthen tanks. Humble was “a sawmill town and oil field, it was a combination of the two” (K. McGaughey, personal communication, November 19, 2013). In Humble, like many oil towns, the oil company was the biggest landowner, besides Bender sawmill (K. McGaughey, 2013). For most residents, these two companies were the prime employers. Besides the sawmill and oil fields, the next most common way of earning a living in the area was farming. “As production began to decline, many land owners returned to truck farming, dairy farming, and lumbering” (“The History Of”, 2013, para. 4). His dad’s family, which was raised just outside of Humble, did exactly this. In the small town of Cut-N-Shoot in Montgomery County, his parents met, married, and then settled in Humble like his mother’s side of the family.
Kenneth’s youth house was a simple, but nice home for the time. Like most, it was a shotgun house. Old, but well built, it had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, kitchen, outside water pump, and “nothing in it” (K. McGaughey, 2013). It is striking to see the memory of a home being bare, yet not knowing why, or that this was unordinary at the time. People then were more concerned with survival and well-being of their families then they were with luxurious possessions.
Though Mr. McGaughey was born the in the middle of the depression and did not fully understand the depth of the situation at the time, he remembers his elders speaking of it. “I could hear the old folks talk…I could hear them talk sometimes half the night saying how tough it was on them” (K. McGaughey, 2013). When asked if he remembered any of his family talking about how the depression affected everyday life, Mr. McGaughey responded quickly and in a very matter of fact tone with, “Yes, they thought they were going to starve to death! They had to eat out of the woods, whatever they could get out of the woods, deer, squirrel, and rabbits.” (2013). Rationing of foods and goods also had a lasting memory to many. When asked what one image do you picture now when you think of the depression, rationing was the main memory. “There was always rationing until about 1945” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Goods such as sugar and tobacco products were especially hard to come by. Along with this being their greatest fear, they also carried the worries of being able to provide for their children as well as feed them and be able to afford house call from a doctor should they become ill.
Luckily, Kenneth’s family fared somewhat well during the depression. They were fortunate in mother’s brother had a farm in Montgomery County which is not far from where they lived. His uncle had a horse and a plow to use on his farm and also made money by using them to plow fields for other people. They also carried a brand or license which was registered at the county courthouse that allowed them to run cows and hogs. His family practiced “open range” farming where they would turn cows and hogs loose in the woods. Once a month in a certain place, they would feed the animals to keep them happy and coming back. Kenneth’s aunt was fond of him and even purchased a brand of his own so that he could have his own stock. To get the first calf of his own, he branded two hogs and took them to town where he traded them for a calf, raised it, and was able to breed it to produce more stock. His family had killed up to five hogs at a time for food at one time. At the time, freezers were not easily accessible, especially with metal being a precious commodity for the war effort. His father did however manage to purchase a freezer where they stored as much meat as they could, enough to last about a year, then helped other families out by giving the meat they could not store away. “That’s the way everybody got along then” (K. McGaughey 2013). Along with raising animals, Kenneth’s dad would purchase needed groceries every month and charge it to an account. After his father was paid every month, he would take his check to the grocer, cash it to pay him back, and receive change back, if there was any.
People in this time were not only resourceful for food but other items. Kenneth’s mother would make shirts for them from feed sacks after the cattle had been fed. They would purchase feed made of cotton, not burlap so that there was more comfort to the clothing. At school, everyone dressed alike, but you could tell which families were not as fortunate. “They didn’t wear shoes to school. In fact, I got a picture made when I was in first grade of the whole class and there were very few who had shoes on, girls and boys. Clothes was a hard thing for them to be able to come up with” (K. McGaughey 2013).
Though Kenneth did not have many fears, he does recall his greatest hope and wish being to own a bicycle. His father saved up the money and purchased his sister one which he also rode. Hopes and dreams of adults also came when Roosevelt was elected. He recalls them being very happy for changes that might be to come. “I guess they had great hopes” (K. McGaughey 2013). Though hopes of the depression fading were high, the country rolled right over into a new problem, World War II. Hard times never really ended from the depression before the war started, “it just kind of carried over” (K. McGaughey 2013).
For children, the war simply meant “hard times” (K. McGaughey, 2013). As most children during that time, news from the war front was learned during school. This is where Kenneth heard of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan, and first learned about Hitler who was referred to as “the devil”. During school, they would learn how to recognize the silhouettes of German, Japanese, and American airplanes to learn if danger was approaching. Adults and children alike would also collect metal to sell for the war effort. Everything just seemed like a daily part of life.
Many of Kenneth’s cousins were drafted into the war. If they were not drafted, they enlisted as soon as they were finished with high school. “They wanted to go, it was just like any old job” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Men were proud to serve their country and boys wished they could. As a boy at the age of five, Kenneth (2013) “shot German soldiers all the time as a game” while hiding in bushes and pretended to be a soldier at war. Many people lost their lives in the war, some McGaughey’s family knew. When asked if losing someone he knew changed his view of the war Kenneth (2013) responded: “No, no, because that was something that was pretty much expected. We had meetings here in town where they would come by every time someone was killed from this area and they would recognize them and they would all gather at the recreation…They even had a board up there with all the names up on it.”
When the war ended, everyone was happy, had a renewed sense of security, and got to see family again. “Everybody was happy because they were going to get to see their cousins again…My mother said you won’t have to go, but I kind of wanted to go. I played army all my life” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Though it took until the early 50’s for things to completely return to normal, things began to improve right after the war. Goods became easier to get, rationing stopped, the price of gasoline dropped, and those who could not afford goods became eligible for the new government supplemental program. A new outlook was on the horizon.
Looking back, Mr. McGaughey simply saw these times as life. As a child who began work at 12 years of because he knew that money is what it took to get things, hard work was instilled in him early. According to McGaughey (2013), children are “100% different” today than they were back then. “I never went since I was twelve years old without working. I worked all the way through high school.” The best advice he would give to young people now who are going through hard times? “You gotta cut back for sure, that’s the only way” (K. McGaughey, 2013). He reflects that this hard time was simply a way of life. “I had plenty to think of without worrying about what was going on” (K. McGaughey, 2013).
I asked Mr.
McGaughey what circumstances seemed like now versus when he was growing up. His reply was, “Well, my daughter is multi-millionaire and my son is an officer in a company making $130,000 a year. It just wasn’t heard of. I don’t know what that equates to. The process is kicked up another notch as opposed to back them when not much was available” (K. McGaughey, 2013). Kenneth worked his way through college after going into the Air Force and fighting in the Vietnam War to become a successful CPA. His life has been full of hard work and hard times, but to him, even though his youth was spent in some of the most historical challenging times, to him it was just simply
life.
References
City of Humble (2013). The History of The City of Humble. [Web] retrieved from cityofhumble.org
McGaughey, K.D., interview by Elisa Ybarbo, November 19, 2013