[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 142 (Thursday, September 22, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5893-S5894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO JIM MOORE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
proud and grateful Kentucky veteran. Mr. Jim Moore was born and raised 
in Laurel County, KY, and takes pride in the many changes he has 
witnessed over the past 80 years. One of 12 children, Jim grew up on a 
small farm on McWhorter Road and recalls the tears and triumphs of 
growing up in Laurel County.
  Jim's parents, John and Lillie, provided food from the family farm as 
well as occasionally peddled on Main Street to make ends meet. Jim's 
parents set up a booth every year at the Laurel County Fair and sold 
everything from corn stalks and tobacco to canned goods and bakery 
products.
  Jim, along with his siblings, attended school in a one-room 
schoolhouse where one teacher taught all subjects to 60-70 students at 
a time. Jim recalls being expelled from the school on his very first 
day; Jim's teacher wrote a note to his mother after he deliberately 
disobeyed the teacher's orders to not leave school grounds. Jim 
returned to school the next year and began first grade.
  Jim also remembers the time when one of the first cars appeared in 
Laurel County. Jim was in school one afternoon when everyone heard the 
unfamiliar sound of a car coming down the road. Everyone, including the 
teacher, ran outside to get a glimpse of it as it drove by. To Jim's 
surprise, the car was in his driveway when he returned home after 
school--Jim's Uncle Leslie was the proud owner of the vehicle and had 
driven it all the way from Oregon. Jim reminisces how his family 
thought that his uncle was rich because he would make multiple trips to 
get all 16 members of the family to the Reda movie theater and paid 10 
cents per person to get everyone in.
  Jim eventually joined the U.S. Army and served for several years 
before being discharged. Once out of the military, Jim drove a freight 
truck for 35 years before eventually retiring. Like countless other 
Kentuckians, Jim cherishes his childhood memories and is very fond of 
his deep roots in our great Commonwealth.
  Madam President, the Laurel County Sentinel Echo recently published 
an article highlighting Mr. Jim Moore's life and memories. I ask 
unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record.

[[Page S5894]]

  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From the Laurel County Sentinel Echo, June 6, 2011]

             Moore Thinks Times Are Good, Better Than Past

                     (By Carol Mills, Staff Writer)

       Jim Moore, 82, grew up in the depression when times were 
     tough, but there was always food on the table.
       He was born and raised in Laurel County on a farm on 
     McWhorter Road. There were 12 children in his family and only 
     one, besides him, Bill, is still living.
       ``We raised most of what we needed on our land,'' he said. 
     ``People who lived in big cities had to wait in soup lines 
     two times a day because they didn't have any land to farm.''
       His parents peddled what they could at the Laurel County 
     Fair, which was on south U.S. 25 about where Tincher-Williams 
     is now.
       ``Every year they would set up a booth at the fair,'' Moore 
     recalled. ``They would take corn stalks, tobacco, canned 
     goods, and bakery products. Mom got two or three blue ribbons 
     about every year for her canning.''
       Moore's father, John, and mother, Lillie, also peddled on 
     Main Street.
       ``I've seen it when the wagons were lined up and down Main 
     Street and people sold watermelons, cantaloupes, whatever 
     they had to sell. Watermelons sold for a nickel, dime or 
     quarter depending on the size.''
       The family also went to the Laurel County Homecoming every 
     year.
       ``One year someone was selling R.C. Cola and dad bought 
     some bottles for about a nickel each and we would take a 
     drink and pass it around.''
       The Moore children all went to school in a one-room 
     schoolhouse and one teacher taught all the classes. There 
     were about 60 or 70 students.
       ``I got expelled the first day I went to school,'' Moore 
     laughed. ``I disobeyed the teacher. The teacher told two of 
     the guys to go to a neighbor's house and carry buckets of 
     water to the school. I started to go with them and she told 
     me not to. I thought, `Who are you to tell me not to go 
     somewhere.' I went and she wrote a letter to my mom.''
       Moore went back to school the next year and started first 
     grade. He said he was too young the previous year anyway.
       Moore said hardly anybody had a car back then.
       ``One day at school we saw a car coming down the road,'' he 
     said. ``All of us, the teacher too, went to the banks along 
     the road to the schoolhouse to wait on the car. When the car 
     came by, we were all waving.''
       When Moore got home from school, the car was sitting at his 
     house.
       ``It was my dad's brother, Uncle Leslie, and his wife. They 
     drove that Model A all the way from Oregon. One day he took 
     us to the movies at the Reda Theater in town. The car had a 
     rumble seat. There were 16 of us altogether including grandma 
     and grandpa. I don't know how many trips he took to take us 
     up there and then going back and getting the rest. He paid 10 
     cents for each of us to see the movie. We thought he was a 
     rich guy.''
       His father gave up some of his land so that Johnson 
     Elementary School could be built.
       ``He gave the school board 10 acres,'' Moore recalled. ``He 
     might have gotten $2,000 or $3,000 out of it. I don't know 
     back then. It was in the corner of the farm. We had a one-
     room schoolhouse and a church on McWhorter Road. That was in 
     the Maplesville district. The school and church were both 
     called Macedonia. Up the road, they had a Johnson School 
     there on the corner of Old 80 and Johnson Road before they 
     built the one on McWhorter.''
       There was someone on the school board by the name of 
     Johnson at the time so that is where the school got its name, 
     Moore said.
       Because Moore's father had 12 children, he was not drafted 
     into WWII.
       ``That's the only way you got out was to have an extra-
     large family,'' Moore said.
       One day Moore's mother loaded up five of her children and 
     took them to Dr. H.V. Pennington to have their tonsils taken 
     out. He had an office above Begley Drug Store, where Pocket 
     Park is today. They came back home that evening.
       ``They didn't want us to eat anything that day, but I 
     wanted a biscuit and molasses. I cried my eyes out. I thought 
     they were going to starve me to death.''
       ``That amazes me,'' said Mildred, Moore's wife. ``She took 
     five kids to get their tonsils take out at one time. Can you 
     imagine taking care of five? One's bad enough.''
       ``They put a cloth over my face and then sprinkled ether 
     over it until you fell asleep,'' Moore said. ``I can still 
     smell that ether now.''
       Moore also recalled there used to be a Poor House in London 
     at the location of Laurel Heights Home for the Elderly. He 
     said whole families could stay there, much like the Christian 
     Shelter for the Homeless on Fourth Street.
       Moore remembered the first radio to come into his 
     neighborhood. His grandfather bought it.
       ``It had a dry battery and a wet battery and had a wire 
     going through the garden to pick up signals. Everyone would 
     come in on Saturday night and listen to the radio, especially 
     the Grand Ole Opry. I think it's the oldest radio station in 
     the nation.''
       ``They also had the ring-a-ding telephones,'' he continued. 
     ``Your ring might be two short, one long, or one long, two 
     short. Everybody had a different ring. You could pick up the 
     phone and hear anybody talking. It was a party line.''
       When he was 16 or 17, Moore joined the U.S. Army. He stayed 
     in the army for three or four years and after he was 
     discharged, he drove a freight truck for 35 years before 
     retiring.
       Moore was married to his first wife, Ethel, for 51 years 
     before she passed away. Mildred, his second wife, said they 
     will be married for three years this December. They both had 
     been widowed for several years when they met at the VFW Club 
     while going to one of their dances.
       Moore said he has had a good life overall, but the best 
     time is the present.
       ``We have running water. No more getting up in the cold 
     morning and having to build a fire.''

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