----- Original Message ----- From: <P8je@aol.com> To: <JinksP@juno.com> Cc: <patej@nettally.com> Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 8:20 AM Subject: 94th birthday...Marvin Pate Marvin Pate celebrates 94 th Home Folks Ruth Baker Published October 10, 2002 9:26 PM CDT We wish a happy 94th birthday to Marvin Pate of the Lupton community. He was born to James W. and Martha McCullar Pate on October 12, 1908. The family lived at Poplar Springs in Winston County. When he was two, his mother passed away leaving his father with six children to rear. Later, his father remarried Mattie Elliott and four more children were born. Marvin never knew his birth mother, but he was blessed with a stepmother who was always dear to his heart. Today, Marvin and sister, Eula Piper, are the sole survivors of the family. The Pates are noted for their longevity. James W. lived to 87, Mattie, lived to 101, two brothers reached 94 and the other one 97. Marvin attended Poplar Springs School, which was a one-room school at that time. One teacher taught grades 1-6. After school, he worked in the fields helping the family make a living. Not many children of that era were able to go to high school. Of necessity, they quit school to find work to survive. At age 16, Marvin's grandfather John Newton Pate passed away. He left his farm near Fall City to his wife Silvanie Raines Pate and his two daughters, Talitha and Mary. Since farming was their means of survival, Marvin joined them for two years and helped raise corn, cotton, hay, sugar cane, as well as large gardens and livestock/poultry. The workdays were long ones from daylight to dark. Sunday was the only day of rest as they attended church. Neighbors and friends helped them when slaughtering hogs or bringing in the crops. Marvin married Nellie Curtis, daughter of Joel and Malinda Curtis, of Black Pond. Theirs was a marriage "made in heaven" and lasted 66 years. They were blessed with a daughter, Louise, in 1934. After marriage, Marvin was employed by Milford Curtis. He hauled lumber from his sawmill in Double Springs to Bob Carr Lumber Co. in Jasper. The truck did not have a cab for protection from the weather. It had just seats and windshield and during rainstorms, you could hardly see the road. In freezing weather, conditions got rough. The winters were more severe in the 1930's. The ground would freeze and spew up and snow was common. Our vehicles had to be protected so the radiator and engine block had to be drained every night. During travel, radiators had to be partially covered to prevent freezing. At 5 a.m. in the morning, ice had to be broken to get water to fill the radiator. Mule and wagon was the principle form of travel in Walker and Winston Counties in those days. The roads were dirt or gravel and always contained large mud holes in rainy weather. A workday consisted of 12-14 hours daily. Nellie would arise at 4 a.m. to prepare breakfast after the fires were started in the wood stoves. One was for cooking, the other for heating. She made biscuits, salt pork (sow belly), redeye gravy, coffee, sorghum syrup, and butter. She packed a dinner pail for lunch with fried eggs, salt pork or sausage in biscuits. With this, butter and syrup would be mixed in a small jar. (Cholesterol was not a word to us and we didn't worry about what it did to our health.) Our dinners and suppers consisted mostly of vegetables. Our meals would not be complete without cornbread and buttermilk. On rare occasions when a hen would stop laying, we would have chicken and dumplings. That is a dish Nellie was known for in the community. Marvin's next job was driving a truck for Joseph (Jody) Lee of Thach. His brother, Marshall, was already working for Mr. Lee, who was highly respected in the community. He was praised for using local men on his farm and sawmill. Marvin could not serve in the Armed Forces during WWII due to personal injuries. He contributed to the war effort by working with DuPont Powder Company in Childersburg, Alabama, manufacturing gunpowder for the Department of Defense. After the war, Marvin worked at the sawmills and farming until he and Nellie bought land and built a house at Crossroads near Redmill. They moved from Winston County and later began another career. His brother, John, was working with Bankhead Coal Company and he joined the crew as oiler on the shovel that moved the earth from the seam of coal. He then became a bulldozer operator for the company building roads for the coal trucks and removing ground surface. He stayed on this job until retirement in 1974. Nellie started her own business sewing and installing draperies throughout the area after Marvin's retirement. They decided to sell the house at Crossroads and build a new home next to daughter Louise Pate Cook on the Lupton Road. This was a wise decision for all concerned. Nellie became ill and died two years after moving. Louise was her caregiver until she passed away. Marvin lives there in the house and under Louise's watchful eyes, continues to garden, keep house, and do some cooking. His turnip greens are growing there now. He enjoys three grandchildren: Randy and Tommy Cook, and Nancy Cook Edgil; four great-grandchildren, Jim Cook, Brittany Cook, Lindsey Gann and Chad Edgil; and three step-great-grandchild, Josh, Jamie and Kevin. He attends Edgil Grove Southern Baptist Church and often speaks of the congregation as his second family. They supported him as he made the transition following the death of his soul mate of 66 years. He still reminisces about the "Good Ole Days," but does not look at the past as being a time of just struggle and hard times. He remembers best the good things of those years. Yes, Marvin Pate has seen life from mule and wagon to televisions and computers. His life has almost spanned the entire mechanical and electronic revolution. (Information provided by nephew, James "Jim" Pate of San Antonio, Texas.) We add our congratulations and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mr. Marvin Pate. (R.B.) Ruth Baker is a retired school teacher, an author and historian, living in Townley, . Her column appears in the Daily Mountain Eagle on Friday. You can e-mail her at hrbaker@sonet.net. COPYRIGHT ® 2002 Daily Mountain Eagle, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein is protected by the copyright laws of the United States. The copyright laws prohibit any copying, redistributing, retransmitting, broadcasting or repurposing of any copyright-protected material. The Daily Mountain Eagle 1301 East Viking Drive Jasper, AL 35501