Collection Title: Jackson Purchase Oral History Project - Lifestyles
Series Number: OH107
Interviewee: Gordon, Pearlene
Interviewer: Pasco, Kathryn
Date interviewed: January 29, 1980
Processed by: Tara Marcum
Date processed: May 24, 2011
Description: 1 sound disc (37 minutes)
Abstract: Pearlene Gordon describes her father's general store in Aurora, Kentucky, which sold groceries, hardware and clothing during the Great Depression. She recalled that not everyone paid in cash, some brought pigs, cows, chickens, and eggs to trade for goods. She reminisced that all the girls wanted to become nurses when she was a child. She mentioned that her family did not own a radio until she was sixteen years old. She described that young ladies started courting and getting married at ages fourteen to sixteen. She mentioned that many families would give their children five acres of land to build a home and farm after marriage. During the Second World War, Gordon recalled that many women performed work that men were accustomed to doing. She also remembered visits from doctors when family members were sick and that the nearest hospital was in Murray.
Biographical / Historical note: Pearlene Gordon was born in Marshall County, Kentucky in 1918. Her father owned a grocery store and rented farmland. She attended public schools at Aurora, Kentucky and graduated high school in 1936. There were only four in her graduating class. She attended Unity Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Aurora. Gordon married when she was 18 years old. She and her husband moved to Murray, Kentucky to continue her education.
General information: No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Gordon, Pearlene, 1918-
Unity Cumberland Presbyterian Church (Aurora, Ky.)
Marshall County (Ky.) – History.
Aurora (Ky.) – History.
Murray (Ky.) – History.
General stores – Kentucky – Marshall County.
