Daddy went fulltime with the telephone company, and we moved nearer town on the Liberty Pike, next door to the Clarks . The Clarks were the very best neighbors ever could be. When we first moved there, Aunt Donie’s husband, Uncle Gunter , died. They were living in Nashville when he died. They lived on Humphreys St. near where he worked. He worked with the box factory that made wooden boxes, I think. I remember visiting them also. Aunt Donie had some in-laws that were very lovely people and were really like a part of our family.

James Balaam Gunter and his wife Dona Butner Gunter. This picture appears to have been taken shortly after their marriage in 1904.

Again Mrs. Clark was our next-door neighbor. She did so many things and helped my mother so much. There were Eula, Earl, and Mr. Clark; and they were always kind to us. Mrs. Clark would help Mama with the wash sometimes. They washed on the old-fashioned boards and hung the clothes on the line to dry. They beat the rugs in the spring on the lines with brooms to get the dust out of them. Mrs. Clark cooked things, especially when my mother was sick. People in those days were really neighbors. They visited and helped out when they could. Of course women didn’t go out in public work, at least not very often.

There was a black family that lived on Liberty Pike near the railroad trestle—Nat Fleming and his mother. No one seemed to care about the blacks being that close. Over the railroad Miss Laura Leneave lived. We went up there. Many children went there on Sunday afternoons in the summertime. I especially remember going there to an Easter egg hunt. We always got new Easter clothes. Mama made the girls pretty dresses. I loved especially Easter hats. Mama tried to make William a suit and had a time. She couldn’t understand what to do exactly. Mrs. Clark, bless her heart, came over and taught her how to make a boy's suit.

While there, Dorothy got in trouble on Sunday. She was told to change her Sunday dress, and she didn’t do as she was told. She went down to the creek behind the house with a black girl and fell in the water and just ruined that pretty white organdy dress that Mama had just made. My mother sewed so beautifully. Jessie Lee made quick friends on that street. Ruby Hinson was one of the girls that I remember. Elise Jackson was another girl. She came over very often, and she wanted to go to Fourth Avenue Church with us on Sunday. She was a Methodist, and somebody said “You go to the Methodist Church;” and she said, “No, I graduated from that.” So, she would go with us to church. Jessie Lee got Jack Sullivan for her boyfriend. The Sullivans, two families of Sullivans, lived on that street, and Roy Sullivan was a little boy about eight years old; and I remember when I had my tonsils removed, he picked some wild flowers and brought them to me.

While we lived on Liberty Pike, I had whooping cough and had my tonsils removed also. Mama was sick, and Mrs. Eura Sullivan went with me to the doctor. Dr. German came and got me in the car, also took me home after the operation. He took me to town in the car to have my tonsils removed. Can we even imagine such a thing today? After Dr. Walker [Dr. J. O. Walker sbt] removed my tonsils, they kept me most of the day; and he said that he didn’t want me to have anything to eat or drink until the next day. Well, Dr. Dan took me home; he and Mrs. Sullivan and I went home. He stopped and got me an ice cream cone. That was Dr. Dan. He did a little bit of what he wanted to do anyway. He was a clown but did much good for many people. Tandy Rice, his grandson, has many ways like Dr. Dan, and so did Frances, Tandy’s mother.

Dr. German delivered both William and Dan. Dr. German, Dr. Walker, and Dr. Nolen had a little office in the back of the building where Pigg and Peach are now. Dr. Richard German also, a dentist, was in that building.

The Gentry family, about 1921.
Front row: [I believe this to be Zeb Gentry's brother Henry Gentry. sbt], Dan Gentry, Grandpa John Scott Morgan Butner, William Gentry, Grandma Simmie Russell Butner, Dorothy Gentry, Zebulon Gentry.
Back row: Louise Gentry, [I believe this is Zeb Gentry's sister, Emma. sbt], Jessie Lee Gentry, Aunt Dona Butner Gunter, Gertrude Butner Gentry.

I remember walking to Fourth Ave. [Church of Christ sbt] to church when we lived on Liberty Pike. At that time we did not have the horse and buggy, and I remember Bro. Smith who preached there. He was a large man with snow white hair, and for a little while, while I was so little, I thought he was God. And it surprised me when I found out he was human.

While we were on Liberty Pike William ran away. because he wanted to go to church with our Daddy on Sunday, and he couldn’t go; so, he said he would just go and jump in the river. And us kids were so excited and scared. Jessie Lee and Jack Sullivan ran and found him near the bridge over the river. I think they brought him home in a little red wagon. I suppose the wagon belonged to the Sullivans. I don’t remember us having a wagon. Roy Sullivan was in love with me. I cannot tell every interesting thing that happened on Liberty Pike, but I thought it was all great. I’m sure nothing ran smoothly in my childhood. I just remember the best, I suppose. Some of the people I remember on that place were the Sullivan families, the Darnells, the Cooks, the Barnetts, the Vaughns, the Jacksons, the Hinsons, the Morels, the Priest family, the Mattinglys, the Clarks, the Smiths.

NEXT - WYATT HALL