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Show f f 'j.'. ..lit, j y I I By CAROL LEMON Jl Joe and Myrtle Tribole This week part two of our visit with Joe Tribole, it continues from the time of his marriage to Myrtle Cot-trell Cot-trell in 1908. He continues: contin-ues: "We lived in a little house ! on 10 Company Row for ! awhile then bought a small 1 home. The first thing Myr- ' tie wanted was a piano. She ! loved music and had been i church organist since she was thirteen a job she , held for seventy years." "I began working on the railroad in 1908. At that time there were no unions, no unemployment benefits, etc. We worked 11 hours a day and earned 22-12 cents an hour. Finally, we started start-ed a union, went on strike, and lost. -1 didn't go back to the railroad til 1918." "I worked for Jefferson's store and our hours there were hard and long. Stores would stay open until ten o'clock o'-clock at night, as Mr. Jef-i Jef-i ferson said someone coming through town might need something. We clerks went to all the merchants and asked ask-ed if they would close at six. ! They said If we could prove that people would agree to it, they would. We canvassed f the town and mines such as Shauntie and Hickory, took petitions for them to sign, and took them back to the merchants. From then on our hours were from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Weclerks later formed a Union." Joe and Myrtle became parents of three children. They have 10 grandchildren and five great - grandchildren. grandchil-dren. "We always enjoyed j our family. We attended all their school functions, plays, band concerts, proms, basketball bas-ketball games and had many good times together. "Food prices at that time were different than now. It cost about $25 to feed our family.' Bread was a nickel a loaf, eggs 15? a dozen, milk 10? a quart. "Mom and I loved to do things together. We'd ride up into the hills, went dancing when the church changed their rules, took many trips such as the World's Fair In Seattle, Niagara Falls, Yellowstone, Yel-lowstone, and we loved to fish and I haven't missed a deer hunt yet." "Years ago an Indian tribe lived at Indian Peaks. I knew the chief, Fred Narriott, very well. When they left that area they came and lived liv-ed west of Milford in the sand hills. The women would come to town and work. The bucks didn't do much of anything. any-thing. In the Fall they'd gather pine nuts and sell them for twenty cents a pound." Speaking of pinenuts I can't resist this one. "The family grew up and went their separate ways. Once my son, Bill, and his wife, Hinauri, went up with us to hunt for pinenuts. Hinauri was from New Zealand and had never seen any. At the end of the day we all had our buckets buck-ets pretty well filled. When we went to empty Hinauri 's pail we found it mostly full of rabbit, sheep and deer droppings. They all looked the same to her. We had a laugh." Joe has always enjoyed a good laugh some he's perpetrated himself. "One day I found this big nose somewhere. I put it on along with a sheepskin coat and old hat. I went down to the place the section men were working and asked them all to buy a pencil so that I could buy some coffee. None of them recognized me. I went to Harold Vernon, the boss, and asked for a job. He turned me down. I took off the nose and we all had a good laugh." Joe is the oldest continual members of the Old Fellows in Milford, having joined in 1912. His sweetheart passed away in January of 1976. ' 'I have so m any good friends I just don't know how I could get along without them. Especially Es-pecially Ross and Velma Patterson, and LaRue Stewart, Stew-art, who helped care for us when we were down. LaRue still helps with meals and arould the place. We've enjoyed reading Joe's 90 page written history. his-tory. It's full of the humorous, hu-morous, historical, and warm, sometimes sad happenings hap-penings from his long and useful life. Thanks to his son, Bill, for drawing it to our attention. |