|
Jesse E. West Sr. came to Tucapau in the early 1900s to
help build the mill. I don’t know much about where he lived
before coming to Tucapau or how it came about that he was hired
for the job.
Jesse was married to his first wife, Jessie Norman and
had two children Marion and Allen. Jessie died during the Flu
epidemic of 1919 leaving him with two small children to care
for.
As it happened, a young school teacher, Miss Mollie Sams,
moved to Tucapau to teach first grade in the elementary school
after graduating from
Winthrop
College
. Miss Sams lived in the Tucapau Hotel as all single teachers
were required to do when coming to Tucapau in the early years.
Later she moved from the hotel to live with a family that
lived on
Main St
across from the West. She
became close friends with Jessie and her family.
After the death of Jessie, Miss Sams helped care for the
children while Big Jess was at work.
Love blossomed and they were soon married and had two
more children, Jesse E. West Jr. and Margaret Elizabeth West.
My grandfather was a big man. His size was very
intimidating, but he was very loving. I have heard stories of
how he would play with me on the floor of their home.
I remember once when I was about three years old we were
playing and he was chasing me around the kitchen table. I
slipped on a rug my grandmother had at the kitchen sink and
busted my lip. Granddaddy
scolded my “ MamaWest” for having the rug on the floor even
though it was his fault that we were running in the house.
They had the only phone on
Main Street
in their house and when any of the neighbors would receive a
call, it was my job to run to their house to tell them.
Granddaddy West was working inside of the boiler one day
and came home for lunch and wasn’t feeling well, so he stayed
home and went to bed. No
one knew that he had a heart attack. I was sitting on his bed
that night playing as usual when he died.
I wished my sisters and brother could have known him. He
loved life and lived it to the fullest. He was not known only in
the community of Tucapau, but all over the county. Jess, along
with AB Willingham and a couple of other Friends drove an A
model Ford one year to
New York
over dirt roads, which was prevalent in the early years, to
watch the Yankees in the World Series.
He had many theories about things. These were passed
along to my father and down to me. I remember one that stuck
with me is “if a car doesn’t use oil, then it’s not doing
it’s job of lubricating the engine” and “Drive a screw
into the wood with a hammer, the purpose of the slot on a wood
screw was to take it out.”
|
