In late 1940 our luck started to change for the better making the future seem much brighter. The depression was fading into the past and the war in Europe was gaining momentum toward becoming World War Two. With the United States’ commitment to England and the ever-increasing possibility of us being drawn into the conflict, the economy was improving by leaps and bounds. Jobs were popping up everywhere and Dad was able to get a good job in a union coal mine. It was his first really good job since he and Mom had married in 1932.
One of the first priorities was finding a better place to live and it didn’t take very long. Dad found a little 20-acre homestead on top of a rocky mountain top above Charmco, in Greenbrier County West Virginia that the owner offered to sell him for $500.00 and the best part was he offered to sell with nothing down and pay as you can.
I remember the excitement and the happy look on Mom’s face when he came home with the news. It was all everybody talked about for the next few months while waiting for the winter weather to ease up enough to move. Mom was constantly making plans and Dad began looking for tools and things he would need once the move was made. He especially wanted to get a garden started. They talked about getting a cow and some chickens, maybe even a couple of pigs. Somebody gave Mom a box of canning jars which she carefully wrapped in paper, torn from an old catalog, and packed them away ready for moving.
By the middle of February, I think everything we owned, except the bare essentials, was packed in boxes and stacked beside the front door. Then just as the month was ending the weather showed signs of breaking and the final preparations to move began in earnest.