The way things were: On 100th birthday, Ruth Prewitt reflects on how life has changed in Whitley County

How often do we find ourselves saying, “Things sure have changed,” whenever talking about how we learn, travel, communicate or entertain ourselves? It is true, things have changed a lot just in the last decade, not to mention compared to 30, 40 or even 50 years ago. But what about 100 years ago?

For one local resident, Ruth Prewitt, the times of learning in a small one-room schoolhouse and traveling into town in a horse-drawn wagon are not simply stories in a history book. These were her actual experiences, and as she turns 100-years-old this year, she can still recall many details of what life was like in Whitley County when she was growing up.

“You couldn’t sit too close to the stove or you’d burn up, but you couldn’t get too far away from it either, because you’d freeze.”

This is one of the things that Prewitt remembers most vividly about her classes in a one-room schoolhouse located in the Redbird area of Whitley County. She said that there was just one teacher who taught eight classes every day at the school, which had a pot-bellied stove right in the middle of the room.

Prewitt graduated from Pleasant View High School in 1942, but she said that many of her classmates dropped out earlier so that they could help with the work that had to be done at home.

Prewitt herself had to work hard at home, where she was one of eight children – three girls and five boys. “You would’ve thought that I was the only one there was, though, because daddy called on me to do everything,” she joked. “Or I thought he did, anyway.”

Prewitt said that she recalls going with her mother to milk the cow at the home where she grew up. “I would sit and watch her milk,” she explained. “But she got sick, and then my daddy said, ‘Now Ruth, you’ll have to milk the cow.’ Well, I had never milked before, but I took over milking the cow.”

Because of her mother’s sickness, Prewitt took on more and more duties at home as time went on. In addition to milking, she would feed horses and hogs, cook meals, and in her words, just “do whatever come handy to do.”

When asked about what she did for fun, Prewitt said, “Lord, I don’t even remember having fun. You had to work for fun too!”

Prewitt is not bitter in any way about her hardworking background, though. In fact, she credits all of that hard work for allowing her to live such a long life, saying, “Work hard, and do the best that you can do. There really are no secrets. I always did what I thought was right, and that’s it.”

Despite always having plenty to do at home, Prewitt did hold a job for a short time in Cincinnati when her and her husband, Raymond, relocated there in the mid-1950s. While there, she lived near downtown and worked in a manufacturing facility for old Crosley radios (Crosley as in Crosley Field, which the Cincinnati Reds professional baseball team called home from 1912-1970).

Aside from that, Prewitt has always lived right here in Whitley County. In fact, her family ties to the area go all the way back to almost the very beginning. With the maiden name of Cox, she can trace her lineage back to none other than Samuel Cox, who local historians will recognize as a founding member of the county court.

Prewitt recalls attending church services at the old Liberty Holiness Church, which stood near Liberty Methodist Church. She also remembers being a teenager and seeing a car for the very first time, it belonging to a neighbor of the family, Mr. Luther Vanover.

While attending classes at Pleasant View High School, Prewitt said that her favorite teacher, Lincoln Patrick, allowed her and other students to go outside and listen to reports about the war, including the bombing of Pearl Harbor, on his radio.

Patrick would enlist in the Army, and later return to Williamsburg to run the Southern States co-op in downtown.

“We got a different teacher after him,” Prewitt said of Patrick. “But I didn’t like him, so I won’t tell nothing about him.”

Whether it is memories of school days, working at home, starting her own family or seeing how the town of Williamsburg has changed over the decades, Prewitt’s life has been an amazing journey. With her 100th birthday, she now celebrates yet another important milestone, and looks forward to continuing to watch history unfold from her home in Whitley County.