Robin is the “go-to-man” if you want to know what happen way back then, or last year. He has an incredible recall of facts, figures, people and faces. He grows a large garden every year and is generous in sharing the fruits of his labor with the local Food Bank and with members of Zachary United Methodist Church. He talks with a distinctive southern drawl and is an engaging person. I asked a question, then Robin started off with an enchanting answer. Here are his responses to my interview questions. Unless historically important, I have removed those strictly related to Zachary United Methodist Church.
“I was born in Philadelphia, Mississippi on April 12, 1933, at my Grandparents Robert’s house. Momma always went to her parents’ house to have her babies. I am the son of Burton Ford Pope, from Angie, Washington Parish, and Gladys Roberts from Pineville, Louisiana. After a couple of weeks we returned home to the farm where I grew up in Zachary, Louisiana. I had a blessed childhood, even though times were tough. We lived a mile and a half from church and I grew up without electricity, running water or indoor plumbing. We used kerosene lamps to see by at night, we had to pump our water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and bathing. There was no inside bathroom. You went outside to the rear of the house and used an outhouse. It was cold in the winter and hot in the summer. People did not go to the store the way we do today. They went for coffee, salt and pepper and other staples.
A few people were hired at the Ethyl plant but the idea was that anyone over thirty was too old. A number of people worked at Esso, now the Exxon –Mobil plant. The rest of the area people worked at whatever they could find to do and also raised a big garden. There were two cotton gins in Zachary so everyone that owned a farm or could rent one would plant cotton. Most of the farm people could not afford a car or the up keep. Therefore, when Sunday morning came, some people came to church in their cars and picked up their neighbors and brought them to church. Some people came to church in the farm wagon, others had buggies and some rode saddle horses. I remember looking out the Sunday school building and watching Mrs. Molly Loudoin getting out of her buggy and hooking the horse to a large oak tree. Mr. Willie Barnett rode his horse from the Barnett Road to church. After church he stayed in town and visited with members of his family.
Mrs. Pearl Lucas was Sunday school superintendent and as we got older we went to Mrs. Merrill Annison’s Sunday school class. This was Carruth Annison’s mother and Andy Annison’s grandmother. Her idea of teaching Sunday school was to learn about the Bible and at the same time learn about the Methodist church and other churches. She prepared her students on the belief of the Methodist church so they could become members. She started and taught confirmation classes. She also arranged visits to other churches so we could understand how many things were common with other denominations, and also the differences. We went to a Catholic church and the priest was most helpful telling us about their beliefs. We also went to the First Methodist, First Baptist, and the First Presbyterian churches in Baton Rouge. The church that impressed us most was the Jewish Synagogue in Baton Rouge. We had to study about the early teachings of God from scrolls. The Jewish Rabbi brought out the Scrolls used in their services and showed us how they were unrolled and read. The Rabbi spent about an hour explaining the differences between our church and the Jewish religion.
The next year the boys and girls had different teachers. The girls had Mrs. Edith Henderson, the boys had Mr. Howard Henderson. Boys that were ten were often kind of loud, so Mr. Howard found a tent that would hold 15 to 20 people and set it up behind the Sunday school building. We had a good increased attendance when we had Sunday school in our tent. Later he found a camping trailer made in the 1930s, and there wasn’t much in the trailer except some benches. We spent the rest of the year having Sunday school in the trailer. He did put in a heater for the winter and a fan to help keep it cool in the summer.
Mr. Henderson believed the Sunday school lesson you had to learn about service to your church. Every Saturday morning he had us meet him at the church and help do what needed doing at the church and Sunday school. I remember that the wooden church had a chimney but the stove was converted to burn wood and coal. After Sunday school class we rang the Church bell to let everyone know it was time to dismiss Sunday school and go to church. One time we pulled on the Bell rope so hard that the bell turned upside down. Monday Mr. Henderson got a ladder and climbed up in the Belfry to turn the bell back over. After this we had better be careful how we pulled on the bell rope. My favorite church friends were Gordon Smith, Jimmy Babin and J. L. Kirkwood and the girls were Jessie Lou Devall and Amelia Ann Lucus.
The next thing he taught us was how to usher and take up collection. When I was nine, most of the boys or young men were working long shifts or worked nights so they were unable to work as ushers. Therefore, Mr. Howard had our class take up collection every Sunday. One Sunday while taking up the offering (the collection plates were made of wood) the side of the plate I was holding broke off. The rest of the plate and the double hand full of change rolled to the front of the church. The church had a gradual slope so the ones in the back had a good view of the preacher. One elder member had a very small income and she would bring a dollar and take out 90 cents change. One Sunday she took 90 cents change and forgot to put the bill into the plate. I have been an usher off and one ever since. And I have a commitment to try to find things that I can do for the church and do them. Mrs. Carpenter was one of my favorite Sunday school teachers, along with Mr. Henderson and Grandma Henderson and Howard Henderson. I remember in the 1930s, Zachary did not have electricity or running water either. Main Street was a gravel road and our farm road was dirt. For a couple of years we walked to church but once Momma started playing the piano, church folks with cars would come pick us up so she would be there prior to church starting. Our car was parked in the barn because we could not afford to put gasoline in or tires on the wheels.
As a mostly agricultural state in the Deep South, Louisiana was greatly affected by the Great Depression. As I said earlier, we raised a large garden. People in the area that had no food learned that my family would give them food. Some would walk as far away as Baker to get food. Even the Blacks could come by and my mother fed them too. It was hard times for folks without a job and that was almost forty percent of the citizens of the area.
Everyone remembers World War II for different reasons. I remember that there were over one hundred training facilities for soldiers and officers in Louisiana and Mississippi. One large such facilities was in Centerville and it was named Camp Van Dorn. There was a lovely lady who lived near the camp who opened her house to these men and showed them true southern hospitality. While blessing them with comfort food and conversation, she liked to show her bell collection to the “boys.” To show their gratitude for her hospitality, many soldiers sent her back bells from where ever they were based. By the end of World War II she had bells from all over the world.
Port Allen had P.O.W. camps where the Germans helped with farming chores. Louisiana was not alone in hosting P.O.W. camps. There were many across America, primarily in the south or agricultural state and the German prisoners wrote back to their camp personnel how they appreciated the good conditions of the camps and the good treat Americans showed them while they were prisoners.
Zachary Methodist Church was the only church in Zachary that had a bell. When it was announced that World War II was over, someone ran to our church and started ringing the bell. Everyone knew something big was up and started coming to the church. Another person took over and continued ringing the bell until the church was filled with people of ever denomination. There were cheers and tears. It was spontaneous happiness and the church overflowed with people celebrating! Rev. Lewis, pastor of the Baptist church came to the spontaneous service and gave the longest prayer I ever heard. It was quite an event and I will always remember that day. I was about twelve years old when the war in 1945.
In my adult life, I served in the U.S. Army. I did not like Ft. McClellan, Alabama. American P.O.W. were returned there from Korea. There were far too many high ranking officers and soldiers in one camp. They had sergeants doing work a private would normally do. In 1957 I went to work at Copolymer. I just asked for a job and was hired. I worked there for 35 years.
I would offer these words of wisdom to young people. Learn to do a number of things and do it the best of your ability. Learn how to talk with people and you will have a good life.”
