¶ Growing Up in a Crowded House
Absolutely nothing beats windshield time , a road trip and good conversation in the car . Welcome to another episode of Dan the Road Trip Guy , where we have entertaining conversations about cars and road trips , life lessons and maybe every now and then , a little advice . I'm your host , dan Neal Road Trip Extraordinaire , and now buckle up and enjoy the show .
This is a very special episode . I'm in Florida with my wife , linda , and we're visiting our Aunt Linda . So don't get confused as we go through this conversation that there's two lindas here . We'll call one Aunt Linda and we'll call the other one Little Linda , because that's what I remember her mom calling my Linda .
I just wanted to spend a little time with Aunt Linda and learn a little bit about her story . From growing up she was in a family of 11 . Okay , keep that in mind . She's in the middle .
I figured out this morning there's five older and five younger , and what happened was last year I stumbled upon the 1950 census and so I was searching out my own family , and then I searched out the Markham family , and there I found it Linda . I guess I can say her age I don't think she would care but 1950 , she was six years old .
She had a younger brother at that point and three infant triplets that her mother had given birth to . So remember , at this point her mother's given birth to 10 children in the house , the oldest being my Linda's mom , who was 16 at the time .
We're just going to talk about a little bit of that story from growing up there in Stearns , kentucky , with Aunt Linda , and then we'll talk about some other things as she ventured north to Cincinnati . Welcome to the show , aunt Linda . Thank you , dan .
So tell me , one of my biggest questions was I've been to that house that you grew up in , not a big house , and there were 12 people in it in 1950 . What was that like ?
because you were six years old , I didn't know anything , anything different . Yeah , it was good . How many bedrooms , you know ? I don't remember . There was only one . I mean two upstairs .
Two bedrooms .
Yeah , and the living room kitchen . That was it .
Now , one of those bedrooms I guess was your mom and dad's .
I don't remember .
Do you remember who you slept in the room ?
with oh , Kathy and Katie .
Kathy and Katie , which are two of the triplets .
Yes , Mike and Ralph and Kenny slept together in the other room .
Okay .
Mom and Dad apparently slept in the living room . I was too young to really pay attention to those sort of things back then .
I would jump forward then about five years . By that time you were probably the oldest in the house , because everybody else had probably left by then . By the time you were 11 or 12 years old .
Yeah , they had , yeah , yeah . Bless their hearts .
You became the oldest . Now you must remember taking care of the . At that point you would have had five brothers and sisters younger than you .
I started taking care of the kids when I was six years old . I was a mama .
Yeah .
Because mother couldn't handle all of that .
Right .
Because she had Ralph a year later .
Yeah , so he was a year later after the triplets .
Right , so she had four endipers at one time .
Yeah , she leaned on you pretty big .
Big time .
Yeah .
Yeah , and she told me before she died it was my last birthday . Before she passed away she called me to wish me happy birthday and she told me that she always blessed the day out .
Yeah , yeah , oh , you went to . Did you go to ? Was Stern still a school then ? Is that where you went to school ?
I went to McCrary County I think my it was either freshman or sophomore . They closed down the Stern school .
Okay .
I don't remember . I ran for cheerleader when I was in the eighth grade and one for Stern's . It seems like I cheerleaded one year , the freshman year , and then they closed the school down . Then I went to McCrary County . I didn't know anybody there , and that's the way you won your votes for cheerleader .
Oh , popularity contest .
Yes , so I didn't win , but the next next two years I was .
Oh , good for you .
Yeah , and I was captain of the team then Nice .
Senior year . Oh wow , I didn't know that . Yeah , so there's part of this story I didn't know . Yeah , did you ? So you obviously helped take care of all these babies . Did you also have a job out working somewhere ? I know I sure did . Yeah , where did you work ?
Well , I started working in a flower shop . I was dating Lewis , one of my teacher , a high school teacher .
Oh , oh .
And his family owned the floor shop in Whitley .
Okay .
And I guess they knew that I needed money . They needed help On Mother's Day , Easter you know they're really busy making arrangements and stuff like that they had me working there . Then , when I turned 16 , Shoff Anderson from the Dairy Bar came over , asked me if I would work for him . Yeah , Naturally , I was thrilled .
Dairy Bar was sort of an institution in the county . It was Still is . Yes , you can still stop by there .
Yeah , and that's how I put myself through high school .
Is that where you met my Aunt Betty , because I think she worked there and remember where are we met .
We just hooked up .
Yeah .
We weren't in the classrooms together ever .
Yeah , because I would assume she probably went to Pine Knot because she was over at the end she did .
She had a car she was driving , she and I took out one night just towing around , you know Late and dead was out looking for me .
Uh-oh .
Yeah , so we didn't do that anymore .
Yeah .
But she and I just connected .
We just had a connection , I don't know .
I liked her , she liked me , and we just had a connection , even though we were never classmates .
Huh , who was your best friend in high school ?
I had a lot of good friends . I knew a lot of people , a lot of girls . Betty was my best friend out of the classroom and I had assorted friends . I got along with everybody , yeah , and I just liked everybody .
So you graduated from a query high .
Yes , yeah .
What did you do after that ?
Well , I had planned to leave in Courier County right away .
Because your older brothers and sisters had had . They all left at that point . Yes , yes , except Wilma Right . Well then , she took a little trip to Cincinnati for a couple years , but came back .
Yes she did . Back to the kids , you know I had the trip that sent Ralph I was taking care of and Wilma went back to Cincinnati with Dillard and left . Dan with me and Mom .
Well , I didn't know that . Okay , more story .
I never will forget her Wilma saying now he's , he's got to be broke from the bottle now .
So she gave you that job .
Of course he did . So I take him to bed at night and I would talk real soft to him and rub his back . At no time at all he would cry , whine a little bit . He was so good he got . He got over that bottle just like that .
Probably if I had just laid him down and let him cry he wouldn't have got over it , but I soothed him , Took his mind off of it .
Yeah , so you didn't leave right after high school ? No , you stuck around .
I didn't want to . Mother knew that I had planned to leave and she asked me if I would stay through the summer till she got her canning done . She says makes me want to cry . She said I'll let you go and I won't say a word . And she did .
Yeah .
So I stayed with her yeah .
Mom . And .
I shared a lot . I'd see her down in the garden working almost till dark . She had clothes out on the line outside . You know , we didn't have clothes dryers . I think I'm going to surprise her . I'm going to take those , all those clothes down and fold them for her . Just little things like that , you know . Yeah , because I did appreciate how hard she worked .
Sure .
Yeah .
Yeah , she had to have worked very hard , she did .
Yeah , we never went hungry .
Yeah , your dad , he worked for Chevron . I think he worked for Standard Oil , standard Oil .
From the time I was baby . I was . I was born in Medina , ohio . I was . I was the only one out of the whole family that was not born in the state of Kentucky .
Really I didn't know that . Why Medina ?
Mom and dad went up . Dad worked for this farmer . I don't know . You know what they farmed . I have no idea , but him , my mother , loved it . She said they had anything they wanted to eat . Dad didn't get along with his boss and he decided to go back to Kentucky . They got on a train Mike hadn't been born there .
Yeah , Mike wasn't born . The triplets and Ralph , but the other five , I guess they were Medina .
They were there , but I was too young to know .
Yeah , sure , yeah , medina's in Ohio . Right , I'm a buck guy , you're a buck guy , wow .
Raised in Kentucky .
Wow , never knew that .
We went back to our home place .
Yeah .
Got it all back together . Dad went to work for Standard Oil when I was a baby . He worked till I was 18 years old .
Wow .
And he retired . He wasn't happy after he retired . Then he went to work for another oil company there and he should go into Whitley . Oh really , mm-hmm , he was good bookkeeper .
I wonder where he learned that skill .
I think he learned it through the mail . He took a class through the mail . That's what I remember .
Yeah .
He was excellent at it , even Standard Oil , so they loved the way he kept his books .
Interesting .
Yeah , he was good with his figures .
So you took off to Cincinnati . After that I did .
Yeah , so she got married .
Went to Cincinnati . You got married , but where did you live ? In Cincinnati ?
With Shirley .
You lived with Shirley .
We all went to Shirley .
Okay , yeah .
Well , I stayed with Marilyn some , but I was . Then I went to stay with Shirley , we all . I don't know if she put up with all of them . I don't know how she did it .
Well , I think that's a trade at the Marklums , because little Linda and I stayed with you and Rusty , yeah , I stayed with Marilyn then and later on when I was commuting back and forth , and I think maybe that's just a Markham Girls thing that you take people in . That's just how I think about it . You stayed , you got married .
Didn't work . Didn't work . Nope , that's okay . The thing I did was unload that .
We won't talk about that too much , no , but so what was your job ? So you got a job in Cincinnati , right ?
Yeah , I was working for shower manufacturing , made battery chargers , sold a Sears and Robug and what'd you do , billing Clark ?
Okay , yeah , did you stay there a long time ?
Yeah , I did . I was going to move on to another company . I was thinking about Xerox . They were there in Blue Ash . There was a lot of good places there . I met Rusty .
Yeah , what year did you meet , rusty we ?
met in January of 71 .
71 .
I married in July .
Oh , wow , okay , that was quick . So tell me , I don't know , I don't remember , maybe I should . Where did you meet Rusty ?
Well , everybody knew Rusty in Cincinnati . You know because he was on TV and and I played his records and stuff like that . Of course I knew of him and Brother Mike played in nightclub there .
Okay , me and the girls that I work with in the office on Friday nights we would go because we felt safe , because Mike was there , you know yeah , because I wasn't one to venture into a bar by myself . You know , rusty came in . Musicians it's common for them to , uh , so-and-so is playing here , let's drop in .
Other musicians will come in , set in the color to set in and they get up and Do some shows in junior been , it was a . Fiddle player . Very good , he and Rusty came in and then somehow or another , everybody Mike and everybody wound back up at my house in Green Hills after the club closed down .
Okay . I guess , and Rusty was there , mm-hmm yeah the next following week
¶ Rusty's Music Studio Memories
.
I thought , you know , I think that would have been nice , but I'm not gonna call him . You know I would never do that . Yeah he was used to girls calling him , I think , and he called me . Anyway .
I'll never forget seeing his , the image of him standing outside my door on Valentine's Day , uh , with the snow , and back of him with me a heart Box of candy , one that sweet that is very sweet . January to February .
That's Rusty .
Yeah .
One of my memories of Rusty is uh , when we would stay with you all , he would cook , yeah , and which probably was first time I'd ever seen a man cooking .
Yeah .
And , but it wasn't just putting the meal together , this was like Uh , an experience . Yes , it was , and you know if you're used to eating at 6 o'clock . Yeah , that's not really Rusty's thing , because this is gonna this is gonna go on for a while , and that's . I just always remember those meals and and they were very good .
What happened was I had a had topic pregnancy . When I went home they didn't allow me to do anything , so I just sit . You know he made he had to find , come up with something to cook . Yeah and he came up with a uh recipe Hawaiian pork chops . I don't , it was good . I don't I don't remember complaining about it .
And he , he , he said he was embarrassing himself by trying to cook and didn't know how he Uh started ordering uh cookbooks on the today's show . They would have you know , the best seller of the year and this , and he , he would get books . He really went for it then , yeah , and when you were coming , he had ordered A cooking for two .
Yeah , we , or one we have for two . Yeah , we have cooking for two and I believe we got it all because of Rusty yeah .
One night you were coming , but Linda wasn't coming , so that was cooking for three , and he came up with a great recipe . Yes , I remember it was chicken and puffed potato wedges . Puffed potato wedges and they were so good . I mean , he was good .
Yeah , he was very good .
Yeah , yeah , that became his hobby as his hobby .
Yeah , maybe we should spend a minute and tell who Rusty was , because a lot of my listeners Aren't going to have a clue and and I'm always sharing his youtube clip of him . But take about a minute or two and just hey who was Rusty York .
Rusty York was uh a nightclub entertainer all around Cincinnati in the 50s well . And all the way back .
I mean he always was a musician all the string instruments he could play came from the hills of Kentucky , yeah .
Yeah , he did , and he worked as a In the stockbrokers office downtown Cincinnati . He you know , as as the stocks would go up , he'd have to ride them on the blackboard .
Yeah , a little different than today .
They didn't go and play bluegrass on Saturday night . Yeah , yeah , where was I going with that ?
Well , we were just talking a little bit about who Rusty was .
Oh yeah .
Because laying in your room in there is a picture of him and Dick Clark .
Yeah .
And most people should know who Dick Clark is for sure .
Yeah , and we won't stay on that subject too long because he cut his that career short . He had the record out in 1959 and Dick Clark they called him to open the first rock and roll show that Dick Clark had at the Hollywood Bowl .
Sure and he opened it , that's why I've got that picture there .
But he was smart enough and he toured enough to realize what a musician's life was like .
Sure .
And how you become an old man standing in the back wanting to go on stage and nobody wants you . You know what ? I mean Maybe , yeah , maybe so he said he didn't want to go there , he wanted on the safer end of the business and he went into the , started buying recording equipment and built the studio and we lasted 50 years . And since then .
That's unheard of for a recording studio . Did you know that ?
I did not know that . No Jewel recording for those that are listening .
Yeah .
And when did you all start that ? Or had he already started that ? He had started it .
That was in the 60s and we had the one building that only had . I was telling somebody the other day , one two , the bathroom studio , one two about four or five rooms , and we wrapped around .
He owned the building , we were paying for the building , you know , we were wrapped around a beauty salon and every time we raised her rent because we had expanded through that whole building up to took over a two-car garage and used that space and all that .
And every time we'd raise her rent she'd cry and complain and I said you know , rusty , we really need that space . Yeah , let's just let her go .
Yeah .
So that's what we did and we opened that up and that building was perfect for what we had .
Yeah , perfect , I remember it , yeah . So you were kind of the business side of the business and he took care of the audio and the musicians .
On top of the equipment if what we needed and didn't need and engineers always want the best yeah , Sure .
Yeah , what was the ? Do you recall the most famous act , we'll say , that came through there in all those years , One that went on , a big stardom , you know .
Grateful Dead , Jerry Springer and all the artists that was on that TV show in Cincinnati for years . All of those artists At one time Bob Braun , nick Clooney .
Okay .
He recorded the songs he said his producer would not allow him to record . If you could hear the recording , you'd know why .
You did a lot of commercials too , didn't you ?
Oh , yeah , yeah , as a matter of fact , there's one guy I played on YouTube right now Smashup Derby .
Yeah .
By Kenner Toy .
Oh yeah , that's right . I've watched that one . Yeah , yeah .
The producer came in , it was just he and Rusty in the studio and you know , when he comes in with all , the producer has all this in his head , what he wants , and he depends on the talent to help him pull it together . Well , rusty pulled the whole thing together .
He played all the instruments and did all the vocals , so that's nobody but Rusty on that recording and it won a some award I don't remember what it was in Hollywood for being unique , I guess because it was unique .
So it's called Rockabilly , I believe . Yeah , that's a genre , that's a genre they put him in .
But he was bluegrass , he was Rockabilly , he was gospel in country .
Yeah , and then you guys and he could do classical . Played a mean banjo also .
Yeah , Liberace heard him . He asked him , said how do you do that ? You know , but I was going to tell you . Oh , Cliff Radle , he was a music critic of Cincinnati .
Inquirer Okay .
And he tells the best story of Rusty . There was a band in there trying to record . I think it was Stardust or something like that . The band couldn't , didn't have the words right , they didn't have the melody right . Nothing was right .
And he said Rusty just slid out from behind the console and picked up the guitar and got the words and everything going perfect . He knew everything . You know , rusty wasn't Never bragged about his stuff .
No .
Somebody else had to do that for him .
Pretty quiet guy . Yeah , he was , I remember the first times we'd visit you all that We'd eat dinner and then he'd just kind of disappear . Yeah , yeah , a little bit introverted for an entertainer , I mean that's yes yeah .
And that wasn't good for him .
Yeah .
If he wanted to be an entertainer . Right , you have to be outgoing and you have to have an ego . Yeah , a big one . Yeah , a big ego .
Yeah , he didn't have . He didn't . No , no , no , but one of the kindest guys . Yeah , yeah , everybody says I so enjoyed our time with you all back then you did some traveling around Europe , though due to his music , yeah , got to see some of the world then .
He devoted his time to the studio . We would get a call from let's see , Our first one was from Holland . They would pay for my flight , his flight . You know all of our ground transportation , our hotel room .
Yeah .
And everything . Anyway , they paid him to do the show .
Sure .
And paid him to do the show , so there was no reason for us not to go to these places .
Cheap vacation right .
Cheap vacation . Yeah , we went to Holland , we went to England , we went to Spain , las Vegas , I can't remember every place . Yeah , yeah , it was nice .
You lived in Cincinnati there for a good while and then all of a sudden you moved out to Indiana , came an Indiana girl out to a lake out there . Was there a particular reason you did that , or just wanted to get out of the city ? Rusty loved the water .
He always had boats here in Florida . It was ridiculous what we'd pay for insurance and maintenance and then come down here and you'd spend the day cleaning up the boat and we'd spend the day out and then we'd go back home and start paying all those bills again . I said , listen , we can do anything we want for the amount of money we're paying .
He decided he wanted a lake house and he found it . He said to himself his real name was Charles Rusty , came from a thing that was on a guitar . He was playing and he couldn't shake it . Everybody in Cincinnati called him Rusty , so he couldn't shake it . He said , well , he went and looked at it .
I was in Florida at the time with somebody and he said he looked in the window and he said called himself Charles . He said Charles , you've got to have this place because it was beautiful , wasn't it it ?
was great .
Yeah , he came to me and I said , okay , I said you got to see it . I said well , let's wait until February when we'd go back from Florida . We went back and I think it saved us $10,000 . They came down in the price and we bought it .
You still had the studio though , right ? So you're commuting a little bit back and forth , yeah .
We had a house in Cincinnati too . I don't think you were ever in that house .
There in Wyoming .
No , we came there once it's been most of our time in . Tricondo there in Wyoming and we decorated and remodeled and everything and we spent all of our time at the lake . A realtor told me . He said do you know ? You can stay in the finest hotel in town . Watch your pain for this house .
And fall came and it was time to go back to Cincinnati and I told Rusty . I said I don't want to go .
I don't want to go back to Cincinnati .
But I was the one to suffer the consequences . I had to do the commuting back and forth . But I managed , I managed . It was always worth it . Once I got back to the lake .
Yeah , for sure .
Yeah , it was .
You've been in Florida kind of full time since 2011 . 2011 . But you've been on and off down here since the 70s .
I think is what you told me . You did 374 years , 50 years . How long were you ?
married Rusty . Rusty unfortunately passed away in 2015 . How long were you married trying to compute ?
40 something years I don't really remember the exact figures to how long we were together . We had a great life .
We did , do you seem to ?
We did , we really did , and that's why I don't care to go , because I've had my life .
What kind of advice would you give to young people these days ? You've lived a good life . Anything you would tell young people today .
Yes , pray to God and follow Him . He'll lead you to the right place . He really will .
Yeah , for sure .
He can't lead you if you don't tell Him what you want . I wanted a tall man with dark hair .
Very specific .
I told him . I said you've got to tell God what you want , because he can't just make it up . That's right . And Rusty happened . We both loved music . Mike was involved with us too . It all worked out real well .
¶ First Cars and Favorite Vehicles
I usually always start the show with what was your first car . I know you and Rusty had quite a few Cadillacs Because I wrote around it the first time I ever met you all in 1981 . Well , actually I'd met you In 1981 . Rusty picked us up and it was myself and Linda and her sister , and we drove around over the ride . He wanted to show us everything .
Yeah , it was rough .
It was rough back then . People today think over the ride is really cool .
We were afraid to drive through there , roll the windows down , weren't we ?
Yeah , but Rusty was enjoying every minute of it . What was your first car ?
It was a Ford . Can't think of the name of it .
Yeah , that's okay . Was that after you came to Cincinnati or still when you were in ?
my first marriage ? Yeah , first one .
What was your favorite car with ?
Rusty . Well , you know he was into . The pictures were over there .
I saw them .
He just loved unique things and on the one CD that they released in Europe they talked about him driving his Rolls and complaining about the cost of repairs . They mentioned that on that CD the favorite car I don't know , of course the Rolls got a lot of potential you know , everywhere that was in Cincinnati you had that .
It was at the lake . Oh , at the lake . I don't think I ever saw that .
We had it in Cincinnati and then I mean that's where it came from . And then we took it to the lake . We drove around the lake .
Okay .
And we took our cat . We were trying to get her used to traveling in the car and we'd drive her around the lake to get her used to being in the car and everybody would make fun of us .
Driving a Rolls and a cat in it , yeah .
He had that and that Mercedes . He got to where he wasn't paying attention , he wasn't driving it , he wasn't , it was just sitting there and I said we've got to sell that . And when they brought the trailer and put it on there and it drove away , I thought , oh my gosh , my heart just flipped . Yeah , it was pretty , it was real pretty , yeah .
Yeah , well , I've enjoyed our time together . Okay , yeah , thank you so much , you're welcome .