Interview with Vivien Hoskins Reinhardt, February 5, 2020

Partial Transcript: Good morning and welcome to the oral history of Mayor Vivien Hoskins Reinhardt. Today is February the 5th, the year is 2020. Vivien was mayor of Pewee Valley for 13 years. Throughout her life, Mayor Vivien has written journals, uh, through, through many decades and, in order to give you an overview of her life, she has written a summation of some of the major things involving her life, uh, and her family and being the mayor of Pewee Valley.

Segment Synopsis: Mayor Vivien reads an overview of her life taken from her journals over the years. She describes her early years in Leslie County in Eastern Kentucky, her move to Louisville after high school, meeting her husband, raising a family, starting college at 50, and becoming mayor of Pewee Valley, Kentucky.

Keywords: Bryant & Stratton Business College; Girl’s Friendly Inn; Indiana Ordinance Plant; Kentucky Appalachian Mountains; Kentucky Tennessee Hardware Association; WWII

Subjects: Childhood; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Louisville (Ky.); Pewee Valley (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.); World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: Mayor Vivien, uh, could you tell us a little something about what it was like to grow up in Wooton in Leslie County?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt remembers the hardships of her life in Wooton, Kentucky as a young girl during the Great Depression.

Keywords: Coal mining; Great Depression; Jobs; Kentucky; Mining disasters

Subjects: Childhood; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Pewee Valley (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Mayor Vivien, um, could you tell us a little bit about how you became the mayor in 1986? Uh, actually, it was on a write-in ballot, wasn't it?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt discusses becoming mayor of Pewee Valley as a write-in-candidate.

Keywords: 1980s; 1990s; CSX Transportation; City beautification; Developments; Elections; Flowers; Housing; Kentucky; Lawsuits; Planning and zoning; Planting; Police; Political campaign posters; Safe place; Tree city; Trees; Volunteer work; Write-in ballots; Write-in-candidates

Subjects: Kentucky--Politics and government; Mayors; Mayors--Election; Pewee Valley (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Okay. There's so much to say about your 13 years as mayor. But, um, le-let's start with how--the beautification of Pewee Valley.

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt discusses city beautification projects completed during her time in office. She talks about Pewee Valley facing an influx of new home owners while keeping its small town charm.

Keywords: Christmas decorations; Development; Flower baskets; Housing; Maple trees; Memorials; Planning and zoning; Tree city; Trees

Subjects: Kentucky--Politics and government; Mayors; Pewee Valley (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Uh, Mayor, you did a lot of volunteer work on many different levels.

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt discusses some of the projects and ongoing situations she encountered during her 13 years in office.

Keywords: 4-H clubs; CSX Transportation; Flower gardens; Foster parents; Gardening; Juvenile courts; Merger with county; Police departments; Public votes; Quiet city; Safe place; Train tracks; Vegetable gardens

Subjects: Kentucky--Politics and government; Mayors; Pewee Valley (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Well, um, someone stole something from Sister's desk.

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt talks about her children's interactions with the nuns in their Catholic elementary school.

Keywords: Catholic schools; Children; Foster children; Nuns

Subjects: Childhood; Families.; Pewee Valley (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Okay, I wanted to ask you about the Tree City USA. Okay, you, you established the Tree Board, didn't you?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt talks about the leadership style that worked well for a small town.

Keywords: Citizens; Council people; Council person; Leadership; Leadership skills; Meetings

Subjects: Kentucky--Politics and government; Mayors; Pewee Valley (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Oh my. It was never the same.

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt discusses typical issues that arise in governing a small town.

Keywords: Big phone; Helping people; People; Problems; Telephones

Subjects: Kentucky--Politics and government; Mayors; Pewee Valley (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: What was the biggest catastrophe that you had to handle?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt tells the story of a street flooding incident and the tongue-in-cheek way it was documented by the city council.

Keywords: City clerks; Flooding; Houston Lane; Minutes; Porpoises; Rain; Rollington Road; Town hall; Water runoff

Subjects: Floods--Kentucky; Kentucky--Politics and government; Mayors; Pewee Valley (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Oh, you know Vivien, you did tell me something I thought that was cute.

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt discusses social behavior that was considered "sinful" in Wooton, Kentucky in the 1930s and 1940s.

Keywords: "Floozy"; "Raunchy"; Clothing; Dancing; Drinking; Red; Red skirts; Sins; Women

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Did, did you live in the part of Kentucky where they would weave their own fabrics?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt says that the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalogue was the main source of goods, clothing and everything besides food during her childhood.

Keywords: Catalogues; Clothing; Dresses; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; Wearing apparel; Weaving

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Vivien, did you all have a library in Wooton?

Segment Synopsis: In Wooton and across Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression, library books were brought in bi-monthly by the Pack Horse Library.

Keywords: Books; Classics; Eleanor Roosevelt; Electricity; Horses; Jane Eyre (Book); Little Women (Book); Mules; Newspapers; Oliver Twist (Book); Pack Horse Library; Poverty; Radios; Saddle bags

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Did your family sit around after dinner and talk or sing, or?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt talks about her family living an isolated life without electricity, paved roads, or cars.

Keywords: Cars; Coal oil lamps; Dark; Daylight; Electricity; Poor lighting; Rough terrain

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Did, uh, the Frontier Nursing Service serve your area?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt remembers the Frontier Nursing Service in Leslie County, Kentucky.

Keywords: Babies; Frontier Nursing Service; Mary Breckinridge; Medical services; Midwife; Nurses; Women

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Families.; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Leslie County (Ky.); Midwives; Rural health services; Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: Did you all bake your own bread?

Segment Synopsis: Reinhardt remembers taking corn to the mill to be ground into meal for bread.

Keywords: Bread; Corn; Cornmeal; Flour sacks; Ground; Horseback; Mills; Mules

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: When you left Wooton and went to live with your sister in Louisville, did you take a bus up or how did you get--

Segment Synopsis: In the 1940s, the trip to Louisville took all day on a Greyhound bus.

Keywords: 1940s; Full day trip; Greyhound bus; Kentucky; Many stops

Subjects: Leslie County (Ky.); Louisville (Ky.); Transportation--Kentucky; Wooton (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: But I don't think I said a thing about all the fun we had, because we did have fun.

Segment Synopsis: Although the entire family worked hard every day, Reinhardt says that there were many benefits of growing up in poverty in Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression.

Keywords: "Abject poverty"; Bones; Coal mines; English games; Eyesight; Fodder; Fodder barns; Fun; Games; Great Depression; Happy; Hard work; Healthy; Life Magazine; Long-lived; Louisville (Ky.); Siblings; Teeth

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social life and customs; Childhood; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Families.; Leslie County (Ky.); Wooton (Ky.)