Edited interview with Bobby Lee McDowell, grandson of Ruth Barnhill. Interview conducted by Joe Manning (JM) on November 6, 2009.

JM: What did you think of the picture?

McDowell: I knew she had worked way back then. She had talked about it a little, but I was surprised to see the picture.

JM: When were you born?

McDowell: I was born in 1940. I lived with my grandmother - my father's mother - from the time I was six weeks old till about three or four years before she died. My mother and dad separated, and they couldn't take care of me. We lived on a farm between Raeford and Rockfish, on Route 2. I still got a piece of land that they owned, about 30 acres. I got married when I was 28, and stayed with her a little while after that.

JM: When you left, did you still live near her?

McDowell: Yes. I built a house in Raeford, but out in the country. She was staying in town by that time. I checked on her almost every day. Finally, she moved in with her daughter, Erlie Mae. Then they finally put her in a nursing home down in Garner (North Carolina).

JM: Did she work when you were growing up?

McDowell: She stayed at home mostly. During tobacco season, there were a lot of people working on the farm, maybe 20 or 30. My grandmother would cook for the whole crowd. But she worked a short time in the textile mills when I was about 12 years old.

JM: Were there any other children in the home besides you at that time?

McDowell: No, they were all grown up by that time.

JM: What was she like?

McDowell: She was wonderful. She was not just a substitute mother, she was my best friend. When I was growing up, especially when I was a teenager, we used to have a little boxing match in the morning. We were just playing around. I remember one time she hit me in the stomach, and I had on one of those big western belts, and it busted her hand.

I'll tell you quite a story. She liked to dip snuff. When she ran out of it, she could be hard to deal with. It was three miles from our house to the closest store. One time she ran out of snuff, and she had me go get her some. I had to walk to the store because Granddaddy had the car. So I walked down there, and they didn't have the kind she wanted. She always used Railroad Mills, which they had, but she wanted the long ones and they only had the short ones. So I bought her two short ones. I walked all the way back home, but she wouldn't have it. I had to take it back the next day, which means I had to walk another six miles. She was like that. If she couldn't have exactly what she wanted, she wouldn't have nothing. But that was okay. She wasn't angry about it. If she was here now, I would be happy to walk 30 miles to get her whatever she wanted.

She never went to school. She couldn't read or write, though she got to where she would write her name. But she was pretty smart. She knew how to count her money. She could do lots of things. She could play the piano. If she heard somebody play something, she could sit right down and play it. But she couldn't read music.

JM: Was she a good piano player.

McDowell: I thought so. Of course, anything she did, I thought it was good.

JM: What do you miss about her the most?

McDowell: Her cooking, I guess. She was the best cook I've ever known. I loved her pineapple cake. I've never had one like it since. She cooked it on a griddle, made the layers real thin, about 8 or 10 layers with pineapple between each layer. It was some kind of good.