Fisher Ridge Days, The Proctor Way

My maternal grandparents, Sylvester and Erma (Smith) Proctor who were married on July 21, 1921 along with their eleven children, Estle, Kenneth, Marlene, Gloria, Eugene, Carlene, Corky, Frank, Cledith, Vonda and Johnny lived for the better

part of their lives in a four room house on Fisher’s Ridge near Liberty, West Virginia. Nothing fancy, nothing elaborate, nothing beyond their means; just a home where a large family lived and took care of one another. Now keep in mind not all the children probably ever lived there at the same time. Estle passed away in 1942 the year my mother was born and Marlene lived a year and passed away in 1926. There was however at some point in their lives a time when they did live in this house. I remember the house so very well, from the faded red exterior to the paper bag papered walls in Grandma’s bedroom to the large sandstone that served as a front porch to the bamboo grove that we grandchildren spent endless hours playing in, it was a magical place for the Proctor grandchildren and I’m sure like myself, we all miss it. Cousins spent many weeks at a time during the summer at this house exploring the lay of the land and our ancestral hangouts so to say. The Ponderosa was always my favorite destination, a small cabin built by my older boy cousins as their secret hide-out located behind the barn on the path to the infamous Wildcat Rocks. Those rocks were no more than an outcropping of rocks, but to us they were something special and we loved to hike there with Grandma or Grandpa. Who among us will ever or could ever forget Grandma’s root cellar located down that steep path. I can still smell it in my memory, musky and filled with the aroma of beets and potatoes, I can still see the potato bins, the shelves loaded with Grandma’s canning and always keeping a constant eye out looking for snakes that also loved this earthen shelter that fed generations of my family. We always had plenty to eat and was never hungry. We played in barns and sheds, we ran through the tobacco fields and captured tobacco worms, as hideous as they were. We combed the apple orchard enjoying the fruits of our visits usually ending up with a stomach ache from eating too many. We played on the road and we explored and enjoyed the beauty of Beckner’s Point. We enjoyed visiting the neighbors, Maude Ransom, the Dillard’s, Uncle Hack and Aunt Nina’s. We spent hours roaming and exploring these beautiful mountains of Fisher’s Ridge. One of our favorite explorations was when we would visit Aunt Dovie (Cordova Bowen) Dillard, who was actually Grandma Proctor’s aunt on her dad’s (Millard Smith) side and her husband Uncle George who was Grandpa’s uncle on his mother’s (Mary Dillard) side. Always with a visit to the Lone Grove School House where our parents received their education. We really loved making the trip to Ransom’s Store in Liberty with Grandpa the most, those were the days! My grandparents were married for 60 years until my grandma passed away in 1981 to stomach cancer and grandpa three years later in 1984. Sixty years is quite an accomplishment, with 11 children, 9 in-laws, 33 grandchildren and 61 great grandchildren, and I don’t know how many great-great and beyond grandchildren. They left a legacy of family to remember them. I always had a very close relationship with Grandma Proctor, I spent lots of time with her both on Fisher’s Ridge and later in her life when she had moved to Scott Ridge and the in her final years at her home in Hometown. However the times that hold the best memories for me were at the house on Fisher’s Ridge. I remember Grandma making the best eggy and chewy chicken noodles, rice with raisins, and my favorite rice-a-roni, I think we tried every flavor they sold of it. I could always count on a delectable chocolate up-side down cake for dessert too. We played lots of Rook in that house, and I’ve always been told stories of holidays there where grandma would bake and stack fruit pies 5-6 high. I remember distinctly her small cedar Christmas trees and the tin foil covered cardboard bells on the wall that spelled Noel. I remember throwing caps on the potbellied stove and stringing green beans or husking corn that grandma would preserve over an outside canner. She canned everything and I think that is where many of us grandchildren get our love for canning from. We also followed Grandpa around too, digging ginseng or May apple roots, puttering around on the farm, or hoeing an endless row of corn in their large garden. They were survivors and they were parents, they knew how to take care of their family and they did the job with dignity and spirit. Having so many cousins it was hard to be close to them, most had moved away to Ohio and the ones that did live in West Virginia as I was growing up was older than me. I remember my cousin’s Jackie and Jo coming to Fisher’s Ridge in the summer to visit from Ohio and we had memory lasting times with them, myself hanging onto Jo and my brother Mike sticking to Jackie as they both terrorized Jo and me and anyone or anything that got in their way. Those were simpler times, they were times I hold dear in my heart. I miss and love you Grandma and Grandpa Proctor and I thank you for all the blessings and lessons I learned from you and growing up on Fisher’s Ridge in Liberty, West Virginia…Rest in Peace Grandma and Grandpa Proctor.

I’m including my recipe for Grandma Proctor’s Chocolate Up-side down cake…one of my childhood favorites growing up on Fisher’s Ridge.