Recorded in Ashland, West Virginia
This snapshot was collected in conjunction with the Museum on Main Street program at the Smithsonian Institution. It is part of the "Be Here: Main Street" collection, intended to capture Americans' stories about their neighborhoods, waterways, towns, traditions, and personal experiences.
"Living in a small town for me meant growing up with a sense of community, and knowing good values, and who to trust, and where I came from. I think growing up in a small town gave me the opportunities to know people on a level that would help me function in my everyday life, things as far as with my job in a hospital on how to communicate and how to relate to people on a personal, and how to be one-on-one.
I had the pleasure of growing up in a small town in Northern Michigan and I was truly blessed with the life that I did have, being from a small town and close to a small military base, actually, is where I grew up. You wouldn't have asked for a better upbringing. I think to grow up in a small town and to have the military be part of that, I think I was a very fortunate young lady and some of the blessings that I thought I didn't have that I realize now that I did have, I'm very thankful for. I love the sense of community. I want my children to continue to grow up in a small town.
And their children, I want them to have that same experience that I did and not to feel like that small town had burdened them or hindered them at any point. Small time life is where it's at, and I wish everybody could experience it just once. It's a different feeling and I loved it. I had a great upbringing."
Asset ID: 7486
