DVD
I bought an 8mm camera in 1965, but unfortunately used it very little. In the 1980’s I took all of my 8mm film and had them transferred to VCR tapes. Some years ago I had the tapes transferred to DVD’s.
Mom went to Kentucky with Aunt Edith back about 1966 and borrowed the camera to film the relatives at the Adkins-Arthur Cemetery on Decoration Day. I copied some of that recording on VCR tape to bring down to two of Mom’s cousins, Christine Arthur Woods and Rothel Arthur, for Decoration Day, June 2004. Rothel was thankful to see his relatives from his past once again. We brought the tape to his home as he was dying of cancer (11 Jun 1921-4 Aug 2004).
Fern came to the dinner at the cemetery and she was also dying of cancer (24 Dec 1942-15 Aug 2004) so I gave her the copy I had made for Christine. She later thanked me for sharing the memories with her. Her daughter Ronda recently sent me that tape and I had it put on a DVD. The overall quality is poor from age, multiple transferring and because one section of film had been filmed twice….. a Christmas parade, a wedding scene (my wife is in a red dress with a blond wig) and my son Dickie’s 5th birthday party in 1967 with Mom’s grandkids ‘moving for the movie’ was filmed over the cemetery footage. But I still want to share what I have.
At the beginning it says “NO DISC” but just wait a minute and it will start. It opens with two of my sons in the spring of 1965.The cemetery scenes are from what I think was 1966 are next. Aunt Edith pops out from behind a bush for just a second. Mom’s Uncle Ted and Aunt Annie Dugger Arthur are filmed in their yard along with Mom and her Aunt Lola Arthur Reynolds in what I believe was 1971.
We went over to Harlan County to visit Grandpa Arnold’s brother, Ernst and his wife Surilda, a full blooded American Indian. My white 1967 Chevy 9 passenger wagon can be seen here and I traded it in in the fall of 1971, that helps place the date. They (Lola and Ernst) reminisced about their mutual friends and relatives from their youth and we were shocked as they discussed all of the ones that had been involved in shootings and such! They hadn’t seen each other since my grandparents had been killed in a car wreck in 1952 so they had a lot of catching up to do. The Arnolds and their daughter, Lyda Jean, and her children lined up for a scene with Barb and Mom. Ernst “Big Boy” Arnold was about 6’4’’ and looked just like Grandpa George. He had a growth on his right shoulder that started after he was injured in a mine accident. I asked him to get his gun for a picture like we had of Grandpa, with his pistol held over his chest. He kept telling the kids to “Stand still now!” while I had the camera on them. He said how he never left the house without having that pistol in his bib overalls or went to bed without it in the nightstand. He was born 7 Sep 1906 and died 14 Jun 1980.
I am providing copies of the DVD to relatives in order to share these cherished memories. I am considering placing this on the internet someday.
Richard Miller 2 Feb 2012
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