Glenn Ball

"For instance, you all probably would think Constitution Square was always on Second Street going down to First Street. But, between Main Street and Walnut Street on Second Street crossing Ephraim McDowell House, there were Black businesses over there. . . And they were doing quite well, but Urban Renewal took ‘em out . . . ."

Transcript

Jeffrey Shenton (JS): Okay my name is Jeff Shenton and I am the instructor for Anthropology 389 Lived Histories at Centre College. I’ll be responsible for recording this interview. This is an interview of Mr. Glenn Ball. Today is January 27th, 2021. This interview is being conducted by telephone and being recorded over a Zoom call. The interview is scheduled to last approximately one hour and will consist of an oral history that covers Mr. Ball’s life and career focusing on experiences in Danville and Boyle County and especially on the Urban Renewal period in Danville and its effects on the local community. And now I would like each of the interviewers to introduce themselves. Could you please give your name, your age, your year at Centre, and where you are from?

Mason Rye (MR): I’m Mason Rye. I’m eighteen. I’m a freshman at Centre College and I am from Hopkinsville, Kentucky in Western Kentucky.

Glenn Ball (GB): Near Ft. Campbell?

MR: Yes sir! About ten minutes from Ft. Campbell.

GB: That was my last duty station.

Clayton Stanbery (CS): I’m Clayton Stanbery. I’m 19. I’m from Louisville, Kentucky and I’m a freshman at Centre.

Bo Bush (BB): I’m Bo Bush. I’m 18. I’m a freshman at Centre and I’m from Louisville, Kentucky as well.

Rachael Boule (RB): I’m Rachael Boule. I’m from Massachusetts. I’m 21 and I’m a senior.

JS: Alright and now I would like Mr. Ball to introduce himself. Could you give your full name, your age, and where you currently reside?

GB: My name is Glenn Ball. I am 78 years old. I currently reside here in Danville, Kentucky. About two blocks from Centre College’s newest dorm that y’all have over there.

JS: That’s great. Now we’re gonna get started with the interview. Thank you!

MR: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Anything that you would be willing to share?

GB: Well I’ve lived in Danville all my life. I graduated from Bate High School in 1960. That time Bate High School was the only school for Negroes in Boyle County. Every Negro student went to Bate High School and I went to that school from grades one through twelve. Everybody grades one through twelve were under the same roof. Rather unique! And I, cause I left there, I graduated in May of 1960 and in September of 1960 I entered Tennessee State University, in Nashville, Tennessee in the aviation education program.

RB: Could you tell us a little bit about what it was like to grow up in Danville?

GB: Well you pretty much knew where you could and couldn’t go. We lived in certain parts of the town. I was in West Danville across the divider out over to the left. It’s where most of the Blacks lived at that day and time on Lebanon Road, where Caldwell Body shop is. From UPS up to Cowan Street was by nineteen residences. That was where I lived. Me and 18 other people. A lot of Blacks lived in that area. North of Walnut Street was where most of the whites lived, in this particular area. So that’s where I lived all my life and they had Urban Renewal, which got rid of it. I wasn’t here when that occurred. My mother had to move, she, her house was torn down, she had to move to Bluegrass Estates off of Perryville Road.

CS: Mr. Ball, growing up in Danville, what was your community like? Were y’all like close, like a close-knit community or no?

GB: Well, it was close. The central areas of activity in Danville at that time when I grew up was the churches. First Baptist Church, which is corner Second and Walnut Street. Second Street Christian Church, which is across the street from First Baptist. Then Saint James A.M.E. Church which is down Walnut Street going toward Stanford Avenue and over on Green Street, which is now Martin Luther King Boulevard, there was a Church of God and Christ, a church over there. And course out in West Danville on Cowan Street, which is still there, is Bethel Baptist Church. So we had a lot of activities in our churches. Now in particular, during the summers we had Vacation Bible School and because it was really a good thing to do during the summer. Vacation Bible School was held at First Baptist for two weeks. All the teachers from Bethel and Saint James would assist in that and then it would switch to two weeks at Saint James A.M.E. and all the teachers went down there. And then lastly, it, it, last two weeks, another two weeks was held at Bethel Baptist Church on Cowan Street. So about six weeks during the summer, we were all together at, um, those churches during Vacation Bible School. And of course during the fall, during school year we had basketball and football and that kept us pretty much full of activities and busy, a few dances here and there. But, and we didn’t have, for a while we did not have a swimming pool. So unfortunately, most of the, the Blacks at that time had to go out to Herrington Lake to a place called Clifton. You go, you go from Danville to Lancaster over about halfway, naw, about a third of the way there’s a Clifton Road and back there you could go swimming. That was kind of tragic because we had two boys got drowned out there, but that was the only place we could go and have recreation during the summer. And there was not a park for Blacks at that time, so we just all made our fun around town where we could be. That worked out alright. We knew where we could and could not go. Believe it or not there was only two movie theaters. The Kentucky Theater, oh that's about a hundred feet to the east where The Hub Cafe is right now on Main Street. There was another movie theater, a State Theater which was on the corner of Second and Main Street, but there's a furniture store that’s closed down now, it used to be a movie theater. So that was where we had to go see our movies at the Kentucky Theater and we’d sit upstairs in the balcony. Everybody else sat downstairs. That’s just the way it was.

BB: Um, Could you tell us kind of about your high school experience?

GB: I played in the band eight years, so going to football games and playing in the band, we did a lot of traveling with the football team, that was exciting. We got to meet other people, other students from other places such as Paris, KY, Bardstown, Lebanon, of course Lancaster, Stanford, and Harrodsburg. That was enjoyable and every now and then we had a few dances here and there. I also one day or one night a week, I think it was Tuesday nights, we went to the skating rink down in Harrodsburg, which was right next door to the old fairgrounds, where the fairgrounds are right now. If somebody had a party at their house, we would usually get invited and go to the party and have a good time. And there was never a problem. So that was, that was much of our excitement as then besides the churches and schools, and Bate High School was very active at that time.

RB: So you mentioned that your mother’s house was torn down. I was just wondering if you could speak a little bit to that, just the process of that happening and the emotion surrounding it.

GB: Well I wasn’t here when that occurred, but Urban Renewal came through and all the houses from Cowan Street down to, uh, where the UPS place is right now, that was torn down, Urban Renewal. But they bought her another place out in Bluegrass Estates. Everybody on that street went someplace else. On, across the street where there’s Southern States and a lumber yard and of course Bob Allen has some cars stored, has some antique cars stored over there. There weren’t any residences over at all, all that was farmland. It was in tobacco. So I really didn’t think it was necessary to take, tear down the houses for Urban Renewal, but apparently they paid pretty good prices and the people could get decent houses, not necessarily any better or any worse than what they already had when they was there. But that’s just the way things went. They just had Urban Renewal, said we want your property, we’ll pay for it and you’ll move out.

RB: So your mom was moved to a house different from the people around her before?

GB: Yes!

RB: So did she ever talk about how that made her feel, the loss of community?

GB: No, not really because she knew a whole lot of people, and the name of the people she moved in with was Bluegrass Estates, she knew a lot of people out there. So, in a sense it was a loss of community, but that was the only area in West Danville that was raised or torn down, from Cowan street down to UPS. No place else in West Danville was taken out for Urban Renewal, just that little stretch right there. The nineteen residences were torn down. That’s it.

RB: What was put up in their place?

GB: Businesses. Caldwell Body Shop, Allen Towing accompany, there’s a pawn shop down there, an electrical shop, and, uh, another couple businesses. You go from Cowan Street down to UPS, it is all commercial there right now. And one of the biggest companies, businesses, enterprizes in there is Caldwell Body Shop.

MR: So kind of going back a little bit, because we were talking about your mother and her house and Urban Renewal, can we hear more about your family? Um, what they did, what their role was in the community.

GB: My dad, my dad worked at the Kentucky State Hospital, which is now, going out toward Burgin, the prison, the jail out there. North…. I can’t think of the name, but anyway that was a mental hospital. Darnell Mental Hospital, a lot of vets went out there when they got out of service they went out there. So, he worked out there and also drove a cab. My mother was a domestic worker and she served parties and dinners. Any and everybody here in Danville knew her while she was here. That’s what they did.

RB: Did you have any siblings?

GB: I’m the only child.

CS: How have you seen like your community change before and after Urban Renewal? What was it like during your childhood and how does that differ now?

GB: Uhhh, we were closer before Urban Renewal and then people got dispersed and moved around, so you didn’t get to see the same people that were there before Urban Renewal. I’m trying to think um, maybe only two or three families stayed in the area. Everybody else dispersed and went to other places in town. So but it was still community because everybody was supposed to feel that they was one of the churches here in town. One of the four churches they was involved in. So they still got the closeness. There because of the churches. The churches were really nice because it was really a center of activity and concern for the Black community at that time.

BB: So you said you were gone while your mom’s house was being torn down. So I was just wondering, did you know of maybe any of the other projects that they did in Danville with Urban Renewal? I mean, when you came back to town did you see any like big differences in town?

GB: Yeah! In my opinion some of the areas that were taken down, torn down, they didn’t have to be done, so if you go over on Bate Street where Smith Jackson Funeral Home is right now and that area there, there was a lot of nice homes but that was Roy Arnold and Bate Street, um, and Dillehay. There’s a lot of communities that a lot of people live in that area, but that were torn down and got dispersed. Some of them end up going off out off of Hustonville Road, a few built homes out on Duncan Hill, not many on Randolph Hill, and they got a new area on Fackler Street. Fackler Street which is between Second and Third Street, there’s some new homes in there. They weren’t there at that time, but people built homes in that area so their living conditions were enhanced by going over there, but they weren’t bad where they were before they tore down those areas.

RB: What are your general thoughts about Urban Renewal?

GB: Sometimes I don’t think they take into consideration the welfare, wellbeing of the people. I think they’re more concerned about getting rid of some people, whether in some factions, which is not the case, and that doesn’t help out. For instance, you all probably would think Constitution Square was always on Second Street going down to First Street. But, between Main Street and Walnut Street on Second Street crossing Ephraim McDowell House, there were Black businesses over there. There were about eight of them over there. And they were doing quite well, but Urban Renewal took ‘em out, and people think Constitution Square has always been where it is, but was not. So, in my opinion, they took out the Black community business wise when they went through Urban Renewal, right there in the middle of town. And if you’d ask Michael Hughes about that, he’ll tell ya. He’s got some good background on that.

CS: Um, did the Urban Renewal personally impact you in any other way besides your mother’s house being torn down? Like was there anything else that happened?

GB: Not to my knowledge, no. Pretty much everybody who was over there…. Well, let me see. Mrs. Fischer, Mrs. Jones, my mother, um, maybe three or four more people really got nice houses someplace else when Urban Renewal took out that portion of Lebanon Road. But what the other people when these have died off they just come out all together. And they didn’t relocate, they had died, so the family that was left, just let it go to Urban Renewal. They didn’t rebuild or relocate someplace else as far I can remember.

RB: So you keep saying you weren’t here during the majority of Urban Renewal. Where were you?

GB: In college, or in the army. When I graduated from Tennessee State in August of 1964 I went right into the army for three years, so I wasn’t here.

RB: Thank you for your service.

GB: Yes, from September ’60 to August 1967 I was in college and also in the military. And then when I got out of the military, I went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida and worked on my mechanics license and got an associate’s degree in aviation.

MR: Where were some of the places that you were stationed at during this time of service?

GB: Well, I had basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and from there my first duty station was the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Few people have even heard of the War College and I know there are, the Air Force has one, the Navy has one, and the Army has one. I was stationed in Carlisle, Pennsylvania as an aircraft mechanic. I stayed there for a year and three days and then I got ordered to go to Vietnam. Since I was an only child I could have prevented my. . . my mother and I could have worked on me not going. Because I fell into two categories: only child and surviving son. But I told her forget it, I’m going to Vietnam. So, I went to Vietnam and stayed a year. Got back in March of 1967, and my last duty station was Fort Campbell, Kentucky. And from there, I discharged out August 31, 1967 and went to Daytona Beach, Florida, to Embry-Riddle University.

RB: What motivated you to join the army?

GB: Uh, because there was a draft situation, draft, draft process in existence at the time, and while I was at Tennessee State, I did. . .there were a lot of guys I knew that got drafted into the army. And I said well, they get drafted and put what they [US Government] wanted to,  I enlisted into the army in July 1964 and I told them wanted to join just for three years, that’s one of the reasons I went, just a three year tour. And I told them I could not get, be active until I graduated from college, so it was late enlistment. So, I got out August 16, 1964, and by September 1 I was in the army. So, I went in by, and enlisting and going on, I got what I wanted which was aircraft maintenance.

CS: Did you experience like, any segregation during your college years or while you were in the army?

GB: Well, when I was in the army, I was a part of the Civil Rights demonstrations in Nashville, Tennessee. And, I got a chance to meet and be a part of the activities down there in Nashville, Tennessee under the direction of Dr. Martin Luther King. Also, importantly, I got to meet and shake his hand in ‘58 in Louisville, Kentucky he was there for a national Baptist convention representing his Church, Ebenezer Baptist Church down in Atlanta, and he was preaching at his brother’s church, Zion Baptist Church, and his brother was Dr. D.E King, so I got to hear him preach, and shake his hand and talk to him. And then I got to hear him speak again at Tennessee St. . . in Nashville, Tennessee I think it was in ‘61, thing were getting hot and heavy down there in Nashville, and he came to Nashville and spoke. He couldn’t go to Tennessee State because it was a federally funded school, so they had him meet at Fisk University, which I went to and got a chance to hear him speak there. So, I was a part of the civil rights demonstrations on the movie theaters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. And, uh, so I got this to see a lot of things first hand. While I was there, at Tennessee State, things changed around where we could go where we wanted to, based on how much money we had in our pockets rather than the color of our skin. So, I was, I was an active part of the civil rights demonstration in the ‘60s at the national sit-ins while I was at Tennessee State University.

RB: When you were saying things were getting hot and heavy in Tennessee, could you kinda speak to the things you were seeing and experiencing while you were there?

GB: Well people were getting’ arrested and, uh, put in jail. Because, uh, we had students from Tennessee State, Fisk University, Vanderbilt, Peabody, () and David Lipscomb and also high schools such as Pearl High School that were involved. And what we were doing was running, seven days a week we was standing on the movie theaters, uh, lunch stands. The forerunner of a K-mart called Kresge, um, department stores, and there was a Harvey’s department store. Anybody that had a lunch counter in Nashville, Tennessee, the students, we were standing, doing sit-ins and standing demonstrations on those establishments while we were there. And, when I say hot and heavy, uh, the police were getting kind of brutal on the students. But, somehow or another, the, um, people in Nashville had a pool of money available. So, when you went to jail, you only stayed in there about two or three hours and were back, you back out and out on the streets again. And, uh, I’ll also tell you right now, it wasn’t only Black people involved. There was a lot of white folks, a lot of Jewish people that were involved in the demonstrations in Nashville, Tennessee doing their time. I got to see them.

MR: So, seeing that this was going on in Nashville, what efforts were being made or what movements were being made in Danville at the time that you know of?

GB: I do not know. Michael Hughes made a comment about two weeks ago that he was a part of some demonstrations. They went to have a march on Frankfort, Kentucky. And, uh, I think Dr. Martin Luther King was down there for that. But, I really don’t know what went on in Danville during the time because I was not here. When I left in September 1960, I never came back to Danville, only just for visit. I didn’t come back to live at all. I was gone. And I’ve done a lot of traveling up until 2016 when I moved back here into town.

RB: So, what made you move back to Danville?

GB: The house was paid for, and I was more or less retired. And, I got tired of Florida. I spent forty-two years in Orlando, Florida.

BB: Uh, you said earlier that where Constitution Square is now there used to be Black businesses and then they were destroyed . . . did those ever… sorry, go ahead.

GB: If you go to Michael Hughes’ facility over on Second Street right now, he has a display in there that has some pictures of the businesses that were on Second Street, and also if you go to his website, well yeah, go to website and there are a lot of pictures of all the businesses and activities that were held, that were conducting there. So, check into it with him. It’s very interesting how it used to look at that time. There’s a painting in his front window right now showing what the, what the businesses looked like at that time. Before, before they were torn down and Constitution Square was expanded.

BB: So did those businesses ever, um, like kinda, re-flourish when you got back?

GB: No, no, no they were gone. There was a cabstand, Eli Cabstand; a barbershop, () McCowan, Jimmy Coates and Rev. G.W. O’Neil was in there; a poolroom; a former assemblyman had a grocery store; upstairs of that was a barbershop, another barbershop. On the third floor was a Masonic lodge. And there were about four restaurants on that side of the street where Ephraim McDowell House is. There was a restaurant over there ran by a man named Mr. Saint Harland. So, we were quite a presence on Second Street and that block at the time.

RB: Did you spend much time at the poolroom? We’ve been hearing a lot about it.

GB: (laughter) Yeah, I did. In my junior and senior year I was in there.

RB: What would you do?

GB: Watch them shoot pool because I couldn’t shoot pool, but I enjoyed being around, I enjoyed the fellowship being around the people up there. It was a safe place to go.

RB: So, one interviewee yesterday told me that the poolroom was a kind of a place to learn from, for little boys to become men and learn from the older men that hung around there. Would you agree?

GB: True. Very true. Oh yeah. I would agree with that. I went in there, and Mr. Tiny Richardson told me go get a written letter of permission from your father that you can come in here, and then you can come in here and hangout. And, I went and got it. My dad, he said okay, you alright. There was a situation where he wanted permission from the boys’ parents that they could come in there. He didn’t want you hanging out in there without their permission. And I liked the way he did that. He wanted to make sure that you could be in there with permission from your parents.

CS: I’m curious as to how you came to meet Martin Luther King. Like, how did that happen?

GB: I was, um. My daddy heard that he was going to be speaking at Zion Baptist Church in Louisville. And he, my mother, myself, and my dad’s brother and wife drove down there to Louisville to Zion Baptist Church and went in there to sit and hear him preach. And after the service was over, my daddy worked on Southern Railroads for a little while, and he knew a lot of guys up and down the line, so we went to the dining room and just walked up to him. Daddy introduced himself and introduced me. And asked him did he know such and such person who worked the railroads down in Atlanta, Georgia. He said no. And we just talked and he introduced me to him. And he was very easy to approach and easy to talk to.

MR: How old were you at the time you met him?

GB: Mmm, probably about fifteen, fifteen or sixteen.

MR: Do you think that experience kinda helped shape the direction like that you would take toward the Civil Rights movement?

GB: No, not at that time, no. It was shaped when I got to Tennessee State because I was actively a part of the standing demonstrations at the time. So that’s what was really influenced was getting to Tennessee State. There were lots of us involved. Now my major advisor, Mr. Ryan, told me, I told him what I wanted to do. He said, I don’t mind you going and being a part of the Civil Rights demonstrations, but you are still responsible for your studies. That’s exactly what he said, “you are still responsible for your studies. Go ahead on. But you’re still responsible.” And I took that in mind.

CS: So you mentioned you spent in Orlando for 42 years, what did you do? What was your job when you were in Florida?

GB: Well I was in aviation, so I went down, I went down there in September ‘76; I worked for the Beech Aircraft Corporation over in Milton, Florida, which is where Whiting Naval Air Station is. Beech Aircraft set up an operation for maintaining an aircraft called T-34C Turbo Mentor for the Navy, it was a training for the Navy. And, um, instead of them taking care of supplies and maintenance for the aircraft, Beech Aircraft approached, um, the Navy about doing a toll contract for support, where you just fly the planes and we’ll take care of the plane and support it. So I set up the supply functions for that aircraft in Wichita, Kansas in the summer of ‘76 and in September of ‘76 I moved the entire operations to Whiting Naval Air Station outside of Milton Florida. So I stayed over there until December ‘77 and then for that point on I went to work for Martin Marietta which is now Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida. I worked for them for 10 years. And then from there I went to work at the Kennedy Space Center. I was a project manager, I worked for McDonnell Douglas Space System and um, they um, um were supporting building the international space station, which is now called Space Station, it was called Space Station Freedom at the time and it is now called International Space Station. So I was a project manager on nine pieces of equipment that were building items that were to go on the shuttle and fly to the station to build it. So I was one about 12 or 1300 people that was involved in that so I stayed over there for about six years and then I managed an airport at Palatka, Florida for 29 months and I also worked at Orlando International Airport. So I stayed in aviation all my life.

MR: Being back in Danville now, are there anyways that you, um, kind of interact with the communities like are you on any committees, um, active in politics, uh what kind of ways are you involved in the community?

GB: I’m on the Danville School Board, I have for the past two years, Danville School Board. I am also on the Airport Advisory Board, we just finished 2.5 million dollars’ worth of improvements to the airport so I’m on the Airport Advisory Board helping update and maintain the status of the airport, actually raises, raises visibility around the whole area. So Danville has the only airport () that has two runways on it right now and if you all go through your history when Centre College hosted two vice presidential debates, there are some pictures, Centre probably has them too, but there are some pictures of the airport that show about 15-20 planes that are out there because of the two presidential debates so that airport is pretty busy. So I’m involved in upgrading and keeping the airport up to standards out there and bring business to the airport. And, um, I’m busy at my church, First Baptist Church at the corner of Second and Walnut Street. So I have been busier since 2016 than I was the last eight years in Orlando, FL.

RB: So um, I’ve come to learn um that Centre College wiped out a lot of multiple Black homes to put up their athletic facilities and I am just wondering kind of what your feelings toward Centre College is as an institution in general? Or if you do feel about us.

GB: Yeah, well, as far as I know, you get a good education coming out of Centre College and get a good degree when you go there. Um, most schools have to expand their physical facilities in order to give good academic courses to students. Um, yeah some, some Black homes were sold to Centre College on Russell Street and then again where one of, where two soccer fields are. There used to be a stock yard over there, that was a big concern at one time but you have to expand to grow but you just pray that you don’t hurt your community during these expansions, you don’t hurt the community but you enhance community and make it better by expanding so I have no problems with it as long as people are not impacted negatively when they do the expansion of physical facilities.

MS: Do you feel as though there is anything that Centre College could do more to kind of recognize their own effects on the community within Urban Renewal? Is there anything that Centre could do to just kind of, I don’t know, share. . .

GB: I can’t give any specifics on that but if Centre College would do that I would deal with the city government, the mayor and city commissionors and make sure that you are working in partnership and doing things to enhance the school but not take away from the community but also enhance what the city already has. Make it better than they already have right there just don’t tear down for the sake of tearing down. People get hurt by it and that’s possible it can be done. I feel that it has probably been done already.

BB: Um, what do you think could be done today to make Danville a more inclusive community?

GB: What could Danville do to be more inclusive?

BB: Yeah, do you think, yeah?

GB: Well funny thing, when I got here I found out that not many Black students knew where the Black churches were here in Danville but I think that’s part of churches not reaching out to Centre College to let them know what’s going on in the Black churches. There is the First Baptist which is the church I belong to, St. James A.M.E. and also Second Street Christian Church. Because, all those three of these churches are within walking distance of Centre College itself and dormitories and if they need a ride I do know that the First Baptist Church has a van that could pick up students and bring them there to the church. But another thing that I think the Black churches do is have social programs to include students from Centre College to make them feel at home away from home. This was one thing that was done at Tennessee State. And I know the Black churches in that area they had programs to make kids feel at home because they are far away from home. When I was at Tennessee State, there were students from Florida, a lot from Florida, a lot from Texas, definitely up to New York area and Chicago area, and Indianapolis, Indiana area. But make them feel at home and inclusive as to what’s going on because they can really enhance that inclusiveness. But sometimes people don’t want outsiders if I’m being honest with you, some people in these churches don’t want these kids in their churches. Make them feel at home because they may have a talent or capability they could add to the worship experience at these churches. So the churches need to do some reaching out too, it isn’t all Centre College’s fault because the churches need to reach out to the college or your dean can reach out to the pastors and find out what they can do to make everyone feel included.. Inclusive.

RB: So you have mentioned a lot about churches being a big part of your life and community and I am just wondering why the church is so important to you?

GB: Well when I was growing up the only center of activity to do anything was the churches, there weren’t any parks to go to, there weren't any recreational facilities that we went to and so the church did provide activities. The church has always been the keystone or the heart of movement, especially the Civil Rights movement, everything came from the churches if you look at background of King when he was in Civil Rights demonstration the everything centered at a church and the pastor was always involved and so that has been a thing since back then and that’s the case right now. The churches have to be involved ‘cause that’s where you establish sound foundations, now I’ve had tough times in my life and the church has always been there for me so the church is very, very important.

MR: Are there other places in Danville besides the church that you feel strongly connected to?

GB: Not really. No sir.

CS: At any point in your life, did Urban Renewal, like,  scare you or were you ever worried for family or friends?

GB: No I wasn’t, um, my mother was pretty much involved with a lot of people around town. So when they came through and took out Lebanon Road, the residential  from Cowan Street to ups she knew enough people where she could find a decent place to go live. She had a nice house built out there on Secretary Drive but she was remarried and got divorced so she moved to the house I’m sitting in right now down on Swope Drive and I’m blessed to have it paid for. So that’s one reason I came home, it’s paid for and its home and I enjoy it.

BB: When you were growing up there you obviously met a ton of families so when you moved to Florida and came back were a lot of the same families still there?

GB: No most of the people still here, they’re still here in Danville and that is one of the things that attracted me to come back. My wife was from Florida but she was glad to move here because she, over the years we had met these people and she made a lot of friends once she came back so she was at ease coming to Danville and thoroughly enjoyed it.

RB: When did you meet your wife?

GB: Summer of 69’ at Daytona Beach, Florida, we were married 51 years. It’s unfortunate, my wife died December 22nd due to Covid-19, we were married 51 years.

RB: Wow.

GB: Yeah.

RB: That’s impressive.

GB: Thank you sir, thank you ma’am.

MR: Did you all have any children?

GB: Two boys. One is in Kansas City and one is in Marietta, Georgia.

MR: Can you tell us a little about them?

GB: Ohhh I’ve got a hard head, he’s the old one. He’s out in Kansas city right now. My youngest, he’s uh been working HVAC of heating and air conditioning since 91’ so he is working for a company down in Marietta, Georgia. He didn’t want to go to college and I didn’t make him cause at Tennessee I saw people at college who didn’t need to be there ‘cause they were partying and chasing the girls, chasing the boys. But yeah, he said he didn’t want to go to college but I taught Bible studies for about nine years in Atlanta, Georgia and I told the kids I said you can make a decent living and don’t have to go to college just as long as you have certain qualifications. If you do what you want to do you can make a decent living so he’s been HVAC since ‘91 and he does quite well financially and he stays quite busy. Working in Marietta, Georgia, north of Atlanta, so he stays quite busy.

RB: Did your other son go to college?

GB: No, neither of my kids went to college

MR: And what are their names?

GB: Sheldon and Damon. I wouldn't push college on anybody because you can make a decent living doing other things, other than going to college. Just be certified and qualified and doing what you're going to do.

RB: I like that mindset.

GB: Pardon me?

RB: I like that mindset.

GB: I also, one of the things I've told kids when I was doing substitute teaching in Orlando and here in Danville, before I got on the School Board, I said look at the military option. Because you go into the military and be trained quite well and disciplined, that can equate to a good job on the outside. What I found out, coming out of the Army even after having my college degree is that an honorable discharge is just as valuable as any college degree. And when employers see that you got an honorable discharge on your DD 214, which is the form number, you are regarded very highly because you have discipline and you're organized with yourself and things to be a very valuable employee.

RB: Were you honorably discharged?

GB: I most certainly was. VA’s taking care of me right now.

RB: Can I ask what that means and why?

GB: Honorable discharge you get a lot of benefits like for instance, let me see, what was that on? On the 16th of January, I went over to the VA in Lexington to get my covid-19 vaccine, and all I had to do is be in line to get it. I had a hypertension problem and they've been taking care of my hypertension for the last 30 years. They take care of my medical exam once a year and getting checked out and that's the benefits of an honorable discharge. And believe it or not I found out that here in Kentucky a lot of people put value on you being in the military, and people will thank you for your service. If you go out to Lowe's right now there are parking places out there for veterans in addition to the ones there for handicapped people. So, being an honorably discharged veteran has its benefits. And I've enjoyed them.

RB: Right.

CS: Did you, like, enjoy your time in the army or no?

GB: Oh yeah I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. In particular, when I was in Vietnam because I had typed in high school I got to use my typing skills and the Army. In Vietnam, I went over there as an aircraft mechanic, which I'm good at. I work on things. I like working on cars and planes. I have a 1987 Buick that I've had for 10 years now and it's still running. Everything on it works. So anyways, I told the sergeant in charge that I could type so for 11 or 12 months and Vietnam I was behind a typewriter. I learned a lot about military procedures, processes and management and administration, which is very valuable because sometimes people ask about this that and the other I got the military and I'm and I say it's not about what you do it's about how you do it. What some people don't realize is that the most powerful person on any military post is not the commander or general it's the chaplain. The chaplain is the most powerful people on any military base.

CS: Do you think being in the military has changed how you live your life?

GB: Changed my life?

CS: Yes, just the things you learned over there give you a different perspective.

GB: Oh yes, yes it does. Well, my experience I think was unique. I spent four and a half years in college, getting a degree and then, in less than three weeks I’m in the military. And, um, I had, you had to discipline yourself to go to class and do your assignment and work toward getting a degree. And when you put that to even better use when you go into the military because they refined it a little bit more. But the military is, in my opinion, is great on organizing yourself and disciplining yourself to get the job done, and that worked out really well when I went to work at Kennedy Space Center, working on the Space Station Freedom.

CS: Was there a reason why you joined the military, like did someone push you join or is that just what you wanted to do?

GB: No, nobody pushed me to do it. I did not want to be drafted and put a rifle in my hand. I wanted to enlist and get what I wanted to do which was aircraft maintenance and that worked out fine. By enlisting, you have to pass those tests that they give you, you have a lot more choices and what you want to do in the military.

MR: Are there any experiences that you would like to share while being an aircraft mechanic, like any aircraft you worked on, any famous ones, anything like that?

GB: No not really. About four different occasions I flew a little single engine airplane from Orlando, Florida to Danville and back. Hold on, I got somebody at my door, hoId on. . . . [talking in background] Ok, I’m back. As I said on four occasions, I flew my family from Orlando to Danville and back. And people said you did what? And I said yeah, my wife and my two boys.

RB: That's so cool!

GB: Yes it was.

RB: I'm afraid to even fly in a plane let alone fly one. That's impressive.

GB: Oh, come on!

RB: I know, right!

GB: Try it out one time!

RB: Oh goodness, I'm a scaredy-cat

GB: I'll get you in a plane at the airport right now if you want to go.

RB: Haha, okay sounds like a plan!

MR: So for me, I'm from Hopkinsville, really close to Fort Campbell. How was your experience at Fort Campbell?

GB: Hm, well, I came over as an aircraft mechanic but they had a whole lot of guys that were in from Vietnam, so I worked in the mess hall. Taking care of regulars in the cafeteria over there. So many guys just got back from Vietnam, but I had been there. I actually got discharged from Fort Campbell. It's a big place.

RB: What did you do on the space station?

GB: Oh, I just . .  . what I did was I was a project manager for nine pieces of ground equipment that would go on the shuttle so they would fly up to the space station and build it. I also spent a lot of time in Huntsville, Alabama, believe it or not. People don't realize how valuable Huntsville, Alabama is because NASA has a big facility there at Redstone Arsenal. There they have the complete mock-up of the space station at Huntsville, Alabama. And also part of it is in a big huge tank, oh, about as big as any two buildings on campus, and that's filled with water so the astronauts can practice what they're going to do on the space station, because working in that water is working in a weightless environment, so all of the work is done underwater.

BB: Yeah I've been down Huntsville few times I remember always seeing the . . .

RB: Is that were the big rocket is?

BB: Yeah, the big rocket on the side of the highway.

GB: Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah right by the highway over there. Huntsville, Alabama one time has a record of having more PhDs per square mile than anywhere in the world

BB: Wow

GB: Yeah, there’s a whole lot of wealthy folks over there in Huntsville, Alabama, believe it or not. That’s where Wernher von Braun cut his teeth, in Huntsville, Alabama, putting us into space.

MR: And when were you down there working?

GB: Nah, don't ask for me oh, it was back in the 80s.

CS: How did you originally get into Aviation? Was it in college? Did you always know that's what you wanted to do?

GB: This is how I always tell people how I got into Aviation. When I lived on Lebanon Road, before Corning Glass works got in there in 1955, I think is when it was, across the street from Lebanon Road, where those businesses are, there was nothing but a field from there to the train station. That was a tobacco field and one day I was sitting in my front yard and a crop duster flew over there and spraying the tobacco. I said I wanted to do something like that and that's how I got in aviation.

BB: So is being an aircraft mechanic, was that your favorite job or what was? And what was also your least favorite job?

GB: Yes, yes. Some of the most fun I've ever had was working at the space station that's up there in space right now. Kennedy Space Center in Star City in Russia, are the two most interesting places in the world. When you go to Kennedy Space Center you're not going to see anything like it anywhere around, it's unique. Very unique. The landing strip over there that's 15,000 feet long, I've done touch and goes on it when I was flying, and also I've seen a shuttle land on it. I've also seen like four shuttle launches, and the most impressive is at night. It lights up everything just like the daylight.

RB: What do you think of SpaceX?

GB:[laughter] They're showing folks had to get stuff done with a whole lot of unnecessary regulations. That's what I think of SpaceX. They are cutting edge. They are doing it right.

RB: Really.

MR: Now, now where was the other place that you were describing as very interesting?

GB: Well Kennedy is enough of it. Orlando International Airport, Orlando International Airport. It has four runways now, but it used to only have two, two 12,000-foot runways. It was a base, if you ever go to Orlando and you look at your baggage claim ticket, it says MCO and that stands for McCoy Air Force Base. It used to be an Air Force Base for B-52 bombers but the city bought it when the Air Force come out of there and added two runways since then. Anything that's flying out there right now, can land at Orlando International Airport. Like the A380, the double decker jumbo jet. Orlando International, Tampa International, Miami International, JFK, LAX, and Chicago O’Hara are the only airports that could handle that aircraft when it came out. And Florida is the only state and the union that has three major airports. Orlando, Tampa and Miami. 

JS: All right Mr. Ball, we're coming up on an hour here. I just wanted to make sure we give you an opportunity here to talk about anything more that you think we haven't mentioned or anything that you would like to get on the record.

GB: No I don't have anything. You students do the best you can in your studies. It will pay off. And I tell students all the time if you're really getting your lessons, you probably only get 3 to 4 hours of rest every night because I know you're studying. So do the best you can because the grades you make will follow you to your grave. So do your very best in your studies so you can be a productive citizen and whatever Community you decide to reside in.

RB: Great advice thank you!

BB: Thank you!

RB: And thank you again for your service!

GB: You’re quite welcome. 

MR: Thank you Very much. 

CS: Yeah Thank You

BB: Thank you.

JS: Alright, any more questions?

MR: What was your wife's name?

GB: Barbara.

MR: And what was your birthday?

GB: 12/19/1942, I’m 78 years old.

JS: Well we certainly thank you for your time Mr. Ball. Thank you for your Insight and all your stories in the narrative that you shared today. I also want to say from me and the class we are really sorry to hear about the loss of your wife too so she's in our thoughts.

GB: All right you all have a great day now!