I, Emery Vernon Goodpaster, hopefully of sound mind, was born on April 15, 1938( AKA Income Tax Day) on the County Farm ( AKA The Poor House Farm) of Bath County near Kendall Springs approximately 4 miles SW of Owingsville. I was the only one of seven in the family of Howard and Helen Goodpaster born on the County Farm. I draw reference to this as people had a hard time about then. I had heard my dad say that the WPA kind of saved us and fed us. I feel that he liked President Roosevelt for this. I guess that being born on tax day has told me to always pay my taxes and try to be honest. The other part I feel should always remind me where that I came from like an old song " Remind Me Dear Lord".
When I was 3 years old we moved to a Kendall Springs farm(1941) and I faintly remember the big move with there being a limited amount of personal property (no TVs, paper towels, toothpaste, plastic, aluminum cans and a million other things). I remember all of us working hard and when I graduated from High School in 1956 I went off to Parris Island ( A Marine Boot Camp in a jungle like atmosphere off the coast of South Carolina). It was hot and very humid as I was there in June-September. I became a member of the Kendall Springs Church of Christ in September 1956. I still love the old hymns. I feel that a lot of good has come out of the members there and all of this came from Christ himself as the people used to study the scriptures a lot more than they do today. There were a lot of good people in my immediate family. My mother amazed me on how much she knew about the Bible and a lot of others did ,also. Many of the scriptures slip my mind today if I do not repeat them often. I still like to “STUDY” the scriptures.
After the Military obligation I married Joetta Walters Yarber in January 1960 and we were both going to college at Morehead. Born to us November 28, 1960 was Jerrell Cleveland Goodpaster. We both graduated from MSC in 1963 and later taught school at Bath County and Ohio. In 1975 we came back to Bath County and purchased The Colonial Rest Home. We had this for 19 Years and Joetta taught school again at Bath County most of this time. We sold this in 1994 and I have been working for the Department of Transportation for the last 6 Years out of the Flemingsburg office.
Joetta retired in 1997 after several years of teaching. I taught about l l years.
Jerrell has been a clerk-carrier with the Post Office for about 15 years. He has recently moved to Danville where his wife, Debbie West Goodpaster is a clerk in the Danville Post office. Jerrell works out of the Lexington Office near Turfland Mall and will commute to Lexington from Danville. I wish that they could live and work near Owingsville.
Getting back to Kendall Springs, I was proud of all of the many service men who served in the wars from that area. In W.W.II there were 4 men who gave their lives for our freedom, Kenneth Craycraft-my cousin, Emery Larue Jones -another cousin, Lloyd Mansfield, and Tage Carpenter. Kendall Springs always had a zero vote in favor of legalizing alcoholic beverages of which I was proud .
I have 5 sisters who are all married and attend the Kendall Springs Church of Christ with me. This is kind of unusual by the modern day standards that we have been fortunate enough to keep fairly close contact. Naturally, I am proud of all of them. Their names are Jane Manley, Barbara Boyd, Patsy Karrick, Bonnie Spencer, and Debbie Watson. All of them have children. My only brother, Robert E. Goodpaster (Bobby) died at age 49 and Judith (wife) was left with 3 Boys ( Steve, Jimmy and Stuart). Judith, Jimmy and Stuart attend The Church Of Christ.
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