Thanks for all the good times at the Hart-Amburgey Reunion in Gatlinburg! Ken and Crystal really made this reunion special and filled it with activities for great grandchildren of Elmer B. Hart and Nada Amburgey Hart. Amburgey and Hart Angie asks “How did Granny meet Papa and what lead them to marriage”? Here’s the story. 1930 A young basketball coach, Charles (Charlie) Hart shows up as a teacher at Neon-Fleming High School in Neon, Kentucky. Nada (Granny) is in his health class. He is very outgoing. Nada is an outstanding student, eager to learn, but has not encountered anyone like Charlie. Nada still likes his enthusiasm and the fact he is from central Kentucky. Charlie really likes having her brother, Claude, on his basketball team, and he picks on Nada so Claude can help him win. Charlie wants Nada to help him stop Claude from smoking. Claude is his best player, but one of the rules for staying on the team is “No smoking.” Claude is so good that Coach Hart has to turn his head to keep from seeing Claude with a cigarette. Claude stays on the team, keeps shooting and scoring, and is a favorite of the Neon-Fleming fans. Nada can’t help Charlie with the smoking. Charlie doesn’t quit. Nada is his favorite academic student, always willing to help, and is unconsciously using Charlie as her role model. She wants to become a teacher, and he encourages her. Next, she decides to play basketball for the girls’ team; Charlie coaches all sports at this high school, and she becomes his defensive stopper. Girls just play half court, and Charlie has Nada fronting the opponent’s best player. Charlie now knows the whole Amburgey family, particularly sisters Verta, Nora and Gladys, and young brother, Carter. Claude finishes his eligibility, and Carter is his upcoming star. Nada is supposed to help Charlie with Carter…same problem as Claude. Nada has had enough of Charlie picking on her. Charlie gets on her nerves; he expects too much and she can’t tell when he is kidding. He becomes her physics teacher, and she knows he doesn’t know physics. He asks her for help teaching this class and they agree to learn together. Charlie influences her to accept a scholarship to Pikeville College, not for sports, but for academics. She does not expect not to hear from Charlie again; he tells her he is heading back to Bardstown and that seems far off. 1934 Nada boards the train for two years at Pikeville College. 1930 Elmer is Charlie’s young brother. He is going to school at Bardstown High. He enjoys the big farm on Coxes Creek, being active in the Bardstown FFA, and believing he will have 100 acres of his own once he grows up. Charlie has been away to college and is teaching and coaching in Eastern Kentucky. Charlie has been the family member who always plays tricks on his siblings. Elmer is often the victim. Now Charlie visits the farm three or four times each year and encourages Elmer to plan for college. He tells Elmer there is no more good land to split off on the farm. Elmer listens, becomes a better student, but farming is in his blood. And, his mother is special, so why leave? As he rides the wagon six miles into Bardstown, he can’t imagine leaving home as Charlie did. His help is needed, even if good land is not in the making. 1932 Elmer boards the train for Eastern Kentucky State College. He will give it a try. He milks 10 cows each morning and works the barns to pay his expenses. At Coxes Creek, the sixth and seventh graders took grammar together. So grammar was just taught every other year. Elmer was scheduled for grammar when he was in the seventh grade. A mistake was made, and Elmer and his classmates were not taught grammar. This caused problems at Eastern when Elmer took English. 1935 Elmer and Nada are studying at the University of Kentucky. It is taking Elmer several tries in English. The grammar problem continues to follow him. Elmer and Nada are working their way through UK, not knowing what lies ahead. Nada will later be his crutch in finishing English his last semester. 1936 Graduation is looming, when Charlie begins interfering again. He visits Nora and explains Elmer to her. Elmer is completing his BS Agriculture degree. Charlie wants Elmer to take a step forward, meaning a courtship with his favorite student, Nada. Nora is providing housing for Nada; Elmer is renting not far away. Charlie and Nora arrange a date for Elmer to visit. They see opportunities for young brother and young sister. Elmer comes to visit and has dinner with Nada, Tom, and Nora. Afterwards, they take a 30 minute walk to find out more about each other. Charlie has been a problem and a solution for both. This walk leads Elmer to find what he sees in his mother in Nada; Nada is looking for her father in Elmer. The second part works. Both are quiet, patient, handsome, and responsible. Elmer falls quickly; he loves his mother and he has found Nada to be a fit. But Nada is not quiet, not patient, but restless. She is always looking for something that is not there. Their different upbringings cause them to question whether their relationship could work, but they don’t talk about it. Elmer’s mother has similar religious convictions with Nada, and a quick bonding forms. Dates become longer. There is no looking back. Love strikes. The depression is over and World War II is declared. Elmer will be called to serve. There is no time to waste. The next step is up to Elmer. He is nervous, having never said “ I love you.” This is not in his written or oral vocabulary. He breaks, says the magic words, and presents Nada an engagement ring. She accepts. July 16, 1938 Elmer and Nada are married in Mount Sterling, Kentucky in a private wedding. Elmer and Nada would have been proud of these kids.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 02:08:37 +0000
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