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Note: The following is from Rudy Green, son of Kenneth; and Mildred Smith, niece of Kenneth. Kenneth was mistreated by his dad. He would work all day for some farmer and make 75 cents. His dad would take it away from him and use it for whiskey. Kenneth's dad whipped him with a horse whip. Kenneth pulled a gun on his dad once and this seemed to make him back off. Kenneth went in the Navy before he was old enough, probably to get away from his dad. I, Ernest Green, can find no record of him being in the Navy. He got home sick, and his dad got him out for $50. He was at Great Lakes Naval training Center. Wallace, one of Kenneth other sons, said the Green's had money before Kenneth's dad started drinking and running around with women and was going bankrupt. Kenneth was afraid to go in debt,or buy a house; he had a bad outlook on life. He went to High Point, NC about 1930, to work at Silver Knit Hosiery Mill. His first wife's mom did not like men. She accused him of things he did not do. All of his in laws liked Kenneth. His mother in law did not get along with her other in laws. Rudy said he did not like his mom either. Kenneth's first wife was under the influence of her mom very much, and this probably was a big factor in his first divorce. Viola, Kenneth's second wife said, that he worked in New York City as a dish washer after he got out of the Navy. He got home sick and finally went back home. Mildred said she remembers uncle Kenneth always looked good in his clothes. When Kenneth divorced his first wife, they had three children. Rudy and Wallace stayed with Kenneth's mom. Mable stayed with her mother. Clara his first wife, neglected the two boys. Grandma Green was crippled with arthritis. She walked down Fairview Avenues to Sullivan Street to clean houses. She supported the two boys this way. Mildred said she made a difference in the boys, and Wallace still holds it against her. Kenneth grew up in Carter Valley, west of Kingsport. The following is from Frank Green, Kenneth's son. Kenneth worked,during WWII, delivering truck chassis from Philadelphia to Thomas Bus Works in High Point. When he delivered a chassis he would go to the bus station and get on a bus and go back to Philly. One night he was in the rest room, and a drunk was releiving himself against the wall. Kenneth told him to get over to the fixture and do it properly. The drunk mouthed off and took a swing at Kenneth. Kenneth took a beer bottle, sitting on the urinal, and hit him up side the head. It cut him severely. Kenneth walked out and got on the bus to Philly. When the drunk was discovered, they took him to the hospital. Some one identified Kenneth as being there. The police put out a warrant for his arrest. When he got back to town and found out about the warrant, he went to court and asked if he was wanted. When told he was, he went directly to court. He approached the judge and told him who he was, and what he had done. When the judge asked why, Kenneth said there was a drunk relieving himself in the corner and took a swing at me. The judge said we can not have people going around and hitting others. Kenneth asked what he owed, he paid it and left. I thought that dad had delivered completed trucks from High Point to Philadelphia. I did not discover this probable mistake until after Frank died. Kenneth had a saying " upside down screw driver man". He was referring to mechanics that were not very good at their job. He was a knitting machine mechanic, they were known as "fixers". He was known as one who tried to keep the bad work from his machines to 1 or 2 %. This was unheard of then, most fixers had 8-10%. He was also able to change patterns, and most fixers could not. After the war most fixers were on short hours. The patterns needed to be changed back to commercial patterns and he was one of the few who could. He usually had two jobs. He was hard to get along with if other fixers messed with what he considered his machines. He would quit his job if he did not get his way. Charlie Amos, owner of Several hosiery mills in High Point, give him his way and he had his own machines. If one broke at night it sit until he come in the next morning. He figured that this was less loss for the company than having a high bad work rate from the machine. I remember Kenneth as a hard task master. He did not seem to enjoy life much, that I could tell. Of course that was common in his day. He thought that his son, Frank, was getting above his raising by going to college. Frank told me that dad loved to read. If he had nothing to read he would read a ceral box. My middle name is Dorian. Dad got that name from reading about Greek history. There were people named Dorians. There is a region in Greece named Doris where these people lived. I guess I got my interest in reading from dad. One thing I remember that dad told me was baout he and his dad making moonshine. One day a revenuer was after them, and grandpa got the jump on the agent. He told dad to take him around the mountain and shoot him. Dad took him around the mountain and shot him in the leg. He could not bring himself to kill him. My dad never told his dad what happened. On May 11, 2006 Floyd Patterson died. This relates to me and this report because when Patterson fought Johansson around 1959 I found out my dad was prejudiced. We were watching the fight on TV and we were all rooting for Patterson. Dad came home and said we should root for Johansson because he was white. Until then I don't remember any thing like this in my family. I still remember this until this day. It never occurred to me to root for any one except an American.
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