Denvil Jefferson Workman & Catherine Alberta Kiser, 1938-1945 (Courtship & Early Marriage)
Denvil, 1940
Based on my interviews with Mom (Kate) and others, I think the timeline below is pretty accurate. Details of some of the events follow the timeline. As with other sections, there may be some overlap or duplication of information.
Kate, 1943
Denvil Jefferson Workman & Catherine Alberta Workman Courtship & Marriage Timeline:
• 1937/04/01: Denvil moved to Bentree, with the entire family. Albert Mullins (Denvil’s grandfather) had settled in Bentree a couple of years prior and established a sawmill there. His son Gordon (and wife Lenna) operated a general store for Albert.
• 1940/06/07: Denvil graduated from Clay County High School.
• 1940/09/05-1943/05/01: Denvil studied at New River State College, Montgomery, WV. I do not know if he had a declared major, but I do know that he took higher level math courses and drafting. In fact, the drafting tools he used were passed down to me as I completed my engineering degree at the same school (later named WV Institute of Technology).
• 1941/07/15: Kate met Denvil at a store/gas station in Bentree. This is the general store that was later owned by Walter and Bertha, who purchased it from Gordon and Lenna Mullins. Kate thought that she met Denvil while she was still in high school. Since they (Cecil’s family) visited the Rider’s in Bentree every year, it my supposition that 1941 is the probable date of their first meeting.
• 1942/05/05: Denvil started working for Union Carbide, Alloy, WV. Several of Denvil’s family worked at this metallurgical factory, including Walter, Damon, and Doyle.
• 1943/05/30: Kate graduated from Uniontown High School. By that time, Kate and Denvil had established a romantic relationship and planned to marry after her graduation. Denvil’s enlistment into the military altered things. Their long-distance relationship also complicated the timing of events.
• 1943/05/15: Denvil enlisted in the Army (Air Force). His military career is detailed in the folder Denvil Jefferson Workman, 1943-1946 (Military Service).
• 1945/06/08: Denvil and Kate were married at Georgia Lee’s home in Bentree. Denvil was on leave from the Air Force for about two weeks. He returned to active duty and deployment in Europe. Kate went to Uniontown to live with her parents, until Denvil got of the service.
• 1946/05/01: Denvil was discharged from service and returned to Bentree with Kate to live. The audio/transcription accounts below provide additional details.
DJW & CAK Courtship & Early Marriage Details:
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Mike: So where did you meet Dad?
Kate: I met him up to the filling station. There was a filling station up there that Birdly and them run. I met him up there.
Mike: When was that?
Kate: Oh, I can’t tell you, Mike. I don’t know. Hmm.
Mike: How old would you have been?
Kate: Well, you know, I don’t remember. I may have still been in school. I was married in 1945, and I graduated in 1943. I know Phyllis went to…your Daddy went up to Lansing to go to college. Well Phyllis went up to see him, and Daddy wouldn’t let me go. So, when Denvil and Damon came out to the house after he got a furlough. And Daddy said, “Well if you are you going to marry her…if you’re not, you can’t. So, I got married, down at Aunt Georgie’s.
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Mike: I was talking to Mom the other day about Dad’s war service. She was telling me that you had gone with him up to Akron one time. I don’t know, was that before he went into the service?
Damon: Denvil and I went up there to get Catherine. I don’t know what year they were married in. Can you remember what year it was?
Mike: I think about 1945.
Damon: Maybe the first part of ‘45. But we took this old car of Daddy’s and went up there and stayed a couple of nights. And the biggest thing that I remember about it all was that they had television. Lord, I didn’t even know what it was, kinda scared me. I had been to the movie, I guess before, but I think Catherine’s dad worked in the…
Mike: Yeah, he was in electronics right in the beginning.
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Damon: So, Catherine came back with him, and they got married I think at Mr. Rider’s, there in Bentree. [They were actually married at Georgia Lee’s home.] Then Denvil spent these little two or three days, or whatever he had left on his furlough, in Bentree. Then he went back oversees. I’d say he was gone maybe two years, or a year and a half. He came back and they started housekeeping in that little house of McGraw’s, right across the creek from… Then I believe they moved into that old store building there, in front of us. Housing was tough to get, you know.
Mike: That’s where I first would have lived then.
Damon: Yes. You were born, that is where they brought you back to right there in the store building. Of course, me and Dale and Doyle was just…everything was fun to us. And, of course, we didn’t know Catherine that well you know, and she’d clean you up real good, and then we would give you a piece of chocolate candy. You’d have it all in your hair. Boy, she’d get so mad she’d just blow up. I can remember that well.
Mike: I have heard stories about grease and oil and stuff, too, so.
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Mike: Who married you?
Kate: Cavender. [S.W. Cavender] He used to be a preacher up there. I forgot his first name. Married me at Aunt Georgie’s and kids was all there and Uncle Earl. Uncle Earl he just laughed. [Earl was an invalid, due to exposure to nerve gas in the war.] I never will forget that. I guess Jane and Patty, and I don’t remember whether Shirt [Shirley Backus] and them was there or not. Then, he went to Hastings, Nebraska, and I went out later on the train. We come back and we came into Akron. Well, we missed our ride from Chicago. I think there was cattle on the tracks. And we were late, we did not make good connections, so a policemen got us a room in Chicago. It was V-Day.
Mike: Now, he was already in the Air Force when you got married.
Kate: So, we stayed down home, it was not too long. But any way, I think Damon came out and picked us up. No, that is not right. I don’t remember how we got down home.
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Mike: So, you were in Akron when he came back from service.
Kate: Yes, and that is the time that he and Damon came out. Then we went back to Bentree and stayed with Mother and Daddy [Workman]. They were in the house by the creek. We stayed in their house a little while. But then Bus McGraw and them lived over there and had a house. It was about four rooms, and your Daddy and me rented that. I think that Wayne’s used to live there for a while. No, that is not right. We lived at the old store house…right in front of where they lived. The store was on the front, and then there were several rooms on the back. That is where your daddy and I stayed. Then when Bus McGraw got the house empty, we got it.
Mike: When was I born?
Kate: You were born…I think we were still living in the store building when you were born. I could remember that picture of you in the stroller. Well, we were still living in the old store house. Because I can remember the boys, Dale and them, playing with you.
Mike: So, then you moved to the other house across the creek.
Kate: Yes, that was across the creek; we lived there a little while. We started to build that house. But you know Uncle Gib would get to his drinking, and then he would get on one of the drunks, you know, and then Denvil would have to work what he could.
Mike: Now Dad had gotten the job at Union Carbide, right?
Kate: He had the job before he went into the service. He worked down there.
Rev. S. W. Cavender is pictured here with his wife Tennis, baby son Richard (?), and Darrel Workman. I think the photo was taken in 1938 or 1939 in Bentree. He is the one who married Denvil and Kate.