Annie Whatley remembers when candy cost a penny, ice cream cost a nickel and a loaf of bread was nine cents. She also remembers when they said that Washington, D.C. would never build a Metro system.
William Collins remembers the streetcar system that used to be in place in Washington, D.C.
Their stories brought the past to life for five students from Mount Vernon High School who interviewed Whatley and Collins.
That's why Jane Madden and Valerie Caveney take their English 10 classes to The Gables. Madden said that in the past students from their classes wrote about their life stories after they interviewed some of the residents. This time, they will take some of those stories and turn them into short historical fiction stories.
Armed with questions, the students wanted to know all kinds of things — their first love, where they lived, where they worked, when they retired.
Juan Larios asked Whatley to tell them about something exciting that happened in her life. Whatley said that seeing Glacier Bay from an airplane was about the most exciting thing she had ever done.
“It was the most awesome sight flying over Glacier Bay,” she said.
Whatley said that she grew up in Washington, D.C. and became teacher. “I always wanted to be a teacher and became one,” she said. “There weren’t too many other jobs for African-American woman.”
Discrimination was a constant in Whatley’s life, even as an adult. She can remember riding the bus from Washington, D.C. to Virginia. In D.C., she was able to sit where she pleased, but once the bus crossed the line into Virginia she had to move to the back of the bus. Her parents taught her to be strong, and not be afraid.
Collins’ parents taught him to stay away from crime and he remembers Washington, D.C. being virtually crime free.
“A lot of women are being killed now. We never had that growing up,” Collins said.
COLLINS SERVED in the Marines Corps during the Korean War. After that he completed law school at Georgetown University and spent 20 years working as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. District Court and another 10 with the District Attorney’s office. He said that he tried every kind of case — from murder to rape to robbery.
Whatley said that she wanted to go fight in the war, but her father wouldn’t let her. Both Collins and Whatley thought it was significant that they had lived through three wars and a depression.
When asked what they would change about the past, both said that they would have liked to have had more money, but that overall, they wouldn’t change anything.
“I didn’t have a bad life — it wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t bad,” Whatley said.
“Life has been good to me,” said Collins, who has been retired for 25 years.
Retired for over 30 years, Whatley said that she has loved her retirement. When she stopped working, she took extension courses, traveled extensively and got involved in her church and community.
“You’ve got to keep busy,” she said.
Whatley has seven children, six of whom have college degrees, while Collins has three children.
“Get an education,” Whatley said. “If you don’t want to go to college, then go to trade school. And learn how to use computers.”
Both she and Collins lamented the fact that they don’t know how to use computers and Madden suggested that maybe the students could come in and do some training at The Gables.
When Jerome Duncan asked what kind of technology they had, Whatley remembered the radios with headsets, while Collins remembered the phones that were a foot tall.
“The new technology is coming so fast, that you can’t keep up with it,” Whatley said.
Growing up, she loved sports, and played football, tennis, baseball and volleyball. Her adopted grandson is Brian Randall, college football player who recently graduated with honors. Her hero is Frederick Douglass; Collins’ hero is Walter Johnson.