From the Journals of William Burl Kincaid, Jr.: High School and the National Guard (William Owen Karrick Story: Part 3)

In the first year of high school our class had nine girls and two boys. They were Phoebe Seese, Olive Fanning, Rosie Freed, Marjorie Shouse (Marjorie married my brother Travis), Ethel Fawns, Opal Reeves, Sudie Maupin, Sudie Davis, Demory Parsons and me. Our principal was O.J. Harris. This professor took us to Lexington and Frankfort on a trip. We visited Sistrunk, a fruit and vegetable distributor, and the federal prison in Frankfort. This was a good lesson for those who might go wrong and break the laws.

During my second year in high school, a National Guard was established in Salt Lick, Kentucky. The commander was Captain Corbett Gullett. I was only fifteen years old at the time but through the permission of my parents, I joined the Guard. The rifle company was going to Camp Knox for two weeks in the summertime. Before the summer the guard had a rifle range where I spent several afternoons shooting at targets with 30/30 rifles. When camp time came along, I received a preventative typhoid fever shot which caused me to have the fever. I spent several weeks in bed and missed the Camp Knox trip. In later years, I made the summer trips. I was in the Guard for almost three years until it disbanded. I was rated Corporal.

In the second year of high school, our principal was Mr. Wirick. During this year, my friend Demory Parsons dropped out of school leaving me the only boy in a class of ten. I wanted to quit school too, so I took all my books home and told my father and mother that I had quit. “Yeah,” Dad said, “You’ve quit.”

“Yes, “says I, “I’ve quit.

“Yes,” says Dad. “You’ve quit until in the morning then you will return to school if I have to take a switch to you all the way. Your mother and I have worked hard to see that all of you children finish high school.”

So back to school I went and am I glad that Dad made me return. However, I was in the Guard at this time, and I skipped an afternoon class several times, going to the rifle range. I got an F in that class, lost a credit, and had to go an extra semester in school to make up the work. I didn’t get to graduate with my regular class of 1929. I graduated in 1930. The principal was Mr. Welch.

I entered Morehead State Teacher’s College in the fall and went through the first and second semesters and summer school. I ended up with thirty-eight college hours and a teacher’s certificate good for two years which I used in teaching in a rural one room school at White Sulpher, Kentucky. I tried very hard to do justice to the children as all eight grades were in one room. Looking back, I wonder sometimes if that was possible. My salary for the 1931-32 school year was $76.50 per month, and for 1932-33 it was $66.50 per month because the county was short of money. School ended in February - a seven month school year.

And there ends, for the most part, what Uncle Bill wrote regarding his early life in Salt Lick. If you are interested in reading the rest of his story, I'll try to have a copy of it available later when I get it all complete in a digital format. ~ Ginger