The Casto Story, Mary

Mary Casto McKown

My name is Mary Casto McKowen. I was born September 1, 1932 in Ravenswood, WV. I married Dale McKowen. We have 11 children, they are as as follows: Carolyn, Tony, Dave, Toey, Rick, Greg, Tammy, Debbie, Joe, Gary and Robin.

I can remember when I was a small child and my Aunts were visiting my mother. We were washing clothes that day and my aunt and I were taking clothes out of the washer and I got my arm caught in the wringer, my mother screamed and before it did any damage to my arm, my aunt had shut it off. Then one time I got this boil on my stomach and my dad doctored me as best as he could. Back then money was hard to come by, well one night the boil busted open, but Dad took care of me and I got better.

We moved 4 miles out of Ripley and me, my brother and my sister Leona went to school there. That's where I met my first boyfriend, we had lots of fun. That's where I also went to church, my brother Jack and I use to sing songs like, "Take up the Cross and Follow Me," that song brought back so many good memories. We lived there about 2 years. My twin brothers was born there but died at birth. When Patty fell off the porch and split her head open, Mom and Dad had gone to town so Jack went to a neighbor and got help. Cora and Betty Parsons took care of Patty. We moved to Ripley where Dotty was born. I met a girl there across the street and we became best friends, Jean Harlow was her name. One night we made a rope out of clover and we put it across the road and when a car would come by we would pull it up and the car would stop (ha ha), we were pretty darn ornery.

Grandpa Casto gave Dad a piece of land and Dad built a house on it and that was where Donald was born. We all wanted a brother so bad. Then we moved just below Ripley, that's where Dean was born. One day when Donald was 4 years old, we were eating supper and I was pouring coffee, he pulled the cup of hot coffee all over on him. Mom and Dad were mad for a very long time, we all thought that Donald was going to die, Mom and Dad rushed him to the doctor, he was in bad shape for about a week. I remember one night after midnight us kids, Jack, Leona, Joann, Dotty, Betty, Patty and I. We all went up on the hill and we would play in the sagebrush till morning. I learned to ride a bike, I don't know where it came from. Dad built a shower and Flavy Litton's wife came up to take a shower one day, Mom and Dad went to town and didn't come home till late that evening. Jack and I took the kids down the road and waited for Mom and Dad to come home. Our cow got into Mom's arden and Dad whipped me with a rope and I still got that scar on my back. Then we moved down the river, I was about 9 years old then and Mom went to Grandma Benson's and John was born there. When she came home, I had cut off almost all of my hair, Mom cried so much. My hair was long, blond and beautiful. I had a hard time combing it though. We then moved to Ravenswood Pike Road. There I met my friend Florence, she is another one of my friends, we would go to town on Saturday nights, we would either go to the movies or just walk around on the streets and have a good time. I remember Mom and Dad would go to visit Grandma and Grandpa, and leave us alone, she told me to keep the house clean. We always got the kitchen floor dirty, so we had to clean it up, we got a big bucket of water and soap powders and threw it on the floor and played in it, but Mom had a clean floor. Then we moved out on the ridge, us kids were left alone a lot once Mom and Dad were gone there came this black guy. First time I've ever seen a black man and he said he was hungry, we didn't have much but some biscuits and fried potatoes, so I gave him some. He asked us how to get to Gallipolis, Ohio, and where the river was. We told him how to get there and he left.

Dad built a house over the hill. I helped him and Jack worked for an old farmer and gave the money that he earned to dad for food. Then a few years later I met my husband Dale. I had to quit school to take care of Mom when she had her babies, so I got married at 15 and had my first baby before I was 16. My husband is good in his own way, but I was left alone a lot due to his drinking and women craziness. I had a pretty hard life but I stayed home and took care of my kids. I did the best I could, they never went hungry, but the didn't have the things they should've had. We sold our house up on Sation Camp road and moved away. I had to work cause my husband wouldn't work after he retired, so I had to work for a laundry mat for 11 years. Then my son and I bough a piece of land and I worked so hard to get that land, then a year or two later my sister gave me a trailer and we moved it on the land that we had bought. That's where we live now (Thank God).

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