Edited interview with Pam DeVaul (PD), niece of Richard Wolverton,
conducted by Joe Manning (JM), on April 14, 2008.
JM:
How well did you know him?
PD:
I knew him when I was growing up, then kind of lost track of him when he moved to Columbus. I think I was about 18 or 19 then.
JM: You told me that he was a
little slow. What did you mean by that?
PD:
He had a funny way of talking. And whenever he would come out on the bus to visit, I think he wore just about every piece
of clothing he owned, summer or winter. He was a little different. I sent the photo to his sister, my Aunt Esther, and we
were talking about him. She told me that Richard hadn't always been slow. I just assumed that he was born that way. But
she said that didn't happen till he was about nine years old. They just suddenly started to notice it.
JM: How far did he get in school?
PD: I don't know. He couldn't read and write very
well. He lost his mother when he was young. She died of TB in about 1929.
JM: When did his father die?
PD:
In the 1960s. He was always working on the railroad or busy chasing women. In his later years, he was in a rest home. I don't
think any of the kids had much of a relationship with him. After their mother died, they had to kind of fend for themselves.
JM: Were you surprised to see
him selling newspapers?
PD: I
guess he had to do whatever he could to get by.
JM:
What kinds of jobs did he have when he was in Newark?
PD:
He was a dishwasher and a cook and a janitor, jobs like that. He had an older brother, Andy, who drove a taxi, and he helped
him sometimes, like helping passengers load and unload suitcases, and stuff like that.
JM: Did he live alone and take care of himself?
PD: Sure. He would rent a room at somebody's house. At one time, he lived with two of his older
brothers.
JM: Why did he move
to Columbus?
PD: I think the job
opportunities were better, and his oldest sister, Esther, lived there. He wanted to be closer to her. By that time, some of
his brothers who had looked after him in Newark had passed away.
JM: How big was he when he grew up.
PD: He was about 5' 9'', and pretty chunky, close to 200 pounds.
JM: Did he still have that mop of hair that he had in the
photo?
PD: Yes. That's how
I recognized him right away, his hair and his teeth.
JM:
Did he own very much, besides his clothes and necessities?
PD: No. He had just his clothes and a few odds and ends that meant something to him.
JM: Did he have any favorite form of recreation?
PD: I can remember him reading comic books, and I think
he liked baseball.
JM: Did he
talk a lot, or was he quiet?
PD:
He was quite a storyteller. He had lots of stories about all kinds of things.
JM: How old was he when he moved to Columbus?
PD: Maybe about 40. I don't remember that I ever saw him again after he moved.
JM: Why did you call him Uncle Beans?
PD: He just loved beans. You couldn't feed him enough
beans. If he'd come over to the house, and you asked him what he wanted to eat, he always wanted soup beans, like navy
beans and lima beans and northern beans and butter beans. He'd sop it up with his bread. Other people called him Beans,
too. My mom called him that. We also called him Dickie.
JM: How did you find out that he died?
PD: Aunt Esther called my mom and told her. We sent some money to help with the cremation. I remember
that he seemed to like everybody. He was always nice to people and liked to talk to them. I think that he wanted friends,
but he was different, so it was hard to make friends. A lot of people don't talk to folks like him. There were even people
in the family who kind of ignored him. But I was never embarrassed about him. When I was growing up, I would introduce him
to my friends. He was a good, hard-working man, and deserved to be remembered.
