Granny Opal Stewart and great-granddaughter and Lorrie Roberts Sadler on autoharp.
This Ozark Folk Center 50th Anniversary Legacy Photo is in memory of Granny Opal.
Love, your family.
Granny Opal kept kids after school. There were 13 of us who got off the bus at her house, some of us were related to her and some not. She was my great grandmother and she square danced and jig danced at the Folk Center. My great grandfather played the fiddle and they were early Rackensack members.
It was 1973-1974 and I was nine to eleven years old and I remember Greg and Susan Moody, John Taylor, Jeannie and Ann Whitfield, Terrie Batton, and a couple of Morrison boys from Fox – all of us going to the Folk Center to square dance, jig dance, some to sing, and some to play instruments. The square dances were called by Kermit Taylor and often when we didn't have enough kids to dance, Kenneth and Violet Taylor would join us. Granny Opal and Retha Finley would be there on stage doing what was called "double clapping" and Retha's husband Olin would jig dance with all of us kids.
On a Friday night we might dance on the big stage and I remember Granny Opal and my great grandpa sitting in the front row and then Granny Opal making sure that the kids were wrangled and on stage. On Saturday afternoons we might dance on the small stage outdoors. We really looked forward to the weekend because it was so much fun to get to go over to the Folk Center and be part of it all.
Granny Opal made sure that I got a social security card and I remember it coming in the mail. When that paperwork was done, we could get paid and earned $7.50 per night. My first check was for $33.00 and I thought, I can get paid for this!
We were always in the Folk Festival parade and my mom and aunt made our dresses. All of the kids’ folk costumes were homemade at that time. I had two dresses that I alternated and I remember one time being allowed to wear tennis shoes instead of the Mary Janes that hurt so bad. We didn’t dance very well trying to keep those tennis shoes hidden under our long dresses!
When I see the kids in Music Roots today it gives them a chance to see what they might be good at and it carries on the music. Working at the school, I get to see how beneficial the program is. You can’t imagine how many kids get to participate who wouldn’t if it wasn’t offered at school.
Entry by Lorrie Roberts Sadler with input from the family.
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