Person:Bessie Miller (14)

Note from Patricia Prickett Hickin: "Bessie was only twelve years old at the time of her father's death in 1912 and her mother's move home to live with her children in the Prickett homeplace in Rural Retreat. Her mother was determined to see that the children were professionally educated and there was barely enough money (and that thanks to her uncle Jamie's generosity) to clothe and feed them. Her youngest brother was born within a few months and Bessie spent many of her high school hours in enterprising ways to make a few pennies here and there. She developed a natural gift for sewing and salesmanship and with the aid of a well-to-do woman in Rural Retreat who recognized the talents of her talented neighbors, she went off to Radford and Farmville normal schools, majored in Domestic Science, and taught what became Home Economics, primarily in Dinwiddie County, south of Rcidhmond, VA. She received her degree several summers after she began teaching. Although she often had multiple boyfriends she did not find one who met her fancy until she met the county farm agent, a fellow Southwest Virginian."

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