Shirley Taylor Frye & Velma Gibson Watts Tell Their Stories in Book by Barbara Baillet Moran

I've always had a pretty strong sense of self. Growing up on a farm, we all had basic responsibilities, tasks to complete. My job before I took on milking the cows was making the beds, all the beds. My sisters helped Mother with the cooking. When my dad marketed the milk and butter, I went with him to keep his books. He also sold hogs, hams and I was right there with him. I watched how he worked with people ... he did it all. He was a very smart man to do all this with a third grade education...

People other than my parents also had a profound impact on me. I stayed with Mrs. Bessie Lee when I went to school at N.C. A&T. She was a cafeteria manager for the schools. Her husband had been ill for about 18 years and she took care of him herself. She would go to work and then come home and take care of him. She had so much determination and goodness. She was a true inspiration to me.

I was inspired by people who didn't have many advantages. Still, they were able to respond to their environment and their background with determination and hard work. Sometimes the capacity for hard work is greater than any privilege. I've known people you might describe as down and out, and yet they raised wonderful children. I have tremendous respect for them. They are heroes and have inspired me. They had so little and did much with what they had.

In "Voices of the Silent Generation," author Barbara Baillet Moran provides the oral histories of 16 women who came of age during the 1950s.