The Red Flannel Rag

and distrust of strangers, is the source of much of the conflict I have experienced in my

life. You will see as you read about the memorable characters in my life, including Mom

and Dad, were very complex people with both positive and negative elements in their

personalities.

Norman Shifflett and Myrtle Morris Shifflett:

Their Courtship and Early Marriage

The two most memorable and influential characters in my life were Mom and

Dad. They married young and committed to the role of housewife and mother and

husband and father. Since they wanted to be a mother and a father, they didn’t wait

to start their family. Mom was pregnant by the tenth day of their marriage.

Although Mom and Dad were very much in love when they got married, they

saw their union in a different light than most young folks do today. She told me she

got married to be a wife and a mother. Dad never said why he got married, but his

behavior said it for him. He always kept a job and never missed a day of work even

when he was sick.

Their marriage was not without major and minor disagreements because they

came from two families that had competed in the moonshine business in Hopkins Gap.

Many of the fights Mom and Dad had during their fifty-four year marriage would end up

delving into old arguments about moonshine quality and price wars from the 1930s and

1940’s. She defended Uncle Rob who raised her, and he defended Grandpa Austin and

his brother, Uncle Jake.

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