What Emma’s life and home looked like

Two weeks ago writer/producer Bette Lou Higgins and I had the pleasure of meeting Emma Gatewood’s grand-daughter Marjorie Wood down in Gallipolis, on the Ohio River. Not only did Marjorie have an amazing archive of Emma things including the famous red beret, but many of her trail diaries, press clippings, original photos, even 8mm movies.  But most importantly Marjorie also had many personal childhood stories to share. We could have spent a week just reading through the diaries and photo archives. There was a letter from Groucho Marx, a cable gram from Art Linkletter, the original 1955 Sports Illustrated article, but what made the weekend special was the personal tour given to us by Marjorie of the places where Emma lived and raised her family. We saw Crown City, Thurman, even where the trailer park she owned and ran once stood (now owned by AEP and next to a coal fired power plant). Most importantly we saw the house Emma was living in when her husband finally left for good. The house is still owned by a family relative, an 86 year old professor( retired).  Then we saw where Marjorie and her husband had moved a very old log cabin up a winding “holler”. This really gave us a sense of what early childhood must have looked and felt like for Emma as well. In the coming weeks we will be posting pictures and videos for you to watch and review. We will want your feedback as we process the footage and sound bites. This is a very exciting projects and one that will give “voice” to Emma and her personal trail hike from the hollers of Appalachia to the bright lights of Hollywood.