H. Dwight Weaver
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
An Interview with H. Dwight Weaver at the Osage Beach Library in Osage Beach, Missouri 12 April 2012 interviewed by Jeff D. Corrigan Oral History Program The State Historical Society of Missouri © 2012 Collection C3966 Missouri Environmental CD 72-74 NOTICE 1) This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). It may not be cited without acknowledgment to The State Historical Society of Missouri, a joint collection of the University of Missouri and the State Historical Society of Missouri. Citations should include: Missouri Environmental Oral History Project, Collection Number C3966, [name of interviewee], [date of interview], The State Historical Society of Missouri. 2) Reproductions of this transcript are available for reference use only and cannot be reproduced or published in any form (including digital formats) without written permission from The State Historical Society of Missouri. 3) Use of information or quotations from any Missouri Environmental Oral History Collection transcript indicates agreement to indemnify and hold harmless the University of Missouri, the State Historical Society of Missouri, their officers, employees, and agents, and the interviewee from and against all claims and actions arising out of the use of this material. For further information, contact: The State Historical Society of Missouri University of Missouri 1020 Lowry Street Columbia, MO 65201-5149 PREFACE H. Dwight Weaver was born May 29, 1938 in Centralia, Illinois. In his early childhood years, he moved around south central Illinois several times. In 1945, his family landed in Hannibal, Missouri, where he was first encountered with caves. His family stayed for a short time before moving to Jefferson City, Missouri where he would graduate from Jefferson City High School in 1956. Weaver attended college at University of Missouri Columbia as a music major and then transferred to Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. Before completing his studies he returned home to work as an occupational therapy assistant at the Fulton State Hospital where he created a unique caving program for patients. Weaver would continue to work his passion for caves into his professional life after leaving the hospital, and ended up working for the Department of Natural Resources until his retirement in 2000. With the help of his father, Weaver was able to explore and captivate his interest in the caves of Central Missouri from a very young age. In his adult life, he would help run several popular show caves in Missouri, including Ozark Caverns that he leased in 1964. Weaver critiqued many of the myths that are associated with caves through his personal interactions with residents of Missouri as well as publishing several articles and books on the subject. He and other cavers of the state are responsible for the extensive amount of documentation regarding the history and topography of over 7000 caves throughout the Missouri landscape. He has been associated with the National Speleological Society, American Spelean History Association, National Cave Association, and Missouri Speleological Survey. Beyond his work with caves, Weaver has also published several books about the history of Lake of the Ozarks area, where he now resides. The interview was taped on a CompactFlash card, using a Marantz PMD-660 digital recorder and an audio-technica AT825 microphone placed on a tripod. There are periodic background sounds but the recording is of generally high quality. The following transcript represents a rendering of the oral history interview. Stylistic alterations have been made as part of a general transcription policy. The interviewee offered clarifications and suggestions, which the following transcript reflects. Any use of brackets [ ] indicates editorial insertions not found on the original audio recordings. Physical gestures, certain vocal inflections such as imitation, and/or pauses are designated by a combination of italics and brackets [ ]. Any use of parentheses ( ) indicates a spoken aside evident from the speaker's intonation, or laughter. Quotation marks [“”] identify speech depicting dialogue, speech patterns, or the initial use of nicknames. Em dashes [—] are used as a stylistic method to show a meaningful pause or an attempt to capture nuances of dialogue or speech patterns. Words are italicized when emphasized in speech or when indicating a court case title. Particularly animated speech is identified with bold lettering. Underlining [ __ ]indicates a proper title of a publication. The use of underlining and double question marks in parentheses [________(??)] denotes unintelligible phrases. Although substantial care has been taken to render this transcript as accurately as possible, any remaining errors are the responsibility of the editor, Sean Rost. Narrator: H. Dwight Weaver Interviewer: Jeff Corrigan Date: April 12, 2012 Transcribed by: Teresa Bergen 5 [Begin Interview. Begin Track 1.] 10 Corrigan: This is Jeff Corrigan, oral historian for the State Historical Society of Missouri. I’m in Osage Beach, Missouri today at the public library on Thursday, April 12, 2012. Mr. Weaver is being interviewed today for the first time for our Missouri Environmental Oral History Project. Let’s begin. Dwight, could you tell me first off when and where you were born? 15 Weaver: I was born May the 29th, 1938, at Centralia, Illinois. And we—my parents moved several times before I started to school. So by the time I started to school in the first grade, we were living in Jacksonville, Illinois. I went to the first grade there. And we moved, let’s see, this would have been about 1944, 1945. I guess it was ’45 that we moved to Hannibal, 20 Missouri. The World War Two had just ended the first phase of that war. And I remember that, because we had, people were dancing in the streets because the war was over with. But they still had the Japanese were still fighting. And we moved to Hannibal in that period. We lived just out in the suburban area of Hannibal. We were there for probably two and a half years or so. And it was during that time that I had my first exposure to caves. 25 Corrigan: Okay. Before we get to that, could you tell me, did you have any siblings? Weaver: I have no siblings. 30 Corrigan: And could you tell me your parents’ names? Weaver: Estle Paul Weaver, E-s-t-l-e and Paul Weaver. And my mother’s name was Marelle, M-a-r-e-l-l-e. Her maiden name was Smith. She was from Kentucky and he was from Colorado. He was an ordained Southern Baptist minister. But he found out that that 35 kind of work paid poverty wages. And so during the week he worked either at a printing place or a grocery store. And throughout a good portion of those early years, that was what he was doing during the week. Because he pastored small rural churches. When we moved from Hannibal, we spent just about a year in Browning, Missouri.1 And then we moved into Ashland, Missouri, near Columbia. And that had to be, I was in the, see, I guess I was in the 40 sixth grade. And he was pastoring a church just outside of town there, but he was working in Jefferson City as a printer. And he took a position at the Missouri State Penitentiary as the Protestant chaplain. So in 1952, we moved into Jefferson City. He stayed with that position, he was actually with them for some twenty-five years. He retired in the middle ‘70s and he was the Protestant chaplain of Missouri State Penitentiary for about fifteen of those years, 1 Browning is located on the border between Linn and Sullivan counties. 7 and then at Algoa for about ten of those years. So actually we moved into Jefferson City in 1952. And that’s where I graduated from high school in 1956. Corrigan: So Jefferson City High School in 1956? 5 Weaver: Yes. Corrigan: And then where did you finish like the eighth grade? Were you still in Hannibal? 10 Weaver: I was at Ashland. Corrigan: Oh, Ashland. Weaver: Southern Boone County. That’s where my wife is from, too. 15 Corrigan: Your wife is from Ashland? Weaver: We’ve known each other since we were eleven years old. We were not together at that point. We didn’t get together until I was home from my second year of college. 20 Corrigan: And your wife’s name is Rosie? Weaver: Well, her name is Rosetta. But she goes by Rosie. R-o-s-i-e. 25 Corrigan: And Rosetta is R-o-s-e-t-t- Weaver: A. Corrigan: A. 30 Weaver: Mm hmm. And she’s a native of Boone County. She was born and raised near Ashland. Corrigan: Okay. What year did you two get married? 35 Weaver: 1959. Got married on my twenty-first birthday. [End Track 1. Begin Track 2.] 40 Weaver: On May the 29th, 1959. Corrigan: And then you guys have one daughter named Karen? Weaver: That’s correct. 45 Corrigan: Okay. 8 Weaver: She lives in Columbia. Corrigan: Okay. 5 Weaver: She’s not married. Corrigan: So she currently lives in Columbia. 10 Weaver: Yes. She’s been there for quite some time. She works for MFA, Incorporated. Corrigan: Okay. Okay. So now going back to when you were a kid, now you were an only child. Did your parents, did you have a lot of, did you do a lot of chores? Did they give you chores when you were a kid? 15 Weaver: No. My mother was rather protective. She was overprotective, really. I had a kind of a difficult struggle breaking, (laughs) you might call cutting the apron strings when I was growing up, because she did not like caves.