Nonnie Lou (Perry) Hamlin

Until midway through her fifth-grade year of school Nonnie Lou (Perry) Hamlin attended a one room school at Rock Branch in Sawyer. She and her siblings who were old enough to attend school walked two and a half miles to and from school. Her mother, Bonnie (Ridner) Perry (Nov 8, 1921 – Dec 4, 1951) passed away at the age of thirty when Nonnie was eleven years old, and her world changed drastically. Her father, Jack Bill Perry (Jul 30, 1907 – Dec 11, 1989) moved the family closer to relatives so they could help care for his young family and she began school at Eagle Elementary. He obtained a job at the general store owned by Tom McLeod and Leamon Perry in Honey Bee, KY. The Honey Bee post office was located inside the store.

Nonnie Lou was born in Sawyer, Kentucky on April 20, 1940, the eldest of seven children. Her siblings are Pearlie Mae (Perry) Vanover (Sept 26, 1941 – Dec 13, 2016), Famie Marie (Perry) Sewell (Dec 8, 1943 – Oct 10, 2003), Imogene Perry (Aug 26, 1945 – Apr 1, 2006), Eavi Irene Perry (Jul 2, 1947 – Jun 29, 1996), Ottis Eugene “Hot Shot” Perry (Jul 11, 1949 – Nov 14, 2019), and Glenn Perry (Oct 24, 1951).

Her father worked diligently through the court system to keep his family together as much as possible. Six-week-old Glenn was adopted by her father’s sister, Rhoda and her husband, who was also named Jack Perry. Even though they share the same name, Rhoda’s husband, Jack, was not a blood relative of Nonnie Lou’s father. Rhoda and Jack also raised Nonnie Lou’s sister, Eavi Irene, until she was six years old and could start school. Nonnie Lou and Pearlie Mae, her ten-year-old sister, became the caregivers for the younger children left at home. Her father’s job at the store created major changes at home and she no longer had to work in the big cornfields. The family’s gardening was now on a much smaller scale for the use of their family only.

To keep his family together Jack, Nonnie Lou’s father, moved his young family into the home of his sister Rhoda and brother-in-law who had moved to Port Clinton, OH. Each day Nonnie Lou’s father took two-year-old Ottis to the store with him. Ottis played in the feed store while his father worked until he was old enough to attend school. He was cared for by his father and other store employees.

Nonnie Lou and Pearlie Mae preserved five to six hundred jars of fruits and vegetables each summer to survive the winter months. Each morning at 4:30 am Nonnie Lou rose from her bed and, carrying a carbide lamp, tended to the chores before going to school. Her chores included milking the cow and feeding the animals while Pearlie Mae made breakfast. There was no electricity in their home until 1959, the year Nonnie Lou was a high school senior. All school assignments were completed by the light of a kerosene lamp. Water for cooking, drinking, laundry, and bathing was carried by the young girls and their father from a spring. Laundry was done by hand using a tub, washboard, and homemade lye soap. “We moved into an aunt’s home after she moved to Ohio, and she gave us a wringer washer. What a blessing!” The only source of heat was a fireplace, and their father kept a horse that pulled logs she helped cut up using a crosscut saw.

“Church was important to us. We left for church at 4:00 pm since we walked four to five miles and often returned around midnight. We walked to church during the warmer months and at Christmas unless a member of our family or a neighbor had a car or truck and offered us a ride. I have ridden on the back of log truck to church many times.”

Even though she had always dreamed of becoming a teacher after her high school graduation in 1959, she had little hope her dream would come to fruition. Pearlie Mae dropped out of school and had a job caring for an elderly couple. She gave her father most of the money she made to help make ends meet. Fortunately, Nonnie Lou’s father had a cousin who was a personal friend of the president of Cumberland College. He asked to meet Nonnie Lou and, with the help of student loans, working in restaurants and the college cafeteria, and cleaning homes she was able to garner funds for her tuition. During her senior year at Cumberland College, one of her professors asked her to lodge at her home and help her with household chores and caring for her children. Nonnie Lou, through much sacrifice and with the help of others, received her college degree in August of 1962.

“Shortly after Labor Day in 1962 I walked into a first-grade classroom for the first time with more than forty bright-eyed students who were eager to learn looking me in the eye. Having faced a few hurdles in my life I don’t recall ever questioning my choice of becoming a teacher.”

Nonnie Lou married Fred Hamlin, Jr. (Jul 19, 1929 – May 4, 1994) nicknamed “Pinto”, on June 29, 1965. Shortly thereafter, the couple moved to Louisville, and she taught in the Louisville  Independent School District for five years. The school in which she taught was on the west end of Louisville in a building that was used as a hospital during the Civil War. During her tenure there she taught first and third grades and was the school’s representative in the Louisville Education Association. During a summer session she had forty-two students in her class.

In June of 1970 Fred and Nonnie Lou returned to McCreary County and she began teaching at Whitley City Elementary as a first-grade teacher. Fred worked as a carpenter, custodian at the McCreary County Courthouse, and for a weatherization program in the county. Fred was also a veteran, having served in the U. S. Navy during both WWII and the Korean conflict. Fred and Nonnie Lou welcomed a son, Fred L. Hamlin, III on Aug 6, 1975, and he became the joy of their lives.

“In 1992 I retired from teaching after a career of thirty years to care for Fred who was terminally ill. After the death of my husband my son began nursing school and I found myself looking for a reason to leave the four walls of home and do something productive. Once again, I went back to the real joy of teaching children. I worked as a substitute teacher in the McCreary County School system whenever I was asked. The Lord has really blessed me to be able to continue doing what I enjoy. I served as a substitute teacher from 1997 through 2022.”

While teaching Nonnie Lou served as president, vice-president, and secretary of the Whitley City Elementary Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in the late 70’s and early 80’s. She was also served on the board member of the McCreary County Mountain Craft Association and held the offices of president, vice-president, and secretary there as well.

She is an active member of Whitley City First Baptist Church and taught Sunday School and Children’s Church while her son was growing up. For thirty-five years she has been Sunday School secretary and continues to serve on the kitchen committee. In addition, she is a member of the Kentucky Retired Teachers Association (KRTA) and a life-time member of the National Education Association. She was the recipient of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year Award for the 2016-2017 school year.

Her son is a nurse practitioner at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington. “I have a wonderful daughter-in-law, Amber, and three marvelous grandsons – Jeremiah, Abraham, and Josiah. Having been blessed for so many years, what more could I ask? The good Lord has truly blessed me with a very rewarding life. I am an avid reader and enjoy biographies, autobiographies, history, and most of all, the Bible. My day begins by reading a good book. I also enjoy crocheting, quilting, walking, password puzzles, and cooking. Idleness doesn’t fit me, a good walk serves me well.”

On behalf of the McCreary County Museum and the McCreary Journal I honor the life and legacy of my dear friend Nonnie Lou (Perry) Hamlin. She is a true inspiration to me and many others.

For questions or more information, please contact Debbie Kidd-Trammell at [email protected].