AUNT SUE'S $15.00 GUITAR

August 4, 2010

Sue Edmonds is the sister of my father, Curtis Taylor (deceased). In fact, Aunt Sue is the last living relative from that generation on that side of the family. Aunt Sue is 87 years old/young (depending on your perspective), and she is still going pretty strong. She has a million stories to tell of the past, some funny, some sad, and she can bring tears of both joy and sadness to your eyes when she’s telling one of them.

My wife, Maxine, and I stopped in Atkins, VA to visit a few minutes with her as we were passing through there after the Taylor/Talbert annual family reunion at Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, VA. Aunt Sue lives on her own in a townhouse in Atkins and does amazingly well for her advanced age. Her sons, Johnny and Randy Atkins, and daughter, Jeffie Campbell, live nearby and help her tremendously; but, for the most part, she is still doing for herself.

While visiting Aunt Sue, I asked her to tell me the story about her fifteen dollar guitar.  I decided to grab my video camera and record the story for posterity.

The gist of the story is that she and brother Arthur pooled their money as teenagers, 72 years ago, to purchase a Gibson guitar from a man. The asking price was $35.00 and Aunt Sue's contribution was $15.00. In the video, she tells about how the guitar went back and forth wthin the family for various reasons, and how she sold her portion and then bought it back, more than once.  At one point in the story, she purchased back the guitar and traded another one in the deal, and in her words "got burned."

Many mishaps occurred involving the guitar while in her possession.  For example:

1)   While in the trunk of the car, the side was crushed in.
2)   Son Johnny sat on and broke the neck of the guitar,
3)   Her youngest daughter, Carla, (at age 3) stood on it while looking in the mirror and crushed the front.
4)   While standing in a corner, a water leak filled the guitar. Aunt Sue stored it behind the stove to dry it out.

Aunt Sue's telling of all these stories was funny and kept us on the edge of our seats. She was finally able to get the guitar restored and she says it plays just as good as it did in the beginning. She even strummed it a little to show us and it did sound very good.

I had high hopes of uploading the entire interview and sharing it with everyone; unfortunately, the file was too big for the web page. Below is a "thumbnail" photo and clip from the video (click on arrow to play). Plans are to make a DVD of the entire interview, along with other videos taken at the 2010 reunion, which I plan to mail to each family.

These are wonderful videos of seeing Aunt Sue speaking of her fifteen dollar guitar, and friends and relatives at the reunion speaking about themselves and their ancestors.

Additionally.... a song has been written about the $15 guitar, and recorded on CD by Pete “PeeWee” Taylor. You can "click the Icon" at the bottom of the page to listen to Pete's song.

Ron Taylor

Aunt Sue

Click on arrow above to see video clip.