Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories
Interview with Lee F. Browne - Caltech Oral Histories
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<strong>Browne</strong>–4<br />
So I did most of what she wanted me to do. And then one time she let me spend a couple of<br />
years <strong>with</strong> a minister and his wife. Reverend Tipp.<br />
COHEN: And you lived <strong>with</strong> them?<br />
BROWNE: I lived <strong>with</strong> them. They lived in Badin, North Carolina. That’s where Alcoa has a<br />
plant. That’s where the first Alcoa plant was.<br />
COHEN: Aluminum?<br />
BROWNE: Yes. So I’d scout all around through that plant and spend time <strong>with</strong> him. His wife,<br />
though, was a very, very gifted woman.<br />
COHEN: Now, how old were you?<br />
BROWNE: Oh, I must have been about seven or eight.<br />
COHEN: Oh, so you were still small.<br />
BROWNE: Yes, I was small. But I had been exposed to all this stuff. In fact, I only went to<br />
school one year when I was <strong>with</strong> the Tipps. But Mrs. Tipp was gifted. She played the piano and<br />
led the choir in the church. And she entered me in contests, verbal contests: “What is the name<br />
of this animal?” And “Pronounce this word.” And I was a kid of the minister, so I was a typical<br />
minister’s kid—you know, knowledgeable, well-dressed, and all that sort of stuff. But finally<br />
[after] about two years of that my mother became jealous, and she wanted me back. [Chuckle]<br />
So I went back to High Point <strong>with</strong> her. And we took a house and we lived there, but she kept<br />
pushing me to do certain kinds of things about studying. Now, her mother was still living—the<br />
grandmother I was talking about. And she was a leader in the community for killing hogs. See,<br />
High Point was a city, but there were big fields. And there was a place where they had all these<br />
hogs that they fed and kept. They’d start off little—small animals—and then they’d get to be<br />
400 and 500 pounds. And then she would take the men out there. And she was the leader of this<br />
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