Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 09: BIOGRAPHY – Students
Series 19: STUDENTS
Charles Hollins, Student, 1936-1941
Charles “Flop” Hollins (1923-2015)
Charles Hollins in poultry house with young chickens. [VII 64_life_work_017]
TAGS: Charles Hollins student, boarding school students, teachers, Esther Weller Burkhard, Fred J. Burkhard, May Day, English Country Dancing, Nonesuch, Pine Cone, Tomfoolery, plays, student publications, World War II, U.S. Army Air Corps, Juanita Eva (Brewster) Hollins, Fresno Guide newspaper, Grundfos Pump Corporation, linotype, farming chickens,
CHARLES HOLLINS Student, 1936-1941
[NOTE: Transcriptions are slightly edited for clarity.]
In the summer of 1936, Esther Weller paid a visit to Charles Hollins’ parents in Harlan County, Kentucky. As the student counselor at the Pine Mountain Settlement School, Miss Weller’s objective was to urge the parents of Charles Hollins to send him to the School. He still remembered that visit 65 years later in his letter to Esther, dated September 2001:
I remember this beautiful older woman (I was 13 and anybody over 20 was [an] older person) and she was driving the most beautiful Ford convertible that I had ever seen. I decided that I would own one of them one of these days. The nearest I have ever come to it is a toy model that sits on my computer desk today. It look just like the one you were driving that day.
Charles subsequently attended PMSS beginning in 1936. During Charles’s second year at Pine Mountain he met Fred J. Burkhard, the School’s printing teacher and, by that time, Esther’s fiance. He continued in his 2001 letter,
…Fred…made all the difference in my life. He taught me many things, not the least was self-confidence and, of course, printing which I was to make a living and raise my family for the rest of my life. Yes, I have many fond memories, and many things to be thankful for that you and Fred were a major part in my life.
Apparently, Charles fit well into the School’s culture, as evidenced by his participation in a number of extracurricular activities.
The 1939 May Day event was an opportunity to show the students’ English Country dancing talents to the local community. Among the dancers was Charles, who joined others in Set I of the dance, “Put on Thy Smock on a Monday.”
Charles was one of the four editors of NONESUCH, a newsletter that was published only once, in December 1939, and printed in the campus printshop. Students initiated it as an alternative to the Pine Cone, the School’s established newsletter which they felt did not hear or acknowledge their viewpoints.
Charles Hollins [?] in the Print Shop, c. 1941, operating a Linotype. [angel_0022.jpg]
In 1940, Charles played a role in Part I (“A Familiar Scene”) of the play Tomfoolery. This annual event began in 1934 and consisted of a “nonsensical series of vignettes that reflected on the absurdities of life, love, work, state of the world, and any other topics that might be of current interest.” Traditionally, the creators and actors of the Tomfoolery plays were only male students and staff workers.
Throughout the fall and winter of 1941, Charles served as the Circulation Manager for the Pine Cone, the monthly student newsletter for the School and the community. (The November-December issue lists Charles’s parents, Mrs. and Mrs. Shirley Hollins, among the visitors to the campus.)
When the annual Nativity Play was presented in the Chapel in December 1941, Charles Hollins was among the players. By this time, the play, written in the School’s earliest years by co-founder, Ethel de Long Zande, had been performed for over 20 years.
Charles graduated with the class of 1941.
1941 Graduating Class. [pmss_archives_photo_senior_class_1941.jpg]
AFTER PINE MOUNTAIN
World War II was in full force by the time Charles left Pine Mountain in 1941. In December of that year, the United States joined the allies, soon after the Japanese Empire’s attack on Pearl Harbor. A little over a year later, in January 1943, Charles enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was stationed in the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre. He was discharged from the 484th Bomb Squadron 505th Bomb Group in February 1946.
While still in the Army, Charles married Juanita Eva Brewster of Amarillo, Texas, on May 31, 1945, in Alamogordo, New Mexico. They lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, until 1957, and moved to Clovis, California, in August of 1957 where they lived for the rest of their lives. During this time, they had three children: Dewayne, Rebecca, and Ricky.
In California, Charles put the printing skills that he learned as a boarding school student at the Pine Mountain Settlement School to his advantage. He worked for over two decades as a printer for the Fresno Guide newspaper, retiring in 1981. He went on to work for Grundfos Pumps Corporation and then fully retired in 1988.
In a 1988 Christmas letter to his longtime friends, the Burkhards, he wrote, “This past year is one that I have looked forward to for many years now, the time that I would retire.” Besides fishing and locksmithing, he enjoyed motorhome travel, including a visit that summer with the then-Director of PMSS, Paul Hayes and his wife, Ellen.
**************************
Charles Hollins was born on February 21, 1923, in Kitts (Harlan County), Kentucky, to Shirley and Carrie Hollins.
Charles’s wife of 54 years, Juanita Eva (Brewster) Hollins, died in 1999 at age 76. Charles passed away on July 21, 2015, in Fresno, California. Both are buried in Clovis Cemetery, CA.
See Also:
CHARLES HOLLINS Correspondence – 1979, 1988, 1989, 2001
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Title |
Charles Hollins |
|
Alt. Title |
“Flop” Hollins |
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Identifier |
CHARLES HOLLINS Student |
|
Creator |
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
|
Alt. Creator |
Ann Angel Eberhardt ; Helen Hayes Wykle ; |
|
Subject Keyword |
Charles Hollins; Pine Mountain Settlement School ; students ; teachers ; Esther Weller Burkhard ; Fred J. Burkhard ; May Day ; English Country Dancing ; Nonesuch ; Pine Cone ; Tomfoolery ; plays ; student publications ; World War II ; U.S. Army Air Corps ; Juanita Eva (Brewster) Hollins ; Fresno Guide newspaper ; Grundfos Pump Corporation ; |
|
Subject LCSH |
Hollins, Charles, — 1923 – 2015. |
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Date |
2021-11-05 aae |
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Publisher |
Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
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Contributor |
n/a |
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Type |
Collections ; text ; image ; |
|
Format |
Original and copies of documents and correspondence in file folders in filing cabinet. |
|
Source |
Series 09: Biography – Students |
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Language |
English |
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Relation |
Is related to: Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections, Series 09: Biography – Students. |
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Coverage Temporal |
1923 – 2015. |
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Coverage Spatial |
Pine Mountain, KY ; Harlan County, KY ; Kitts, KY ; Fresno, CA ; Clovis, CA ; Amarillo, TX ; Wichita Falls, TX ; Alamogordo, NM ; Fort Wayne, IN ; |
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Rights |
Any display, publication, or public use must credit the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Copyright retained by the creators of certain items in the collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. |
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Donor |
n/a |
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Description |
Core documents, correspondence, writings, and administrative papers of Charles Hollins ; clippings, photographs, books by or about Charles Hollins ; |
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Acquisition |
n/d |
|
Citation |
“[Identification of Item],” [Collection Name] [Series Number, if applicable]. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. |
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Processed By |
Helen Hayes Wykle ; Ann Angel Eberhardt ; |
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Last Updated |
2021-07-30 aae; 2021-08-01 hhw; 2021-11-14 hhw ; 2022-07-04 hhw ; |
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Bibliography |
Sources “CHARLES HOLLINS Correspondence. ; Boarding School Students – Guide 1929-1949 .Series 09: Biography – Students. Pine Mountain Settlement School Institutional Papers. Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, KY. Internet resource. “Charles Hollins.” Legacy.com/fresnobee.com. Obituary from the Fresno Bee, July 29, 2015. (Accessed 2021-07-31.) https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/fresnobee/name/charles-hollins-obituary?pid=175386311 “Charles Hollins.” Findagrave.com. (Accessed 2021-07-31.) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149802366/charles-hollins |
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