50 Years Ago

Sunday, July 2, 1972

102 years old, Roman enjoys birthday cake

Bert Ragland, 109 South Hanks St., celebrated his 102nd birthday Saturday. His wife, Eva, is 92 years old, and he credits his good health to “Eva taking good care of me.” He and Eva have been married 72 years.

Ragland, the oldest social security beneficiary in six counties, has 14 children, nine of whom are living, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren he cannot even count. Though the children visit, the Raglands live alone.

When asked about some of the outstanding moments in his long life, Ragland said, “I don’t try to remember much.”

A retired, long-time bakery worker, he was eager to taste his birthday cake. The cake, presented by the Social Security office, was decorated with one tall candle representing a century of living, and two smaller candles for the two recent years. Noting the candle arrangement, Ragland said, “I done started over,” and added that he liked cake.

Wednesday, July 5, 1972

Gap-toothed fiddler is honored

Walt Koken — somber-faced and gap-toothed with the wideopen look of a country boy — adjusted a sweat-rimmed black felt hat, tucked a fiddle under his chin and cut loose.

Hundreds of bare feet beat the mud, calloused hands pounded one another and shrill yelps of approval rent the air as he sawed out a raucous, rambunctious “Turkey in the Straw.”

It was enough to win him first prize as the best old-time fiddler in the First Annual Fiddlers’ Convention Tuesday at the Smithsonian Institution’s Festival of American Folklife.

For five hours fiddlers from across the country spelled one another on a wooden platform in the middle of a muddy mall jammed with fiddling enthusiasts.

The program noted that “fiddlers’ conventions and contests have been an American folk institution since the early part of the 18th century and probably even earlier.”

But they obviously have caught on with the young. Koken and most of the other contestants looked to be in their 20s and 30s and so was most of the audience.