Living more than a Century: Pauline Carrico tells all

Pauline Carrico was born on July 8, 1913. Only daughter, and middle child of Robert Edward Lee Duncan and Hannah Rebecca Dunlap Duncan. Now at 103 years old, she remembers everything about her life. From riding in a horse and buggy to the romantic proposal from the love of her life, this little lady recalls it all.

As a young girl, Carrico grew up on a farm as the only young girl in the midst of two brothers. She admits “it got a little crazy.” To stay entertained as a child Carrico used her imagination as the only little girl in the family. She exclaimed, “Oh I had a playhouse! It was under the trees in the meadow. I really enjoyed that playhouse, I always pretended I had furniture and made supper. The boys came in to visit sometimes too.” She also states that she had a lot of doll babies when she was a young girl. “My mother and Aunt Mary made my doll’s clothes and I’d dress them up”.

Growing up Carrico’s family always had electricity and running water, which was not always common for other families at the time, she stated “I was very lucky.” Carrico also described having a car that they’d drive to York, PA twice a year to get new clothing, which was described as quite the exciting outing. The car was a T1 model Ford to be exact. However, before the days when they had a car, they had to get around in a horse and buggy.

Carrico distinctly remembers one exciting story from when she was a young girl, “We were in New Park and my dad stopped to run into the store to get me some ice cream, and while he was in there the horses ran off with me still in the buggy. It scared me to death! They ran all the way home, and right into the barn. Indeed I was scared! I was only about five or six years old, I was very little you know! Those horses were flying! They wanted to go home… and they got there too! I didn’t get my ice cream that day.”

Carrico reports that her primary job on the family farm was cooking and gardening. “We always grew tomatoes, peas, lima beans, cabbage, and corn. We’d have to pick em’ and shell em’.” She explained that when they canned their vegetables, they had to do it over a wood fire because they didn’t have an electric or gas stove.

The farm she grew up on raised cows, and horses. Carrico recalls the memory of her father having to milk all their cows and take it to the Norrisville Creamery, which does not exist today. She painted a picture of the town of Norrisville when there was a hotel, harness shop, shoe repair store, and barber shop. However, today Norrisville solely consists of an elementary school, library, and gas station. Carrico acknowledged that things have definitely changed throughout the town since her time as a child.

Carrico attended Carea Elementary which was a two room school that she had to walk to everyday. When it snowed she’s either have to take her sled, or the horse and buggy. Once she graduated into the eighth grade it was time to start high school- Jarrettsville High School to be exact. She now had to walk all the way from her house to Norrisville everyday in order to meet the school bus (something that was new for her). She claims she was more on the “timid” side in high school, but she still ended up making some pretty memorable friends.

When she was in high school, she recalls one especially memorable person. A boy named Talmadge. He was a senior when she was a freshman, and Carrico always noticed him for his mature manner… but she claims “since he was a senior he never payed any attention to me. Seniors never notice the freshman”.

However all that soon changed after Talmadge graduated, “One day after he came up to town with some other fella to visit his friend and he saw me, so later on he came up to me and asked if I wanted to go out to the movies or someplace with him. I said yes, and i’ve gone with him ever since. I don’t remember which movie we saw because I was too interested in him! After that, every time he would come up on Friday we’d go to the movies in Stewartstown. Sometimes we’d go to dances in Fawn Grove too.”

Carrico describes Talmadge as “very grown up, he wasn’t like a lot of kids were”. Finally after being with together for several years, he proposed to her. They were sitting in the dining room and he simply said, “I have something I want to ask you… would you like to marry me?”. Carrico replied “I think I would!” The couple tied the knot right in Carrico’s front yard on a “fine August evening”. She states “It was really pretty”. The wedding was a small gathering with only about 30 close friends, and family members.

Carrico then started teaching at the elementary school she attended as a child. After attending Towson College, she went back to Carea Elementary School for fifteen years until the school closed. Carrico taught all seven grades in that two room school and admits, “I wonder how I did it. Indeed I do”. The school had no electric, and they had to go out to the outhouses to use the bathroom. “The kids had their weekly jobs. They had to do things like get water from the spring, collect firewood, and sweep the floors.” stated Carrico. However, she did enjoy having a good time with the kids. She recollected on the memories of playing ball and going sledding on a snowy winter day with her students. After Carrico’s fifteenth year of teaching there, the Carea School closed. She then taught at Hyland Elementary school as a first grade teacher for sixteen more years.

Eventually Carrico and her husband had to sell their farm. Talmadge had gotten in an accident using their field chopper to fill the silo, and three of his fingers got cut off. After the accident he could no longer milk the cows, which was a huge part of their farm’s purpose and income. She states “I don’t think we would’ve sold the farm if it wasn’t for his fingers”.

One day Carrico left the house for a few hours and when she came back her husband was standing in the driveway and said “You ready to move?”. It turned out, a man offered him a deal for their property, and Talmadge took it. That was the first time Carrico had ever heard about selling the farm. She claims “I thought he was kidding at first, but he was serious. I was surprised!”.

Carrico and her husband then decided to take on traveling. They went to Ireland, Spain, Canada, Norway, Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, and multiple other places. Once they even went to Alaska by bus. The trip started in York, Pennsylvania and went all the way to Alaska. They were on that bus for 41 days. Carrico states, “We had several other places to go too, if Talmadge had lived. We didn’t get to make those, but i’m glad we did what we did”. Her husband passed away in 1974.