At 17, when most people's biggest concerns are graduating high school or finding the perfect prom gown, Roberta Thomas found herself with much more adult responsibilities: caring for five younger siblings.
She was 17 years old when both her parents died, leaving behind seven children ranging from age 3 to 21. Her mother, Mary Argutha Thomas, died of cancer in March 1952. Her father, Oscar Milton Thomas, died in November that same year of a heart condition.
"It was our parents' dying wish that we stay together," said Roberta, now called Roberta Jividen and now 80 years old. "And of course we didn't know what we were doing, but anyway, we decided that we were gonna stay together."
Roberta and her sister, Mary, who was 21 at the time, took on the roles of caretakers for their five younger siblings: Dean, 15; Richard, 12; Pat, "around" 7; Daniel, 5; and Barbara, 3.
The first few years were especially hard, Roberta said. At times, she and her sister didn't know where the family's next meal was coming from.
She remembers that the day after her father died, their house just outside of Nitro had little food.
"I sat down with the Bible and it came open to the sixth chapter of Matthew and that's where they talk about God he takes care of the birds and flowers and he will take care of us," she said. "My life verse is, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything will be added unto you,' and that's truly the way it worked out."
Roberta's older sister, Mary, who died in a car accident in 1987, was working for a grocery store when their parents died. Roberta went to work as a laboratory helper at a state lab for $125 a month.
Without a car, the family relied on buses, both city and Greyhound, to take them to and from work. Their father had been a bus driver and city bus workers would sometimes let the family ride for free. Sometimes the boys would hitchhike.
Roberta remembers catching the bus to Summers Street and walking from there to the Capitol to work at the lab because there was no more money for bus fare. Mary would catch the bus to work and then walk up the hollow of their community in the dark.
"It was rough, but through the grace of God is the only reason that we made it," Roberta said. "We didn't really have anyone to depend on and there were a lot of people who probably thought that we weren't gonna make it."
Mary and Roberta split up responsibilities: Mary did household chores and Roberta did the cooking. Pinto beans, cornbread and potatoes were dinner staples, and the family often had biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
"We had what we needed but we didn't have probably what we wanted," Roberta said.
Every once in a while, Roberta would make cakes. Barbara Floren, the youngest child, remembers that sometimes the family would roast marshmallows and hot dogs over an open fire in their yard.
"I'm sure it was tough," said Floren, now 66. "I tend to not think about the tough times."
Once a week, Roberta made the kids eat liver for their health, she said. She would make the younger kids stay at the dinner table until they finished it.
"We probably had the healthiest dog in the neighborhood because I think the dog got all the liver," Roberta recalled, laughing.
Barbara recalled giving the liver to the dog and at least once, her trick backfired - she actually had eaten it, but Roberta was convinced she had given it to the dog. She made Barbara have a second helping.
Discipline wasn't a problem, Roberta said. She and the children weren't always happy with one another, but they never really rebelled.
"They were all good kids," she said of her siblings. "They weren't perfect or anything. Years later, after they were grown, I learned about all the things that they did that I wouldn't have approved of at the time."
The family's modest home was in Gabbert Hollow, now called Red Oak Drive. Their father had hurt his back while working on the house, so it wasn't finished.
"It was cold," Roberta said. "We had one stove in one of the rooms. It was always cold in the wintertime."
Daniel Thomas, who was 5 when his parents died, now lives in Cleveland. He remembers holes in the floor large enough for feral cats to come up through - and they did, until the family dog chased them away.
Cardboard over the windows kept out the cold. The house didn't have indoor plumbing. The sisters and brothers would all take baths in the same water in the same tub.
"We were poor, but we really didn't realize we were poor," Daniel said.
Churches and other groups would also bring food by occasionally to help, Roberta said. Sometimes the men their father worked with took up collections for them.
"I remember one particular time that the only things we had in the house to eat at the time was tomato juice and a few slices of bread," Roberta said. "And the next morning, there was nothing in the house to eat."
"And then someone from one of the churches came and brought us something to eat that next morning. We were very, very poor."
Roberta attended West Virginia State College in the first few years after the historically black school was integrated. She graduated in 1970 with a degree in chemistry - a degree that took her about eight years to earn.
"They bent over backwards," she said. "From my point of view, they bent over backwards to make us welcome at West Virginia State College."
She and Mary encouraged their younger brothers and sisters to get an education. All of them finished high school except Mary, who earned her GED. The siblings remember Mary for her intelligence and her ability to write.
Dropping out wasn't an option with his sisters around, Daniel Thomas said.
"[They said] 'Don't even think about quitting school,'" he said. "'Don't even think about it,' and we didn't. We were dealing with a lot trying to get through school and trying to live, but somehow we made it."
Roberta credits their faith in God and love for each other for that.
Of the seven siblings, Roberta, Barbara and Daniel are still alive. Roberta worked in research for Union Carbide and then in public health for the state. Barbara Floren, now the principal at Overbrook Elementary School in Charleston, has worked for Kanawha County Schools for 44 years. Daniel Thomas retired from Ford Motor Company in Cleveland.
"I'm so proud of them because they all made good lives for themselves," Roberta said. "[I'm] so very proud of them. They all had good jobs, good moral convictions."
"I'm just very proud of what they accomplished in life and it wasn't anything that we did. It was just for the grace of God that that's what happened," she said.
Reach Lori Kersey at lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.