Remembering . . . (1987)

Leonard Ward Roberts 1912 - 1983 REMEMBERING . . . Leonard Roberts was my favorite storyteller. His style was unique. During his telling of a tale, which involved episodes strung together to make wonderfully long narratives , you would become aware that he enjoyed his stories more than anyone in his audience. Often he would be overcome by the humor or the absurdity of his tale, and he would pause to snicker or laugh outright and slap his leg, all the while regarding his audience slyly and wisely. Although most of us knew him as a respected scholar and teacher, he also remained a boy, full of fun and perceptiveness when it came to sharing a tale. A part of him was the essence of Jack, the character in tales with which he delighted generations of listeners. Dr. Joyce Hancock describes his narrative style and analyzes one of his favorite tales in an accompanying essay. Like Jack, Leonard dropped out of school to join the army. He served in Hawaii, where the last two years he played in the Schofield Barracks Band. Afterwards he toured with a swing band. At Berea College he studied music along with English. He could play piano, guitar, saxophone, clarinet, oboe, tuba and trombone. He participated in sports, winning in javelin throwing and the high hurdles. Again like Jack, he could work the system and do right well. He had a beguiling naivete, which was intensified by his Eastern Kentucky accent, grammatically impeccable, of course. He confided, however, that this natural demeanor kept him from being considered as a teacher in the Berea College English Department . Leonard's boyishness led him into the field for which he is acclaimed as a mature scholar. While teaching English at the Berea Foundation High School, he encouraged his students to write down tales and stories they had heard back home, as a means of getting them to write. He was delighted and intrigued by these narratives and soon was going home with his students on weekends to record their relatives. He spent many a night on Hell-fer-Sartin, Cutshin and Greasy Creeks, taking down tales, songs, riddles and life stories on rather primitive equipment. Earlier, he had wanted to become a novelist, had gone to the University of Iowa to study, as reported by Professor Bowling elsewhere in this issue. He was interested in classical literature as well, and aspired to be a college English teacher. His knowlede of literature was impressive. His acceptance at such graduate schools as the Universities of North Carolina, Iowa, Indiana and Kentucky indicate that he was viewed by professionals as a promising writer, scholar and literature teacher. However, it was folklore that became his burning interest. Although he had grown up in the midst of the ballad and folktale tradition of the Appalachians , it was not until he began collecting at Berea that he discovered the richness of this tradition and its social and aesthetic value in a new age. His students were his teachers. His technique of getting them to write expressively about what they already knew led him into their homes and a rich vein of traditional lore. After five years of collecting, he went off to Indiana University to learn about classifying and comparing texts. Professor Montell tells the story of Leonard as a folklorist in an accompanying article. Leonard married Edith Reynolds, also a Berea graduate, and they had four children: Sue Carolyn, Margaret Anne, Rita Helen and Lynneda Jane. While Leonard was working on his doctorate at the University of Kentucky , Edith supported the family by teaching at the Pine Mountain Settlement School. Third daughter Rita Kelly provides a closer look at the Roberts family in this special issue. After receiving his Ph.D., Leonard taught and headed departments of English or languages at several colleges—Piedmont in Georgia, Union and Morehead in Kentucky, West Virginia Wesleyan and finally Pikeville in Kentucky, where he established the Appalachian Studies Center. At Pikeville he published Twigs (later Cumberlands), a literary magazine, and edited and published many books through the college press—books on subjects like the Hatfield-McCoy feud, books by mountain poets such as Lillie Chaffin and Sylvia Auxier and works of...