Voices of the Ozarks – Billy Ray Starkey and Rory Starkey

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Billy Ray:  My name is Billy Ray Starkey. I was born in Marquand, MO 2-18-1946. I was born near the Castor River in a house near Green Hollow. I think it was the last existing house there at that time. I’m here with my son Rory

Rory: I was born April 9, 1971 in Cape Girardeau.    

Billy Ray shares that his parents did not own their farm. He thinks the house was torn down in the mid 1970s or 80s. He lived in Marquand most of his life and went to school there at Piney Union which was a one room schoolhouse. There were no busses so they walked. Later he went to the school in Marquand. He mentions that his dad had worked with he WPA program and that they had used teams and wagons to haul rocks for the gymnasium for the school. It still stands today.

Rory asks his father to share the names of family members and Billy Ray does. He says his dad’s name was Dolph Starkey and he was the son of James Starkey. They were raised just outside of Marquand at the edge of Bollinger county. 

Dolph was born in 1909. Dolph and his older brother Robert Starkey (born in 1887) both helped build the floor of the gymnasium. An even older brother of Dolph’s was Clarence and he may have been born in 1883 and served in WWI. An aunt Letha is mentioned as well. She later moved to Fredericktown and married a Williams.

Billy Ray lived in Marquand for many years. Eventually they moved to Fredericktown and he lived on Saline Street. He now lives in Marquand again. Rory mentions that when Billy Ray was in his teens he’d moved to Michigan for awhile. Rory points out that for his dad’s generation it was fairly common that they often left rural areas and found work in cities, particularly for work in the auto industry. Often it was a move from the south to the north. Billy Ray points out that it is now the opposite and that there is more industry here than in Michigan. 

He says that most of his siblings went up there for work and some stayed. They still have family up there. There were 5 boys and 5 girls in his family. Billy Ray was next to the youngest. 

He did not finish school. He went as far as the first two weeks of the 11th grade then dropped out. He left home when he was 16 and has been on his own ever since. He had a handshake agreement with Gradey Beckett, the owner of a construction company based in Tennessee. They had an agreement that if he got hurt on the job he’d pay for his hospital bill but that he couldn’t sue him. They shook on it. The job was doing construction in Flint, Michigan. 

He talks about living with his sister in Michigan until he got his job and his own place where he paid $16 a month. He made enough and saved and bought his first house at 19. His land lady, Ms. Blaine, was an older woman and she rented to him because he reminded her of his grandson. She was alone and she welcomed the company. His room was upstairs and he went through the house to get there so they would often visit. 

He tells a fun story about how two pigs got him to Michigan. His parents couldn’t afford to loan him or give him the money. Fortunately while living at home he had helped with milking the cow and with the pigs. One of the baby pigs was injured and needed special attention. He raised it up a family member wanted it to butcher for meat so he traded it to him for two younger pigs. He finished raising those two and sold them a little while later. He used that money to buy a ticket on the Gray Hound Bus which he caught up on the Court Sq in Fredericktown. The ticket cost $18 and he had a little left. 

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