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HOUSES
Alpha Omicron Pi
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Patricia Brown
Treber McGuirt
Ruth Miller

Kappa Sigma
Johnny Brown
Jean Foster
Sarah Frison

Sigma Chi
Willette Booker Mechille Ivy

Sigma Nu
Ethel Lockhart
Sandra Petties Georgia Wise

RETIRED
Verlean Caruthers
Fairy Bell Hewlett Mary Alice Lewis
Ollie Vaughn

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This project was made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council

Project Contributors:
John Hunter Allgood, John T. Edge, Amy Evans, Mary Beth Lasseter and Kendra Myers

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Kappa Alpha Fraternity: Ruth Miller, House Mother

"We tried veg--we tried a meatless meal one time [laughs] at the ATO House; there were signs all over the kitchen, all over the place, "No more no meat days."

-- Ruth Miller

What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

HOUSE: Kappa Alpha Fraternity House
SUBJECT: Ruth Miller, House Mother
DATE: June 23, 2005
INTERVIEWER: Mary Beth Lasseter

Mary Beth Lassetter:  Okay, all right; today is Thursday, June 23, 2005 and this is Mary Beth Lasseter. I am here at the Kappa Alpha Fraternity House on the campus of Ole Miss interviewing Miss Ruth Miller, who is the house mother for the KAs. Miss Miller, could you please state your full name for the record?

Ruth Miller: Well my name is Ruth Kelly Miller.

And where are you from originally?

I was born in Ecru, Mississippi; it's a little tiny town in Pontotoc County. But I lived most of my young life in Sheffield, Alabama.

And where did you go to school?

I went to school at Blue Mountain--in Blue Mountain, Mississippi, and Florence State College as it was known then. It's University of Alabama--North Alabama now and then when I started teaching kindergarten I--I took summer courses at Mississippi Southern.

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Okay; tell me a little bit about how you came to be a house mother.

[Laughs] When we moved to Charleston from Jackson, we moved to Oxford first and stayed here five years. So my husband played golf with Dr. [Chang] and--all of them were golf addicts. They--my two sons still are. And he--they just you know--they played golf together and we knew them. Then when we moved to Charleston after Ed died about oh--he died in May; I think sometime that summer Dr. [Chang] called and wanted to know if I wanted a job--I wanted to do something besides you know... and it was too early then; so I didn't come up then. And then the next year he called and he said, "[ATO] needs a house director. So that's the way I came up and didn't know anything about what I was supposed to do or anything. But I had a cook there that had been there for about 12 or 15 years, and she--[Laughs]--she taught me. [Laughs]

That's great. Can you tell me a little bit about what a house mother does?

Not much. [Laughs] Not really; I plan the meals. I buy the food. I supervise the help. Now we have--we have three cooks here and two house men. And the--I you know supervise their--what they do. Then I'm here for the boys and whatever they need me to do, like call the plumber [Laughs] and all of that--I do; that's it.

Tell me a little bit about ordering the food. How do you plan the menus and where do you get your food from?

You plan the menus on what the boys like. [Laughs] If--and here and at the ATO House I had a food chairman and they--they--they are really helpful because they hear the comments that the boys make you know in--where they don't tell me. They'll hear the comments and they'll say well if--let's don't have anymore like that, and if--it's their food and it's their money and if they don't like it there's no point in serving it.

How many means do y'all serve here?

We serve three meals a day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, we have breakfast and lunch and that's it.

Okay; where do you get your food from?

I order my food from Sysco and US Services.

Why do you order your food from those major suppliers? Is it ease or price?

Well in the first place, you buy by the cases [Laughs] for meals like this. And I don't think I--I don't know whether I could go to Big Star and--and if we had something like Hot Pockets and buy six or seven cases, which is what we use at a meal. So you--you... and it is cheaper. But it--you have to buy it by quantity and we buy bacon by the case [Laughs] and eggs by the case.

Now how did you make the transition from living alone and cooking for yourself to ordering...

[Laughs]

... and preparing for a hundred-plus guys?

That's--that's where Liz Miller was here.

Can you tell me a little bit about her?

Yes; she had been here several years and...

Now when you say here you mean on campus?

No, no, I mean ATO.

She was at the ATO House and she had--she--she knew how many cases it would take if there were 36 say pepperoni pizzas, you know in a case then we--we knew that--we were talking about say if we had 100 boys, you don't--they don't eat just one. [Laughs] They--you never know what they'll eat but you always buy--I do--a little more 'cause I'd rather have some leftover because we can always use it, and she was the one that kind of just led me into this. [Laughs]

Now how many years did she work with you?

About 11 or 12.

And did she help you plan the menus as well?

Yeah; she did because she had been there cooking for them, you know with--and ordering food and--and she did. She said, "Well they just--they just won't eat that." So I took her word, and it worked.

How would you classify her style of cooking?

She didn't use a recipe. [Laughs] That's it really.

What kinds of things did she cook, what kind of dishes?

Oh well she would cook casseroles--bean casserole, potato casserole, especially potato casserole. They like it here and there. She cooked desserts--cobblers, things like that. She made brownies from scratch.

Hmm; now how do you go about finding your cooks? The ones that were at the house I understand what you do there, but how do you hire new people?

Someone recommended--I think it was--it was the breakfast cook, Tracy, and she recommended Patricia and so Patricia... I--I had one or two before Patricia came, but they didn't want to do this and they didn’t want to do that, you know. They--they had their own way and sometimes it--it--it didn't make a difference whether it was my way or not; it was just that the food--that--the boys didn't eat it. And so Tracy brought Patricia and she just fit. [Laughs]

When cooks cook at the ATO House and then they moved to the KA House what are some of the reasons for those transitions? Are they following house mothers they've had good working relationships with or do you house mothers refer cooks to each other? How does that work?

I don't know because I'm really--after Liz died I've never had--had to hire anyone until I got Patricia, you see.

Okay.

I've--and so of course, our--our house burned, so they--Patricia came over here with me and Willie came over here with me.

Do you know what happened or what the other cooks who were working in the ATO House are doing now?

Tracy--Tracy is with SAE, I think; she went there before we came over here. [Laughs] And so she just--she stayed there. Then Tracy--and that's it...

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Okay; well tell me a little bit about the kitchen that you run so well. What--what sorts of--what sorts of foods do y'all cook here?

[Laughs] Meat.

[Laughs]

We tried veg--we tried a meatless meal one time [Laughs] at the ATO House; there were signs all over the kitchen, all over the place, "No more no meat days." [Laughs] It was--it was hilarious. And they--they want meat, they love vegetables--baked potatoes, beans, peas; they like rice. Just what they--we--you can tell what they like by what's left.

Is there an effort to balance their tastes for food with nutritional...

Uh-huh; uh-hm; we'll--we'll try--they try not to--say it calls for a cup of butter; they will use maybe an oil--little oil base in there that is less in carbohydrates and calories and stuff, plus about half and half; they do that. And then they--we kind of you know just try to stay away from too many calories, because they'll say, "Look, I can't button--I can't button my belt now." [Laughs]

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Do you think and your opinion as a house mother that the foods you cook here for boys in Mississippi are any different than foods prepared in other Fraternity Houses in other parts of the country? Do you think there's a regional style to the cuisine here?

I don't think so because I--you go by what they want, you know--what they will eat here. Now at Alabama, they might--they might want something different; I don't think they do. [Laughs] And at LSU--now they--they do. [Laughs] But we have--we have quite a few things that are what you would call Cajun food because they love it and they love any spicy food. [Laughs]

Now do you season your foods like vegetables with fat-back and ham and things like that--that are traditionally considered southern?

They do--they--they--they use ham and if we--we could get some ham bones that's what she uses, and I found one in the freezer while ago. [Laughs] It's wrapped up and it has ham bone on it. [Laughs] That's what they do for vegetables.

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Who is allowed to eat at the KA House? Is it just members or alums, girlfriends...?

Alums--[Laughs] anyone you know--any KA member--alumni, visitor, anything--they're allowed to eat here and they bring their girlfriends sometimes and that's fine, because we have enough to--you know they don't--everybody doesn't bring one. Now if they did, we--we would have to do something about it. [Laughs]

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Okay; well tell me a little bit about some of the favorite recipes that y'all prepare here. What--what do the boys really like to eat?

[Laughs] Now you've got me. They--hash brown casserole [Laughs]; that's the favorite of--as a vegetable. Ah, they like roast beef; they like--they like pork chops, chopped sirloin steak with a baked potato; they like that. They don't eat liver and things like that, which I love. [Laughs] And I can't serve it. And they like barbecued foods--just any--anything I would say in the meat. [Phone Rings]

Describe a typical day for yourself at work.

At work? First thing I do when I get up--get my cup of coffee, maybe a bun or something and the paper; then I check the kitchen. I go in and if we have--see if we have everything for today just to be sure because sometimes we forget [Laughs] and sometimes I have to run to the grocery store.

So that's what you do if there's a lack in items?

If there's a lack there, I go to the grocery store and pick up what we need--we may need--maybe more potato chips or something; I go to the grocery store. Then I come back and a typical day on Monday and Thursday--I play Bridge [Laughs] at the Downtown Grill. And--from 10 until about 2; then I come home from that and do whatever--if there's anything to be done I'll do it here. The other days I'm here and here I check with Andrew, who is kind of the man--house manager here. He works here--Andrew [Inaudible]; he's--he's--I think--well you would call him the house manager; that's his job but at the ATO House I had a house manager and usually there was two or three things to be checked and I'd call the plumber, you know--any of the utility that--numbers that we needed and then we have--had lunch. I don't eat lunch with them; they like to talk about [Laughs] last night or this and that and the other and there's one thing--there's--they don't use language--foul language I would call or you know--or--in--in my house. My children never used that, so I don't--they don't use that here. And they don't. They abide by that. And then in the afternoon, I--I read; I'm an avid reader or I go to the library or I go shopping or you know just what I would do at home.

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What is your favorite part of your job?

Being around the boys; they'll say, "Hey Miss Ruth," and you see that smile.

Do you have any special memories of boys or stories that you recall fondly?

Oh well I'd--I'd have to think about them. [Laughs] There's so--there's a lot of them. [Laughs] Just all right; I have--here's one that--and this is typical of quite a few of them--is that there is an ATO here that lives in Oxford and he's at Bottle Tree Bakery. And at Valentine's he brought me a thing of French bread and a round of sour dough bread. And he--he's been doing that ever since he was--he started here and he's working on his Master's now. So that's been about five or six years. You know things like that and one of them will call and say, "What did you--what did y'all have for lunch today? You didn't have one of those old things like we used to have?" And then he'll laugh [Laughs], you know things like that--just things like your kids do.

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Well in wrapping up is there anything that you want to tell me about your job or the boys that I haven't asked you? Is there anything you--like a final note?

No; they are wonderful and I love every minute of it. And all my friends think, "When are you going to retire?" And I said as long as I can keep walking [Laughs] or until they fire me it's a joy and it makes each day different, you know.

Really they are and I just--I don't understand people saying, "Our younger generation is going to pot," you know. "They're just doing this and...." They're not; they just don't know the right ones. And this--this is not just this one--this Fraternity; it's--it to me it's all of them.

To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.