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Of Hancock County
BY BENNIE SHALLBETTER Stoff Writer
the^fall.of.1961. the families’living in the pictur-i ; esqufe, ^tUe^Commumtics along, the-pearl River in f Western Hancpck County couldn’t "believe their ears when they heal'd that they would have to leave their homes to make way for a new rocket testing facility being built by NASA.
Close knit families who had lived happily for generations in much the same w'ay, without electricity, running water, motor cars, or television, suddenly found themselves propelled into the space age when the announcement came over the radio.
“We just could hardly believe it or accept it and we thought they must be crazy,” said Della Boutwell, who grew up with seven sibluigs in Napoleon. “Mama and Papa were devastated.”
‘They were the last ones to leave,” said Della’s younger sister Ruby Lovecchio. “Where we grew up had been Daddy’s parents home.”
But finally the family realized they had to accept that they would have to do as they were told..
“We had two big fields ready to plant coi n,” said Della. “And all they gave us Was $10,000 for everything, even after Papa went to couit to fight it, a little more than what was
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